Malay ESL college students' spoken discourse: The use of formulaic expressions

Abstract

Abstract For communication purposes, formulaic expressions can be an easy and efficient way to impart information. Very often campaign slogans are built on using such expressions. Because the context and implications are transparent to the listening public, further explanations are usually not required. But once people get used to such a paratactic mode of expression, orally oriented language users may be lulled into thinking that, when they use such a mode of expression, there is no need for further elaboration of an issue at hand. This study examines whether literate Malays (undergraduates) use formulaic expressions in the spoken texts they produce. And in the event that they do, the study also hopes to determine the nature of topics that draws the use of such expressions. The results of the study show categorically that urban students do not use formulaic expressions. However, there is a tendency among rural students to use such expressions especially when discussing topics which are context reduced, i. e. when topics are more abstract.