WEEK 6: SUMMARY AND REFLECTION ON COMPUTER MEDIATED COMMUNICATION

SUMMARY ON COMPUTER MEDIATED COMMUNICATION from afiqah rosa khadijah awatif

REFLECTION ON COMPUTER MEDIATED COMMUNICATION

Technology continues to develop day by day. Theories are being developed and researches are being conducted to examine the pros and cons of technology in language learning. It seems that there are different modes that are useful in language learning and teaching. Thus, it appears that Computer Mediated Communication has become one of them. We believe that Computer Mediated Communication can encourage and motivate students to engage in the language learning process and boost their accomplishment especially in language learning. Students can practice the language that they learn by interacting with other people through internet. Furthermore, this is a very crucial step for them to grasp the best way to express themselves because some people might more comfortable in using computers to communicate rather than face to face conversation. Although communicating face to face is a more effective type of communication, to some extent, it can be restricted, especially if it involves long distance communication between people around the world. A lot of things can be done through CMC, for example it helps us to keep in touch with our friends while connecting us with the outside world. 

If Computer Mediated Communication such as blogs, emails, chat rooms, Skypes, Internet Relay Chat (IRC), bulletin boards, World Wide Web and other forms of social network sites are used appropriately, such as to communicate with the native speakers, we feel that students can learn more effectively the language they are learning. Besides, it can expose the students to the different cultures and varieties of language. Nowadays, people can not only focusing on learning merely a language. In order to create an effective communication, we cannot simply depend on the language without considering the culture of its native speakers. Besides, understanding other cultures will also expose us to other people’s concept of worldviews which is related to the study of discourse analysis. This is due to the fact that language somehow will affect our worldview and vice versa. 

From an Islamic perspective, computer is a useful and effective tool to spread words of Islam for its speed and accuracy in delivering messages. Although it lacks some of the factors of face to face conversation, emoticons, cryptic language, smiley and etc. have filled the gaps. In short, computer has more benefits than drawbacks to offer if are used correctly.

WEEK 5: REFLECTION ON DESIGNING EFFECTIVE POWER POINT PRESENTATION

In order to create an effective power point presentation, Victor Chen has highlighted some important points that should be  looking at. For example, he stressed on the font size, colour used and content arrangement that will keep our power point presentation simple and clear. All these are needed to ease the presenter during the presentation and to avoid the audience from having any visual distraction due to unorganized power point presentation. Besides, as students we have to know the basic skills of creating an effective power point presentation to fulfil the assessment requirements. As for the long term benefit, Insya Allah, when we embark into the working world in the future, this skill is very helpful for us to make an excellent presentation whether for proposal presentation, meeting, special occasions and so on.

Typically, people will tend to judge us through our presentations. Hence, preparing an effective power point presentation also very important because our slides are actually what people will be looking at besides us. We know that the function of the slides is to provide information and knowledge to people. This is very much related to the Islamic method of Da’wah since Da’wah also gives us knowledge. People will not listen to us if our points are not clear enough. Hence, Islam stresses on the clarity of messages given to people. Besides, we need to keep our message simple yet informative. People will understand better if they are clear with what we say, in this case, what we show in our power point presentations.

Victor Chen also explains that we have to be consistent in creating our slides, for example by choosing only one font for the whole power points. We can see here that consistency also is needed in Islam. For instance, in preaching other people, consistency is needed to avoid any confusion of thoughts. A good da’i also must be very consistent in his/her way of giving Da’wah. Victor Chen then says that a good power point must avoid cramping all information in one shot and putting too much detail in one slide. He wants to say that we have to show any info one by one to make it easier to be understood.

Again, Islam encourages us to be moderate in giving Da’wah to allow people to accept the message slowly without any burden. This is very clear because we know that even Al-Qur’an was revealed gradually. For instance, Allah had revealed the verses related to the prohibition of drinking gradually because during the early stage of Islam, it was the habit of the Arab’s people to drink. Hence, to prevent them with one command will made them hard to accept the new ruling. After all, we have to know the right technique of creating power point presentations as the slides somehow will give us confidence during the presentation because we will not fluster if our slides are good.

WEEK 5: SUMMARY AND REFLECTION ON CALL IN LANGUAGE SKILLS

Call in language skills from afiqah rosa khadijah awatif

REFLECTION ON CALL IN LANGUAGE SKILLS

We spend most of our time listening to many things around us. Some people enjoy listening to music, watching videos, television, movies and so on. It is true that listening is a crucial aspect for language learners because in order to learn a language, they must listen to the language first. By listening to the native speakers’ of the target language, they can take note of the pronunciation, grammar, sentence structure, variety of spoken discourse, intonation, stress, pause and other aspects of language that are used by the native speakers of the target language. By doing so, it is very helpful for the learners to acquire the language promptly. This also gives space for teachers to apply the various computer applications in teaching the listening skills for example, multimedia computing and podcasting in order to make the learning process interesting.

                           

Speaking skills are unquestionably one of the most imperative means of communication. There are several opinions about how good speaking skills lead to an effective communication. Speaking skills are very important and truly one of the best assets in Islam. A good communication skill does help to increase your opportunities to communicate better with other people which will help you to spread the beauty of Islam. As the technology develops day by day, we can use many mediums to communicate with other people. Some people might have difficulty to talk face to face but they still can improve their speaking skills through computer-based activities such as chat room via internet which eventually will increase their self-confidence in speaking.

                            

The first revelation from Allah s.w.t to our Prophet Muhammad s.a.w is the commandment for him to read. As it says in Holy Qur’an in translation from Surah Al-Alaq verse 1:

         “ Read (O Muhammad), with the name of the God who creates all the creatures”.

In this verse, we know that the ever first thing that asked by Allah s.w.t to the mankind is reading as it is the key to all of the knowledge. All people are given the ability to read using our aql. Even for some people who are unlucky (virtually challenged), they still can read through many methods that can be found nowadays. As Mulisms we cannot deny that technology does help us to enhance our reading skills. Many computer software such as electronic dictionaries and online reading programs were created to help people to master the reading skills.

Parents also can help and not putting the burden on teachers only, but as adults, the “supervising mode” must be on every time the kids used the computer and try to help them as much as you can. Providing the right contents(parents can control the content in the computer and monitor the usage , well thanks to technology ) in their gadgets also a big help in order for the kids not to astray too much from their work.

Last but not least for now, it is not wrong to keep ahead and advance as long as our intention (niyyah) is not deviating from the reason  of our creation, which is to serve and keep humble yourself to the Creator.

                                 

Besides, CALL also helps students to improve their writing skills. Many interactive writing online program is available for students to learn the writing skills. Blogging for instance, exposes students to the informal writing which allow students to write freely, expressing their thoughts. Students who write will also get feedback from the readers which then will open some group discussions. However there are also writing programs that help students to improve their academic writing. Besides, many grammar and spelling checkers can be downloaded from the internet at no cost at all. Moreover, the traditional grammar teaching in the class will always make students feel uninterested to learn grammar. Instead of textbooks, computer programs and games are the effective ways to maintain the students’ attention in learning grammar. Creativity is needed in order to create interesting computer programs that are attractive and beneficial in language learning. Thus, CALL does help students in language learning because it integrates the use of computer technology which has become crucial these days.