Written communication in entrepreneurship course in Malaysian vocational colleges: a qualitative inquiry
Entrepreneurship curriculum has been implemented in recent years in Malaysian vocational colleges as a platform to expose school leavers to entrepreneurship skills and provide them the basic know-how needed to engage in an entrepreneurial career. Among this knowledge is written communication whic...
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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en |
| Published: |
Global Academic Excellence (M) Sdn Bhd (GAE)
2019
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://irep.iium.edu.my/92630/7/92630_Written%20communication%20in%20entrepreneurship%20course%20in%20Malaysian%20vocational%20colleges.pdf http://irep.iium.edu.my/92630/ http://www.ijepc.com/search.asm |
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| Summary: | Entrepreneurship curriculum has been implemented in recent years in Malaysian
vocational colleges as a platform to expose school leavers to entrepreneurship skills and
provide them the basic know-how needed to engage in an entrepreneurial career. Among this
knowledge is written communication which involves the skill of preparing the necessary
documents and correspondence in a start-up business. However, research findings indicate that
very little is known about Malaysian vocational college graduates’ competency in this area
after completing the entrepreneurship course. Moreover, existing studies show significant
weaknesses or a lack of competency in communication skills, including writing among our
graduates. This study aims to explore the implementation of written communication
components taught in the entrepreneurship course in Malaysian vocational colleges by
examining its curriculum content and teaching approaches utilised in the course. The study
applied the qualitative approach using semi-structured interviews and document analysis to
gather the data. 15 instructors from 10 vocational colleges located throughout Peninsular
Malaysia participated in the interviews. Meanwhile, the document analysis included a course
description, modules, teaching plan, lecture notes, coursework, and assignments as well as
assessment materials of the course. The results revealed that the business plan model is applied
to form the fundamental structure of the written communication component in the
entrepreneurship course. However, several key challenges were found in its implementation,
including the ambiguity and inconsistency in the key focal point within the written
communication knowledge area. Additionally, short and inconsistent course delivery periods
were also identified as barriers to effective implementation of the target knowledge as well as
the course in general. |
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