RESEARCH ON CMC (PART 2)

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

 

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

The 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 REVIEW

According 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)

In Ming Huei Lin, Groom, N. and Chin-Ying Li (2013) research “Blog-Assisted Learning in the ESL Writing Classroom: A Phenomenological Analysis”, the research 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. Previous researchers claim 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 research aims prove this theory.

 The participants involved in this research are 25 Taiwanese students of ESL major. It was conducted in the Department of Applied Foreign Languages at a university in central Taiwan, in a computer laboratory where each individual student was provided with a computer connected to the Internet to facilitate in-class blogging activities. The data collected were comprised of in-depth interviews with eight student volunteers.

Findings show that participants described BALL in very positive terms as a novel, convenient and fresh informal alternative learning method to the traditional ESL writing classroom. The BALL experience also helps students to improve their writing skills, learn new English words as well as finding articles and ideas for their writing journals from peers.

However, the students realized about their lack of language proficiency but, due to time constrain they do not have time to check their entries for grammatical errors. BALL serve as an informal way of teaching but it is an ineffective physical setting for learning where students got distracted by the computers when doing BALL activities. They also said that the blogging format did not motivate them to do more than when teachers ask them to write.

Enthusiasm for blogging in practice is due to three interconnected factor. First, students’ experience of learning to write using BALL is no different than learning to write in an ESL traditional classroom. Second, the feeling of worry and embarrassment to post their writings to the public is due to unsympathetic classmates who will mock any grammatical errors that they find. Third, the students took a long time to complete the BALL task because they were not so good in English. Thus, they were unwilling or unable to give any time to non-compulsory blogging activities such as journaling or posting comments on peer work.

It is predicted that the learning motivation levels of these students may be enhanced by the use of Web 2.0 technologies, is incorrect. This tells more about the views of BALL researchers who live before the Internet, and still regard these technologies as wondrous and motivating. It may raise the possibility that BALL may be more motivating for older learners. About the students’ anxiousness towards peer criticism, it may be improved by the addition of an explicit learner training lesson to the BALL program. Students can learn the value and importance of receiving and responding to criticism on their work.

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 to this research by specifying more on the research objectives and questions. The research has many limitations and one of them is that it only focuses on one teaching approach where students’ work on their writings alone, time constrain in finishing the works and so forth in which may be the factors that lead to their negative attitudes towards blogging. Hence, researchers should include other teaching approaches like working in groups and giving them relevant time to finish their work.

The classroom setting may also affect 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. 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.

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.

FINDINGS

Table 1 shows the errors done by blogger 1 and blogger 2 in their entries. Based on the data collected, there are 77 errors detected which are further classified into ten categories. These categories are:- 1)Singular-plural 2)Article/Determiner 3)Diction 4)Tenses 5)Conjunction 6)Punctuation marks 7)Interferences of mother tongue 8)Spelling 9)Sentence structure 10)Prepositions. Results shows that blogger 1 have the highest numbers of errors in Tenses with a total number of 15 errors followed by Sentence Structure at the second place with a total number of 13 errors. The third highest type of error done by Blogger 1 is on Punctuation Marks with a total number of 7 errors. Meanwhile, for Blogger 2, the highest number of error done was on Tenses with 8 errors and followed by Diction with 5 errors. The third highest error done by Blogger 2 was on Article with a total number of 5 errors.

            The bottom three types of errors done by Blogger 1 are on Spelling (3), Article (3), Conjunction (2) and Preposition (1).  Meanwhile Blogger 2 recorded the lowest errors for Singular-Plural, Punctuation marks and Spelling with all errors only 1 each.

Based on the findings derived, it can be concluded that both bloggers had made different types of mistakes with different number of errors. While both bloggers recorded the highest number of errors in Tenses but the result was not the same for the lowest errors in in which both bloggers have different results . In addition, 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.  

            Based on the results, it can be understood that second language learners tend to do mistakes in all categories listed in table 1. However, 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. Besides that, 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 to identify the common errors done in blogs by ESL learners and 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 also influence their writings.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

James, C. (1980) Contrastive Analysis. London: Longman.

LinaKhairunisa’s (2014). Retrieved March 25, 2014 from http://linana94.blogspot.com/

Lado, R (1968) Linguistics Across Cultures. The University of Michigan Press

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. Retrieved March 25, 2014 from

http://media.proquest.com/media/pq/classic/doc/3139761791/fmt/pi/rep/NONE?hl=blog%2Cassisted%2Cblog%2Cassisted%2Clearning%2Clearning%2Cin%2Cin%2Cthe%2Cthe%2Cesl%2Cesl%2Cwritings%2Cwriting%2Cwritings%2Cwriting%2Cclassrooms%2Cclassroom%2Cclassrooms%2Cclassroom%2Ca%2Ca%2Cphenomenological%2Cphenomenological%2Canalyses%2Canalysis%2Canalyses%2Canalysis&cit%3Aauth=Lin%2C+Ming+Huei%3BGroom%2C+Nicholas%3BChin-Ying%2C+Lin&cit%3Atitle=Blog-Assisted+Learning+in+the+ESL+Writing+Classroom%3A+A+Phenomenological+Analysis&cit%3Apub=Journal+of+Educational+Technology+%26+Society&cit%3Avol=16&cit%3Aiss=3&cit%3Apg=130&cit%3Adate=2013&ic=true&cit%3Aprod=ProQuest&_a=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%3D&_s=F8oSO6a%2FmLnC0on57Vw%2FK6IV7Yg%3D

Perfectionist on The Go  (2014). Retrieved March 31, 2014 from

http://syasyasharif.blogspot.com/

APPENDIX A

BLOG 1: PERFECTIONIST ON THE GO

Link: http://syasyasharif.blogspot.com/

How Time Flies

Thursday, January 23, 2014

It's 23 days into January 2014 now and yes, we've successfully moved forward into a new year, but not much of a new lifestyle or resolutions, yet. I hope to amend this as soon as possible though. Without me knowing, I had finished my final examinations and degree life had ended although the results were yet to be announced on the 14th of February. Personally, I wasn't looking forward into receiving the automated mail UiTM had been sending for the past semesters. I feel extra scared and nervous this time because I knew I screwed a few things here and there but well I gave my best. It's too late to ponder on things like this really. Meanwhile, I am looking for a job to fund myself for a few things I had been looking forward to. As time goes by, there is a shift as well in the plans we (baby & I) had made earlier. We might need to escalate things up but we'll see how it goes. I'll definitely blog about it. There are so many things going on in my mind of late. I just yet to have the answers to my endless questions. My worrying heart won't stop pressures me as well. Apart from that, all is going great for me I guess. No..no..I'll only write things be going great after the 14th of Feb and that depends on whether I like my result or not. Ha! While applying for jobs........I realized that there's not much options for fresh graduates or new entry level like myself and we can't ask for more actually. But, still hoping some kind of miracle do exists and opportunities come knocking. I do not expect it coming straight up my ass though. I understand that a little bit of hard work pays off. I just feel the need to clarify my point here haha..there are so many people who are so quick to judge and I felt obliged to defend myself. Although not that I care and that they mean well. Sorry for being so bitter about things but reality is that. People enjoy seeing others fall and talk about it. Offering a helping hand to someone who is on the way down is so bizarre these days. Back to updating, I am looking in all directions for the possibilities of me getting a scholarship for my Master study. I wish and hope and cross fingers hoping intensively that I will get through this phase with not much hassle. I really wanted to further what supposed to be a halt for time being education-wise. And.........I hadn't been getting more positive support than I did with baby by my side. He's so ever supportive and protective. One quality I fancy a lot! hehe happy happy me. I know things are hard for the two of us now. I know I still spend money without thinking in advance at times and that I am an unemployed person with lots of imaginary items on my bucket lists and you can't help being mad at me for so many times in a day but above all that, I love you so much and we love each other and I guess that is adequate then, now and always. Please please please stay the way you are! On another note, I feel rather sad looking at my mum who's ageing and continues to work hard to support us. I wish I could help in providing. And hence, one of the main reason of me searching desperately for a job is to make end meets. As for now, I duly understand that it would be a blessing already if I stopped spending the unnecessary. Also, the Chinese Lunar New Year is just around the corner and I can't wait for it to arrive because I am finally going to go back to my hometown, Johor Bahru. God knows how much I miss that place, the smell of it, the roads, those familiar now not so familiar buildings, places, food and whatever I can relate with. Also can't wait to celebrate our second CLNY together. God this is one long post after the previous. I think I should start writing in bullets for the next in order to be more organized and neat. I do know that long posts is such a nuisance to read especially with fonts this small. Till then.

Answering questions

Friday, November 29, 2013

I first started blogging in 2008. The reason I blog at that time was mainly due to 1) Blogspot is some what a trend that all teens must have got to admit that I was greatly influenced 2) I was temperamental and always frustrated with my life 3) puppy love urges you to write sweet posts although not to the extend of abusing Facebook statuses 4) I happened to have an internet connection at home at that time and I guess I'm considered one of the earliest among my peers. So, looking back, my reasons were very vague and poorly put. I blog because I love writing actually. But problem is, does one writing or blog post contain substance? Or does it lure readers into reading our lives over and over again? So for that previous blog I used to call my pet, I had a total of 72 avid readers considering the fact that why the hell would they followed what I wrote from time to time. Imagine. I can't even stand what I previously wrote. So much weird thoughts and nonsenses. A big part of growing up, from my own experience is through the way I write & see things. From making weird spellings that I despise now up to a very weak point or judgement. That was when I was 18 years old. Now that I'm in my early twenties, I felt the need to express myself, to record my life journey and most of all, to read my life events back. I admit I always read my old blog posts. 1) Partly because I believe I have short memory 2) To past time. Being taken care of now, I just have to rewrite on a daily basis. Not because I want to showcase to others because I know I could always own a diary and heck writing on a book is hard these days. I rather type. And Blogger provides just that. It help us stores our memories and writings and it is retrievable easily. I want to be productive and make do what I had not done in my previous life (I mean when I was younger). I want to make changes. I want to be the change itself. I am also convinced that my partner will take great care of me and see me through till I reach old age. I will do the same for him too. I received quite a lot comments from uncles and aunties and I don't blame them. I thank them because they see some future in this brat. Cause they're making statements like 'She could have a future ahead' - As if I'm dying quickly from a sickness. 'She hasn't achieve anything in her life yet' - yeah that's true. And that's exactly what I'm going to pursue now. Life is beautiful and human beings are constantly learning, married or not. 'Are you serious you letting her marry off so young? She hasn't contribute to the family yet.' - Married or not, is not a ground to not give your parents money. It's what you're obliged to. We're required to repay our parents and there's no religion in this world which state the otherwise. 'Is he going to accept your parents and take care of them as well? You're the only daughter. - Well, he have to. And he happened to prove it already that he takes them as they is. I'm grateful to the Almighty. 'How will you guys live after marriage? Both not stable yet, financially and mentally.' -There are many young married couples out there and they're surviving well with kids some more. I bet we could pull it through. We will take two jobs. 'How are you going to get married with no pay checks yet?' - We're working on it and you'll see. Plus we can afford to get married legally no worries. 'Are you sure you are ready to get on board the relationSHIP named marriage? You're still so young you haven't even enjoy your life yet' - Yes. We definitely think thoroughly before we got engaged mid April. And yes I haven't quite enjoy my life yet but I certainly will enjoy it more with a truthful partner and best part is, he'll never leave the party. 'Marriage aren't all about rainbows and butterflies. Things are different once you get married. Your partner will change his attitude and behaviours.' - Thanks for the reminder. I'll keep an eye on myself so that I won't get too comfortable and forget to play my part as a partner to spice up the relationship/marriage and if he loves me, he wouldn't go back on his words. 'Living together with a mother-in-law is hard. Things will bound to happen' - I know, He knows what I wanted. And he loves me and I love him. We could sort things out and make arrangements but I definitely will move out to make our own humble abode with the person I love. 'Does he agree into it?' - He says I'll be getting what I want and I am very grateful for that. I'll not let him down. 'Young people they tend to not think nicely into their decisions and ended up getting a divorce' - Why that's very mean of anybody to say things like that to us considering that what we intend to do here is good deed but if there's a will, there's a way. If two persons truly want to be together with each other, there is nothing that they can't talk through with one another. I believe that. As for those who are divorced, I bet it is not what they had wanted in the first place as nobody gets married having in mind that they will separate after a period of time. It is just not meant to be after they had fought for one another. God knows better. And the list of questions (absurd or not) goes on and on.. As for people my age, most said that getting married young is the best thing though they wish they had found their other half. Some said the opposite. But no matter what they said how things will be or how they think of our decisions, I can't be bothered. We are in no obligation to listen or to live in others' expectations. In fact, why not just live to ours. One thing he have taught me well is don't bother to listen to others, to what people have to say about things or me or even us, just think what is best for myself, for the relationship and our families. Cause no matter what others had to say, in the end, it is us who will be living to it. And not to mention that, I am learning from errors although he tend to keep me away from it but its inevitable really at times. Common human errors is to learn after we come across obstacles. Only then, we're convinced. Sometimes I'm at it too. While at it, I try my best to learn from the fall and to not repeat the same mistakes. My partner allows me to learn from my own experience but what is good about my experience now is that he's with me. He's there to tell me right or wrong, yes or no and many more. For that, I have to admit, he makes my life easier. And I must make his easy too.

BLOG 2: LINA KHAIRUNISA’S

Link: http://linana94.blogspot.com/

I'm Sorry, I'm Busy Participating Part 1

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Assalamualaikum.

I was busy and now I'm enjoying my mid semester break which is only for one week. I seriously not lying about being busy, I am busy participating, people. I am always on Twitter and Instagram so a I suggest better you guys follow me there since I often update my life there hehe. But I still want to update my blog. So this post will be a compilation of what I did as participating with the reality, eheh. I divided to a few categories okay maybe three la kot. Kot, okay? Let's start!

PART 1: UNIVERSITY LIFE

Program Induksi Pelajar-pelajar Tajaan Yayasan Bank Rakyat

This was a mandatory event for students under YBR sponsorship. Yeah, me and some of my friends are selected and we participated in this induction which was held at A Famosa Resort, Melaka. It was a 3 days 2 nights program which were filled with inspiring activities. The most important thing was the conductor/consultant was my teacher during my primary school and he recognized me! Hihi.

Subcommittee of SRC Information and Multimedia Bureau

I was one of subcommittees of Students' Representative Council under Information and Multimedia bureau! It was an honor to be involved in this bureau and each of the committees are like a family, they are all so lovely and supporting!

Usrah Under Ma'aruf Club

A great usrah which is held every week. My kakak usrah is Kak 'Aishah Jauhara and she is so comel plus she is married and expecting too! We did so many activities together from semester 1 until semester 2.

Volunteering Works

I am super in love with volunteering works and UIA is a perfect medium for me to be involved in volunteering work. I have registered for lots of volunteering club such as Teach For The Needs (TFTN) and Ibnu Makhtub Club (i-Mac).

This Is Us

Despite the busy-ness and all quizzes and assignments, we still have fun. One of it was taking selfie after a damn hard Accounting quiz!

I want to compile all the stories I haven't share here but since the university life itself dominated one full page, I guess I have to continue with Part 2. Wait for it!

Assalamualaikum. ^_^

I'm Feeling Twenty-two 20!

Thursday, February 6, 2014

"Hello, who promised that she's going to update her blog regularly but January has left, and February entered and there is no post after the first post in 2014?"

Hehehehehehe. (>.<) I am so sorry I guess I have abandoned my promise and go Instagram-ing all day long. Like I said before, please head up to it if you ever miss me. But hey, I'm going to post a thing here! I am currently in UIA, my beloved UIA. Went back here a day after my birthday, 2nd February. It my second semester for first year and it is boring. My classes often were cancelled and I'm stuck in the room, watching movies I have in my hard disk. So far, for four days in UIA, I have watched in total of NINE movies. Yeah.

Let's get to the main story. On 1st February 2014, I am.... *drumroll~~~~~* twenty, people, new digit 20! I was not happy,, at first, knowing my teen-age was over but 20 is not that bad. I'm feeling like a lady, but young! There's no party, not surprise but I spent my birthday by going out with Ibu, Anis, and Rehan, my favourite girls. ♥ We went to Pavillion and we spent our days by karaoke-ing for 3 hours straight and eating! Ibu bought me a red high-cut Converse as a birthday present and I super love it! And of course, as a Boost lover and member, I got the drink for free for my birthday, YEAAAAAY! We were happy and well at least I could forget the thought that I had to go back to UIA the day after huhu.

It is so awkward to type here, like sooooooo awkward. Here are the pictures of the d-day;

And that's wrap bebeh. I will update soon, insyaAllah if I am not too lazy. Have a nice day everyone, asssalamualaikum!

My Very First Post In 2014

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Assalamualaikum.. *krik krik*

*stare at the blank page for 20 seconds-literally*

I am feeling so awkward right now, me, in front of laptop trying to blog after a looooooooooooong hiatus or MIA. I am truly sorry for not posting anything since last few months (or last year) and now that we're already opened a new book, I am feeling more sorry. To add more sorry, I see my followers' number were increasing and I don't know why you guys following me provided that I haven't post anything. :(

For those who knew, I am now attached to my phone dearly. I only use my laptop for assignment purpose and to download and watch Running Man and We Got Married. Never in my mind to  update my blog because 1) I am super busy, I usually spend my free time to sleep or to read books or just wandering about, 2) I thought people are now careless about blog since there are lots of medium that replace blog, and 3) I am now more active in Instagram and Twitter, I babble almost all of my daily life there. Speaking how easy and phone-friendly there are unlike blog huhu. Now that I am over with my  finals (OH YEAH END OF SEMESTER 1 OF MY DEGREE! Time does fly away fast huhu) and will be on semester break for 3 weeks, insyaAllah I'll try my best to update my blog.

In case you guys really want to follow me (ada ke?! :O) please tune in to my Twitter or Instagram account I'v e put at the sidebar. I am there almost everyday or not almost. I will update you guys with more books to be reviewed, more places to be shared and more stories to be cherished here.

And I know it's too late but happy new year, buddies! ^_^

APPENDIX B

 

 

 

  

 

  

 

SUMMARY OF ANALYSED DATA

Based on the analysed corpus, there are 10 types of errors made by both bloggers. The highest number of errors done by Blogger 1 was on Tenses (15), followed by Sentence Structure (13) and Punctuation marks (7). Meanwhile, for Blogger 2, the highest number of errors done was on Tenses (8), Diction (5) and Article (5). It can be seen that both bloggers had committed the most error in tenses which proves that tenses are the major problem for ESL students. This problem is considered as a global error. It is a more serious error because it usually impedes understanding. The bottom three types of errors done by Blogger 1 were Article and Spelling (3), Conjunction (2) and Preposition (1). On the other hand, the least of errors done by Blogger 2 was on Singular-plural, Punctuation marks and spelling with only 1 error each. This is because the bloggers have already passed the stage where these categories are considered as an easy level for them. All in all, the study managed to answer all research questions. Further research can be conducted for more in depth analysis.