Background and Purpose: Coronavirus has posed an unfamiliar threat to the world. Despite such circumstances, Malaysians continue to stay optimistic by keeping abreast with updates and mostly by seeking refuge in hopeful and consoling messages shared by fellow citizens. This study identified Facebook postings with positive messages, posted by Malaysians during the Movement Control Order (MCO) implemented by the Malaysian government as a form of prosocial behaviour. Methodology: Through an analytic framework consisting of Positive Discourse Analysis and Critical Discourse Analysis, 15 Facebook postings related to COVID-19 were selected and identified as positive discourse, which were coded and categorised using a thematic analysis. Further analysis was also conducted on the linguistic features identified in the narratives of the postings showing the construction of positive discourse in the Facebook postings. Findings: The findings demonstrate an extensive utilisation of expressions of solidarity primarily through collective pronouns like “we” and “us”, which suggest solidarity and empowerment among Malaysians in dealing with COVID-19. Further analysis reveals the forms and contextual functions of the linguistic strategies as carrying pragmatic devices (e.g. speech acts and figurative language), which contributes to the power enactment in the Facebook postings in creating an overall positive reaction. Contributions: This critical discourse study does not only promote positive discourse for its own sake, but also serves as a pragmatic approach to materialise utilitarian goals. It is therefore hoped to contribute not only to linguistics, but also social, psychological as well as arts and humanities studies through further examinations of the pivotal roles that communication and language play, especially in rising against dire situations. Keywords: COVID-19, Critical Discourse Analysis, media discourse, Positive Discourse Analysis, power and solidarity. Cite as: Azizan, M., Ismail, H. H., & Qaiwer, S. N. (2020). Power and solidarity in positive Facebook postings amidst COVID-19 in Malaysia. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 5(2), 329-364. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol5iss2pp329-364
The study aims to measure the level of academic stress in the e-learning environment in three areas, students and their dealing with classmates, dealing with the professor and technical skills, and the nature and content of the curriculum among graduate students in the College of Education at King Khalid University during COVID-19 pandemic. This study was descriptive in nature (survey, comparative). The sample consisted of (512) male and female graduate students in the master's and doctoral programs. The Academic Stress Scale in the E-learning Environment designed by Amer (2021) was used. The results indicated a high level of academic stress among graduate students in the e-learning environment. The study also found that there were stati
... Show MoreThe emergence of COVID-19 has resulted in an unprecedented escalation in different aspects of human activities, including medical education. Students and educators across academic institutions have confronted various challenges in following the guidelines of protection against the disease on one hand and accomplishing learning curricula on the other hand. In this short view, we presented our experience in implementing e-learning to the undergraduate nursing students during the present COVID-19 pandemic emphasizing the learning content, barriers, and feedback of students and educators. We hope that this view will trigger the preparedness of nursing faculties in Iraq to deal with this new modality of learning and improve it should t
... Show MoreThis study examines the analysis of the contents of the international public relations campaign in confronting the Covid-19 virus, which was taken from the (Your Health is a Trust) campaign for the World Health Organization, Iraq office.The research problem revolves around a main question that is, what are the axes of the campaign (Your Health is a Trust) established by the World Health Organization (Iraq office) in the prevention of Covid 19 virus?From this main question, several sub-questions emerged that this study answered on their Facebook page, and the communication activities of the Covid-19 awareness campaign. In the content analysis form, as this form included a number of main themes and main categoriesthat were adopted in analyzin
... Show MoreIn this research, the stopping power and range of protons in biological human soft and hard tissues (blood, brain, skeleton-cortical bone, and skin) of both child and adult are calculated at the energies ranging from 1MeV to 350 MeV. The data is collected from ICRU Report 46 and calculated the stopping power employing the Bethe formula. Moreover, the simple integration (continuous slowing down approximation) method is employed for calculating protons range at the target. Then, the stopping power and range of protons value in human tissues have been compared with the program called SRIM. Moreover, the results of the stopping power vs energy and the range vs energy have been presented graphically. Proper agreement is found between the gain
... Show MoreThe engagement of pharmacists in research activities is pivotal in the advancement of the pharmacy practice. The study aims to evaluate the confidence and competence of Malaysian hospital pharmacists in conducting clinical and practice-based research.
A cross-sectional study was carried out between September 2019 and April 2020 using an online survey. Pharmacists from eight different hospitals in Malaysia were involved in the study. The survey link was sent to all pharmacists of the included hospitals via email. Data were analysed using SPSS version 25.
A total of 226 pharmacists participated in this study, and their average age was 28 years old. About 82 % of the participants reported that they did not have any previous re
... Show MoreThe study aimed to evaluate the distance learning experience in light of the spread of the Corona pandemic - Covid19 - from the teachers' point of view in Islamic Science Institutes in the Sultanate of Oman, which was applied during the second semester of the 2019/2020 academic year. The study sample consisted of (77) teachers from The Islamic Science Institutes of The Sultan Qaboos Higher Center for Culture and Science. The researchers prepared a questionnaire to evaluate the reality of the experience. The study results revealed, the followings: The Department of Educational Affairs and Training at The Sultan Qaboos Higher Center for Culture and Science was able to a moderate degree in the rapid transition to a distance learning s
... Show MoreIs the subject of Facebook of more topics that aroused interest and that it provides the features and services that allows users to direct communication and interaction and dialogue with others, and deals with the subject of research the use of Facebook and its effects left by the social relations, as the field study was conducted on a sample of 130 students from students Baghdad University of males and females in the Faculty of Political Science and Agriculture, Science and Education, Girls, and limited the sample to Facebook users exclusively to test the study hypotheses and relationships connectivity, and the results revealed the presence of a significant impact of Facebook in th
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