Cmc presentation

Part 1 Blog-Assisted Learning in the ESL

Writing Classroom: A Phenomenological Analysis

(Article Summary)

Muhammad Azwan bin Shari (1016987)Nabilah Syaza Mohd Shukri (1017612)Siti Syairah bt Fakruddin (1018160)Madihah bt Mohd Izam (1016070) 

TITLE: “Blog-Assisted Learning in the ESL Writing Classroom: A Phenomenological Analysis”

AUTHORS: Ming Huei Lin, Nicholas Groom and Chin-Ying Lin

JOURNAL: Lin, M. H., Groom, N., & Lin, C.-Y. (2013). Blog-Assisted Learning in the ESL Writing Classroom: A Phenomenological Analysis. Educational Technology & Society, 16 (3), 130–139.

URL http://media.proquest.com/media/pq/classic/doc/3139761791/fmt/pi/rep/NONE?hl=blog

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PURPOSE OF STUDY: To explore the experiences of a group of Taiwanese ESL student writers on a course of study that used a blog-assisted language learning (BALL) methodology.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM: Second language writing students are enthusiastic about BALL in principle, but are not motivated to engage voluntarily in second language blogging activities in practice.

PARTICIPANT: 25 Taiwanese students of ESL majoring.

Research Questions

What do the participants think about learning by using blogs?

How do the participants describe their learning attitude and motivation when learning writing through using blogs?

How do the participants evaluate the effectiveness of the blogging activities used in these writing lessons?

Are the participants willing to attend more lessons supported with BALL like this? Why?/Why not?

Methodology

Research setting and participants

Course design

Data collection

Data analysis

Findings & Discussions This study explores the experiences of a group of Taiwanese

ESL student writers on a course of study that used a blog-assisted language learning (BALL) methodology.

Data from in-depth interviews with eight participants were studied qualitatively using a phenomenological method of analysis.

Participants’ blogging activities were found to be inhibited by low L2 proficiency levels, by feelings of anxiety and embarrassment about possible peer reactions to their work, and by the slow pace at which completed compulsory blogging tasks were completed.

Findings & Discussions

It is argued that these findings help to explain the observation made in a number of previous studies, that second language writing students are enthusiastic about BALL in principle, but are not motivated to engage voluntarily in second language blogging activities in practice.

The paper concludes by offering suggestions for ameliorating the problems identified in their analysis, and by identifying avenues for further research.

Comments The purpose of the study was too general because it only studies the

students’ behavior towards BALL and it only wanted to prove previous research studies.

Lots of improvement should be done for this research, especially by specifying more on the research objectives and questions.

One limitation of this research is that it only focuses on one teaching approach where students work on their writings alone with time constraints, leading to their negative attitudes towards blogging. Hence, researchers should include other teaching approaches like working in groups, giving them relevant time to finish their work, for more quality ones and spending some hours for teacher-student consultation.

Comments

To some degree, the classroom setting may have affected the results of the study where many students said that they often got distracted. Hence, before the research is conducted, the researchers should block all access to irrelevant sites especially the social media and YouTube. The arrangement of computers should also follow the traditional classroom setting so that students see some similarities between both settings.

Future researchers can help to improve this research for more accurate results.

Part 2

THE STUDY ON CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS HYPOHESIS (CAH) AMONG MALAYSIAN ENGLISH SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING

RESEARCH OBJECTIVESThe research aims to:

1. Identify the common errors done in blogs by second language learners.

2. Identify whether one’s writing is affected by their first language and culture.

LITERATURE REVIEWAccording to James, C (1980), CAH is understood as the principle barrier to second language acquisition is the interference of the first language system with the second language system. “Those elements that are similar through (a learner’s) native language will be simple for him or her and those elements that are different will be difficult (Lado, R., 1968)

METHODOLOGY› Finding blogs: The research starts by finding 2-4

blogs that are suitable to be analyzed. The chosen bloggers are Malaysian English second language learners and English is chosen as the medium in writing their blog entries. Their English level is intermediate.

› Data collection: All the data being collected is analyzed to find the avoidance strategies and types of transfer that these bloggers usually use. All the results will be presented in the form of a table in an organized manner to be easily understood.

Blogger 1

Blogger 2

Items   Error Correction

Singular-plural 

  B1 

1. I do know that long posts is 2. one of the main reason 3. Stores4. he tend 

1. I do know that long posts are2. one of the main reasons 3. Store4. he tends

B2 1. blog 1. blogs

Article 

B1

1. But problem is

2. and best part is

3. previous blog I

1. But the problem is2. and the best part is3. previous blog that I

B2

1. I was one of subcommittees

2. And that's wrap

3. since last few months

4. will be on semester break

5. watching movies I have in my hard disk

1. I was one of the subcommittees2. And that's a wrap3. since the last few months4. will be on a semester break5. watching movies that I have in my

hard disk

Diction 

B1 

1. a job is to make end meets 2. still hoping some kind of miracle do

exists 3. I believe I have short memory4. a lot comments5. they're surviving well with kids some

more.

1. a job is to make ends meet2. still hoping some miracle to exist3. I believe I have short term memory4. a lot of comments5. they're surviving well even with

kids. 

  B2  

1. it is us who will be living to it2. And I must make his easy too3. a perfect medium4. I am feeling more sorry. 5. Please tune in to my Twitter

1. it is us who will be living it2. And I must make his life easy3. A perfect platform4. I am feeling very sorry. 5. Please follow my Twitter

Tenses 

B1  1. I felt obliged 2. My worrying heart won't stop

pressures me 3. I do not expect it coming straight up 4. I hadn't been getting more positive

support than I did 5. why the hell would they followed what

I wrote6. I felt the need to express myself7. hasn't achieve anything8. She hasn't contribute to9. Well, he have to.10. he takes them as they is11. I haven't quite enjoy my life yet12. He knows what I wanted13. If two persons truly want to be

together14. But no matter what they said how

things will be15. he have taught me

1. I feel obliged2. My worrying heart won’t stop

pressuring me3. I do not expect it to come straight up4. I hadn’t been getting much positive

support than I did5. why the hell would they follow what I

wrote6. I feel the need to express myself7. hasn't achieved anything8. She hasn't contributed to9. Well, he has to.10. he takes them as they are11. I haven't quite enjoyed my life yet12. He knows what I want13. If two person truly wants to be

together14. But no matter what they say how

things will be 15. he has taught me

B2 1. I seriously not lying about being busy2. we still have fun3. taking selfie4. I haven't share5. It my6. we're already7. guys following8. haven't post

1. I am seriously not lying about 2. we still had fun3. selfie-ing4. I haven’t shared 5. It is my6. We’ve already7. guys are following8. haven't posted

Conjunction  

 B1

1. And hence, 2. As for people my age

1. Hence,2. As for people of my age

B2

Punctuation marks

    B1 

1. all teens must have got to admit

2. I used to call my pet3. we got engaged mid April4. 'Young people they tend5. Why that’s very mean of

anybody to say things6. I believe that. As for those

who are divorced7. Its

1. all teens must have (.) Got to admit

2. I used to call ‘my pet’3. we got engaged mid(-)April4. 'Young people(,) they tend5. Why (,) that's very mean of

anybody to say things6. I believed that (,)for those

who are divorced7. it(’)s

B2 

1. few categories okay maybe

1. few categories(,) okay(,) maybe

Interferences of mother tongue 

 B1

1. hehe happy happy me.2. 'Are you serious you

letting her marry off so young?’

3. 'How will you guys live after marriage? Both not stable yet, financially and mentally.'

1. Hehe..I’m happy2. 'Are you serious marrying her

off so young?’3. 'How will you guys live after

marriage? Both of you are not stable, financially and mentally.' 

B2 

- - 

Spelling

B1 1. Extend2. Does one writing3. Thoughts and nonsenses

1. Extent2. Does one’s writing3. Thought and nonsense

B2 1. Careless 1. Care less

Sentence structure

 B1       

1. going on in my mind of late 2. I just yet to have 3. but reality is that 4. I wish and hope and cross fingers

hoping intensively 5. It's 23 days into January 2014 6. I'll only write things be going great

after the 14th of Feb 7. I blog because I love writing actually.8. to read my life events back9. I certainly will enjoy it more10. 'Are you serious you letting her marry

off11. 'Young people they tend to not think12. inevitable really13. and to not repeat 

1. going out in my mind lately2. I have just yet to3. but that is the reality4. I wish and cross my fingers, hoping

intensively5. it’s 23 days in January 20146. I’ll only write things that are great

after the 14th of Feb7. Actually, I blog because I love

writing. 8. to read back my life events 9. I will certainly enjoy it more10. ‘Are you serious marrying her off11. 'Young people they tend not to think12. really inevitable13. and not to repeat

B2 - -

Preposition B1 1. we got engaged mid April 1. we got engaged in mid-April

B2 - -

FINDINGS

There are 77 errors detected which are further classified into 10 categories.

Those categories are:-

1) Singular-plural

2) Articles/Determiner

3) Diction

4) Tenses

5) Conjunction

6) Punctuation marks

7) Interferences of mother tongue

8) Spelling

9) Sentence structure

10) Prepositions.

The top highest The top lowest

Categories Number of error

Categories Number of error

Blogger 1 Tenses 15 Article 3

Spelling 3

Sentence Structure

13 Preposition 1

Punctuation Marks

7 Conjunction 2

Blogger 2 Tenses 8 Singular – Plural

1

Diction 5 Punctuation Marks

1

Article 5 Spelling 1

The interference of the mother tongue can be seen in Blogger 1, where 3 interferences were being detected. While in Blogger 2, there is no such interference happening.

It can be seen that both bloggers had committed the most error in tenses which proof that tenses are the major problem for ESL students.

This problem is considered as a global error according to CAH. It is a more serious error because it usually impedes understanding.

The second highest error recorded for blogger 1 is sentence structure. This is because the blogger tends to write long sentences without the using punctuation marks when needed to do so. This causes the structure of the sentence to be unorganized or incomplete.

On the other hand, blogger 2 tense to do a lot of diction mistakes due to lack of vocab.

The result also shows that blogger 1 committed the least errors in preposition, conjunction, article and spelling while Blogger 2 did least errors in Singular-plural, punctuation marks and spelling.

They committed least in these categories because they have already passed the stage where these categories are considered as an easy level for them. Those who commit a lot of errors in these categories are usually from the beginner level.

The first blogger’s writings tend to be influence by her mother tongue due to the uses of Manglish in her writing. Being a mix child of Chinese and Malay causes her to use Malay and Mandarin as her mother tongues. These languages have influence her writing in English.

CONCLUSION

All in all, this study managed to answer the research objectives which are:-

1) to identify the common errors done in blogs by ESL learners

2) to identify whether one’s writing is affected by their first language and culture.

Second-language learners tend make the most mistakes in Tenses while the least mistakes are in preposition, singular-plural, conjunction and spelling.

The learner’s L1 does influence their writings.

More in-depth research can be done by future researchers.