Empowering the powerful: a critical discourse analysis of public discourse on graduate employability

This study explores the issue of graduate employability in Malaysia as construed in public discourse in English, a language of power in Malaysia. The term employability itself has many definitions depending on the requirements of government and industry, and in the case of Malaysia, the Englis...

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Main Author:	Mohd Noor, Siti Noor Fazelah
Format:	Thesis
Language:	English
Published:	2015
Subjects:	HF5381-5386 Vocational guidance Career development
Online Access:	http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/1750/1/24p%20SITI%20NOOR%20FAZELAH%20MOHD%20NOOR.pdf
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id	my-uthm-ep.1750
record_format	uketd_dc
spelling	my-uthm-ep.17502021-10-10T04:41:06Z Empowering the powerful: a critical discourse analysis of public discourse on graduate employability 2015 Mohd Noor, Siti Noor Fazelah HF5381-5386 Vocational guidance. Career development This study explores the issue of graduate employability in Malaysia as construed in public discourse in English, a language of power in Malaysia. The term employability itself has many definitions depending on the requirements of government and industry, and in the case of Malaysia, the English-language ability of graduates is inseparable from graduate employability. Data were collected from three socially significant English-language publications: a mainstream newspaper (the New Straits Times), an alternative newspaper (The Malaysian Insider), and a government document outlining the national approach to improving graduate employability in universities (the Graduate Employability Blueprint). The data were collected between 2012 and 2013, a significant two-year period of time due to the publication of the Graduate Employability Blueprint in 2012, and the five-yearly Malaysian General Election in 2013. Applying Critical Discourse Analysis (Fairclough, 1995), the study employs Transitivity analysis (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004) and Appraisal analysis (Martin & White, 2005) from Systemic Functional Linguistics. The analysis looks at the grammatical roles and evaluation of important social actor groups in the graduate employability issue (e.g. government, government link companies, employers, graduates, parents and teachers). The findings show that government, the government programs and the employers are construed favourably, while the graduates are depicted unfavourably. Parents and teachers are largely excluded from the discourse. Significant government expenditure and national resources from public and private organizations are dedicated to improving the employability of graduates in Malaysia. However,the public discourse on graduate employability in the powerful English language appears unlikely to contribute to a social context where the aims of the groups with a key interest in graduate employability will be achieved. 2015 Thesis http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/1750/ http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/1750/1/24p%20SITI%20NOOR%20FAZELAH%20MOHD%20NOOR.pdf text en public phd doctoral Macquarie University Faculty of Human Sciences
institution	Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia
collection	UTHM Institutional Repository
language	English
topic	HF5381-5386 Vocational guidance Career development
spellingShingle	HF5381-5386 Vocational guidance Career development Mohd Noor, Siti Noor Fazelah Empowering the powerful: a critical discourse analysis of public discourse on graduate employability
description	This study explores the issue of graduate employability in Malaysia as construed in public discourse in English, a language of power in Malaysia. The term employability itself has many definitions depending on the requirements of government and industry, and in the case of Malaysia, the English-language ability of graduates is inseparable from graduate employability. Data were collected from three socially significant English-language publications: a mainstream newspaper (the New Straits Times), an alternative newspaper (The Malaysian Insider), and a government document outlining the national approach to improving graduate employability in universities (the Graduate Employability Blueprint). The data were collected between 2012 and 2013, a significant two-year period of time due to the publication of the Graduate Employability Blueprint in 2012, and the five-yearly Malaysian General Election in 2013. Applying Critical Discourse Analysis (Fairclough, 1995), the study employs Transitivity analysis (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004) and Appraisal analysis (Martin & White, 2005) from Systemic Functional Linguistics. The analysis looks at the grammatical roles and evaluation of important social actor groups in the graduate employability issue (e.g. government, government link companies, employers, graduates, parents and teachers). The findings show that government, the government programs and the employers are construed favourably, while the graduates are depicted unfavourably. Parents and teachers are largely excluded from the discourse. Significant government expenditure and national resources from public and private organizations are dedicated to improving the employability of graduates in Malaysia. However,the public discourse on graduate employability in the powerful English language appears unlikely to contribute to a social context where the aims of the groups with a key interest in graduate employability will be achieved.
format	Thesis
qualification_name	Doctor of Philosophy (PhD.)
qualification_level	Doctorate
author	Mohd Noor, Siti Noor Fazelah
author_facet	Mohd Noor, Siti Noor Fazelah
author_sort	Mohd Noor, Siti Noor Fazelah
title	Empowering the powerful: a critical discourse analysis of public discourse on graduate employability
title_short	Empowering the powerful: a critical discourse analysis of public discourse on graduate employability
title_full	Empowering the powerful: a critical discourse analysis of public discourse on graduate employability
title_fullStr	Empowering the powerful: a critical discourse analysis of public discourse on graduate employability
title_full_unstemmed	Empowering the powerful: a critical discourse analysis of public discourse on graduate employability
title_sort	empowering the powerful: a critical discourse analysis of public discourse on graduate employability
granting_institution	Macquarie University
granting_department	Faculty of Human Sciences
publishDate	2015
url	http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/1750/1/24p%20SITI%20NOOR%20FAZELAH%20MOHD%20NOOR.pdf
_version_	1747830862322335744

Empowering the powerful: a critical discourse analysis of public discourse on graduate employability

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