SKBP 1023 Language and ICT

6th posting-The Concordance applications.

2008-04-14T22:54:00.000-07:00

This is our final posting, it is a pair work, and again my partner for this posting is Maeriya. We are requested to post about “Beyond Concordance Lines: Using Concordances to Investigate Language Development” by Arshad Abd Samad page 70 in OTL book and also search in the internet for articles or publications on the applications of concordance and according same topics that given to us. The topic that we chose is applications of concordance in language teaching and learning.

Introduction.

"literally agreement, harmony, hence derivatively a citation of parallel passages, and specifically an alphabetic arrangement of the words contained in a book with citations of the passages in which they occur." - Encyclopedia Britannica, 11 ed.

A concordance's function is basically to bring together, in other words, to 'concord' passages of text which show the use of a word. It is a type of index arrangement, working in a similar way to the verbal index found at the back of textbooks, in other words, it searches for instances of a word or phrase and comes up with each case of it. Whereas an index in the back of a book will show words in alphabetical order but only refer to them, the concordance will show each instance of each word together in the context from which it came.

Did you know?
Hugo de Saint Charo (d.1262), who employed 500 monks to assist him, compiled the first concordance, to the Vulgate Bible. In 1448, Rabbi Mordecai Nathan completed a concordance to the Hebrew Bible. It took him ten years. Conrad Kircher did a couple of years later 1599 saw a concordance to the Greek New Testament published by Henry Stephens and the Septuagint in 1602. Mr Marbeck published the first concordance to the English bible in 1550, according to Cruden it did not employ the verse numbers devised by Robert Stephens in 1545 but "the pretty large concordance" of Mr Cotton did. Then followed the notorious Cruden's Concordance and Strong's Concordance.

Concordances are frequently used as a tool in linguistics that can be used for the study of a text, such as:

comparing different usages of the same word
analysing keywords
analysing word frequencies
finding and analysing phrases and idioms
finding translations of subsentential elements, e.g. terminology, in bitexts and translation memories
creating indexes and word lists (also useful for publishing)

These are the articles regarding to the concordance applications that we found in the Internet.

Using Corpora In Language Teaching And Learning.

by James Thomas

Masaryk University,

Brno, Czech Republic

Starting with Language

To account for language phenomena, we need to examine a large sample of genuine, or attested, language not invented “possible” sentences. John Sinclair (1991: 6) effectively pruned the argument in favour of invented sentences when he wrote: "One does not study all of botany by making artificial flowers." Regardless, there are not enough artificial sentences to draw meaningful conclusions from and furthermore, they are created purely on the basis of intuition, to which he optimistically commented, "the stranglehold of intuition is being relaxed" (ibid. p.6).

As is well-known, the large samples of attested language come in the form of language corpora. These now exist for many languages and sub-languages, such as corpora of academic language, legal, medical, tourist and computer language. Using a concordancer, the type of program that searches corpora and presents the findings, the existence of unknown knowns can manifest and the constraints on particular language choices can be observed. From such data comes information which, given the necessary conditions, can become knowledge. You can see more about the article in:

http://www.iatefl.org.pl/call/j_soft23.htm

Teaching Preposition Using A Concordancer.

Nuraihan Mat Daud
Naser Amm Kamel Abusa'
English Language & Literature Dept.
International Islamic University, Malaysia.

Prepositions are one of the most used parts of speech in English. In many cases, it is not always easy to work out which preposition is the most appropriate for every particular context. Many second language learners have difficulties with prepositions as they are one of the most problematic areas (Lindstromberg, 1991 and Capel, 1993). The difficulties faced by learners in understanding how prepositions are used in sentence construction highlights the need for an effective teaching method. One way of overcoming this problem is by using a computer concordancer in teaching.

A concordancer is a computer program, which is used to find the occurrences of every single word or phrase in a text. Sinclair (1991a) claims that a concordance is the nucleus of corpus linguistics because it reveals many facts about the language and its patterns show how a language system works when it is analyzed. A corpus is defined as, "a collection of naturally-occurring language text, chosen to characterize a state or variety of a language" (Sinclair, 1991a: 171).

The use of a concordancer in language teaching is not new. Skehan (1981) was one of the first researchers to discuss what a concordancer can offer a teacher. Honey field (1989) provides a typology of exercises that can assist teachers in their language classrooms. Tribble and Jones (1990), in fact, argue that the applications of concordance output are much too diverse to list exhaustively. See more in;

http://www.melta.org.my/ET/1999/main6.htm

Here is the examples for the concordance applications in teaching and learning site;

For the Teacher

As a linguistic informant

One important application is to use the concordance as a resource tool to inform teacher appreciation of linguistic usage. A study of the syntactic patterns of the concordance lines would indicate how many connectors are typically not used in sentence or clause but commonly occur following the subject. Take example, suppose this time a teaching wanted to refresh his/her memory on the use of For and since. Concordances of the two words would quickly reveal that for typically followed by a period (for three years, etc.) while since is followed by a point in time (since 1987, etc.)

As a source of input for teaching.

In using the concordance as a source of input for teaching, as opposed to simply as an informant on usage, teachers can generate authentic instances of usage to present to students when teaching a particular language point. Thus, for example, when teaching the contrasting uses of the present progressive and the present perfect tenses, instead of teachers trusting to their intuitions and making up examples to illustrate contrasting uses, these can be derived from a concordance. Similarly, in presenting new vocabulary, concordance can provide examples of authentic contextualized language. For example, if a student is having difficulty with distinctions of meaning involving the modals can and could, then the teacher can call up instances of usage of these two modal forms and by means of the examples conduct an analysis of the differences.

As Input for Materials Development

One potential problem with using concordance directly as described above is that not all of the examples might be appropriate for teaching purposes. This is where an advantage to be had in preparing concordance-based teaching materials in advance. For examples, inappropriate examples can be deleted or all of the examples illustrating one particular usage of a word can be grouped together. This sort of editing can be easily be done by converting the concordance file into a word processing format.

For the Learner.

Error Analysis.

A guided use of the concordance by the learner is in error analysis and correction. In this activity, the teacher indicates errors in student writing which can be investigated and corrected with the help of the concordance. This is a good activity to begin concordancing with, as it gives learners specific language items to investigate, but at the same time allows them to work out how their use of language differs from that of the concordanced material.

Serendipity Learning.

The easiest, most obvious and most autonomous learner application of concordancing is to allow learners to use the concordance as and when they wish for whatever purposes they wish, This type of usage has been referred to as ‘‘serendipity learning’’ (Johns, 1988). Learner decides to look at some examples of the present progressive. This newly acquired awareness perhaps leads the learner to look up these other uses in a grammar book or to ask the teacher about them. Example of serendipity learning, here a student starts by browsing down word frequency list, which most concordancers provide this be rather like browsing the pages of dictionary. The student notices that the word experience, which had been learned as a non-count noun and occurs in the plural as well as in the singular form.

Inductive learning.

One issue in the use of concordance-based materials, that of the application of inductive or deductive reasoning. Concordance material can be used in both ways. If teacher explains that he/she teaching the contrast between the present continuous and the present perfect tense, explains the difference in meaning, and presents concordances to illustrate both, this is a deductive approach.

5th posting The UJI ICT.

2008-04-03T00:16:00.000-07:00

Report for online test.

In this posting, I would like to give report on my online test that I have taken during in the class tutorial and sum up few summary regarding to the OTL book in the article entitled Online Language Proficiency Assessment which is done by Dr. Norizan and other associates from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

For this week, we have to take the online test, which we can link and subscribe it in the University Information System (UIS) or e-warga, which comprises Student Information System, Staff Information System and University Finacial System. First, we have to through to the LearningCare platform, this platform is a web-based fully integrated e-learning solution, which provides UKM community a tool to develop, implement and share learning process. We can subscribe the online test, through the learning portal by clicking the portfolios that available for the test.

After subscribe the Uji ICT portfolio into our document I can select and make informed choices on whether to display certain quiz or test on certain time and date only and the duration of the quiz taken can be specified and controlled. The test give a certain optional level of difficulties test the test taker wish to choose like Uji ICT Peringkat ASAS, Uji ICT Peringkat Pertengahan and Uji ICT Peringkat Lanjutan. I chose the Uji ICT Peringkat ASAS, then we can start the test as soon as we like. But in the class tutorial, we have to wait for the others to get ready because some of my course mates were not able to subscribe the test, only few minutes later then all were settled down and we started the test together.

During the test, I have noticed that some parts of the questions were repeatedly, shuffle and randomization, it is not the same questions as my other course mates did although we taking the same level Uji ICT Peringkat ASAS at the same time. Problem also occurred during answering the questions, because seems that we all learn terminologies in English in Language and ICT course but suddenly the test was conducted in Malay language, so the difficulties to understand some of the terminologies was hard like examples; ''peranti'' and ''ingatan baca sahaja'' which means software and ROM(read only memory), but some how I managed to answer the particular questions.

After finished answering all the questions, the result of the test can be obtained immediately but here I have to mention it clearly, only the UKM community can take the test and obtained the marks because the security (UIS) required user ID and password. The online test also provides test result summary and details on the number of user attempts.

Skala Permarkahan dan Kemahiran

UJIAN	MARKAH	BAND
Peringkat Asas	0-10	1
	11-20	2
	21-30	3
Peringkat Pertengahan	0-15	1
	16-25	4
	26-35	5
	36-45	6
Peringkat Lanjutan	0-30	1
	31-40	7
	41-50	8
	51-60	9

Your #Attempts
: 1
Total Class #Attempts
: 625
Your Quiz Score
: 23/30

Your Average Score/#Attempts
: 23
Class Average
Your Highest Score Ever
: 23
Overall Highest Score
Note: This may not be your final marks. Due to some of the subjective and semi-objective questions (short essay and fill in the blank).

As a university student, we usually busy in assignments, attending classes, tests and do revision on our courses. With online test, time were not consuming much, it is because the online test can be accessed anywhere in the campus or even at home. With less anxiety and with apprehension level minimized should be the most suitable approach. In effort to improve and develop new approaches the School of Language and Linguistics views language learning as a continues development for all motivated learners and committed to help support and harness that learning.

The benefits of Online Testing.

The Internet provides an effective avenue for testing students on knowledge and attitudes. In addition to being effective, online testing is user-friendly. Researchers in Pennsylvania who studied 400 adults reported that a majority of students indicated, after taking an online examination, that they preferred taking the test over the Internet to the more conventional method, even though more than two-thirds of the group had no previous experience with the Internet. Students like computer testing for a variety of reasons, including the fact that most of them are very comfortable working online. They also like getting their results more quickly or often immediately.

An important benefit of Online testing is that data can be more easily, thoroughly, and quickly analyzed. In general, test and quizzes will play a different role in the online class than in the traditional classroom. Whereas in the face-to-face setting, tests were essential elements in assigning grades, now they will be more valuable on the broader instructional scheme.

A major advantage of using computers for testing is the ability to provide quick response. Immediate feedback offers tremendous benefits.It is a powerful motivational tool. As time passes, students care less and less about how well they did on test questions. When they get feedback right away, their interest and desire to “get it right” remains high. Quick response makes tests feel more like games and less like drills.
This keeps students motivated and enhances class participation. It allows students who miss a question to receive a response from the instructor through the feedback mechanism of the online test. Your overall assessment philosophy will help you establish policies on grading. In this uji ict test assessment, you can choose from a number of possibilities when grading tests; student earn points for correct answer on a graded test, which apply toward a final grade. Student can retake certain quizzes until they have mastered the material. Only the grade on the final quiz recorded. Quizzes are treated as learning devices for self-assessment with no grades or points being given for their completion. Online test also, allow students to collaborate on selected online tests.

The benefits of collaborative testing have received significant recent attention in the literature. Allowing students to team up to take a quiz or exam can have positive effects on anxiety levels, team development skills, peer cooperation, communication skills, self-esteem, confidence and assertiveness, cheating prevention, critical thinking skills, learning, and test performance. When students are allowed to collaborate on quizzes early in the course and later each take an individual final exam, their final exam scores are significantly better than if none of the quizzes or tests were collaborative.

Once again, the online test needs to be administered in a controlled environment within a specified time frame. Since many of the test takers in the trial session actually used two or more attempts to familiarize with the test system and technicalities, and it is highly recommended that the UKM community be given exposure and training in taking the online test.

Thank you.

4th Posting- Author's Feelings About Using The Blog.

2008-03-26T23:52:00.000-07:00

GoodDay! Thank you very much for still viewing my Blog. I appreciate all the comments that I've received in the other day before. Honestly, its really motivate and boost me up to post more posting regarding to the tasks, researches and also my experience in using the Blog as a platform to me improvise more in my academic writing and ICT level.

Of course yes. It helps me in my Written Communication course SKBS 1033, this course emphasize the students to be more creative, intellectual thinker and improve my writing skills. As I go through the course, I realized that it have the same feature as the Language and ICT course SKBP 1023 in terms of writing skills and SKBP 1023 really helps me to write confidently. The other things is like example, SKBS 1033 needs me to find a resource to do the task and honestly i am not good in using the internet to find a source but in the same time the SKBP 1023 also needs me to go through the internet and the course teach me how to find the related suitable source for the particular task. In deed, as I surf the internet I found out a lot of websites regarding to the writing skill that teach us how to be come effective writer example the www.eslcafe .com, www.englishpage.com and so on. I have learnt through in internet websites because it give me the tips, and guide us how to write effectively like do the summarizing and paraphrasing. As I used the blog, it also practicing me to always check my grammar by using spell checker to avoid me making some common errors and words suggestion to helps you learn more new words. However,the only different is the Written communication still using the white blank paper to do their task, as for the Language and ICT course, while blogging you do not have to worry much about making a lots of mistakes because blog also have the spell checker that helps you to minimize errors.

I think using the blog have given a lots of useful knowledge to me. I have never use blog before but I did know a bit about the blog and its use because I have friends that using the blog. Now I realize and experience how useful the blog is, it is not only a diary as always for some individuals likes to describe it but also with blog, you can express your opinion, voice, findings, facts or advocacy. I learnt many about blogging it helps me well in expressing my feelings and improve my writing skill during blogging activities and things are getting quite more well when I was been given a task to find information about a topic where we have to do a research onto many various resource. I also enjoy while using the blog because the functions were so interactive and dynamic in terms of entertainment where we can add the songs that we like, change the page layout that we think suitable for our personality or the blog itself. The blog provide various types of font style for the users to choose as well as the coloration of the fonts. Media player like slide.com an application to edits your pictures into a slide show then put some special effect transitions and it is same like the windows moviemaker application, which can be add into your blog. The thing is these media player actually make your blog more interesting and attracts visitor to look at your blog and in the same time, they will see how creative you are in decorating your blog. In practical, it helps me to write more and dig the abundant ideas in my head when writing as well as the skills in arrangement of the ideas like first the introduction, ideas and the conclusion when practically writing. As far as I know, sure it does make me an effective writer when I managed to deliver the message that I am trying to say in my topics besides all the comments I received.

The things that I need to know before I can complete the blog activities successfully is I need to know that I’ve check the spelling , save and publish the posting. It is because, if I don’t check this list I might wrongly give the information, errors will still occurred and the readers will not able to understand or worse I might forget to publish my posting at all. Therefore, I have to review back my blog to ensure that I have successfully published the blog and recheck again the spelling and errors.

The problem that I face when using the blog is when I finished typing and ready to publish the posting, suddenly the fonts were automatically turn itself into large sizes every each time and it make me difficult to recheck my spelling or grammar. Sometimes, the fonts are not likely as we set it before like example, after I posted the posting and view it back some of the fonts were being bold although I never set it bold. However, just a little bit adjustment then I managed to set it as I wish it before, until now I never knew why it always happen.

Yes. Back on the other days before, there was a friend of mine; I told her that I am taking the SKBP 1023 Language and ICT for this semester and recommended her about the blog. I told her that blogging was fun and enjoyable activities that we can do to express our feelings, voice out your ideas or act as your diaries. She instantly interested and ask me how to use the blog, sign up and ask information about the blog’s functions. I was very happy to able recommend my friend to have her own blog and hope that I can recommend my other friends that still don’t have blog to start blogging now.

Before taking the SKBP 1023, I really want to learn how to use the blog but now I know how to use it and take this valuable experience to discover more about the blog and become competence user. Therefore, I think yes, I will continue using the blog even after the SKBP 1023 is over. Thank You.

The impact of using ICT for Business

2008-03-25T06:54:00.000-07:00

Hello, and good day for you all. I hope you all were in great health and happy. In this third posting, the task is to do a research regarding to the optional topics that Dr. Norizan gave. The topic that i have choose is THE IMPACT OF USING ICT FOR BUSINESS. Besides that, we have to go through the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia library the Perpustakaan Tun Seri Lanang online database like e-journals in search for materials and to support the facts in this posting about the topic, sure it develops our skills to find for suitable material and increase our level in using ICT. The reason why i choose this topic because of the ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) drastic evolve as we see today there were such tremendous impact it on business area. The examples impact of ICT in business that we can see like, e-business, online banking and so on, it shows us that how important the role and impact of ICT in business in some large organizations, companies and in our daily life.

Introduction.

The use of ICT and technology has affected every aspect of business, transforming not only the way that business is conducted but also creating new business sectors and jobs. The creation of companies like Google and e-Bay which did not exist 10 years ago, was only made possible by advances in technology and the changes that this has created in the way that people behave (currently Google is valued at £44billion – Source BBC 5^th June 05). Some examples of the nature of this change include;

Marketing: The use of websites has allowed companies to develop new and cheaper ways of reaching new markets, offering customers the opportunity of buying goods and services whenever they want and often at reduced cost, whilst also enhancing the level of customer service. This has been coupled with the expansion and use of e-mails, which again has been used by business to market their goods and services directly to potential customers, as well as communicating with existing customers and suppliers. Increasingly the marketing campaigns of businesses include the use of technologies such as Contact Management Systems that allows them to cooperate. However, effective communication and ability to access information etc. remains critical to the productivity of these staff members. Therefore, using technology many companies now use a range of technologies to enable this. These include mobile phones, e-mail, broadband, laptops, etc. Thus ensuring that companies are able to be flexible and adaptive depending on their business needs.

Networks: Virtually all businesses now have or ordinate, monitor and report on various aspects of their marketing campaigns in new ways making these campaigns more targeted and effective.

Finance: Practically all companies now use software programs example, Sage or Excel to manage their accounts. This has allowed them to look at financial information when required, monitor and respond to their customers purchasing patterns by example, offering discounts and overall improve the management of their finances. The result of this has been for many companies a reduction in their accountancy fees.

Out of office working: For many businesses, the need for staff to be away from the office attending meetings etc. or to be based in another geographical location has grown alongside employee demands for more flexible working patterns, have access to a computer. The existence of two or more computers in an office usually leads to the creation of a network. The main advantage of doing so is that resources can be shared example, printers, internet access, files/information can be managed and shared amongst workstations and the security of information can be better managed through a network. Increasingly networks are not just confined to the office but are being adopted so that they allow home/remote working that supports changing business needs.

This transformation has really taken place over the last 20 years and continues to transform the way business is done. No business today can ignore the use of technology as its effective use helps businesses to remain competitive and profitable, thereby creating or safeguarding jobs.

Most organizations today are looking for more cost effective approaches to delivering enterprise application to their user base. Among the alternatives that are becoming increasingly popular are various forms of e-collaboration that involve the sharing of information between organizations, integration of inter enterprise business process among partner organizations, and the delivery of software services by external application service provider(ASPs). The extensive use of externally supplied software and information services will change the shape of the ICT(Information and Communication Technologies) market and impact on management decisions about the deployment of enterprise ICT (Harber, 2004).

For example, where the impact of ICT in Business like the E-business as the use of ICT in business to reduce transaction costs, to broaden market reach, and to increase the productivity and speed of doing business. E-business is a catalyst for modernizing the private sector in general, such as Trinidad and Tobago, seek to encourage e-business with a view to increase demand for domestically produced ICT products. To this end, the government of Trinidad and Tobago plans to co-develop, with private sector, an integrated e-business application for local companies to conduct online sales. Furthermore, the government has offered to help identify comparative advantages for local e-business and will collaborate in the development of “skillnet,“ a service that provides recruitment, learning and career information.

It is the close alignment between ICT and business processes that can provide competitive advantage to organizations and produce high quality products and services at lower cost, resulting in a strategic advantage(McCabe, 2003; Nevens, 2002). In general, there are two types of enterprise applications that support business processes example, logistics,CRM, etc and applications that directly implement business processes like example, electronic banking,mobile telephony, airline e-tickets and so on. For the first type of enterprise applications, it is possible to gain competitive advantage by combining ICT with unique company culture and knowledge. This unique combination enables the company to function effectively and utilize key assets such as organizational knowledge and culture. The second type type of enterprise application provides a service or product to customers and its timely deployment and unique features can result in competitive advantage.

Due to the impact of ICT on the main factors influencing the way of doing business abroad, manifold changes are taking place within the organizational structures of the economy. The analysis below examines the consequences of these changes for three ares; the internal organization of companies, the organization of markets, i.e. the relationship between companies and its customers, and the organizational forms of co-operation between different companies. This classification is useful, since the fiscal analysis will refer to these three categories. ICT also serve as a platform for the business activities of a company, for example if the supply of information and services constitute its main business activities. Moreover, companies may market ICT and the Internet itself, example, if they provide memory capacity or websites, as an Internet Services Provider (ISP). Using ICT tools, such as video-conferencing or e-mail, decisions which are relevant to the company can be taken either in different locations or at the same time in different places. In addition, the management of a company may often be situated elsewhere and not in the company itself. As link between different companies can be created using ICT, it is possible to cooperate internationally without needing to centralize all activities in one location. Thus, activities are no longer dependent on geographical distances.

Conclusion.
Information and communication technology (ICT) is rapidly evolving, changing rich and poor societies alike. It has become a powerful tool for participating in the global economy and for offering new opportunities for development efforts. Mobile phones provide market links for urban entrepreneurs and rural farming communities. Computers improve public and private services and increase economic productivity and political participation. ICT can advance the business or economic growth thus, will reduce poverty in developing countries. It has been 20 years since the first telephone operator was privatized, a little over 10 since the World Wide Web emerged, and 5 since the telecommunications bubble burst.

References:

Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Volume 5. Number 3/2006. E-business and Sustainable Development.

http://commerce.metapress.com/content/eku78fne5wdj9qe6/?p=070915278688449fbc39aadc3e28edaf&pi=0

Springer Berlin / Heidelberg,2004. A Framework for Managing Concurrent Business and ICT Development.

http://commerce.metapress.com/content/tc4umxjbgrref1hq/?p=070915278688449fbc39aadc3e28edaf&pi=4InderscienceInderscience

Enterprises Ltd, Volume 5. Number 4/2006. International Journal of Information Technology and Management.

http://commerce.metapress.com/content/acf8xprav4pfpc6f/?p=3cedbdce3fc14e679935dd0d3748d39f&pi=27

Dirk Pilat, 2003. Ict and Economic Growth:Evidence from OECD Countries, Industries and Firms.

http://books.google.com/books?id=BWwO37o2-hAC&pg=PA12&dq=The+impact+of+using+ICT+for+business&lr=&sig

World Bank, 2006. Information and Communications for Developement: Global Trends and Policies.

http://books.google.com/books?id=c8pvlO3sTKoC&pg=PA95&dq=The+impact+of+using+ICT+for+business&lr=&sig

Pascal Petit-Business & Economics, 2001. Economic and Information.

http://books.google.com/books?id=6fEA1Enr7oMC&pg=PA184&dq=The+impact+of+using+ICT+for+business&lr=&sig

Gary B. Shely, Thomas J. Cashman, Misty E. Vermaat, 2007. Discovery Computers 2007.

I'm glad that able to fulfilled this third challenging posting task and i admit this is the toughest one in all posting but i do hope that I've given much informations that can be use regarding to the research i did in this posting. Thanks also to Pn. Zaini for keeping the good job to guide me and all the inspiring comments.

Computer-Assisted Writing

2008-03-12T18:41:00.000-07:00

Hello, as I promised before I will see you again in my next posting and here we are, now talking about a new topic. In this posting, I will going to explain and discuss more about computer-assisted writing and give some examples for software as well as the activities that related to computerized writing. After done some researches and references regarding to the topic, now I realized that what does the meaning and important for us to highlight the topic because everyday we use the computerized writing either areas in education, business, blog and related to it. Meaning to say every individual around the world are using computer-assisted writing as long as they have the computers as it shift and impact to our life especially in cyber world now.

Introduction.

The computer-assisted writing is virtually limitless, optimism and enthusiasm about the potential of word processing tools to facilitate students in the writing processes. Hence, the computerized writing can improve their products. Computer-assisted writing to help students with developing ideas, organizing, outlining, and brainstorming. Templates provide a framework and reduce the physical effort spent on writing so that students can pay attention to organization and content. There a many activities we can find in computerized writing like examples the Blog (weblog) is a activity in computerized writing where website consisting of time-stamped articles, post in a diary or journal format usually listed in reverse chronological order. Blog reflects the interests, opinions and personalities of the author called the blogger and sometimes site visitor. Blog at school provide a means for teacher and students. And the E-mail (electronic mail) is the transmission of messages and files via a computer network. E-mail is one of the more popular services in the internet, most messages expect a quick reply so hour can be spent dealing with other important thing.

Examples of URL that host the computerized writing activities:

https://www.blogger.com

http://writing.colostate.edu/activities/index.cfm?showdescriptions=show

http://www.abcteach.com/directory/basics/writing/writing_skills/

http://www.writingfix.com/

http://www.ohiou.edu/linguistics/esl/writing/index.html

Computer Programs for Writing:

Word prediction

Student-specific programs that identify words that student uses repeatedly; when the student types the first few letters, the program lists frequently used words that start with those letters
speeds up the typing process

Speech-to-text

student speaks into a microphone and the program types the words
program must be “trained” to the student’s word pronunciation and speech style
student must be taught how to use the program
increased speed from thought to text

Text-to-speech

student can hear what she has typed to check if it says what she wants it to say
good for editing

Spell-checker

helps student identify misspelled words
automatically corrects words if the teacher set the program that way

Thesaurus

offers student other words that mean the same as the word he or she is using
adds variety to student’s writing and increases student vocabulary

Note Taking Software

software enables users to enter typed text, handwritten comments, drawings or sketches anywhere on a page and then save the page as part of a notebook.

Electronic Mail

E-mails are messages and files sent via a network such as the Internet. E-mail requires an e-mail program and it integrated in many software suite and also operating systems.

Word processors are excellent tools for students who find handwriting tedious. Often, students with disabilities have difficulty with all the requirements for the writing process. They have trouble organizing their thoughts and then retaining those, thoughts long enough to put them on paper. Their handwriting must be neat enough and their spelling and grammar correct enough to convey their message, tasks that they may find difficult.

Examples of computerized writing software:

http://creative-writing-software-review.toptenreviews.com/index.html#anchor

http://www.clearwriter.com/clearedits.html?gclid=CLPx4unFgpICFQ41egodmh0L3Q

http://www.whitesmoke.com/

http://www.editorsoftware.com/writing-software/electronic-writing-course/introduction.html

In the reading of OTL book page 7, by Nuraihan Mat Daud and Ainol Marziah Zubairi, according to research in the Online and Offline Writing Course (OTL) at the International Islamic University Malaysia, the offline students get T-test for quality of mean (463) = 0.015, p < 0.05 and their final exam, t (463) = 0.000, p <0.05.

As for the result, the online students have a confidence computer to manage their learning skills. Computer programs for writing helps students with developing ideas, organizing, outlining and brainstorming. Templates provide a framework and reduce the physical effort spent on writing so that students can pay attention to organization and content.

Computer-assisted instruction improves instruction for students with disabilities because students receive immediate feedback and do not continue to practice the wrong skills. Computers also capture the students attention because the programs are interactive and engage the students spirit of competitiveness to increase their scores. In addition, computer-assisted instruction moves at the students pace and usually does not move ahead until they have mastered the skill.

Conclusion.

The logistical problems providing adequate computer facilities and training, increased constraints on lesson planning, increased in student dishonesty that may follow from computer-assisted writing and may discourage teachers from attempting to incorporate computer literate, the challenge of developing computer-based activities may seem overwhelming.

Thanks for viewing my blog and hope that I have fulfill my task on computer-assisted writing making it easy to understand, useful and beneficial for readers. My next posting will be post as soon as possible, until then, goodbye.

References:Teaching Esl Composition: Purpose, Process, and Practice By Dana Ferris, John Hedgcock.

http://iteslj.org/article/ybarra-technology.html.

OTL book.

Discovering computers 2007.

First Posting.

2008-03-04T21:49:00.000-08:00

Hello, this is my first posting in blog. Therefore, I want to give thanks to Pn. Zaini for helping me to understand and guide me to publish this first posting. Not to forget, also thanks to Mozac@Muzaffar for helping me to use the tools in this blog and my partner Mariya Sellvam, in helping me to find and choose the suitable materials for the assignment. In our first posting is based on reading comprehension, here, the definition for reading comprehension is “Intentional thinking during which meaning is constructed through interactions between text and reader.”(Harris and Hodges 1995, 207). There are two items in this post, first is an example of reading comprehension taken from: http://esl.about.com/od/beginningreadingskills/a/d_cc.htm and the second is a text online entitles Doctor Knowall from http://esl.about.com/od/intermediatereading/a/rc_grimm2.htm

An Example of Reading Comprehension:

Dialogue: The City and the Country

From Kenneth Beare,
Your Guide to English as 2nd Language.
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The City and the Country

David: How do you like living in the big city?
Maria: There are many things that are better than living in the country!

David: Can you give me some examples?
Maria: Well, it certainly is more interesting than the country. There is so much more to do and see!

David: Yes, but the city is more dangerous than the country.
Maria: That's true. People in the city aren't as open and friendly as those in the countryside.

David: I'm sure that the country is more relaxed, too!
Maria: Yes, the city is busier than the country. However, the country is much slower than the city.

David: I think that's a good thing!
Maria: Oh, I don't. The country is so slow and boring! It's much more boring than the city.

David: How about the cost of living? Is the country cheaper than the city?
Maria: Oh, yes. .

David: Life in the country is also much healthier than in the city.
Maria: Yes, it's cleaner and less dangerous in the country. But, the city is so much more exciting. It's faster, crazier and more fun than the country.

David: I think YOU are crazy for moving to the city.
Maria: Well, I'm young now. Maybe when I'm married and have children I'll move back to the country.

Check your understanding with this multiple choice comprehension quiz.

More Dialogue Practice - Includes level and target structures / language functions for each dialogue

THE TEXT ONLINE

DOCTOR KNOWALL

by Brothers Grimm
from Grimm's Fairy Tales

There was once upon a time a poor peasant called Crabb, who drove with two oxen a load of wood to the town, and sold it to a doctor for two talers. When the money was being counted out to him, it so happened that the doctor was sitting at table, and when the peasant saw how well he ate and drank, his heart desired what he saw, and would willingly have been a doctor too. So he remained standing a while, and at length inquired if he too could not be a doctor. 'Oh, yes,' said the doctor, 'that is soon managed.' 'What must I do?' asked the peasant.

'In the first place buy yourself an A B C book of the kind which has a cock on the frontispiece; in the second, turn your cart and your two oxen into money, and get yourself some clothes, and whatsoever else pertains to medicine; thirdly, have a sign painted for yourself with the words: "I am Doctor Knowall," and have that nailed up above your house-door.' The peasant did everything that he had been told to do. When he had doctored people awhile, but not long, a rich and great lord had some money stolen. Then he was told about Doctor Knowall who lived in such and such a village, and must know what had become of the money. So the lord had the horses harnessed to his carriage, drove out to the village, and asked Crabb if he were Doctor Knowall. Yes, he was, he said. Then he was to go with him and bring back the stolen money. 'Oh, yes, but Grete, my wife, must go too.' The lord was willing, and let both of them have a seat in the carriage, and they all drove away together. When they came to the nobleman's castle, the table was spread, and Crabb was told to sit down and eat. 'Yes, but my wife, Grete, too,' said he, and he seated himself with her at the table. And when the first servant came with a dish of delicate fare, the peasant nudged his wife, and said: 'Grete, that was the first,' meaning that was the servant who brought the first dish. The servant, however, thought he intended by that to say: 'That is the first thief,' and as he actually was so, he was terrified, and said to his comrade outside: 'The doctor knows all: we shall fare ill, he said I was the first.' The second did not want to go in at all, but was forced. So when he went in with his dish, the peasant nudged his wife, and said: 'Grete, that is the second.' This servant was equally alarmed, and he got out as fast as he could. The third fared no better, for the peasant again said: 'Grete, that is the third.' The fourth had to carry in a dish that was covered, and the lord told the doctor that he was to show his skill, and guess what was beneath the cover. Actually, there were crabs. The doctor looked at the dish, had no idea what to say, and cried: 'Ah, poor Crabb.' When the lord heard that, he cried: 'There! he knows it; he must also know who has the money!'

On this the servants looked terribly uneasy, and made a sign to the doctor that they wished him to step outside for a moment. When therefore he went out, all four of them confessed to him that they had stolen the money, and said that they would willingly restore it and give him a heavy sum into the bargain, if he would not denounce them, for if he did they would be hanged. They led him to the spot where the money was concealed. With this the doctor was satisfied, and returned to the hall, sat down to the table, and said: 'My lord, now will I search in my book where the gold is hidden.' The fifth servant, however, crept into the stove to hear if the doctor knew still more. But the doctor sat still and opened his A B C book, turned the pages backwards and forwards, and looked for the cock. As he could not find it immediately he said: 'I know you are there, so you had better come out!' Then the fellow in the stove thought that the doctor meant him, and full of terror, sprang out, crying: 'That man knows everything!' Then Doctor Knowall showed the lord where the money was, but did not say who had stolen it, and received from both sides much money in reward, and became a renowned man.

Vocabulary

peasant - farmer, worker, any non-royal who works the land
oxen - strong animals similar to cows that were used to pull carts
talers - old form of German money
to desire - to want
willingly - to do because you want to do
to inquire - to ask about
to manage - to be possible
cock on the frontispiece - picture of a male chicken (rooster) on the cover of the book
cart - wagon used to carry things and people
whatsoever - anything at all
to pertain - to be related to, to do with something
harnessed to his carriage - attached to his carriage
nobleman - royalty (i.e. king, queen, knight, duke, etc.)
fare - (first sense) food item
fare - (second sense) to do (How did you do = How did you fare?)
to nudge - to push lightly in order to indicate something
therefore - for that reason
a heavy sum - a large amount of money
to denounce - to name a person who did something
to hang a person - to kill someone using a rope put around the neck
to conceal - to hide
to creep - to move slowly and carefully
to spring out - to jump out
renowned - famous

Check your understanding with this comprehension quiz

More Grimm Brothers Fairy Tales Reading Comprehensions

The Old Man and the Grandson
Doctor Knowall
Clever Gretel
Old Sultan
The Queen Bee

THE EXPLAINATION OF THE TEXT

The type of this text online is, reading for pleasure. It is a fairy tale reading comprehension that giving the readers an imagery of fantasy word while they go through the story. ‘Doctor Knowall’ is an uncommon fairy tale in Asia countries compared with what we have now, such as Cinderella, Snow White, Beauty and Beast and others. Those who prefer this type of story will enjoy the story and also the abstract message that author trying to tell the readers.

This reading comprehension is suitable for students and for adults because it not only a reading text but also included some activities that let the readers work on it.

First of all, one of the advantages of this reading comprehension is, it included with difficult vocabulary (in bold) defined at the end. This help the readers improve their vocabulary and spelling skills in English. This helps readers not to look on dictionary repeatedly to find the meanings of some difficult words that used in this text. Besides, the readers could learn new English words that they never came across before.

Another advantage of this reading comprehension is, it included with quizzes to check your understanding of the story. The readers can work on it once they finish read the text and the can exam their understanding of the story as well.

Finally, for those who interested in fairy tales, there are few more stories included in this reading comprehension. The same author of ‘Dr.Knowall’ writes the stories.

I hope that our first posting will be perfect as it required in this course and help the viewers of our blog gain useful knowledge through this reading comprehension.

Thanks again for viewing my blog and I hope we can meet again soon in my next blog. Good Day.