The phenomenon of language shift among Malaysian Tamils is well documented, highlighting both disconnection and preservation of the Tamil language. However, its impact on the community members’ ethnic identity remains underexplored. This study examines the perceptions of ethnic identity among Malaysian urban Tamil youths disconnected from their heritage language and their negotiation of ethnic identity without linguistic capital. It addresses the underexplored link between language shift and ethnic identity perceptions. This qualitative study involved twenty Malaysian urban Tamil youths who had shifted from their heritage language to English. The data were thematically analysed using Identity Process Theory (continuity, self-esteem, self-efficacy, and distinctiveness) to frame their perceptions of Malaysian Tamil identity. Results showed polarised views. Participants with negative perceptions experienced identity threats, which they negotiated by disengaging from their Tamil identity. In contrast, those with positive perceptions asserted their ethnic identity through non-linguistic markers (food, cultural practices, and clothing). Further analysis of negative perceptions underscored stigma management strategies, wherein the participants distanced themselves from the threatening ethnic identity, resorting to masking or adopting superordinate identities (Malaysian, Indian). In contrast, positive perceptions interpreted through post-ethnic theory revealed the fluidity of ethnic identity formation, extending beyond linguistic markers, and foregrounding the dynamic nature of identity construction in a globalised, multilingual world.

Since the Covid-19 vaccination rollout, the news media has played an essential role in reporting the vaccine-related news to reduce the risk of getting and spreading the Covid-19 disease. However, people nowadays are preoccupied with busy schedules that they just glance at the news headlines and determine what they imply. If a word, phrase, or sentence in the headlines has more than one interpretation, they may misinterpret them and receive the wrong information. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the lexical and syntactic ambiguity in the vaccines headlines of The Star news and to determine how these ambiguities affected the readers’ interpretation of the headlines. After collecting the headlines from The Star news, the definitions of the words and phrases were deduced using Oxford Learner’s Dictionary, while the sentence structures were identified using parsing. A questionnaire was also disseminated to the respondents to obtain different interpretations of the words or sentences. Next, a semi-structured interview was conducted with nine participants from three different educational backgrounds. The interviews were then transcribed and analysed thematically. The findings revealed that the lexical and syntactic ambiguity existed in the vaccine-related news headlines in The Star, with five lexical ambiguities and three syntactic ambiguities. Nonetheless, the participants were not affected by ambiguities because of the context and knowledge of the topic. The research study also posed a few limitations and gaps, where the other considerations and a larger sample of participants could be considered.

The COVID-19 pandemic has induced many revisions in the Malaysian education system, and it is imperative to investigate the consequences of these changes on the major stakeholders: the students, educators, parents/guardians, and the administrators. The current qualitative study was conducted to accumulate the challenges faced by these major stakeholders at the tertiary level, which were scrutinized further to determine their effects on Malaysian society. The research revealed that the participants experienced negative and positive results in various aspects like teaching and learning, finance, physical and mental health, as well as cognitive maturity, according to their respective roles in their tertiary establishments. While concerns such as the negative perceptions towards OTL by the stakeholders could be resolved internally by refocusing their mindset, the major ones like the void between the upper and lower socio-economic classes created by the digital divide could only be solved by the joined efforts of the Malaysian government and other non-governmental organizations.

Lexical borrowing is words that have been transferred from the native language and integrated into a different language (Hamdi, 2017). Studies on newspaper editorials have drawn a large readership, yet it is not been given enough coverage in terms of borrowed words used by the editors in English language newspapers. This paper examined the types and frequencies of lexical borrowing. This paper used both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Haugen's (as cited in Annab, 2019) pioneering work of lexical borrowing was used in this research. Three forms of lexical borrowing, namely loanwords, compound blends, and loan transitions/claque were found. In this paper, four months of editorials from The Star Online were transferred into a text files by using Microsoft Word and imported into WordSmith Tool version 6 (henceforth WST 6) to generate the data. Results reflect that the highest frequency of lexical features identified was loanwords (84%), followed by compound blends (9%), and loan transitions (7.5%). The top three highest borrowed words used by editors were the words Pakatan, Datuk, and Barisan. Conclusively, as large amounts of borrowed words exist in English editorials, this phenomenon should be eliminated. This is because one of the ways to elevate Malaysian English (henceforth ME) to meet and sustain with the International level is to uphold the quality of the English language in newspapers. Besides, relevant stakeholders should work together to increase the quality of editorials as newspapers are part of authentic materials used in education.

The English language is a global language as it’s the most commonly spoken language in the world by many people around the world. Nevertheless, it is also the language of international business and a necessity for people to speak English if they are to enter a corporate workforce. The English language is significant for employment as organizations are requiring and accepting applicants with good English proficiency. Therefore, it is vital for a student to learn and enhance their English language for a promising future. In learning and becoming proficient in the English Language, students are unable to grasp all of the language skills, especially when it comes to speaking skills. They face multiple challenges in communicating the language in the tertiary level of education as speaking skills is a stepping stone to their career. Thus, future graduates are unaware of the importance of English Language speaking skill as it is one of the necessities to be competitive in a global workforce. This research investigated the undergraduates’ perception and challenges on the importance of English language skill and mixed-method was adopted in this study. The results showed that the students understand the importance of English Language speaking skill and also, they have highlighted the challenges of improving their speaking skills.

The diplomatic relationship between the Indian and Chinese communities has existed since the beginning of civilization. The Malaysian Chinese and Indian ancestors, who migrated from China and India to Malaya under the encouragement of British colonials at the end of the 18th and 19th centuries to fulfill the labor-power within the nation, stayed in Malaya and became the citizens of the country. As a result, these communities constructed a new life born from constant contact between them. The shared cultural practices had even amalgamated to produce new cultures in both communities, respectively. As both occupied the same geographical space, the influence of each community on another was highly evident in many aspects of their lives, namely in religious beliefs, arts, medical practices, dressing, and food. The current research investigated the influence of the Malaysian Chinese community on the Malaysian Indian community based on two significant questions: what were the influences and how these influences were manifested among Malaysian Indians. Research findings revealed that Chinese religious beliefs and food had dominant influence among Malaysian Indians. This influence mainly stemmed from the similar cultural traits between Chinese and Indians in general, which prompted the Malaysian Indians to accept the Chinese culture and infuse it in their life with ease.

Silllalee S. Kandasamya, Rajantheran Muniandyb, Matana Kandasamyc, Bharathi Muttyd, Samikkanu Jabamoney Ishak Samuele, aDepartment of Modern Languages, Faculty of Creative Industries, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, 43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia, bDepartment of Indian Studies, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Universiti Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, cMasters Studies Scholar, Johor Learning Centre, Cluster of Education and Social Sciences, Open University Malaysia, 80300 Johor Bahru, Malaysia, dDepartment of Language and Linguistics, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, 31900 Kampar, Perak, Malaysia, eTamil Language Programme, Sultan Idris Education University, 35900 Tanjung Malim, Perak, Malaysia, Email: b*rajanmun@um.edu.my

Although many studies have emerged examining media representations of Muslims and Islam through the lens of discourse analysis, it is unfortunate that similar studies focusing on glocalised marketing strategies targeted at Muslims have been scarce, especially at a time when market research analysts have identified Muslims as constituting one of the fastest growing consumer segments in the world.In order to tap into this promising market, a number of cosmetics companies have left no stones unturned in their efforts to convince Muslim consumers that their products are Shariah-compliant.Whether or not this claim has any truth value, it is persuasive, as it raises awareness about the existence of halal cosmetics.In line with this, the present study examined the linguistic and non-linguistic semiotic features employed by the halal cosmetics companies to promote their products to Muslim consumers in order to expose the dominant discourses, underlying meanings and hidden ideologies.A qualitative research design was employed to study the marketing websites of five halal cosmetics companies.Analysis was carried out using Fairclough's (1992) threedimensional model of critical discourse analysis.Findings call attention to the commodification of Islam, revealing how marketers are transforming cosmetics into powerful symbols representing religious correctness and values, indices of one's piety.