A functional analysis of theme and thematic progression of private hospital websites

Medical tourism has been seriously affected by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) that has become a huge threat to global economy. In mitigating this issue, attention needs to be given to the online promotional message strategy to boost medical tourism. However, there is a scarcity of work on med...

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Main Authors: Wan Fatimah Solihah Wan Abdul Halim,, Intan Safinaz Zainudin,, Nor Fariza Mohd Nor,
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2021
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/18037/1/42845-167706-1-PB.pdf
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/18037/
https://ejournal.ukm.my/3l/issue/view/1423
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spelling my-ukm.journal.180372022-02-13T00:25:32Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/18037/ A functional analysis of theme and thematic progression of private hospital websites Wan Fatimah Solihah Wan Abdul Halim, Intan Safinaz Zainudin, Nor Fariza Mohd Nor, Medical tourism has been seriously affected by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) that has become a huge threat to global economy. In mitigating this issue, attention needs to be given to the online promotional message strategy to boost medical tourism. However, there is a scarcity of work on medical tourism promotional discourse from the textual function perspective despite the considerable number of studies in other types of discourse. This study, therefore, aims to examine and compare the promotional discourse message strategies in Malaysia and Thailand’s private hospital websites. The analysis was based on Systemic Functional Linguistic (SFL) perspective, using Halliday & Matthiessen’s model of textual analysis (2004) and Daneš’ classification of thematic patterns (1974). A total of six webpages with three webpages of one Malaysian website and one Thai website were analysed in relation to theme type and thematic progression. The findings show that texts derived from the hospital websites in Malaysia and Thailand display similarities and differences pertaining to how the texts are organised in relation to their theme types and thematic patterns. Both websites from Malaysia and Thailand combined objectivity with subjectivity in choosing their themes and thematic progression since they have a preference for unmarked themes in combination with marked theme to inform and persuade readers. However, the Prince Court Medical Centre (PCMC, Malaysia) website was direct and cohesive with its short texts and use of textual themes, while the message in Samitivej Hospital (SH, Thailand) website was more indirect, less compact, and less cohesive as the texts were rather lengthy and interspersed with interpersonal themes. The findings can be a guide for copywriters, website designers or medical tourism stakeholders to be aware of meaning-making strategies in promoting medical websites for medical tourism purpose. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2021-09 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/18037/1/42845-167706-1-PB.pdf Wan Fatimah Solihah Wan Abdul Halim, and Intan Safinaz Zainudin, and Nor Fariza Mohd Nor, (2021) A functional analysis of theme and thematic progression of private hospital websites. 3L; Language,Linguistics and Literature,The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies., 27 (3). pp. 73-97. ISSN 0128-5157 https://ejournal.ukm.my/3l/issue/view/1423
institution Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
building Tun Sri Lanang Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
content_source UKM Journal Article Repository
url_provider http://journalarticle.ukm.my/
language English
description Medical tourism has been seriously affected by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) that has become a huge threat to global economy. In mitigating this issue, attention needs to be given to the online promotional message strategy to boost medical tourism. However, there is a scarcity of work on medical tourism promotional discourse from the textual function perspective despite the considerable number of studies in other types of discourse. This study, therefore, aims to examine and compare the promotional discourse message strategies in Malaysia and Thailand’s private hospital websites. The analysis was based on Systemic Functional Linguistic (SFL) perspective, using Halliday & Matthiessen’s model of textual analysis (2004) and Daneš’ classification of thematic patterns (1974). A total of six webpages with three webpages of one Malaysian website and one Thai website were analysed in relation to theme type and thematic progression. The findings show that texts derived from the hospital websites in Malaysia and Thailand display similarities and differences pertaining to how the texts are organised in relation to their theme types and thematic patterns. Both websites from Malaysia and Thailand combined objectivity with subjectivity in choosing their themes and thematic progression since they have a preference for unmarked themes in combination with marked theme to inform and persuade readers. However, the Prince Court Medical Centre (PCMC, Malaysia) website was direct and cohesive with its short texts and use of textual themes, while the message in Samitivej Hospital (SH, Thailand) website was more indirect, less compact, and less cohesive as the texts were rather lengthy and interspersed with interpersonal themes. The findings can be a guide for copywriters, website designers or medical tourism stakeholders to be aware of meaning-making strategies in promoting medical websites for medical tourism purpose.
format Article
author Wan Fatimah Solihah Wan Abdul Halim,
Intan Safinaz Zainudin,
Nor Fariza Mohd Nor,
spellingShingle Wan Fatimah Solihah Wan Abdul Halim,
Intan Safinaz Zainudin,
Nor Fariza Mohd Nor,
A functional analysis of theme and thematic progression of private hospital websites
author_facet Wan Fatimah Solihah Wan Abdul Halim,
Intan Safinaz Zainudin,
Nor Fariza Mohd Nor,
author_sort Wan Fatimah Solihah Wan Abdul Halim,
title A functional analysis of theme and thematic progression of private hospital websites
title_short A functional analysis of theme and thematic progression of private hospital websites
title_full A functional analysis of theme and thematic progression of private hospital websites
title_fullStr A functional analysis of theme and thematic progression of private hospital websites
title_full_unstemmed A functional analysis of theme and thematic progression of private hospital websites
title_sort functional analysis of theme and thematic progression of private hospital websites
publisher Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
publishDate 2021
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/18037/1/42845-167706-1-PB.pdf
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/18037/
https://ejournal.ukm.my/3l/issue/view/1423
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score 13.211869