3L: Language, Linguistics, Literature® The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies
3L: Language, Linguistics, Literature® The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies is an ESCI (ISI, WoS) and Scopus indexed peer reviewed international journal published by UKM Press. The journal is committed to exploring and highlighting insights into key issues dealing with English Language Studies in multilingual contexts within the fields of Language, Linguistics and Literature. While the ultimate objective of the journal is to create critical awareness of global concerns with all areas of English language Studies, it especially welcomes perspectives from marginalized communities in Southeast Asia and across the globe. 3L publishes issues in March, June, September, and December. We also publish special sections alongside regular issues.
If the article is accepted for publication, copyright of this article will be vested to UKM Press, National University of Malaysia (UKM). All articles published in this journal are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license, unless otherwise stated.
War and Conflicting Voices: Attitudinal Analysis of Chinese and British News Reports on the Israel-Gaza War
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Middle East stands out as one of the most enduring and complex disputes of the 21st century. Despite being the central focus of world political discussions, this conflict has not received the scholarly attention it deserves. Therefore, this study investigates attitudinal devices used in the coverage of the Israel-Gaza war in China and Britain, using the appraisal theory of Martin and White (2005). This study aims to reveal the potential bias in media reports by analysing the frequency and type of the three attitudinal devices, i.e., affect, judgment, and appreciation, in 80 news reports from China Daily and BBC. The study utilised a qualitative corpus-based approach using the UAM Corpus Tool 6. The findings show that the two media use all types of attitudinal devices, but there were notable differences in their application of affect, judgment, and appreciation. While China Daily mainly uses appreciation devices, focusing on evaluating events and objects, the BBC uses more judgment devices, emphasising ethical evaluation and social norms. This variation indicates that while the Chinese media tends to focus on the evaluation of events and objects to maintain objectivity, the BBC emphasises ethical and normative assessments, reflecting a cultural inclination towards moral and legal scrutiny. In addition, the BBC shows more negative attitudes and criticism than China Daily, indicating a stance of non-support in their coverage of the Israel-Gaza conflict. These results underscore the important role of media in shaping public perception and highlight the need for critical news consumption when interpreting media coverage and cross-cultural narratives. The study’s findings further suggest that news organisations should strive to achieve greater objectivity in their news coverage by developing greater awareness of evaluative language in news texts. Keywords: Appraisal Theory; Attitude System; Political News Discourse; Israel-Gaza War DOI: http://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2026-3201-01
Copyright (c) 2026 3L: Language, Linguistics, Literature® The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies
Making Disclosure Credible: An Intertextual Analysis of Argentine and Malaysian Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Reports
The recent interest in environmental, social and governance (ESG) concerns reveals growing recognition of human-induced crises. ESG disclosure is articulated in various texts, but ESG reports are the principal genre. These reports display intertextuality because the absorption and transformation of other texts are crucial to making meaning. The present article investigates ESG reports from Argentina and Malaysia and performs an intertextual analysis. The intertextual references enable corporations to disclose compliance, guidance, confirmation, evidence and resources for ESG activities. The functions can be realised by different language features and provide variety in articulating intertextuality. The references can be organised, considering intertextual source and intertextual gap to reveal how references are employed and motivate querying why references are employed in such a manner. While internal sources promote self-regulation for ESG, external sources promote cooperation among various parties for ESG. Moreover, minimising more than maximising the intertextual gap gives corporations greater control of information, and it can be traced to specific individuals/groups and documents. Intertextuality is choreographed because corporations select the references or certain parts of these references. The selection is simultaneously inclusive and exclusive because amenable references are included, but others are excluded. Intertextuality in ESG reports becomes a ‘short-cut’ to garner corporate credibility. It frames beneficial activities and is an exercise in impression management because a favourable construal of ESG and therefore corporations is cultivated. These findings could motivate academics and practitioners to improve discursive competence, a systematic way to decipher and deploy intertextuality. Keywords: ESG; disclosure; intertextuality; references; impression DOI: http://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2026-3201-02
Interpreters’ Subjectivity in Diplomatic Interpreting: A Sociosemiotic Analysis of China’s 14th NPC Press Conference
This study investigates how interpreters exercise agency in high-stakes diplomatic interpreting, adopting Morris’s (1938) sociosemiotic framework to analyse their role as cultural-political mediators. Drawing on Chinese-English consecutive interpreting data from the 2023 Premier’s press conference of China’s 14th National People’s Congress (NPC), the paper argues that interpreters’ subjectivity manifests across three dimensions of meaning-making: as cultural transcoders navigating referential meanings, as discourse restructurers reconfiguring intra-lingual patterns, and as cultural-political mediators contextualising pragmatic effects. The analysis reveals that interpreters do not merely transfer linguistic content but actively mediate cross-cultural communication through deliberate choices in rendering culturally-specific expressions, restructuring discourse patterns, and navigating politically sensitive content. Diplomatic interpreters balance fidelity to source messages with adaptations necessary for target audience comprehension, particularly when handling Chinese political idioms, parallel rhetorical structures, and culturally embedded metaphors. These findings extend our understanding of diplomatic interpreting as a complex act of cross-cultural negotiation rather than mere linguistic transfer, with significant implications for interpreter training and conceptualising interpreters’ agency in high-stakes political communication. Future research could examine the universality of these patterns across different language pairs and interpreting modalities. Keywords: Diplomatic interpreting; Interpreters’ subjectivity; Sociosemiotics; Cross-cultural communication; Political discourse DOI: http://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2026-3201-03
Politeness Strategies of Anglo Expatriates in Indonesia: A Sociopragmatic Analysis of Directive Speech Acts
Politeness strategies in speech acts are essential for Anglo expatriates navigating Indonesia’s hierarchical, high-context culture. This study investigates how expatriates from the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand apply politeness in directive speech acts, shaped by intercultural interactions and local power structures. This research employs a qualitative approach, with data collected through a Discourse Completion Test (DCT) administered to 26 expatriates in Jakarta, Bali, and West Java; the data are then analysed using Brown and Levinson's Politeness Theory and Searle's Speech Act Theory, focusing on hierarchy, social distance, and power. The results indicate a shift in the application of Brown and Levinson's Politeness Theory in the Indonesian context, showing Anglo expatriates from low-context cultures adapt to high-context norms in their directive speech acts through modified politeness strategies. Negative politeness predominates, particularly among British, Canadian, and American expatriates, while Australians and New Zealanders adopt a more blended approach, reflecting flexible deployment of politeness strategies according to cultural and regional norms. In Jakarta and Bali, politeness strategies are applied most casually, whereas in West Java they are expressed most formally, demonstrating how expatriates navigate hierarchical and high-context communication patterns. Positive politeness and culturally attuned lexical choices further signal heightened sociopragmatic awareness and reconfigured face management, especially via pronoun-based markers. Given the limited empirical research on expatriate politeness in Indonesia, particularly among Anglo expatriates, we believe this study offers significant novelty by providing rare, context-specific evidence that extends intercultural pragmatics through grounded insights into politeness adaptation in a high-context sociocultural setting in Indonesia. Keywords: Anglo; expatriates; politeness; directive; Indonesia DOI: http://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2026-3201-04
Journeys of Change: Merantau and Diffusionism in Khatijah Sidek’s Memoirs of Khatijah Sidek:Puteri Kesateria Bangsa (2001)
Merantau, a migratory practice deeply embedded in Minangkabau culture, has traditionally been associated with men leaving their homeland to pursue education or economic opportunities, in line with the saying alam takambang menjadi guru (the unfolding earth becomes the teacher). Drawing on Khatijah Sidek’s Memoirs of Khatijah Sidek: Puteri Kesateria Bangsa, this article examines how a Khatijah, as a woman, reconfigures merantau in the colonial and postcolonial contexts of Malaya and Sumatra. While studies on merantau have largely centred on male experiences, limited attention has been given to women’s reinterpretations of the tradition in life writings. While initially encouraged by her parents, Khatijah’s journey becomes an act of self-determination that challenges the gendered boundaries of the tradition. Using Chabot and Duyvendak (2002) framework of transnational diffusionism and a qualitative textual analysis of the memoir, the article analyses how Khatijah adapts and transmits ideas of independence and political engagement across borders. It considers how her experiences of colonisation and patriarchy inform her reimagining of merantau as a tool for women’s empowerment. Importantly, the article highlights Khatijah’s experience as an “incomplete merantau,” one that remains unsettled and without return, reflecting the unresolved nature of her journey. By amplifying the voices of Minangkabau women, Khatijah’s memoir disrupts the male-centred narrative of merantau, reframing it as a practice that fosters agency, self-actualisation, and resistance to societal norms. Keywords: transnational diffusionism; migration; Minangkabau; memoirs; women’s narrative DOI: http://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2026-3201-05
A Contrastive Study on Conceptual Metaphor “WOMEN ARE SUPERNATURAL FORCES” in 20th-Century Vietnamese and American Literature: A Cognitive Linguistic Approach
Conceptual metaphors are a pervasive means through which literature conveys abstract ideas via concrete imagery. In literature, women are often portrayed through supernatural symbolism, reflecting their complex social, cultural, and moral roles. This study adopts a cognitive linguistic approach to examine the metaphor “WOMEN ARE SUPERNATURAL FORCES” in 20th-century Vietnamese and American literature. Drawing on 4,000 metaphorical statements, the analysis focuses on 213 statements within the “supernatural forces” domain, identified using the Metaphor Identification Procedure (Pragglejaz Group, 2007) across four sub-domains: types, features, activities, and realms. The findings reveal that women are perceived as supernatural entities evoking both positive and negative emotions. They are described in dualistic terms, embodying both extremes of good and evil in appearance, morality, and action. These portrayals depict women as divine or angelic figures symbolising beauty and virtue, and as witches or demonic beings representing ugliness, danger, and malevolence. This duality encapsulates cultural ambivalence—revering women while marginalising them. In both corpora, women appear as sources of enchantment and anxiety, but with distinct cultural orientations. Vietnamese literature, shaped by polytheistic and Buddhist traditions, frames women as spiritualised beings whose strength lies in harmony and transcendence. American texts, grounded in Christian cosmology, construe female agency through moral struggle, emphasising temptation, sin, and redemption. The comparison shows that while both cultures employ a divine–demonic hierarchy to conceptualise femininity, Vietnamese mappings stress spiritual harmony, whereas American ones dramatise moral dualism and inner conflict. These findings suggest that metaphorical cognition shows universal tendencies, yet its expression remains culture-specific. Keywords: conceptual metaphor; women; supernatural forces; literature; contrastive study DOI: http://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2026-3201-06
Non-Self and Mindfulness in Thích Nhất Hạnh’s Buddhist Prose: An Ecocritical and Yin–Yang Perspective
Two of the core concepts in the Buddhist prose of Zen Master Thích Nhất Hạnh are non-self and mindfulness. These notions play a pivotal role in cultivating inner peace and fostering a harmonious world. This study focuses on two representative non-fiction prose works by Thích Nhất Hạnh: “Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life” (Thích Nhất Hạnh, 2023a) and “No Death, No Fear: Comforting Wisdom for Life” (Thích Nhất Hạnh, 2024). The article employs spiritual ecocriticism in combination with comparative Eastern philosophy – specifically the Yin–Yang framework of Taoism – while applying textual analysis and an interdisciplinary approach that integrates Buddhist studies, poetics, and ecology. It explores non-self and mindfulness in Thích Nhất Hạnh’s representative prose works. The findings reveal that non-self is a philosophical notion guiding human beings to transcend self-attachment, whereas mindfulness is a practical path that enables one to live deeply in each present moment. Together, these two elements establish a foundation of peace and harmony – not only on the personal level but also in relation to the community and the natural environment. Viewed through the lens of ecocriticism and in dialogue with the Yin–Yang philosophy of Taoism, Thích Nhất Hạnh's prose emerges as an eco-humanistic discourse, emphasising the principle of interbeing among human beings, nature, and spiritual life. The findings of this article provide reference material for the reading and study of the Buddhist prose of Zen Master Thích Nhất Hạnh. Keywords: non-self; mindfulness; prose; Buddhism; Thích Nhất Hạnh DOI: http://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2026-3201-07
Language, Space, and Cultural Identity in the Bilingual Landscape of Amman
This study explores how Arabic and English are symbolically and visually represented in commercial signage across Amman, with particular attention to the interaction between language variety, visual design, and spatial placement. Despite growing interest in bilingual landscape research, Arabic-dominant urban contexts interspersed with English, such as Jordan, have received comparatively little attention, especially regarding how visual signage contributes to the construction of cultural identity in a globalised city. Drawing on Scollon and Scollon’s (2003) geosemiotic framework, this study adopts a qualitative linguistic landscape approach, using photographic documentation of storefronts and billboards from major commercial streets in Amman. First, the analysis illustrates how street signs function not only as channels of communication but also as semiotic resources through which identity, belief, and cultural context are expressed. Second, the findings reveal a semiotic distinction between local (informal) Arabic and English languages on shopfronts, which target local and immediate interaction, while the use of Standard Arabic alongside English or Romanised Arabic on billboards aims at a broader, more cosmopolitan audience. By focusing on Amman's bilingual signage, the negotiation of cultural identity through Arabic and English public space interactions that construct multi-layered, globally- informed urban communication forms can be presented. Keywords: Arabic and English signage; bilingual landscape; geosemiotics; Jordan; language and identity DOI: http://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2026-3201-08
Thanatopolitics and the Constant Smallness of Being: Necropower and Bare Life in Abulhawa’s Mornings in Jenin
Foucault and Agamben cogently argue that modern democracies continue to perpetuate violence and systematise the exclusion of the marginalised beings through entrenched ulterior motives and power dynamics, generally seen through thanatopolitics. Thanatopolitics, a term commonly used to refer to the exercise of power, determines whose lives are preserved and whose are rendered disposable. Such perpetuation of dehumanisation can often be seen in contemporary fiction. By taking Palestinian fiction, Mornings in Jenin, as an example, this paper examines the interplay between necropower, biopower, surveillance, and the state of exception in shaping the politics of the body. Specifically, this paper examines how the body becomes a central site of control, resistance, memory, and erasure under conditions of prolonged occupation and militarised governance. Through a close reading concerning strategies of disempowerment, stories about concentration camps, refugees, and above all, the living dead are first presented. Secondly, this paper analyses the lived experiences of Palestinians grappling with the unending, wide-range violence, evoking minutiae of harsh realities under emergency through the description of Palestinians’ wounded and mutilated bodies. Finally, this paper discloses the many ways in which the Palestinian struggle against dispossession and displacement is humanised, sparking meaningful conversations about the Palestinian culture of resistance against de(atrophy), a sense of decay, a loss of function, or a reduction of the significance of the Palestinian people. By centralising the body within necthanatopolitical discourses, this paper offers a stark contrast against available postcolonial inquiries, presenting new insights into literary strategies deployed to reclaim agency amidst systemic death-worlds. Keywords: dehumanisation; Mornings in Jenin; Palestinian fiction; state power; thanatopolitics DOI: http://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2026-3201-09
Bare Life in the Digital Age: Homo Sacer, Necropolitics, and Algorithmic Control in the Selected Contemporary Fiction
In the age of surveillance capitalism, distinctions between biological life and digital data have become profoundly blurred in ways that fundamentally reshape human agency and sovereignty. Whereas corporate algorithms and platform monopolies are influencing social and individual behaviour on an unprecedented scale, the conventional definitions of political exclusion need to be revisited. This article engages with this status quo by analysing Kazuo Ishiguro's Klara and the Sun (Ishiguro, 2021), Dave Eggers’s The Every (Eggers, 2021), and Jennifer Egan’s The Candy House (Egan, 2022) through the lens of Giorgio Agamben’s theory of Homo Sacer and "bare life." By synthesising Agamben's framework with Achille Mbembe’s “necropolitics” and Shoshana Zuboff’s critique of the digital economy, the study argues that these narratives depict a new “state of exception.” In this digital paradigm, sovereign power is outsourced to technological infrastructures, rendering human and non-human subjects into disposable data points. The analysis shows that these works move beyond dystopian speculation and expose how algorithmic governance and the “psychopolitics" of self-optimisation operate as contemporary biopolitical camps. In the end, the paper argues that these novels modulate bare life’s migration from a bodily camp to a digital code. Keywords: Algorithmic Governance; Digital Humanities; Necropolitics; Surveillance Capitalism; Kazuo Ishiguro DOI: http://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2026-3201-10
Assessing Legal Translations Generated by GPT-4 Turbo Using MQM: A Comparative Study
Advances in artificial intelligence (AI), particularly through GPT models, have significantly enhanced machine translation (MT) capabilities, offering more accurate and nuanced translations. This study investigates the influence of different translation prompts on the quality of legal translations generated by Generative Pretrained Transformer-4 (GPT-4) Turbo. By applying the Multidimensional Quality Metrics (MQM) framework, the research evaluates both the types and frequency of errors found in translations produced by existing and newly developed prompts. The study focuses on comparing translation commission prompts—designed to enhance context-specific texts—with existing prompts in terms of translation quality. A dataset of 14 Saudi Laws, drawn from official sources, serves as the basis for analysis, with reference translations used as benchmarks. The findings reveal that the newly developed prompts, specifically tailored for legal translation, resulted in significantly lower error rates (10-12%) compared to existing prompts, which demonstrated error rates ranging from 34% to 45%. These results underscore the transformative potential of tailored prompt engineering in achieving high-quality legal translations by reducing errors in terminology, accuracy, and style. By categorising and ranking translation errors by severity, the research highlights the impact of prompt engineering on improving legal translation performance. These findings contribute to the development of more effective MT systems, offering practical insights for refining machine translation in the legal field and beyond. Keywords: GPT-4 Turbo; Legal Translation; Machine Translation; Multidimensional Quality Metrics; Translation Commission DOI: http://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2026-3201-11
ChatGPT as a Tool in Developing Research and Language Skills in a Research Methodology Course
ChatGPT has been utilised across various applications, such as language translation, content generation, and language modelling. This empirical study examines how this technological tool is used by a class of postgraduate students to develop their research and language skills. 36 participants, comprising MA, MPhil, and PhD students, were involved. Data was collected through a questionnaire survey and interviews. Results from the questionnaire indicated that the majority of participants agreed that ChatGPT assisted them in doing their research work. This assistance included generating initial ideas for the literature review, summarising past studies, synthesising information from multiple sources, summarising past research articles, exploring concepts and theories for the research, developing more precise questions, rewriting the problem statement and learning how to summarise and paraphrase. Results from the interviews revealed three themes on ChatGPT's function as a research tool: guidance, making inquiry and writing. Meanwhile, the participants reported in the interviews that they developed language skills such as summarising, paraphrasing, writing clearer sentences, knowing how to use synonyms and cohesive devices, using correct keywords, how to give opinions, suggestions and write a paragraph. These findings highlight the importance of understanding how technologies like ChatGPT can be integrated effectively into educational settings. The study concludes that ChatGPT proves to be a valuable tool for students in enhancing various research skills, from idea generation to writing refinement. Its use not only supports academic tasks but also helps improve language proficiency and critical thinking throughout the research process. Keywords: ChatGPT; language skills; research tool; postgraduate students; research DOI: http://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2026-3201-12
Evaluative Meaning and Persuasion in Shaanxi Tourism Website Discourse: An Appraisal-Based Analysis
In the context of globalisation, tourism websites have emerged as crucial platforms for governments to promote destinations and attract potential visitors, with their textual content exerting profound implications for destination image-building and international appeal. Based on the Appraisal framework within Systemic Functional Linguistics, this study employed the UAM Corpus Tool 3.3 and a mixed-methods approach to analyse the official Shaanxi English-language tourism website, focusing on the distribution patterns and persuasive mechanisms of evaluative resources. The findings indicate that the Attitude system is predominantly realised through Appreciation resources, foregrounding cultural value and aesthetic appeal in destination representation. Engagement and Graduation further reinforce persuasive effectiveness by regulating intersubjective positioning and evaluative intensity. Specifically, the discourse is characterised by a high proportion of monoglossic statements that project authority, alongside heteroglossic strategies, particularly entertain and attribute, that facilitate reader alignment and dialogic involvement. Within the Graduation system, Force resources are most salient, intensifying evaluation and scaling cultural significance. Collectively, these evaluative patterns construct an authoritative yet engaging tourism narrative through affective appeal, stance negotiation, and evaluation scaling, thereby strengthening both persuasive impact and destination image construction. This study demonstrates the analytical value of the Appraisal framework for understanding evaluative meaning-making in online tourism discourse. Keywords: Appraisal Theory; Tourism websites; Attitude; Persuasion; UAM Corpus Tool 3.3 DOI: http://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2026-3201-13
An Exploration of the Informal Waste Scavenger’s Case as Reflected in Mirdula Koshy’s Bicycle Dreaming
Literature thoroughly explores the physical milieu, encompassing settings, human-environment dynamics, and individual interactions within their surroundings. Given its crucial role in environmental preservation, waste picking commands significant attention in literary discourse. Both formal and informal waste pickers exemplify the complex interplay between humanity and its environment. This inquiry scrutinises the portrayal of informal waste scavengers in Mridula Koshy’s Bicycle Dreaming. Within the narrative landscape of Bicycle Dreaming, Koshy vividly investigates the plight of informal waste pickers living in an Indian colony, highlighting the harsh conditions they endure and the formidable challenges they face in their daily work. Through a critical lens, this study scrutinises the significance of informal waste scavengers in preserving a habitable environment for human existence. Grounded in Ecocritical, Cultural, and Marxian theories, the analysis discerns the nuanced interplay between societal structures, environmental stewardship, and the marginalised existence of waste pickers. Advocating for the formalisation of informal waste sector activities within a robust legal framework, this study posits that such regulation is essential to afford these workers the safeguards they require against the inherent adversities of their profession. By ensuring their welfare and stability, such regulatory measures are deemed imperative for upholding societal well-being and environmental sustainability. Keywords: Ecocriticism; Cultural Theory; Marxian Theory; Environmental Justice Movement; Informal-waste sector DOI: http://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2026-3201-14
Mimicry, Resistance, and the Desire for Assimilation in Unmarriageable: Reclaiming Identity through Writing Back to the Empire
This research paper examines Sonia Kamal's Unmarriageable (2019) as a postcolonial narrative that oscillates between 'assimilation' and 'resistance,' ultimately producing a mimicry of colonial literary form. Homi K. Bhabha's concept of 'mimicry' helps analyse the tendencies of mimicry and a desire for assimilation in Kamal's narrative. Bill Ashcroft's concept of 'writing back' explains how postcolonial writers use literature to reclaim their cultural identity, rewrite history, and counter the dominant Eurocentric perspective. The research contends that while writing back, instead of creating a narrative rooted in Indigenous culture, Kamal's work reflects a propensity to replicate her colonial predecessors' literary forms and structures. This form of mimicry serves as a tool to resist in a postcolonial context through literary re-appropriation. This study critically examines how Unmarriageable (2019) serves as a site of cultural negotiation, where the desire for acceptance (assimilation) within the global literary world results in a significant mimicry of English literary traditions. The study examines whether such mimicry undermines the potential for authentic expression and merely reflects the influence of colonial power structures in shaping postcolonial literature, or whether, as the analysis suggests, mimicry can be valued as a meaningful reimagining and a form of resistance that offers a rich perspective on postcolonial identity by reinterpreting the plot of Pride and Prejudice (1813), a novel rooted in colonial representation. Keywords: assimilation; resistance; writing back; mimicry; Bhabha DOI: http://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2026-3201-15
From Fat Shaming to Body Positivity: Resilience and Identity Transformation in R. Chaitanya’s The Cursed Curves
In contemporary society, self-perceptions, bodily appearances, and beauty norms, resulting from the external and authentic identity, have defined selfhood. Societal standards have a notable impact on one’s emotions, identity, experiences, and perceptions. The pursuit of thinness has influenced the minds of society, particularly among women who face discontentment with their body colour, size, and shape. This societal pressure has followed a harmful pattern, leading to women's suffering over time. Society propagates violence in the form of bullying, body shaming, and verbal discrimination. This paper attempts to illuminate the protagonist Naina’s resilient journey towards body positivity in the novel “The Cursed Curves” by R. Chaitanya. This descriptive analysis articulates the profound struggle of a young woman who is experiencing body shaming and fat discrimination, presenting an intense emotional journey of self-doubt and isolation. The protagonist's journey of self-transformation highlights her resilient agency, evolving from a victim of fatphobia to the founder of a body positivity centre. By employing psychosocial resilience theory, this paper illustrates the literary depictions of body image and how self-worth and emotional resilience can be restored by reshaping the personal trauma into a space of acceptance and healing. It also highlights the psychological consequences, the journey from criticism to self-acceptance, and the empowerment of advocating for self-worth and body positivity. Keywords: body shame; beauty standards; resilience; body positivity; self-acceptance DOI: http://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2026-3201-16
Non-normative Sexuality And Genders Confronted: A Study of Translators-In-Training’s Intercultural Competence through English-Thai Translation of LGBTQ+ Texts
This study focuses on the use of LGBTQ+ language and translator skills as markers of intercultural competence. Informed by queer translation theory and intercultural competence, this qualitative study examines translators-in-training’s English–Thai translations and uses interviews to explore the rendering of non-normative sexualities and genders. The first part examines how translators-in-training translated references to non-normative sexualities and gender groups from English into Thai, and the second part presents interviews with the participants about their subjective translation choices in relation to LGBTQ+ knowledge and intercultural competence. Ten undergraduate students majoring in English at a university in southern Thailand were invited to participate on a voluntary basis. The findings indicated that translators-in-training might lack appropriate vocabulary for describing non-normative sexualities and genders, leading some to use omission, misinterpret terms, or rely on traditional pronouns. The interview results showed that participants were receptive to LGBTQ+ characters in the source texts, regardless of gender, demonstrating a certain level of informed social awareness in their translation decision-making. While they might not yet possess the necessary language skills, a positive attitude toward marginalised groups could enable them to engage with and translate similar texts in the future, given their passion for learning through listening, observing, interpreting, and making connections. Intercultural competence encompasses translation competence. Our participants’ reflections on their own translations also demonstrated their potential to deepen their understanding of other bodies from the original/source cultures, as well as the ability to read and interpret them with diverse cognitions. Keywords: translator-in-training; intercultural competence; literary translation; sexuality; LGBTQ+ language DOI: http://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2026-3201-17
Copyright (c) 2026 3L: Language, Linguistics, Literature® The Southeast Asian Journal
Reading Between the Lines: Exploring Narrative Identity through Genre-based Sentiment Analysis of a Corpus of Student-Teachers’ Narratives
In an educational landscape increasingly dominated by utilitarian-technocratic values and affective austerity, the psychosocial dimension of learner identity is often sidelined. This orientation has marginalised the humanities and social sciences, displacing affect, ethics, and narrative from the centre of human inquiry, thereby prioritising productivity and quantification over reflection and emotional growth, reducing learners to data points rather than meaning-makers. This study seeks to reassert the value of psychosocial and affective meaning-making in education by drawing on Narrative Identity Theory, which views writing as a form of self-narration reflecting the writer's emotional and psychological state. Thirty-six student-teachers enrolled in an undergraduate education programme each produced a narrative text of approximately 1,200 words in a genre of their choice. Corpus linguistic methods were employed (using RStudio packages) to map sentiment trajectories against different genres, using these lexical patterns as proxies for the construction of narrative identity. Results indicate a statistically significant, albeit small (v = .06), association between genre choice and affective sentiment, suggesting that narrative identity is (re)constructed as a continuous process rather than a fixed outcome. The findings, interpreted via Kramsch’s and Uryu’s “third space” theory and Bakhtin’s operationalisation of ventriloquism, show that student-teachers’ narratives often challenge normative identity archetypes and pedagogical expectations. The study demonstrates the potential of genre-sentiment analysis as a reflective and insight-generating tool for educators seeking to understand students’ affective states and identity negotiation. Future research may extend this work to multimodal storytelling and the development of emotional resilience in teacher education contexts. Keywords: Genre Analysis; Sentiment Analysis; Learner Corpus; Narrative Identity; NRC Sentiment Lexicon DOI: http://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2026-3201-18
TED Talks as a Pedagogical Bridge: Exploring Strategies for Reducing Speaking Anxiety in Iranian and Indian Contexts
This research investigates the impact of TED Talks on communication apprehension (CA) and foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA) among university students in Iran and India. The study utilised two closed-ended questionnaires, PRCA-24 and FLCA, which employed a descriptive survey methodology for data collection and evaluation. The participants involved 400 undergraduate students from Iran and India who had previously completed university-level oral communication or spoken English courses, where TED Talks were integrated as part of the instructional materials. The findings revealed that TED Talks could potentially decrease levels of CA among participants. However, no statistically significant correlation was observed between nationality and PRCA-24 scores. Similarly, no significant disparity in FLCA scores was found between the Iranian and Indian cohorts. The study underscores the potential of TED Talks in English language training in Iran and India, suggesting that they can enhance conversational skills. The study suggests that nationality does not significantly influence the effectiveness of TED Talks in various cultural and national settings. The study provides valuable insights for future research. It calls for a broader participant range, the use of objective metrics, standardised instructional approaches, consideration of varying proficiency levels, and technological accessibility to improve conversational skills development. In general, the study offers significant contributions to the understanding of the utilisation of TED Talks as an educational instrument for CA and FLCA to enhance conversational abilities within Iranian and Indian universities. The findings offer significant insights for educators and curriculum developers operating within these geographic regions. Keywords: Anxiety; Apprehension; Communication; Conversation; TED Talks DOI: http://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2026-3201-19
Group Communication in Work-related Instant Messaging (IM): Request Strategies Among Adult Malay Speakers of English
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 DOI: http://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2026-3201-20
Towards a Tribal Literary Criticism in India: Engaging Northeast Tribal Voices in English Literature
This article formulates and applies a tribal literary criticism to the tribal voices of Northeast India articulated in English literature. It moves beyond prevailing literary paradigms that have traditionally marginalised indigenous worldviews and viewpoints by adopting indigenous-tribal epistemologies and a decolonial approach. By applying tribal knowledge through close readings of selected tribal literary texts produced by tribal writers from the Northeastern regions of India, the study explores key concepts such as community, land, identity, and ecology, rooted in the tribal holistic worldview of the God-world-human continuum. Relying on tribal worldviews, oral traditions, memories, storytelling, and lived experiences, indigenous-tribal interpretative tools offer alternative frameworks. Furthermore, the study validates tribal ways of knowing and expands the field of literary criticism by including diverse epistemic traditions. Keywords: tribal literary criticism; tribal–indigenous literature from Northeast India; Indigenous epistemologies; decolonial reading; God-world-human continuum DOI: http://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2026-3201-21
The Intersection of Postcolonial Ecofeminism and Gendered Trauma in J.M. Coetzee’s in the Heart of the Country
This study explores the interrelation between trauma and postcolonial ecofeminism in J.M. Coetzee’s In the Heart of the Country, examining how intersecting forces of colonialism, patriarchy, and ecological domination contribute to the psychological fragmentation of the protagonist, Magda. Through close textual analysis, the study reveals that Magda’s traumatic experiences—including maternal loss, sexual violence, and social isolation—are intimately reflected in the desolation of the South African landscape, positioning her body as both a site and symbol of colonial violence. This study engages with trauma theory, postcolonial criticism, and ecofeminist thought to examine Magda’s fragmented subjectivity in the novel. Her fragmented consciousness, her confinement within the farm, and futile longing for affection reveal the deep psychological scars left by colonial isolation and patriarchal domination. These fractures in her identity point to a broader, historically embedded trauma that connects human suffering with ecological and gendered oppression. This study offers a multidisciplinary lens for understanding the psychic costs of domination in postcolonial literature. Keywords: Trauma; Postcolonial Ecofeminism; Colonialism; Patriarchy; J.M. Coetzee DOI: http://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2026-3201-22