Group Communication in Work-related Instant Messaging (IM): Request Strategies Among Adult Malay Speakers of English
Abstract
A large majority of Malaysia's 34.9 million online users are active online communication participants, making offline communication progressively obsolete. This high penetration figure allows online communication apps to be unlocked countless times a day, as thousands of text messages are sent regularly by online users. Nevertheless, unlike offline communication, online communication, like instant messaging (IM), does not normally transmit non-verbal cues such as facial expressions, touches, or voices as they are primarily text-based. As a result, it takes more time and effort for users to understand one another in order to make up for the lack of non-verbal cues. Our study focused on analysing material and non-material want requests used by adult Malay speakers of English in IM contexts related to work. We categorised these requests into directness, conventional indirectness, and non-conventional indirectness, employing a modified version of Hassall's (1999) analytical framework for request classifications. The results disclosed that participants preferred directness more than indirectness when making requests. The direct strategy within the imperative sub-strategy was favoured the most when non-material want requests (such as asking other participants to join online meetings) were performed. Nevertheless, when material want requests (like wanting to buy food containers) were carried out, the direct strategy under the want statement sub-strategy emerged as the most preferred method. Our research revealed that in IM, where non-verbal cues were insufficient, directness was predominantly adopted to convey certainty, clarity, and efficacy, implying directness as non-imposed. Hence, it is suggested to make work-related IM requests directly, as it allows speakers to present requests clearly, which subsequently creates quality relationships and maintains productivity.
Keywords: Adult Malay speakers of English; instant messaging (IM); request Head Act; request strategies; work- related group communication
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