Dur Welden Varden

All posting from 1 till 6 are done as course requirement for SKBP1023 Language and ICT course under Associate Prof. Datin Dr. Norizan binti Abdul Razak with several help from friends in the same course and others. Thank you to all who visited my blog and to those who kind enough to post comments.

Hello,

in books, magazine and all of the written text contain variety of words and sentences. A list of words in a text or group of texts, with information about where in the text each word occurs and how often it occurs or simply an index of words is a concordance. For the line of texts in an electronic form, it is a corpus. If you are interested to know more about this topic, these are my suggested websites: http://web.quick.cz/jaedth/Introduction%20to%20CCS.htm

http://www.lextutor.ca/concordancers/concord_e.html

This is a video related to concordance:

Answer these questions:

1.Do you think that computer can assist you to become a better language learner Yes elaborate why No elaborat why

2.How effective is blogging in assisting you in the followings 1. confidence in writing 2. confidence in publishing your work 3. getting ideas to write 4. improving your writing skills

3.If you are going to use computer to teach language one day which language learning website will you recommend? Elaborate why do you recommend that website.If you dont have any recommendation and would like to develop your own website explain what, why and how.

Answers:

1. Using the computer do help in improving my language learning process. It make more aware of unconscious mistakes that I usually done. However, it does not totally improve my skills. To me, I need to learn it the hard way which is by speaking. I seldom have time to sit in front of my laptop or surf the web and most of the time, books that I carry is my important teacher. Hence, for me, conventional method is more reliable.

2. For me writing a blog does help me a lot. It improve my sense of creativity in writing skills by using other kind of attraction rather than simply put written words. It also generates critical thinking in me as I surf the web to search for any reliable sources that can be included in my posts. Thus, when all my hard work has put together, I did get better self-confidence in posting my true blog posts.

3. In the future, if I have the chance to teach English or other languages, I would like to join BBC Learning English website.

The reason is because this website provide good basic learning and teaching method for users to comprehend. For example, the pronunciation page that utilise video to show how all of the phonetics in English sound like. It also provide several quizzes for users to test their skills. Further more, many people do enjoy watching and use BBC Learning English webpage.

Sorry. I forgot to put up the link. Here it is:     http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/

In our tutorial, we have to analyse tests especially English tests. The one that I did is the reading test in : http://examenglish.com/TOEFL/toefl_reading.htm

There are only 11 questions in the test and the students are required to do it within a time frame.

SO NOW LETS START ANALYSING>>
CODE>> ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

:: TEXT FULFILMENT ::
Looking at the text provided for this reading comprehension, the idea or the main topic is a general knowledge that unbiased for all students all over the world meaning known to most or unknown to most equally. The test and the text content are parallel to each other or synchronise thus negating questions that out of topic.

:: SCORING ABILITY ::
The scoring scheme somewhat stable as the questions are not actually plenty that the marking would be incorrect. Fortunately I managed to get 10 out of 11.

:: TIME ::
The test was given out in a time frame. This helps the users to practise like a real exam.

The time given is only 15 minutes but based on the number of the questions asked, the time frame is sufficient enough.

:: TEST RELIABILITY ::
The test is quite simple hence the assessment is not actually reliable to compare it to the real exam. The questions are not many to really test the users’ English reading skill.

:: TECHNICAL PERSPECTIVE ::
The organisation of the question and text is quite helpful as the text can be scrolled down right next to the question.

Because the test must be done with Internet connection, some problems might occur. First is connection breakdown, coverage or loading speed. This problems will interfere with users time management while doing the test thus making it harder for the users to do it within the time limit. The another would be the problems from the computer itself. If somehow the computer break down during the process of answering the test, then all will be useless and users have to start the questions all over again.

:: THE IDEA ::
Based on the observation through Hybrid Learning that most of us got from Online Learning and Teaching in ELT page 148, the idea of the website is very promising. The exams or tests can be done more than one at once and thus expands the limit of a teacher in a class. The attraction that built up confidence in a student that using that website promotes more activities that teachers found hard to get. Furthermore, this technique helps students to build not only the subject that they are studying but also other skills such as social skills and ICT skills.

Lets loosen up a bit by watching this video :

For this post, I would like to discuss the websites used in understanding literature mostly on the novel The Pearl.

The websites I managed to find are :

1 :: http://literature.com.my/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=104&Itemid=146

This website is created by JustEnglish magazine to teach secondary students about English literature. It covered almost all the literature components and provided plenty of notes for students to refer to.

2 :: http://it40219.tripod.com/index.htm

This website is mainly for Form Five students who take The Pearl as their SPM novel. In this website, students can learn all the important notes and topics that need to be studied. It also give out several tips about literature marking scheme.

Why???
Internet has make learning literature better as it provides students with helpful knowledge whether it is compulsory or just extra facts. Students can find links that are related to what they are studying right now and find plenty of useful websites that can help them navigate through the subject. The notes are also in an easier format so students will not find it hard to extract them themselves. The notes are also in an organised way making it easier for students to switch pages. Plus, many websites has extra features that can attract more users to read its content.

CMC
By using the internet as a new “book” for students to learn, hosts must provide every interesting and useful info for the users and must find the most effective way to attract them as well. They can use pictures or icons to make things less mundane as pictures are easier and simpler for users to understand its main idea. Audio can also be integrated with the text like audio text for example to help even the blind students to understand their content. Using multimedia thus helps not only to attract students to learn but also to help them remember what they have learnt.

Of Me?
I think both website is very useful as they provide good resource for my understanding. They have summarise most topics and categorise them wonderfully. For novel such as The Pearl, one cannot master the important facts just by a single reading. So, these websites help me prepared for what I must learn. I give you a Youtube video about The Pearl for you to see. Enjoy!

The collaboration of technology enhancements with basic communication technology sure help a lot by promoting prompt messages and ideal idea transaction. This new means of communication is divided into two categories which are asynchronous and synchronous communication. Synchronous communication can be understand fully by this webpage :
and to give you the idea :

Asynchronous communication basically means
the transmission of data between two devices that are not synchronized with one another via a clocking mechanism or other technique. Basically, the sender can transmit data at any time, and the receiver must be ready to accept information when it arrives. In contrast, synchronous transmission is a precisely timed stream of bits in which the start of a character is located by using a clocking mechanism.

Both ways are used in the process of teaching and learning English with most interesting way. The communication provides initiative for both learners and teachers to further develop the learning process. This has been noted as hybrid approach in Introduction to Synchronous and Asynchronous Communication Language Teaching and Learning, from the book Online Learning and Teaching in ELT. By this method, both students and teachers can create their own ways of understanding and learning experience.

The usual and common way of communication using Internet and computer is of course via emails. Based on Chapter 4 in Reading in Online Language Learning and Teaching, language has develop into a certain style from using emails. The most obvious characteristics in such language are “grammatical inaccuracy, miscommuncation, inappropriate language use and different types of language function” (from the book). The practise of economising words and phrases in emails has been found to have great influence in writing activities among ESL learners(Anbalagan et al.,2003).

The rising evolution in technology which enhances variety of aspects in human life whether for means of transportation, conveying messages, daily chores, business administration, politics and the list goes on. During the early era of human development in this modern technologies, linguistics do not actually bothered to include language that was being used in messages and emails in the Web. They in fact, marked such language as a cancer in real form of language. Now however, that language is accepted and even considered as a part of the language branches. That language which is being used in the Web is commonly called Netspeak and explained as an Internet jargon. Netspeak is very influenced from many language as the basic language itself is a form that combined together other language semantics and morphology into a single new language. Most of this characteristics can be seen from multi language users that only use English for primary usage but add in their own mother tongue that fused together to make up for the meaning that both speaker and receiver can understand. The phonology of English also being abbreviated parallel with their own mother tongue for example “2moro” that means tomorrow. The styles of writing are also became more and more diverse as new ways being created to express meaning and convey expressions making Netspeak more dynamic than traditional writing and more permanent than traditional speech. The construction of sentences are also aided by media provided by the Web itself allowing multi-coloured words, multiple fonts and etc.. Although Netspeak generates various writing styles, such manifestation must be monitored and limited. The widespread usage in daily lives in fact entangle and integrated into one’s unconscious words and sentences formation that they unintentionally use it in the formal writing and speech. Educators must provide helps and guidance to ensure their students aware of such error. The basic need of such language is actually to reduce the amount of characters provided by certain Web allowed. Thus abbreviations were used massively and often like widespread fire. However, how linguists are going to interpret the rules, syntax, morphology, semantic or phonology of this language as the variety is heavily oriented by more than one true language like English or French. Based on David Crytal’s writing, the African resource list he got includes native language of Yoruba which consist even its idioms, naming patterns and greetings. Thus a linguist must not interpret Netspeak from one language perspective only. On the contrary, many believe that Internet is solely governs by English which proves to be incorrect as many languages are already risen to compete with English oriented Web in the Internet. For example, in Japan almost 90% of its website are in Japanese. For others who mainly use English as their lingua franca, such idea may in fact helps them in learning English better. They will try their hard to learn English better to help them with their business in the Internet. The way of interaction is also improving as the speaker can now communicate with more than one person at a time for example in chat rooms. Instead of going to the party and tried to make out other people voices, users are now ‘listening’ to all users in chat room but cannot even avoid them. Users also negating the effects of space and time when communicating through the Web as the messages can be conveyed simultaneously and not simultaneously. For users who loves their own minority language for example can get high benefit from using Internet. They can publicly promote their unique language, attract other people globally and then save the endangered language from becoming extinct as other can help maintaining its very own existence. Thus one who have high regard towards language in a whole finds Netspeak as a garden of life which not only mingles with cultures but with people. The role on traditional language now blossom into other usage and this has been proven by taking English as an example;the majority of people who using English as a medium of communication in the Internet are not the people who use English as their mother tongue but the outer ring or the outer circle of people which are multilingual but use English for purposes like business, politics and etc… Its helps the development of English as non-English speakers take English seriously thus promoting further steps towards English understanding and then help them understanding the Netspeak which use English as a base. They will no longer prostate themselves cracking what they picture common abbreviation used in the Web as word puzzles or codebreaker. In conclusion, we must look upon Netspeak highly as it revolutionise “Old English” into “Modern English” by taking language a step further parallel, cohesive and integrated with modern technology.
The discussion was aided by David Crystal writing on Internet language http://www.davidcrystal.com

Through the internet, you not only find information but also friends. The social networks that exist in the internet make this process possible. There are many of them in fact that you might find it confusing. Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Friendster, Wyan, MyYearBook, Hi5, Tagged and the list goes on. Some find that one is better than the other. Well, it is up to you guys actually. The system of each social networks basically make use of the user’s profile as a platform to link him with other users thus make an interaction. The Wall which is the main page of the profile is where the summary of all of their activities. Some consist of Profile Page where users show their basic information and also decorate it to attract other users. Well, that were the basic. Now let’s compare my favourite social network that is Facebook with other social network, how about MySpace. Both social networks have both Wall and Profile page. Users can upload their own pictures to their profile for them to share their experience with all their friends inside the network. If they have pictures of their friends, they can also tagged the picture so that the person in the picture will know. The social networks make use of many applications that the server provided. Most of the applications were made by the users themselves and some by the networks themselves. The applications may consist of musics, videos, pictures and even games. Some shows time, calender and birthdays. From time to time, users find it useful to post their feelings or event for others to see. That is when tagline come into action. Usually, the tagline will shown as ‘What are you doing right now?’ or ‘What’s on your mind?’. This is the shout-out self-comment from the user to all. To interact with only a particular friend, you can send profile comments. For simultaneous interaction, users can use IM or Instant Messenger. This is where users can chat with each other. However, even both social network is almost the same, there are some differences. In Facebook, users mainly use taglines and there is no profile comment while Myspace is the other way around even though Myspace has both tagline and profile comment. Wall in Facebook allows users to post their comments on whatever activities that shows up. That’s the downfall of MySpace as it only allow users to post comment on its page not the activities. However, Facebook does not have profile customisation like MySpace has. In MySpace, users can change the profile’s background wallpaper, change the arrangement of the interaction blocks and application blocks. In Facebook on the other hand, users cannot. Thus, users will have to accept the same page style everyday. Eventhough some might say Facebook is too simple, for me that is the reason I chose Facebook. This simplicity has many benefit. First, it is easier for me to know what other is doing as the activities stream always in check for even a difference of 2 seconds. As in Facebook we can comment on others’ activities, such prompt posting do help a lot. The other is Facebook tagline which allows all users to comment of what I says in mind. Hence, it become almost like a chat-room. You can post about your engagement for all to see and by not less that a minute, your friends will give their congratulations and comments. The last one I guess is the needless of profile customisation. I find it tedious and impractical for me to decorate my profile just to attract others to interact with me. As all the profile in Facebook use the same custom page. To know more about social networking, click this useful link I have found, http://www.whatissocialnetworking.com/

Welcome to WordPress.com. This is my first time using wordpress fot blogging. This semester brings more and more suprises as we learn more and more new things about ICT world.