An analysis of accentedness in speech and employability of Malay English speaking undergraduates at IIUM /
This study investigates employers' attitudes of English-speaking Malay graduates accented speech to see if they can be considered for employment. Besides, the study seeks to identify the relationship between the different degrees of Malay accented English and how they can affect these graduates...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Kuala Lumpur :
Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences, International Islamic University Malaysia,
2013
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://studentrepo.iium.edu.my/handle/123456789/6237 |
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| Summary: | This study investigates employers' attitudes of English-speaking Malay graduates accented speech to see if they can be considered for employment. Besides, the study seeks to identify the relationship between the different degrees of Malay accented English and how they can affect these graduates' chance in getting a job in the Malaysian private educational sector. Thirty final semester students from various Human Sciences undergraduate programmes were selected from three sections of LE4500 Language for Occupational Purposes classes at the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). Their readings of a simplified text were audio-taped to gather the different degrees of accentedness before being graded by five language experts based on an impressionistic assessment of each sample on a seven-point scale ranging from '7' being the most noticeable/marked Malay accent and '1' being the least noticeable/unmarked Malay accent. Rankings for the 30 speech sample were obtained from the five language experts but only 10 were selected to be rated for employability and attitude by 12 representative employers from various colleges and universities in the Malaysian private sector. The findings of this study indicate that although accent has a vital effect on employability, there are also other important criteria to be considered in hiring a good employee including high level of confidence, comprehensible pronunciation and the extra effort in reading the given text clearly |
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| Physical Description: | xii, 97 leaves : ill. ; 30cm. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (leaves 73-79). |