Let's get IT!

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Reflection 8

Computer Application as A Whole

ENGL 4740 or Computer Applications in Language Studies is one of the killer subjects said by the majority of students of Bachelor of English Language and Literature. Many of us were somehow scared and worried whether we are going to survive the subject or not when we first came into the class. When our lecturer, Dr. Rozina explained the course objectives and assessments, all of us dramatically gasp as if we are going to do something impossible.

Little do we know that this subject had open our eyes and mind that whatever things we do with computers or even on our mobile phones can be beneficial. The first thing that we know is that things on computers may actually be our teacher and at the same time, they can also be our students. We learnt this when we work on our first assignment which is Computer Assisted Learning Language (CALL). 

Unexpectedly, the scariest assignment (our first thought, since it’s Dr. Rozina’s baby) turned out to be an interesting assignment. We learnt that we can actually get our own corpus for research and we can also analyze our own corpus. We have got to admit that it is indeed one of the hardest assignments (we need to read 5 articles! Phew!) out of all. But the journey of doing it had taught us a lot, not just for the assignment itself but for us as a group.

We also get to know more about how can we get corpus for research as well as the types of the corpus. With that being one of the topics in the subject, it actually helps us in doing our research in the future, despite providing us more knowledge in general. Now we know there are Quranic corpus, Malay corpus, and even forensic linguistics!

In a nutshell, we believe that this subject benefits us in so many ways, technically and practically. It is not something that we are going to forget, rather it is something that will definitely be used in the future. Now that we know more about computer application, we wish everyone else would be interested to learn and later spread it, like what we are doing now.

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Reflection 7 - IoK

Islamization of Knowledge

We had a session on Islamization of Knowledge by Dr. Mahmudul Hasan on Friday 15th of December. The topic was introduced by him beforehand to make sure the term ‘Islamization’ is clear for the students.

Dr. Mahmud stated that Islamization of knowledge can be implemented at many levels and various communities. He provided the example of his neighbourhood to the students to give further insight into the topic. The masjid in his neighbourhood is committed to play Qur’anic verses between Maghrib and Fajr prayer and it shows the Islamization in local communities. In International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) however, he pointed out that the Islamization here should be higher than in the local.  This is because it is one of the intellectual communities and the expectation towards our community is obviously higher. 

Other than that, Dr. Mahmudul Hasan highlighted on the misuse of blessings that are given to us. He mentioned that blessings that are misused can be a curse to human beings. For example, cars or transportation is a blessing to us as it accommodates us in traveling or going from one place to another. A car, however, can be a curse to us if we drive recklessly and lead to accidents. This is very much the same with the issue of technology. Technology has now been used widely all around the world and it provides us with many benefits such as interacting with people on the other countries and also can offer us various information at our fingertips. Despite that, if we use technology in a wrong way it may cause destruction even though not physically but mentally and spiritually. Therefore, we should follow the ethics in using all the blessings in our life including technology itself. 

Furthermore, he stressed that there are three areas of knowledge formation which are knowledge production, knowledge management, and knowledge sharing. He explained on each area and how we should be producing knowledge for Islam’s sake. He clarified that among 8billions of Muslim around the world and there is no reliable material can be found on great scholars like Rumi. There is lack of Muslim writers to research and write on the great scholars of Islam, on the other hand, West scholars such as Kohlberg are conducting research on Rumi and misinterpret his works. Dr highly encouraged us on writing and be among the Muslim writers to write good Islamic-based materials on our great Muslim scholars.

Towards the end of the session, Dr. Mahmudul Hasan answered some questions from students and one of the students asked Dr if there is any unbeneficial knowledge in this world. Dr. Mahmudul Hasan answered him that there is no unbeneficial knowledge on this world and knowledge is unbeneficial only because of the wrong usage of it.

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Reflection 6

In what way(s) could a corpus-based study add value to the linguistics frameworks that you have acquired throughout your BENL courses?

In the tenth week of the semester, we were exposed to another topic in our Computer Application class which is Corpus Linguistics. By learning this subject, we were able to know other branches of linguistics which we already learn throughout our days in IIUM as well as some which are not offered in this university. 

Based on this topic, we also realized that corpus-based study helps a lot in learning linguistic conveniently even without the presence of teachers. For example, language learner can easily use corpus focusing on grammar available on the internet as an aid in learning language rules correctly. This will help a lot especially for those who are engaging in Grammatical Analysis. By referring to the accessible corpus, students will be exposed to many other examples and several methods of explanation which may help to gain a deeper understanding on the subject.

Furthermore, the corpus-based study also makes it easier for BENL students in searching for other information related to the subject learned which may not be added in the course outline and learning material provided by the department. For example, in learning Discourse Analysis and Error and Contrasting Analysis, we are taught to analyze a lot of written materials as well as spoken materials in order to understand language functions better. Thus, having corpus related to these subject on the internet enable us enhancing our analytic skills as well as sharpening our understanding on the different language functions. Linguistic-majoring students can also look up to tons of examples provided online.

In conclusion, a corpus-based study is an advantage for linguistic students especially in conducting research and searching for material related to coursework. Moreover, it is easier for students to search for information with the presence of corpus focusing on the specific field.

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Reflection 5

Ways to utilize CMC for the betterment of Ummah.

CMC or computer-mediated communication plays a very important role in this era where the technology is being used worldwide especially in pedagogy due to its accessibility and facility. However, as practicing Muslims, we must know the ways to use CMC for the betterment of Ummah by Islamizing its function and not just adhere to learning and teaching but to relate it with Islamic values. We would like to highlight on utilizing CMC in conducting Usrah or Halaqah online, reaching various continents and getting to know people all around the world, and reducing prejudice.

           Back in school days, one of our group members had an experience in joining an Usrah or Halaqah online on Facebook. Thus, instead of posting and sharing unnecessary stuff on Facebook, we can utilize it by conducting Usrah or Halaqah online which means we can use Facebook as a platform to remind others to do good things and stray away from bad things. It may not be as effective as reminding others face-to-face but at least we have done dakwah to others and also ourselves. Other than that, if the Usrah is an open group that can be accessed by all users worldwide, we were able to understand why some people react in a certain way and avoid us to be a judgmental person by listening to their stories and experience.

           By doing this, we can reach all people around the world and get to know different races, cultures, and their worldview towards Islam. We can also approach non-Muslims and try to show them the beauty of Islam by engaging a discourse with them by responding to their curiosity about Islam instead of reprimanding and criticising their perspectives on Islam. This somehow will help in reducing prejudice especially in Islamophobia as well as shaping Muslim’s attitudes towards non-Muslim. Moreover, the famous scholar can make use of CMC as a platform to influence others especially the young ones who are the active users of the internet.

           In conclusion, as Muslims, we should not neglect our responsibilities as the khalifah on the Earth even in the use of the technology. Whatever we share and post on the internet must be beneficial to others. Thus, the betterment of the Ummah starts from the Muslims themselves and it is their duties to make use of the internet wisely.

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Corpus Linguistics: Forensic Linguistics

ENGL 4740 Computer Applications in Language Studies Corpus Linguistics Assignment

Title: Kurt Cobain’s Suicide Note Case: Forensic Linguistic Profiling Analysis

Author: Eva T. S. Sudjana Nurul Fitri

Year: 2013

URL: http://ijcst.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/ijcst/article/view/37943/34410

Purpose of Study: 

To identify the genuineness of his suicide note.

To figure out the motives of the subject dealing with suicide.

To make the authorship profiling of Kurt Cobain based on the lexical which contain negative meaning that is related to his psychological.

Research Questions:

What is the authorship profiling of the author of the suicide note?

How is the application of linguistic fields can be a powerful tool in investigating suicide letter or note? 

Methodology:

Corpus: Legal text (Kurt Cobain’s suicide letter)

Framework: Semantic forensic 

Findings:

Authorship Profiling

He is in depression.

He regrets the way he treats people around him. 

He is feeling uneasy about things happening around him.

Forensic Linguistics as a Tool

The use of semantic

Psychological aspect

Solving cases through language point of view.

Investigate the real motive of a criminal/suicide. 

Conclusion:

In conclusion, forensic linguistics plays an important role in investigating and solving crimes. Its implementation is necessary for law enforcement as it protects the rights of the innocents while the real convict gets punished. As it is an important branch of linguistics Malaysia should also establish a department specializes in Forensic Linguistics. This is to ensure justice is upheld.

Forensic Linguistics

1. What is forensic linguistics?

Meaning

The term forensic linguistics was introduced by linguistics professor Jan Svartvik (1968)

Forensic linguistics is the application of linguistics to legal issues.

The application of linguistic research and methods to the law

Focuses on crime investigation and legal issues.

New discipline to linguistics and law

Its Role

To achieve the success of legal investigations 

To attain truth in judicial processes.

Where do forensic linguists apply this knowledge?

Legal cases or proceedings 

Private disputes between parties 

2. What are the corpora used in forensic linguistics?

Corpora can be divided into two categories: verbal and written

Verbal

Physical: interrogation

Audio: voice identification, voice recording, phone calls 

Written

Suicide letters, diaries, text messages, legal writings, contracts, wills.

3. How do forensic linguistic help in solving crimes?

Linguist analyses voice of the convict and suspect of the crime and compare to what they got from the recording of the crime.

This comparison later will be used as evidence in court which may play the pivotal role in courts and among jury members in conviction or acquittal of an individual.

Besides pronunciation and dialect, the pronunciation manner of one specific letter in a word can also contribute valuable information about the identity of the convict.

Linguist attempts at analyzing notes with unknown authors by making inferences on the author’s background such as age and education.

Linguist usually involve in three stages in solving crime such as; 1. Investigation stage: Forensic linguist is called to give an opinion on text or interview tape in order to assist police in further interrogation.  2. Trial stage: A number of types of linguistic analysis may be called for, including questions of authorship (Who wrote the text?/Who is the speaker in this recording?), meaning and interpretation (Does this word mean x, y or something else?), threat analysis (Does the text contains a threat?), or text provenance and construction (Was the text dual-authored? Was it written rather than spoken? etc). 3. Appeal stage: Linguist help on wording, interpretation or authorship of a statement or confession made to police, as well as a new interpretation of a forensic text such as suicide note.

4. Does forensic linguistic covers all sort of crimes?

Covers both criminal cases and civil cases.

Criminal cases: All types of offense from murder to terrorism including all types of assault, robbery, burglary, fraud, drugs and alcohol cases, witness collusion, the authorship of suicide notes and many others.

Civil cases: Libel to breach of contract, civil fraud, forgery of wills, commercial plagiarism, adult influence in children's writing, employee harassment, interpretation of international statutes, copyright infringement and many others.

5. Branches related to Forensic Linguistics

Legal language - language that was used by the lawyers to plead their clients while drafting the contract.

Legal process - a process where a hearing took place.

Voice Identification (forensic phonetics) - determining the voice recorded indicates threats or otherwise. 

Author Identification (forensic stylistics) - determining a particular text by comparing to the suspect writing samples.

Discourse Analysis - analyzing the structure of the written or the spoken words to determine the issues.

Linguistic Proficiency - the ability of the suspect to understand the police’s caution and questions

Dialectology - determining the dialect of the language of an individual speaks

"linguistic origin analysis“ - determining a person’s native language for granting or denying purposes.

"linguistic veracity analysis“ - determining whether the suspect is being truthful or not

6. Benefits of Forensic Linguistics

Robert A. Leonard stated that Forensic linguistics - help solve and prevent crimes

Forensic linguistics’ students will be introduced and exposed to some of the key concepts in law.

Protect human’s rights (promote justice)

7. Polis Diraja Malaysia

There is a forensic unit under the PDRM which will be in charged for crimes investigation in Malaysia.

However, there is no specific unit for forensic linguistics.

8. Universities offering Forensic Linguistics

In Malaysia, there are about 11 universities offers linguistics and very few universities offer forensic studies.

There are few universities outside Malaysia that offer Forensic Linguistics.

Among them are: 1) Cardiff University, Wales, U.K. (MA) 2) Hofstra University, New York , U.S. (MA) 3) Aston University, Birmingham, England (MA)

References

11 institutions Malaysia | offering Masters Degrees Linguistics courses. (n.d.). Retrieved December 02, 2017, from https://www.hotcoursesabroad.com/study/training-degrees/malaysia/masters/linguistics-courses/loc/114/slevel/57-3-3/cgory/l183/sin/ct/programs.html

https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-forensic-linguistics-1690868

Blackwell, S. (2009). Why Forensic Linguistics Needs Corpus Linguistics. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.14746/cl.2009.01.01 

Ramezani, F. et.al (2016). The Role of Forensic Linguistics in Crime Investigation. Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/3573524/The_Role_of_Forensic_Linguistics_in_Crime_Investigation

Forensic Language Analysis (2015). Retrieved from https://www.google.com/search?q=Forensic+Language+Analysis&oq=Forensic+Language+Analysis&aqs=chrome..69i57.1642j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Eddy, S. (2011). 700 words on… forensic linguistics 1 | Studying Languages at University. Studyinglanguages.ac.uk. Retrieved 3 December 2017, from http://www.studyinglanguages.ac.uk/student_voices/700_words/forensic_linguistics_1

Tiersma, P. (2012). Forensic Linguistics. Languageandlaw.org. Retrieved from http://www.languageandlaw.org/FORENSIC.HTM

Englische Sprachwissenschaft: Close Up - Forensic Linguistics. Anglistik.uni-wuerzburg.de. Retrieved from http://www.anglistik.uni-wuerzburg.de/abteilungen/englische-sprachwissenschaft/schwerpunkte/corpus-linguistics/close-up-forensic-linguistics/

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Reflection 4

Come out with netiquette in online communicating

The internet has been one of the widely used medium to connect with one another and is mushrooming over time. It is also has been a source of information and interaction where people can collect information and connect to other users all around the world. However, since it is being widely used by all kinds of people from different background, different culture, it is hard to control the content posted and shared on the internet whether it is appropriate or suitable for others. To make it worse, some individuals think it is totally fine to reprimand, to criticise and to make fun of others’ differences just because it was not done physically.  

Due to its negativity, we have come up with a new term for netiquette which is internethics. It means the ethics on how to use the internet properly. For the first internethics that all users should abide when interacting with their online friends is to use proper language and avoid using profanity language; which is vulgar and offensive words. This is because our personality is based on what we posted or shared on the internet. Social media is one of the examples, where it reflects individual’s personality, attitudes and also interests on something, especially for those who are quite actively involved in it.

Respect other users’ opinion is the second internethics that most people nowadays tend to forget. The internet is a platform for us to discuss freely on almost everything regardless of any issues whether in religions, politics, economics and etc. But this does not mean that we can involve in unnecessary arguments by attacking others who do not share the same beliefs as us. If we came across any issues or critics on something that we have been agreed upon, instead of replying to the comments as an intellect, we can write our own opinions and discuss it professionally. There is no use engaging in useless conversations. Everyone has their own preferences and belief and if we do not agree with it, the least we can do is to respect their ideas.  

Other than that, internet users also need to protect their own personal information as best as they could. Everything that is posted nowadays is public and permanent. Therefore, in order to protect ourselves from any danger possible, it is encouraged for the users to avoid posting anything that is private online. For example, social media has been used by the employers nowadays to know their employee before accepting their application for jobs. It is also used by the lecturers and some issues have arisen regarding the status that has been put up online by students to mock their lecturer. Worse case scenarios may happen if you are fond of updating your whereabouts on the Internet. Cases such as robbery and rape can possibly happen as it can be used to navigate you down by the people who mean to do harm to you. Keeping your life private and confidential is better than exposing yourself to any possible danger.

With the wide range of information and current access to most everything on the Internet nowadays, children users especially should not be left unsupervised while surfing it.  It is important for the parents to limit their children’s Internet use and monitor what sites they are visiting every now and then. Despite Internet benefits children’s learning, parents should also realize the risks it may present. Spare some time with children is needed rather than letting them be isolated in their room with gadgets. It is necessary for the parents to acknowledge how vital their role is in order to not let the children become more isolated and antisocial.

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Reflection 3

Madam Mazni’s presentation

On 25th of October, we had a special guest coming to our class, her name is Madam Mazni. She was invited by our beloved lecturer, Dr. Rozina, to share with us on her current PhD research which is on Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC). The session was conducted mainly to provide some ideas to the students on the assignment given, which is focused on CMC.

Before she started the presentation, she briefly introduced herself to the class. She came from Institut Pendidikan Guru Kampus Ilmu Khas, Cheras and has been teaching there for 10 years. Before that, she already has 10 years of experience in teaching at another school. During the session, we were given exposure in doing a full-scale research; with the help of her own research paper entitled ‘Negotiation of Meaning in Online Discussions’. We were also given a brief tutorial on a software called ATLAS.TI which plays a huge help in analyzing the countless amount of data for her research study. Besides, as our group has the very same framework as Madam Mazni’s, we managed to ask few questions as well as devices which we believe will assist us in completing our assignment.

It was a very interesting and beneficial sharing session with Madam Mazni as we were able to have a gist of how research paper should be properly done. It is also intrigued us to later further our studies just like her and share our knowledge with people.

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ENGL 4740 COMPUTER APPLICATIONS IN LANGUAGE STUDIES CMC RESEARCH PAPER

Title: An Analysis of Negotiation of Meaning in Twitter Interactions

Introduction

Social networking sites have become the most used communication tool and have shown an increased growth for the past decade. A prime example of this growth is a micro-blogging service, Twitter. Twitter, which was created in 2006 and was launched in the same year has become one of the most popular microblogging services. In just a few years, it has over 200 million users and produces 110 million tweets (i.e., 140-character text messages) every day (Lin, Han, Ramsay & Fang, 2012).

However, recently, the text limit has been upgraded which enables Twitter users to “tweet” up to 280 characters. This microblogging site allows users to write short messages and upload them to be viewed by their online friends, known as followers, in real time. Compared to traditional blogging, microblogging focusing more on speed and conciseness, allows users to update on things happening “right now” (Lin, Han, Ramsay & Fang, 2012). Based on several studies done, microblogs users mainly use social media as a tool to describe their daily routines, voicing out their everyday thoughts, feelings, carrying out conversations, reporting news, and sharing information.

Purpose of Study

There is some research that has been done on Twitter concerning many aspects of life. Some of the aspects are the usage, the positive and negative effects, personality traits, relational factors, politics-cross ideology and many more. To explore more on Twitter in relation to computer-mediated communication, we focus our study on the negotiation of meaning happening in the interaction between Twitter users. The purpose is to find out the pattern of negotiation of meaning among the Twitter users. It is also to find out whether there is a clear understanding of meaning among Twitter users.  

Description of Framework for Analysis

The framework for analysis will be on the negotiation of meaning which it can be defined as an approach or a process of a speaker to achieve a clear understanding on the interactions with other speakers. Based on Patterson and Trabaldo (2006) taxonomies that have been developed and adopted by them, there are 10 types of negotiation of meaning for coding purposes. The taxonomies that can be applied on the interaction data are confirmation check, clarification request, vocabulary request, comprehensive check, reply confirmation, reply clarification, reply vocabulary, reply comprehension, elaboration and lastly correction or self-correction. Three categories were then added by Akayoglu and Altun (2009) which are confirmation, elaboration request and reply elaboration to facilitate in understanding discourse clearly.  

Research Questions

Throughout this research, two research questions were stated as follows:

What are the types of negotiation of meaning that emerge in Twitter interactions?

Which types of negotiation of meaning dominate the most in Twitter interactions?

Description of Corpus/Data

We have taken a corpus from the fourth most used social media in the world which is Twitter. As we were assigned to analyze a corpus that has at least 1000 words, we decided to use a thread from @aqileizzat Twitter status update which contains 1788 words. The corpus taken was written in both English and Malay.  It was uploaded on 28th October 2017 and has gained almost 10,000 retweets and 6,000 likes from Twitter users. As the problem on Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) is getting rampant all over the world, @aqileizzat voiced out his opinion by posting a status “why orang Islam still nak support LGBT when it's clearly contradict with your own faith Haram tetap Haram no matter what your reasoning is”. 

Within a day, this Twitter status alone has attracted many responses from other Twitter users which both criticizing and praising his tweet. Based on this tweet, we have taken responses from 52 Twitter users. This two-way conversation consists numbers of questions, clarifications as well as exclamations which enable us to analyze it using Patterson and Trabaldo theory on negotiation on meaning.

Significance of Study 

This study is designed to contribute to the understanding of negotiation of meaning in Twitter interactions as users are using Twitter on-the-go and continuously. Thus, they can never neglect the use of negotiation of meaning through the interaction via Twitter and both of them are inseparable. Based on this theory by Patterson and Trabaldo, this study provides an insight for the future researchers upon conducting a research on any type of computer-mediated communication. 

Students, as well as teachers, are the most likely users of this mode of computer-mediated communication (CMC). Therefore, pedagogically, in analyzing negotiation of meaning through Twitter interactions, it can be conducive to both students and teachers whose studying in this area of linguistics. Discussion can be held on Twitter when teachers tweet a discussion related to the subject being taught. Since students nowadays are very much engaging with Twitter, they are most likely will be interested to join discussions on Twitter.

Literature Review

Findings (Answers to the Research Questions)

Based on the first research question, we have found 8 types of negotiation of meaning which are clarification request, confirmation, correction, elaboration, reply clarification, reply confirmation, reply vocabulary and vocabulary request.   Meanwhile, the types of negotiation of meaning that dominates the most in Twitter interactions are clarification request and elaboration. The frequencies of each type are 24 and 15 respectively.

Discussion & Conclusion

Based on our findings, it has been stated that clarification request is the most type of negotiation of meaning that is being used by the Twitter users. According to Patterson and Trabaldo, clarification request is used to ask for clarification from the given statement of a speaker. It shows that the understanding of meaning in a two-way communication can be achieved with this type of negotiation of meaning.

Apart from that, ‘elaboration’, being the second frequent type of negotiation of meaning being used in the analyzed corpus, also contributes to the understanding of the meaning of interaction between Twitter users. Elaboration is used by a speaker to elaborate his or her previous statement, either he or she is being asked or not being asked by other users.

The other types of negotiation of meaning also help in achieving the understanding of meaning in Twitter interaction. For instance, the use of correction helps the users to correct their statements, vocabularies or spelling.  Other types of negotiation of meaning that has been mentioned in our findings also contribute to the continuous discussion, as well as helping in the understanding of meaning among Twitter users.

In parallel to our framework, when there is interaction, there is a negotiation of meaning. The communication among Twitter users will be meaningless without the negotiation of meaning, as it is the tool for the meaning to be understood. Without negotiation of meaning, the message that is trying to be portrayed by a speaker might be misinterpreted or worse yet, the meaning is unable to be portrayed.

References

Qiu, L., Lin, H., Ramsay, J. and Yang, F. (2012). You are what you tweet: Personality expression and perception on Twitter. Journal of Research in Personality, [online] 46(6), pp.710-718. Available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S009265661200133X.

Junco, R., Heiberger, G., and Loken, E. (2010). The effect of Twitter on college student engagement and grades. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, [online] 27(2), pp.119-132. Available at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2729.2010.00387.x/abstract.

Liang, H. and Fu, K. (2016). Information Overload, Similarity, and Redundancy: Unsubscribing Information Sources on Twitter. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, [online] 22(1), pp.1-17. Available at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jcc4.12178/epdf.

Himelboim, I., McCreery, S. and Smith, M. (2013). Birds of a Feather Tweet Together: Integrating Network and Content Analyses to Examine Cross-Ideology Exposure on Twitter. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, [online] 18(2), pp.40-60. Available at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jcc4.12001/full.

Samani, E., Nordin, N., Mukundan, J. and Samad, A. (2015). Patterns of Negotiation of Meaning in English as Second Language Learners’ Interactions. Advances in Language and Literary Studies, [online] 6(1). Available at: http://www.journals.aiac.org.au/index.php/alls/article/view/607/535.

Marriott, R. and Torres, P. (2009). Handbook of research on e-learning methodologies for language acquisition. Hershey: Information Science Reference.

Hong, L., Convertino, G. and Chi, E. (2011). Language Matters in Twitter: A Large Scale Study. Proceedings of the Fifth International AAAI Conference on Weblogs and Social Media. [online] Available at: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.309.5773&rep=rep1&type=pdf [Accessed 12 Nov. 2017].

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Reflection 2

1. As you listen to the song ‘High Hopes’ by Kodaline, reflect how you actually transcribe content knowledge (literally) and linguistic learned (linguistically). Explain the process.

          As we listen to the song ‘High Hopes’ by Kodaline, the process of transcription begins with our linguistic knowledge on the language by writing whatever we listened to without trying to ensure the grammatical correctness. During the transcription, we barely manage to get the lyrics right as it is only being played once. We were just merely listening to it and trying to figure out the exact lyrics. However, upon done listening to the song, we try to make sense of the lyrics by using our content knowledge which is knowledge or information taught by teachers which consist of grammatical rules and theories.

2. They mentioned that CALL; allow learners to control their own learning – self-regulated learning. How can CALL promote self-regulated learning in the learning of listening and grammar?

          CALL can promote self-regulated learning in the learning of listening skill and grammar through the use of software that provides various skills in learning the language. This means that the learners do not have to rely on their instructor frequently in order to learn the language. They can work on their own by making use of the drills and exercises provided in the software or websites. To make it more interesting, the learner can use YouTube for an instance, as a platform to test their listening skills as well as improving their understanding in grammar by listening to their favourite songs, watching movie clips, forums, speeches, and talks from the professional speakers. For example, there is an application presented by Group 1 named VOA Learning English where learners can try various activities of listening. Through this application, learners are allowed to transcribe to things they are listening to such as lyrics of songs provided.  

          However, the learners must choose the content properly because not all songs are grammatically written. There might be informal contractions in the lyrics such as ‘wanna’, ‘gotcha’, ‘gotta’ and etc. This is why it is suggested for language learners to use educational software and website because it is controlled and more systematic in terms of providing the lyrics of the songs accurately and highlighting its grammatical functions.

3. Reading & Writing. How do these two skills complement each other? Connect them together.

Reading and writing are two important skills that interconnected. Basically, reading affects writing and vice versa. It is believed that reading teaches the language learners many aspects that will become useful in writing. In order to write, students or learners are expected to apply their reading skill by reading as much information as possible to enable them producing a fine and well-studied product. Through reading, students are able to enhance their knowledge of text structure as well as vocabulary.  In fact, reading helps learners to come out with wider ideas and information on specific topics.

At the same time, learners can also sharpen their reading skills through writing. When writing, learners tend to read and analyze the text they have written several times. This is to ensure the material written are well presented. Reading after writing might also be a tool to improve content learning which later on will be used in both areas.

In learning language, writing and reading cannot be separated as both have the same advantages to the learners. Good readers have high tendency to become good writers and vice versa if they are able to apply both skills equally.  

4. Based on the presentations that have been done, how do you relate to the 3 principles of CALL with your own presentation?

From all the presentations that have been presented and the one we had done ourselves, we can relate 3 principles of CALL that we had learned which is behaviourist, communicative and integrative.

First of all, the behaviourist principle serves as a tutor. From this viewpoint, we can relate it to GrammarByte application which provides lots of grammar repetitive drills for learners to practice.

The communicative principle, however, acts as a pupil in language learning. Apart from learners being passive in the former approach, this approach encourages both learners and the computer to contribute to carrying specific task given. For instance, the application Write & Improve.com presented by group 4 is the closest one that can be related to this approach where students provide the computer with essays while the computer gives feedback on improvement that can be done.

Last but not least, the integrative principle functions as a tool such as Microsoft Word and Microsoft PowerPoint. Both software becomes a medium for us where the former helps us to write our reflection with and the latter assist us in presenting our work as well as the other groups to present in front of the class.

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Literature Review on CALL

 Title:  Changes in Lexical and Reading Proficiency Through English Input from Video Games

Author:  Benjamin Thanyawatpokin

Year: 2017

URL: http://ialltjournal.org/index.php/ialltjournal/article/view/271/pdf

Purpose of Study: 

to shed more light upon the benefits of playing video games in a foreign language 

to gain a more complete picture of how student lexicons and reading comprehension skills change

Literature Review:

Intensive Reading

Incidental learning refers to a non-deliberate approach to learning vocabulary in which learners expose themselves to comprehensible texts that, consciously or unconsciously, spur them to recognize and learn new words (Nation, 2014).

This also usually implies gaining large amounts of L2 input in the form of reading for pleasure (Krashen, 1981).

Hunt and Beglar (2005) proposed incidental vocabulary acquisition would have to be "reinforced through review or large amounts of additional reading" (p.40) due to vocabulary gains being "often partial and probably acquired incrementally."

Incidental learning refers to a non-deliberate approach to learning vocabulary in which learners expose themselves to comprehensible texts that, consciously or unconsciously, spur them to recognize and learn new words (Nation, 2014).

This also usually implies gaining large amounts of L2 input in the form of reading for pleasure (Krashen, 1981).

Hunt and Beglar (2005) proposed incidental vocabulary acquisition would have to be "reinforced through review or large amounts of additional reading" (p.40) due to vocabulary gains being "often partial and probably acquired incrementally."

Hulstijn and Laufer (2001) also confirmed the findings of this hypothesis in a study, in which EFL learners were asked to complete one of three activities with varying amounts of involvement to learn 10 low-frequency target words.

It could be said that contexts with higher information produced what Hulstijn and Laufer (2001) would call more involvement and thus, higher gains in comprehension.

Extensive Reading

video games have been shown to present opportunities for large amounts of English input as shown by deHaan (2013).

It has been posited many times before that L2 learning is possible to some degree with sufficient input (Krashen, 1981).

Day and Bamford (2002) first created a criteria for what kind of text could be used pedagogically as ER

Grabe (2009) states that, for reasons such as lack of resources, a focus away from fluency development, and the importance of exams, Extensive Reading as a pedagogical approach to learning at a tertiary level has suffered in popularity.

Grabe (2009) also states that there is evidence that extensive reading that is applied under certain principles over a longer time frame can lead to many important benefits.

Nation (2014) also noted that extensive reading studies done with native speakers used unsimplified texts while simplified texts were used for non-native learners.

What is A “Video Game”?

Most researchers seem to agree on common criteria for games, which is that they are, "a system in which players engage in an artificial conflict, defined by rules, that results in a quantifiable outcome," (Salen & Zimmerman, 2004: 80).

Commercial Off-The-Shelf Games (COTS)

According to general game-based literature, games that are not specifically created for the purpose of L2 teaching or learning are called commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) games (Cornillie, Thorne, & Desmet, 2012).

Video Games as L2 Input

Most research done on video games usually call to mind the way learners have changed over the years and their reliance on different methods of gaining knowledge; otherwise known as the "digital native" (Prensky, 2005).

A list, adapted from Gee (2007) but slightly adapted for length, is presented below:

Video games allow players to change the virtual world they inhabit. Players must interact and solve problems to continue the game.

A sense of identity is shared with the character on screen, which stimulates investment in the goal or objective.

Manipulation of the virtual world is allowed which promotes investment and interaction in the game world.

Meaning and concepts introduced in video games are clearly shown to the player through experiences they have in the game world.

Squire (2005) also emphasized the importance of interaction in video games and how, "their ability to grant players agency within the narrative fiction of the game-world and its rules...account for players' actions in creating the experience.“

Squire (2011) calls this "interest-driven learning".

Squire (2011) also stated, "Although this principle is not new, many digital media researchers believe that it is increasingly relevant to the future of education, given the explosion of digital media" (p.47).

Studies on Video Games and English L2 acquisition

A study done by Sylven and Sundqvist (2012) explored the question of whether or not video games are conducive to L2 learning.

Ranalli (2008) chose to use a real-life simulation game called “The Sims” to investigate if nine intermediate-level ESL learners from various countries were able to improve their vocabulary knowledge through game play.

The next study explored the effectiveness of massive-multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG)-based instruction in elementary English education in Korea (Suh, Kim, & Kim, 2010).

Squire (2011) and Gee (2007) have said using video games in this way is not favorable in that the "fun" aspect is absent and motivation to play could be damaged. 

Vahdat and Behbahani (2013) studied the effect of video games when compared to more traditional pedagogical methods.

The study most similar to the current research, deHaan (2013) investigated using various video games to improve Japanese learner English ability.

Research has stated that the minimum to observe changes in ability requires eight weeks (Squire, 2011).

Research Questions:

1. Can English video games foster gains in reading comprehension? 2. Can playing English video games increase vocabulary size? 3. Can playing English video games increase word recognition speed?

Methodology: Quantitative and Qualitative

Participants: Two groups of volunteering students

Experimental group :  One group of 2nd year undergraduate students (four male, five female) from a university in Japan.

Control group: 10 students from the same university

Findings: 1.  All subjects mentioned in the interviews that after seeing the dialogue or explanation on screen coupled with animations or visuals, they were able to grasp the meaning of the text they read.

2.  Vocabulary size dropped for students who underwent treatment when compared to the students in the control group who simply read graded readers for two months.

3.  All participants were able to read the text as a whole faster. The subjects attributed this to repeated contexts and sentences during the course of gameplay. 

Discussion:  Video games can improve reading and vocabulary recognition rate. However, it does not help in improving vocabulary size. 

[tech-know-lo-gy]

Reflection 1

 On Monday 18th of September, we were assigned to write a reflective essay on our first topic which is Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL). CALL is divided into 3 stages of an educational theoretical cycle which are Behaviourist, Communicative and Integrative. Each and every stage play certain roles; Behaviourist serves as a tutor, Communicative as a pupil, and Integrative as a tool. This assignment requires us to relate our past assignments with these 3 stages.

        Based on our experience as BENL students, we had taken several core courses which mainly focused on linguistics and literature. We took Introduction to Novel and Short Story with Dr. Aishah. Throughout the semester, we had been introduced to various genres of certain novels and short stories. The final assessment for this class was to produce our own video on short stories that we have learned. We were asked to produce our own version of the story that we have chosen which was ‘Beauty and the Beast’. Before we acted the scenes out, we prepared our revised script to ensure the authenticity and validity of our project. Afterwards, we chose to do the editing with a software named Windows Live Movie Maker. Using this software, we were able to add subtitles as well as sound effects to make the project more interesting.This assignment is closely related to one of the stages of CALL which is Integrative as this stage acts as a tool. The software that we used, Windows Live Movie Maker, serves as a tool in helping us to come up with a well-polished product.

Last semester, we were taught and being familiarized with some twentieth century writers and poets in Twentieth Century and Contemporary Literature class. One of the assignments was to find the definition of literary terms related to the subject. In order to find the accurate definition of the terms given, our lecturer suggested www.thefreedictionary.com and it helps us a lot throughout the semester. This kind of assignment can be categorized in Communicative CALL where the computer or certain website is being a part of our groupmates.