Four Calliphs
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Welcome!  Assalamualaikum wbt and welcome to our blog We pour our heart and thoughts here. This blog is created for our course subject, ENGL 4740 Computer Applications. Journal   Credits  Skins by: IlliShuhada Basecode : PikaChan Best viewed in Mozilla and Google Chrome |
Reflection 9: CMC Presentation
Reminiscing on the day we were given this assignment, we felt excited and nervous at the same time. Excited because this is our last project! But at the same time slightly nervous because we still blur on how to do this assignment. Honestly, we were never been exposed to the term CMC until we taken this subject. So it is a blessing to learn this subject and have the further understanding about it.
Once we have chosen the mode of our assignment which is the online forum, we proceed to our next step which is find the corpus related to tourism. I think let us cut it out about the process of completing this project since I believed everyone following the same steps like us.
What we want to highlight are the problem and lesson that we have encountered through out the process. The major problem that we faced in this assignment is to determine the frameworks of our study. We keep on changing our framework due to the lack of understanding about our study. So, lesson learnt here! Next time we have to use the time given wisely and do more research about the topic given.
Besides, we think, this project ought us to do many research and at the same time we have to do a lot of reading ! We found this an advantages as it makes us familiar with research reading which might helps us in future study.
In conclusion, CMC presentation have taught us many things and teach us on how to benefit on the use of technology. Reflection 8: Dr. Md Mahmudul Hasan on IOK
Assalamualaikum wbt.
First of all, let us take a deep breath and say Alhamdulillah for all the blessing Allah s.w.t has showered upon us. As for today, we are very lucky to have Dr. Mahmudul Hasan, one of the best lecturers in IIUM to give a piece of his knowledge and idea pertaining Islamization of Knowledge in Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC). At first, it is quite blurry for us on how to look on CMC in terms of Islamic perspective, but after having a discussion on it, we finally understand it.
According to him, Islamization and knowledge must have the combination of two kinds of reading which are revelation by Quran & Sunnah and real existential. By combining this reading, we can relate and apply knowledge of Quran & Sunnah with our daily life. For example, as BENL students, our major discussion mainly related to Western culture and everything associate with it. Instead of solely focuses on its culture, we should take this opportunity to Islamize it.
Since we live in Era of Technology, we should contribute something towards IOK via technology. Thus, we think that social media is one of the most significant medium to spread da’wah globally. So back to the question, do we as a student have contributed towards IOK via technology? Our answer is YES!
In our previous semester, assisted by Dr. Mahmudul Hasan in Islamic Literature, he instructed his students to post one of the assignment on our social media account, Facebook. As all know, Dr. Mahmudul loves to relate all of his assessment with Islamic perspectives and by posting it in social media, all people can benefit from that information and knowledge.
Not just that, we also learnt from Dr. Mahmudul Hasan's courage in posting Hadith on email regularly, in order to instill knowledge of Islam towards his students. So, sometimes, we do copy his post and paste it at our social media.
Reflection 7 : Corpus-based study and English language proficiency Before we further reflect on topic as mentioned above, we think we should start by giving you some clarification on what corpus is all about. Okay, corpus...it sounds so scientific and elegant (oh please just agree). As scientific as it sounds, corpus is very important and it actually refers to a large collection of texts which represent a sample of a particular variety or use of language(s) that are presented in machine readable form. Phew..the meaning is very digestible, we suppose. A corpus, an elegant and scientific sounded corpus we mean, contains of millions (probably billions or trillions or zillions or okay exaggeration) of words!! Yes, yes, yes, no lies. Okay now we have a corpus, then what to do with it? Analyze it! Who? Me? Na-uh. The researchers (practically anyone) who are interested with it, of course! Now, with a corpus and researchers, poof! we have a corpus-based study. But you still don't get it, do you? Okay, okay, we'll explain what it has to do with English language proficiency and probably its significance to you as well. Oh yes, a corpus based study can contribute in enhancing English language proficiency. Well, we think it is possible because through the findings of the corpus based study, people will benefit from it. Let's say there is a corpus based study in grammar which deals with correctness and completeness of the data in relation to it, the findings of what's correct and what's not would help in making English language speakers aware of the correct structure of English grammar. It is to say by analyzing "My mama don't like you but she likes everyone" in Justin Bieber's Sorry, perhaps, Justin Bieber would learn from his grammatical error and start producing more grammatical songs. And that's one way on how we think this study add value to enhance English language proficiency. Secondly, English language speakers can benefit in enhancing their English language proficiency by giving their use of English language as corpus to be analyzed in the aspect of grammar, semantics or whatnot. Later, with the findings that they received, they will be able to realize their mistakes in English language. Then, once they realized their mistakes, they will learn and improve. Well, actually, there are many other ways that corpus based study could do in enhancing English language proficiency but those two are enough for this discussion. To conclude, corpus based study has its own significance in language community, be it English or Malay or etc. One way or another, this study helps in adding value to enhance English language proficiency. Reflection 6: Eye-opening lecture with Madam Mazni
On March 30, 2017, our class received a beautiful female guest coming all the way from Seremban. Our respected guest named Madam Noor Mazni Abdul Karim. She's a TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) lecturer in IPG Ilmu Khas. She has been teaching English for 10 years.
Madam Mazni shared with us about her thesis on Negotiation of Meaning in Online Forum Discussion. She claimed that she's still working on it and it has been a year doing the thesis for CMC. Apart from that, Madam Mazni also mentioned two benefits of her study on OLFD (Online Discussion Forum). First, it serves as a platform for sharing and developing ideas. Second, it engages learners in productive skills. Besides, Madam Mazni also shared her experience on how difficult her journey in completing her thesis is until she found a software named, Atlas.ti. Atlas.ti is a software that helps researchers to do an analysis. Madam Mazni is really grateful of the existing of the software as it eases her entire thesis.
What we can learn from Madam Mazni's lecture is that we should learn to be grateful for the existence of technology as technology somehow plays an important role in our life. Madam Mazni also told us to use the technology in a correct way. We have to be alarm that Allah is always watching us in whatever we do in our life. Thus, a day with Madam Mazni's lecture was really fun! Reflection 5: CMC
Assalamualaikum w.b.t readers :)
First of all, before we start we want to express our gratefulness to Allah s.w.t because of His blessings upon all of us. We are so thankful for this healthy mind and body so that we can continue seeking knowledge that is beneficial for all of us here. As mentioned in a hadith narrated by Al- Tirmidhi "seeking knowledge is obligatory for every Muslim" and in reference to this hadith, as Muslims and also students, we are encouraged to seek knowledge in order to elevate our status as Allah's vicegerents in this world.
Recently, we have learned about CMC (Computer-Mediated Communication) in class and we realized many of its advantages can help us improve our learning processes especially in language. However, as students we are not free from questions and always wonder to what extent we can consider CMC a formal or informal discourse?
In our opinion, CMC is considered as formal-medium discourse when it involves with serious topic discussion such as education, politic, economy and etc. These topic discussions are also important in determine the formality of discourse. For example, language used in response to the topic discussion that was posted on online forum in i-Taleem website can be considered as formal. Because the conversation was between lecturer and students therefore it is related with education. Due to the topic discussed, students must observe their languages so automatically it is in formal manner.
On the other hand, communication that is mediated on computer also use informal discourse. For instance, the example can be observed mostly on social media accounts like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, blog and others. In this case, the language use is informal depends on the seriousness of the topic. Usually, in social media the topic discussed is very relax and the language sometimes contains slang and dialects thus it uses informal discourse.
In a nutshell, the discourse use in CMC can be either formal or informal and also the topic discussed plays an important role for us to determine which discourse that is suitable to use in the communication.
Reflection 4: CMC We recently learned on a new topic called Computer Mediated Communication or simply known as CMC. CMC is actually an interesting topic to learn about and a very trendy one as well because it is very relatable to our today's world. It is mainly on the aspect of technology. Our discussion in class brought us to realization on its significance in our life. We'll share with you on its significance but beforehand, we need to make it clear on what CMC is all about. So, here we go... CMC is defined as any communicative transaction that occur through the use of two or more networked computers. Thus, meaning to say, in order to have CMC you must have networked computers and participants of the CMC regardless being in totally different places or time zones. CMC can take place at anywhere, anytime as long as you have the required elements. This kind of communication has benefit all of us vastly since the beginning of the existence of technology. Speaking in the context of this era of technology, almost none of humans in this world have never experienced this kind of communication. Oh you? Obviously, you have! Don't you know blog is also one example of asynchronous CMC. So, we guess by now you already have a gist on what CMC is all about. Now, let's talk on its significance. Firstly, we realized that CMC has helped us a lot throughout our life. It is to say that without CMC we wouldn't be able to communicate with our lecturers who only gave us their e-mail. So, when we need to communicate or to be exact, ASK QUESTIONS to our lecturers that's when CMC came in (tadaaaa!). See how significant it is! Plus, our marks are also dependent upon it because we usually submit our softcopy of assignments via email because lecturers want to check on plagiarism so without it, it will be harder for them to check on our papers' originality. Besides, with CMC, we are able to inform large number of people about something. For instance, Facebook and Twitter are now means of giving and receiving informations locally and worldwide. The Zionist attacks on Palestine do not receive wide media coverage but still there are. However, with Twitter and Facebook, public are more informed about the attacks and thus, creating higher level of awareness with regard the issues. We have agreed that CMC is very vital in everyone's life be it for individual use or societal use. People are more connected with CMC. However, there are advantages of it as well but let's just see in a bigger picture of how its existence helps us in doing good things. If you use it for good causes then you will receive goodness and vice versa. Reflection 3: The Best Criteria for Language Learning Site 
Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab
Assalamualaikum w.bt. and hello beautiful people!
On February 16, we have been given a task to search on selection criteria for language learning sites or software. This task was graded as our first assignment in this course. We have been briefly informed by our kindhearted and beautiful lecturer, Dr. Rozina Abdul Ghani, to give a demo on the language learning site that we have chosen and it must adheres to most of the criteria that we have found. The presentation rooster was decided by withdrawing a number and luckily our group was appointed as a first presenter.
Our group chose Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab as our language learning site. The reason we chose this site is because it fits the criteria that we have found in the article that was written by Doan Thi Ngoc. Our target level mainly focuses on intermediate students and its objectives are to emphasize the improvement of listening comprehension for second language learners worldwide and those with pairing impairment. Listening comprehension plays a very important role in foreign language teaching, especially for young learners. It has been known that the first step in learning a language is by listening. Hence, our LL site centers on listening skill.
Throughout the presentation weeks, we have to admit that all presenters from each group did a good job in introducing and promoting their language learning site. Each site has its own strengths and weaknesses, but after all, perfection seems impossible as every person has their own preferences in their chosen LL site.
As for now, let's talk about our real business which is "The Best Criteria for Language Learning Site" specifically for English language. There are various criteria presented by different groups which are based on recommendation by the experts. Some features seem very important as it was highlighted by most of the experts. For examples, the features of reliability, interactivity and up-to-date are repeatedly mentioned by most experts in this field. That repetition shows the emphasis and importance of that features in choosing the best language learning site. Hence, we think that those three features are the most suitable and primary features for the best language learning sites!
Why?
In conclusion, the presentations on this topic really help us in comparing and evaluating language learning sites for our future reference in choosing one. Other than that, we are also exposed to many new sites that we are not familiar with and indirectly, give us more options.
References
Davis, R. (1998). Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab - For English as a Second Language. Retrieved
March 10, 2017, from http://www.esl-lab.com/
Island, P. E. (2008). Evaluation and Selection of Learning Resources: A Guide.
Kır, E., & Kayak, S. (2013). The Evaluation of Websites Teaching English as a Foreign Language
(efl). Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 106, 2788-2795.
March 10, 2017, from http://gas.hoasen.edu.vn/en/gas-page/how-evaluate-educational-website-
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Assalamualaikum w.b.t. Dear readers, this blog is mainly created for ENGL 4740: Computer Applications course.
Love, Four CALLiphs.