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The study examined the framing of LGBTQ in four newspapers in Malaysia. The search uncovered 60 articles on LGBTQ published from January 1 to December 31, 2019 in four online newspapers, namely, MalaysiaKini, The Star Online, Free Malaysia Today, and Astro Awani Online. MalaysiaKini attributed the greatest salience to LGBTQ both in article number and length. LGBTQ was mostly covered using episodic framing (72.73%-91.67%). There were significant differences among the four newspapers on the dominant frames used for representing LGBTQ. The most-used frame was morality in the articles published by the alternative newspapers, but the constitution and jurisprudence frame dominated in the mainstream newspaper, The Star. The four newspapers were similar in their reliance on human rights groups and politicians as information sources. The voices of LGBTQ are muted, implying that they have been sidelined as members of society who cannot assert their rights to speak. Some articles were written in a positive tone in The Star, Free Malaysia Today, and MalaysiaKini, but there were no articles with positive valence in Astro Awani. Negative valence dominated in LGBTQ coverage, reflecting the disapproval of LGBTQ in Malaysia where Islam is the official religion and homosexuality is banned. The findings suggest that dominant frames and valence are constructed through a selective choice of information sources in the context of cultural factors that are at play. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study focussed on deconstructing heterosexuals’ stigmatisation of LGBT in the context of religion in Malaysia. The qualitative study involved semi-structured interviews with 21 heterosexuals (Buddhist, Christian, Muslim). The interview questions focussed on societal and personal views of LGBT. Thematic analysis of interview transcripts totalling 30,488 words showed the lay perspective on the construction of homosexuality in terms of personal choice, situational factors, and ideologies of stigma. The participants were able to empathize with personal choice only because they perceived the LGBT individuals had no chance of reverting to a so-called normal identity. The participants reanimated, rehearsed and re-presented the ideological defence of heterosexuality through repeated stigmatisation of difference and non-conformity in the context of the normative religious beliefs. They also perceived homosexuals as a potential threat to the morality of the norm-compliant population, prone to emotional and psychological instability, and a threat to the veneer of normalcy. The study showed that such popular theorising is not a neutral instrument of knowledge but one that carries ideological power in normalizing stigma towards LGBT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of higher education, lecturer questioning is a feasible means to encourage active student participation in a large class setting. Questions are useful for both instructional interactional purposes hut there maybe a disciplinary difference in questioning practices. This study examined arts and science lecturers' use of questions in lecture introductions and student responses to the questions. Forty-seven lecture introductions delivered in English in a Malaysian university were audio taped and transcribed. Questions were categorized into display, echoic, indirect, referential and rhetorical questions. The analysis of 14 hours of lecture introduction discourse showed that 1001 questions were asked at the rate of one question per minute, indicating extensive use of questions in the lecture introductions examined. The arts lecturers tended to ask more questions during the lecture introduction but both groups relied on display questions and echoic questions. Only 22.18% of the questions were answered, with better response from the arts students. The lecturers asked more display questions, but these questions were less likely to be answered compared to referential questions. However, the type of question with the best response was the indirect question. The results showed that questions were mainly for activating students' prior knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]