A Needs Analysis of Metadiscourse Features Awareness and Media Literacy in Crisis News
Keywords:
COVID-19 news, Crisis News, Metadiscourse, Metadiscourse Awareness Test, News with and without Metadiscourse, Writing PromptsAbstract
Metadiscourse serves to direct readers through the text and allows them to understand it better. However, the readers of crisis news frequently misinterpret the news because of the inconsistent sentence formation. Hence, content creators or journalists need to create a message that is understood accurately. Therefore, the study's aim is to ascertain if journalism students are aware of the employment of metadiscourse features particularly in Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) related news before and after an intervention process. COVID-19 news is one of the crisis news. Eleven journalism students took the Metadiscourse Awareness Test twice, once before and once after the intervention process. As part of the intervention process, students were provided with news with and without metadiscourse as well as writing prompts in order to enhance awareness of the appropriate usage of metadiscourse in crisis news. When compared with their pre-test scores, the results of the post-test revealed that the students had an overall greater awareness of metadiscourse features. Additionally, it was found that the intervention process had a substantial impact on the journalism students' awareness of the usage of metadiscourse in crisis news. As a result, the results of the Metadiscourse Awareness Test might be utilised to grow the journalism students’ knowledge of metadiscourse and create more effective content creators.
Downloads
References
Abas, N., Abdul Aziz, R., Turiman, S., & Mat Daud, N. S. (2023). A corpus-assisted critical
discourse analysis of COVID-19 vaccination-related news discourse in the Malaysian mainstream media. 3L: The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies, 29(3), 148–165. http://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2023-2903-11
Al-Khafajy, A. A., & Al ma'moori, W. Q. (2023). Awareness of metadiscourse markers in
Writing: A preliminary investigation on Iraqi educators. Journal Human Sciences, 14(1), 30–45. https://www.iasj.net/iasj/download/dea7261515adcdca
Ali, H. M., & Malaco, O. H. (2022). Public health intervention: Exploring crisis
communication elements in media reports on COVID-19 in Bangladesh. SEARCH Journal of Media and Communication Research, 14(1), 33–48.
Aliyu, M. M., & Korau, S. M. (2020). Nigerian undergraduates’ awareness of metadiscourse
and its relationship with their persuasive writing quality. International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature, 9(1), 40–49. https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.9n.1p.40
Amiryousefi, M., & Rasekh, E. A. (2010). Metadiscourse: Definitions, issues and its
implications for English teachers. English Language Teaching, 3(4), 159–167. https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v3n4p159
Ayub, S. H., Omar, N. H., & Raja, R. P. N. (2022). Perceptions and engagement of Klang
Valley urbanites on COVID-19 PSAs during the pandemic. SEARCH Journal of Media and Communication Research, 14(3), 75–89.
Bo, C. (2015). Social constructivism of language and meaning. Croatian Journal of
Philosophy, 15(1), 87–113. https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/246512
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021). Basics of Covid-19. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-health/about-covid-19/basics-covid-19.html
Craig, R. T. (1999). Metadiscourse, theory, and practice. Research on Language & Social
Interaction, 32(1–2), 21–29. https://doi.org/10.1080/08351813.1999.9683604
Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2023). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and
mixed methods approaches (6th ed.). Sage Publications.
Dafouz-Milne, E. (2008). The pragmatic role of textual and interpersonal metadiscourse
markers in the construction and attainment of persuasion: A cross-linguistic study of newspaper discourse. Journal of Pragmatics, 40(1), 95–113. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2007.10.003
Hooi, C. M., Tan, H., Lee, G. I., & Victor Danarajan, S. S. (2022). Writers’ awareness of
metadiscourse features in Malaysian business news. Issues in Language Studies, 11(1), 165–182. https://doi.org/10.33736/ils.4480.2022
Hyland, K. (2004). Patterns of engagement: Dialogic features and L2 undergraduate
writing. In L. J. Ravelli & R. A. Ellis (eds) (Eds.), Analysing academic writing : Contextualized frameworks (pp. 5–23). Bloomsbury Academic. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781474211741.ch-002
Ismail, A. R. I., Aripin, N., & Yusof, N. (2015). Journalism education in Malaysia: Dancing
with UNESCO’s model curricula. International Journal of Science Commerce and Humanities, 3(3), 1–12.
Jones, R. (2013). Communication in the real world: An introduction to communication
studies. The Saylor Foundation.
Kim, H., Sefcik, J. S., & Bradway, C. (2017). Characteristics of qualitative descriptive
studies: A systematic review. Research in Nursing & Health, 40(1), 23-42. https://doi.org/10.1002/nur.2176
Latif, Y. A. (2022, February 27). Influencers spreading fake news about boosters, says
expert. Free Malaysia Today. https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2022/02/27/influencers-spreading-fake-news-about-boosters-says-expert/
Mahamad, T., Ambran, N., Mohd Azman, N., & de Luna, D. (2021). Insights into social
media users’ motives for sharing unverified news. SEARCH Journal of Media and Communication Research, 13(3), 1–18.
Mohamed, N. A., Solehan, H. M., Mohd Rani, M. D., Ithnin, M., & Arujanan, M. (2023).
Understanding COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in Malaysia: Public perception, knowledge, and acceptance. Plos One, 18(4), Article e0284973.
Nain, Z., & Anuar, M. K. (1994). Communications, curricula and conformity of national
needs and market forces. Proceedings of the Communication Education and the Needs of the Media, Singapore, 23–44.
Nain, Z., & Kirton, C. (1989, June 22-24). Communications education in Malaysia: In need
of an alternative [Conference presentation]. Malaysian Association for American Studies International Conference on US Media: Impact on the Contemporary World, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Nain, Z., & Venkiteswaran, G. (2016). Local media and digital frontiers: The Malaysian
conundrum. Media Development, 3, 14–17.
Ng, M. L., & Lim, L. H. (2008). Journalism education in Malaysia. Media Asia, 35(2), 84–
https://doi.org/10.1080/01296612.2008.11726872
Ngadiron, S., Abd Aziz, A., & Mohamed, S. S. (2021). The spread of Covid-19 fake news on
social media and its impact among Malaysians. International Journal of Law, Government and Communication, 6(22), 253–260. https://doi.org/10.35631/IJLGC.6220024
Nor, N. H. M. (2022). Challenges of Malaysian journalists in reporting and misinformation
on COVID-19 (2021–2022). SEARCH Journal of Media and Communication Research, 14(3), 105–116.
Nur Anis Shazwani, A. S., & Norsimaa, M. (2023). Exploring the influences of Social
Networking Services (SNS) on consumer purchase behavior. Al-I’lam: Journal of Contemporary Islamic Communication and Media, 3(1), Article 88.
Nurun Anis, N. D., & Norsimaa, M. (2023). The impact of new media platforms towards
social shaping and culture interaction among Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia students. Al-I’lam: Journal of Contemporary Islamic Communication and Media, 3(1), Article 87.
Shantha Gowri, B., & Vedantam Seetha, R. (2019). Influence of news on rational decision
making by financial market investors. Investment Management and Financial Innovations, 16(3), 142–156. https://doi.org/10.21511/imfi.16(3).2019.14
Suwannasom, T. (2023). EFL teachers’ maxim: The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on online
teaching in the Thai tertiary context. 3L: The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies, 29(3), 195–212. http://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2023-2903-14
Tan, H., & Wong, B. E. (2014). Metadiscourse use in the persuasive writing of Malaysian
undergraduate students. English Language Teaching, 7(7), 26–39. https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v7n7p26
Teh, H. S., Woon, Y. L., Leong, C. T., Hing, N. Y. L., Mien, T. Y. S., Roope, L. S. J., Clarke, P.
M., Lim, L, & Buckell, J. (2022). Malaysian public preferences and decision making for COVID-19 vaccination: A discrete choice experiment. The Lancet Regional Health-Western Pacific, 27, Article 100534.
van der Linden, S., Roozenbeek, J., & Compton, J. (2020). Inoculating against fake news
about COVID-19. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, Article 566790. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.566790
Wang, L., & Zhang, Y. (2017). An analysis of theoretical and empirical studies on
metadiscourse. International Journal of Research - Granthaalayah, 5(4), 118–127. https://doi.org/10.29121/granthaalayah.v5.i4.2017.1801
Yoon, S. Y., & Kim, N. Y. (2022). The use of metadiscourse markers in mobile-assisted
flipped learning in L2 writing. Journal of Asia TEFL, 19(1), 180–196. http://dx.doi.org/10.18823/asiatefl.2022.19.1.11.180
Yusof, N., Ismail, A., Ismail, R., Aripin, N., Kassim, A., & Ishak, M. S. (2018). Industry
perspective on journalism education curriculum in Malaysia. Malaysian Journal of Learning and Instruction, 15(1), 149–172. https://doi.org/10.32890/mjli2018.15.1.6
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Darryl Chow, Chee Mei Hooi, Sharon Wilson
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
The copyright of this article will be vested to author(s) and granted the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license, unless otherwise stated.
