SPEECH ACT ANALYSIS OF FEMALE STUDENT LEADERS IN A MALAYSIAN SECONDARY SCHOOL

Authors

  • Sharifah Syakila Syed Shaharuddin School of Languages, Civilisation, and Philosophy, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Kedah, Malaysia
  • Minah Harun School of Languages, Civilisation, and Philosophy, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Kedah, Malaysia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46827/ejes.v9i7.4379

Keywords:

speech acts, female student leaders, in-depth interviews, secondary school

Abstract

The speech act is a study of pragmatics whereby utterances serve an essential function beyond verbal communication. It is an act of performing some activity through spoken words. In leadership, speech acts play a crucial role in the interaction between leaders and their followers. It not only conveys information but also initiates a desirable action or behaviour among the followers. Thus, leaders must be capable of utilizing different speech acts effectively to influence their followers to act or behave in a specific way and accomplish their leadership goals. This study has been undertaken in response to previous researchers who have found significant differences in speech acts of male and female leaders, with an objective to analyze the speech acts of female student leaders in a Malaysian secondary school according to Theory of Speech Acts by Bach & Harnish (1979). We collected data through in-depth interviews with three research participants who had been selected via purposive sampling. These participants were female students aged 17 years old with at least four years of leadership experience. After an in-depth qualitative analysis of interview data, we have demonstrated that speech acts of the research participants varied among constative, directive, commissive. Constatives, informative, assertive, and predictive acts. Among them, informative, assertive, and predictive speech acts dominated their utterances. In conclusion, the participants' speech acts indicated that, in general, they wished to be persuasive in their leadership roles and responsibilities.

 

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Author Biographies

  • Sharifah Syakila Syed Shaharuddin, School of Languages, Civilisation, and Philosophy, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Kedah, Malaysia

    Sharifah Syakila Syed Shaharuddin is a lecturer at the Academy of Language Studies, UiTM Kedah. Previously she taught English at a secondary school in Malaysia and is still actively organising activities and programmes for primary and secondary school students until today. Her PhD research involves analysing the language of leadership among student leaders.

  • Minah Harun, School of Languages, Civilisation, and Philosophy, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Kedah, Malaysia

    Dr. Minah Harun is senior Lecturer at the School of Languages, Civilisation and Philosophy, College of Arts and Sciences, Universiti Utara Malaysia. She is a former director of UUM Language Centre and Director of UUM Press. She is also a lifetime member of several associations including Malaysian Editors Association. Her research interests include interpersonal communication, interethnic communication, discourse analysis, hospitality language, learner difficulties, language teaching and learning.

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Published

2022-07-21

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 7 (2022)

Section

Articles

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