The research is proposed based on the researchers’ readings and findings from our current research on the state of oil palm industry and communities. Our findings from EP-2015-073’s research has shown that only a very small percentage of youths know much about palm oil industry and most are not enthusiastic about it (Marlyna, M. et al, 2014-2017). Although MPOB has prepared a good program to disseminate information about what the industry is all about to the young people (http://www.mpoc.org.my/, http://edupalm.org.my/web/) , most of these efforts were targeted at school leavers who just finished their national level exam (SPM) in a special camp called Program Latihan Khidmat Negara (PLKN). Hence, the results of the knowledge and attitude of the youths as per study because they would only know about the industry after they finish high school. The research however did not gather data from those who have attended the camp because it was only at the completion stage of the research that the information was discovered. Regardless of this, as per the findings, the youths’ lack of knowledge and low attitude i.e., lack of sense of involvement, in palm oil industry could be attributed to the lack of exposure to information on it, unlike information on other national products such as the coconut (in textbook it was introduced as a tree with one thousand benefits) and our national car, Proton. There is lack of visibility on the product of oil palm and the information on the industry at the formal educational level. The researchers also observed that linguistic and literacy information is still uninvestigated among the oil palm community. As literacies include more than just reading and writing but more on knowing what is around a person, the researchers hypothesized that the proximity to development of literacies have contributed to the youths’ responses up to a certain extent. The youths seem to have been distanced physically and emotionally from the source of information regarding palm oil and its products. It would be interesting to approach them at linguistic level and get from their language use and language choices what do they know about their environment (the oil palm, the plantation, and the industry). It would be an interesting study because our previous study shows that there should be a way to bring the information on their environment to them, because the responses indicated that they are lack of involvement with this environment. The question remains, how did they not knew much about what is around them. Hence, the researchers would like to venture into this unexplored area of investigation with a two-fold objectives which are to:
1. discover youths’ knowledge and attitude about palm oil through analysis of language use and language choices.
2. suggest ways to enhance literacy and visibility of palm oil industry.
The research will use both quantitative and qualitative approach, utilizing mainly a set of questionnaire and semi-structured interview. The respondents will constitute a selected community of school students. The outcomes will contribute significantly to the relationships between language and society, i.e. sociolinguistics, of the oil palm industry and enhancing the literacies of the community. The latter would eventually contribute towards making the oil palm industry more visible to the people at large.