1. A Malaysian Literary Researcher’s Explorations and Contributions in the Context of Current Trends in Literary Analysis Malachi Edwin Vethamani, PhD Professor and Dean School of Education, Languages & Communication Wawasan Open University

2. Introduction Why carry out research? What do you want to research on? Will your research contribute to a body of knowledge? Do you or anyone care? Do you present your research findings at conferences? Do you publish your research findings and papers?

3. The Beginning … Finding a niche area of one’s own Researching on an area that would of interest Researching on an area that has both academic and personal interest Sustaining interest in research area Researching in area that has continued academic interest

4. Contemporary literary research concerns: 1.Driven by critical theory reading of texts 2.Various forms of discourse analysis: Stylistic analysis Text analysis: Examines texts as communication systems and uncovering and describing text grammars.

5. Critical Theories Reading literary texts using a range of critical/literary theories from Formalist reading to Deconstruction to gender-based, politically-based and post-modernist readings

6. Discourse Analysis Stylistic analysis: A more scientific reading of texts that examines the effects writers affect through the use of words on readers Textualinguistic Analysis: Examines texts as communication systems and uncovers and describes text grammars.

7. My research journey Choosing a niche area of research Bibliographical research Anthologising creative writing Discourse analysis: Stylistic Analysis Post-colonial theory Malaysian Literature in English in the Malaysian school system

8. Choosing a niche area of research Malaysian Writing Malaysian Literature in English

9. Bibliographical research Bibliography of Malaysian Literature in English –Long-term project –7 years of research before publication in 2001 –Still on-going

10. Anthologising creative writing Compiling literary texts for publications –2003 Published anthology of Malaysian poems –Currently working on a volume of short stories and second volume of poetry

11. Discourse analysis Reading literary texts:  modality  transitivity  conversation analysis

12. Stylistic Analysis Reading literary texts: From lexis to syntax to discourse Cohesion Graphology Phonology Dialect Register Period

13. Post-colonial theory Theorising Malaysian literature in English Diaspora Hegemony National and Sectional literature Emergency of Malaysian literature in English as a literary tradition

14. Malaysian Literature in English in the Malaysian school system Malaysian Literature in English in language education Malaysian Literature in English and current issues Malaysian Literature in English for multiculturalism

15. Conclusion There is a need to document the development of Malaysian writing in English, especially by Malaysians, when there are misreadings by foreign critics. … These omissions and misreadings of Malaysian Literature in English indicate a need for Malaysian scholarship on one’s own literary tradition. Vethamani (2005:1)

16. Thank You www.edwinvethamani.com