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Jariah Mohd Jan

On learning to be assertive: Women and public discourse

For years, society has classified women as being inferior to men. Women have faced difficulty in making their voices heard. However, women have risen above the constraints that have been placed upon them, that is, from being discouraged to speak in public to becoming prominent figures in our modernday society. Women, today, find themselves having to live up to the standards set for them by a male-dominated society. As their participation in public forums have increased, women have learned to behave and communicate more assertively in order ‘to cope with all the conflicting demands they face when up at the podium’ (Campbell 1989: 9). This study focuses on the assertive styles and strategies that Malaysian women have learned to use in a public forum. Samples of extracts depicting the use of assertions are presented.

Multilingua Journal of Cross-Cultural and Interlanguage Communication, Walter de Gruyter

Print ISSN: 0167-8507
Volume: 25, 05/2006
Pages: 43 - 58

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