A good interview should be more like a guided conversation between an interviewer and an interviewee. It is key that the interviewer skillfully controls the conversation in order to obtain the desired information. The opening of an interview is considered an important part of any interview as it sets the tone for the rest of the interview. This paper reports on the discourse strategies employed by two daees (propagators of Islam) during a particular da’wah/Islamic propagation communicative event i.e. Conversion to Islam Ceremony Interview. The main objectives of the Conversion to Islam Ceremony Interview are to discover the potential converts’ feelings about their conversion to Islam, their knowledge about Islam and conversion to Islam and to rectify misunderstandings about conversion to Islam. The focus of the paper is on the opening of the interview, that is, the analysis of the spoken discourse strategies that the daees employ to open the interviews so as to create non-threatening atmosphere of interaction and tease out the required contextual information. Ethnography discourse analysis i.e. Ethnography of Speaking is used to analyze the interaction between the daees and the potential converts. The analysis reveals that during the opening of the interview the daees subtly bridge the gap by getting the names of the potential converts’ right, warm up the interview by asking general questions, and collect information and confirm a matter tactfully and swiftly by asking close-ended/yes-no questions

Research by Fairclough (1992) and Van Dijk (2008), among others, have demonstrated that power can be illuminated through analyzing discourses. These discourses, according to Van Leeuwen (2007) and Wang (2006), have the precedence to control some of everyday, social, and public spheres. Following this premise, this paper examines how legitimation circulates power in selected decision-making scenes of a three-judge panel of a popular syndicated TV court show, Hot Bench. Premiered in 2014, Hot Bench draws over 2 million viewers in October 2014, jumping to staggering 2.5 million viewers in November 2014, making it one of the most watched syndicated legal reality TV programs in United States of America, with its second season renewed through 2017. Two objectives of this paper are set out; this paper firstly examines how organization and resolution of cases are generally settled and secondly, it analyzes two cases, defamation and personal property disputes. By analyzing conversations constructed by judges who deliberate verdicts in their chambers, this study which employs Van Leeuwen’s (2007) framework of legitimation concludes that the judges typically employ three types of legitimation- authorization, moral evaluation, and rationalization over the course of adjudicating TV court proceedings. This study ultimately contributes to the broader field of discourse analysis by presenting insights into the use of legitimation in legal reality TV programs and taps onto the belief that language, through discourse analysis, serves as a vehicle within which specific discourse community maintains power.

Economic growth is important in determining the overall economic condition of a country. The objective of this paper is to identify if the Islamization of the conventional growth theory can be applied towards the theory of Islamic economic growth. The findings revealed that the application of the existing growth model might not be appropriate in measuring growth according to the Islamic goals of growth. Therefore, the introduction of a unique measurement of economic growth according to Islamic perspective is warranted. This is because an attempt to introduce a comprehensive growth model in attaining falah maximization for OIC countries according to the Islamic perspectives using the conventional growth theory is unsuccessful.

Considering the importance of tasks in promoting interaction and language learning, classroom-based research that investigates how communication language tasks could be used in a classroom to promote meaningful interaction and language learning is needed. This study explored language learning opportunities captured in learners’ oral interaction engaged in communication task completion. The investigation focused on the types of Language Related Episodes (LREs) generated by the participants and how the LREs might potentially contribute to language learning opportunities. Eighteen undergraduates in groups of three took part in the study. They were given two communication task types to complete (i.e. the jigsaw and the decision-making tasks). Learner interactions were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. The data sets comprised transcribed recordings of learner interactions and they were qualitatively analysed. Data was examined for the production of LREs identified in the learner interactions and instances of language learning opportunities that might occur during task completion. Findings revealed that the participants produced LREs during task completion for both communication task types. Further examination found that the major focus of the LREs was the lexical LREs. The findings suggest that language learning opportunities operationalised as LREs identified in the learner interactions could occur in tasks that were actually designed to improve fluency. The lexical LREs produced may offer occasions for language learning to emerge and opportunities for vocabulary development are a particularly favourable outcome.