ZARIKH'S E-PORTFOLIO

CMC SUMMARY

ENGL 4740: COMPUTER APPLICATIONS IN LANGUAGE STUDIES- THE ARTICLE SUMMARY & DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

NAME: SITI ZARIKH SOFIAH ABU BAKAR
MATRIC. NO: 0522714
SECTION: 1 SEM II 2008/2009

INTRODUCTION
This article is about the empirical study on the usage of synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) for communicative language learning in learner-centred communication. The study is conducted by Masanori Yamada and Kanji Akahori from Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan in 2007. The title of this study is Social presence in synchronous CMC-based language learning: How does it affect the productive performance and consciousness of learning objectives?. The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of interlocutors’ presence on language productive performance and learners’ perceived consciousness of learning objective as an experimental research.

METHODOLOGY
The research question for this study is, how social presence in synchronous CMC-based language learning does affects the productive performance and consciousness of learning objectives. The subjects in this study are 40 university students which consist of 9 female, 31 male, ages around 18-35 years old. The subjects do not know each other prior to the experiment. All of them are non-native speakers of English. The subjects’ proficiency in English varied from low to intermediate level students who had participated in some international conferences and had opportunities to talk with international student in their daily life to low level students who needed help to understand others’ utterances, but all had reached at least a high school standard level in grammar and vocabulary. Computer literacy among them was high; all used computers everyday for email, text-chatting, internet, writing reports and so on.
This research is designed as an experimental study. Learners were divided into four groups. In the first group, each learner communicated with his/her interlocutor through video conferencing. Learners in the second group used audio conferencing for the communication in the second language. The third group communicated with textchat
which included the interlocutor’s image. The learners in the last group used plain text-chat, with no image. Learners in each group engaged in task-based communication with their interlocutors.
This study is conducted by dividing the subjects randomly into four groups: the video conferencing group, the audio conferencing group, the text-chat with image group, and the plain text-chat group. After instruction on using the system and tasks prior to the experiment, each subject moved to his/her room. A laptop computer with a webcam and headset was set in each room, and all computers were connected to a LAN. Subjects were divided into pairs, and each pair performed a learner-centred discussion for 15 minutes; all pairs were given the same topic, that of choosing a new school teacher from four candidates, taking into consideration the given conditions. Information and background about the school and candidates were given in the learning material displayed in each system. As mentioned above, each pair consisted of subjects who had not met before, because familiarity between subjects may have an influence on the communication and evaluation. From the educational view, familiarity is an important factor in educational performance, but the researchers controlled this condition by eliminating this factor, because this study aims to investigate the effect of systems which enhance social presence on second language learning issues. Finally, subjects were asked to answer a questionnaire.
The data of this study was collected in two ways. The first is a questionnaire. All subjects were required to answer a questionnaire after the experiment. The questionnaire asked all subjects to rate the perceived presence of their interlocutor, the perceived ease of communication, and the perceived consciousness of second language communication while communicating in each type of SCMC from a six-point rating scale. The second data collection method is video-recording. In order to conduct objective research, all communication was video-recorded.

FINDINGS
The results for this study are based on all data that were collected and analyzed using two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The researchers looked for significant effects on subjects’ perception and behaviour of the presence or absence of the partner’s image and the use of voice vs. text. The results showed that the interlocutor’s image has a main effect for social presence as well as on some aspects of productive performance, and that the use of voice has a significant effect on perceived consciousness of language learning in communication, productive performance and consciousness of learning objectives. In addition, an interaction effect was confirmed on perceived consciousness of social presence and productive performance. It can be said that social presence assists second language communication in learner-centered communication; however, it can inhibit consciousness of learning context and learning objectives.

THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS TO THE LANGUAGE LEARNING SCENARIO.

The study found that the presence or absence of the partner’s image affected the perceived consciousness of the partner’s presence. It means the combination of these elements raises the learners’ consciousness of presence in the same way as face-to-face communication. The first group is subject that is communicating with his or her interlocutor through video conferencing. The findings suggested that video conferencing facilitates communicative language learning from the view of SLA. A notable point is that the partner’s image seems to work well as reinforcement for voice communication. It is agreeable that the partner’s image can support the voice communication as they can talk to each other as well as expressing their facial expression which can help the understanding of their communication. So, the authentic language learning environment exists here. Even without talking, they can still express the emotion through facial expression. The motivation for communicate as well as learning the second language is higher as they can see the native speaker that they are talking to.
The second group is the subject that communicates via audio conferencing for the communication in the second language. Voice communication seemed to overload subjects, particularly those with a low level of proficiency in English. In the context of language learning, not only the emotional side but the consciousness of learning should be raised in learner-centered communication. The large amount of filler and the use of native language indicate the existence of communication problems such as misunderstanding, difficulty in finding suitable words, and low fluency. In my point of view, communication through audio conferencing is good for the students to learn various new vocabularies as they tend to find the synonyms of certain words in case their partner cannot understand what they are talking about. They have to find the synonyms as they cannot deliver the message with the help from the non-verbal devices. However, the grammar or form correction might be lesser because it is difficult for them to identify the errors by listening only. So, the students cannot really learn grammar in this method, but it can increase their knowledge on vocabulary.
The third group is the subject that communicates with text-chat which included the interlocutor’s image. It may be suggested that the presence of the partner’s
image motivates the subject to communicate in the second language and offers a way
to understand the partner’s situation through non-verbal devices. I agree that the presence of the partner’s image together with the text-chat can help the subject to keep communicate and learn the language because they will not easily feel bored. The subjects can also enhance their competency in writing in second language as the method of communication is typing the sentences. But, they might have the fear to correct their partners’ grammatical errors as they are facing their partners. Same goes to the one who is corrected, they might feel de-motivated and ashamed if their grammar is corrected. But, some may like their grammar to be corrected if their objective in chatting is to improve their English.
The final group is the subject that uses plain text-chat, with no image. In text-chat, the researchers found few types of filler, few grammatical errors, little use of native language, and no native code switching. In text-chat, subjects had a high consciousness
of accuracy such as grammar in communication, because in text messages, errors are easily seen as well. Moreover, subjects seemed to be more conscious of response speed when using text-chat. Because of the limited view of the partner’s situation, it is hard to verify the partner’s comprehension. In my opinion, by using text-chat without the image, the subjects have more opportunities and bravery to correct their partners’ grammatical errors as they will feel save and free to do it because the image of the partner is not seen. In my view, the synchronous method can be applied in Malaysian school as Malaysian students’ can be exposed to the new way of English language learning, as well as getting the students to be in high computer literacy.

REFERENCE:
Yamada, Masanori and Akahori, Kanji. (2007). 'Social presence in synchronous CMC-based
language learning: How does it affect the productive performance and consciousness of
learning objectives?',Computer Assisted Language Learning,20:1,37— 65. Retrieved
March 3, 2009, from
http://www.ak.cradle.titech.ac.jp/Publication/pdf/akahori/0706181701.pdf

APPENDIX A:
The Online Journal:
Yamada, Masanori and Akahori, Kanji. (2007). 'Social presence in synchronous CMC-based language learning: How does it affect the productive performance and consciousness of learning objectives?',Computer Assisted Language Learning,20:1,37— 65
http://www.ak.cradle.titech.ac.jp/Publication/pdf/akahori/0706181701.pdf

DISCOURSE ANALYSIS ON CHAT ROOM
The production of complete sentences.

This is the chat room taken from the http://thechatpage.com/chat/. This chat room is meant for people who want to improve their English, for example the students of EFL and ESL. This is because, the members that join this chat room are from many countries and only English language is allowed to be used in this chat room. In this chat room, we can make the discourse analysis based on three types of sentence produce by the chatters. The first type is the sentence that is complete but has the spelling error. The second type is the sentence that is complete without any spelling error. The final type is the sentence with incomplete structure as well as the grammatical and spelling error.
Most of the users use the complete sentence in this chat room. But there are still incomplete sentences. Yet the chatters use the incomplete sentences, the message is still understood by all. The production of the more complete sentences than incomplete sentences might be cause of the chatters themselves. Most of the chatters are enjoying this chat room in order to improve their English as this chat room is meant for EFL and ESL learners.
It is actually hard to find the usage of complete sentences in a chat room as majority of the chatters will use the short form of words that are understood by all. In this chat room, the sentence is not really complete. This is because, even the structure of the sentence is complete, and the spelling is still problematic. There are some words that have been spelled wrongly. There are also some words that have been spelled shortly which are in purpose. For example, the sentence in page 1, line 18, “Sweden1261 this is a good place to pratice”,. In this sentence, the chatter is producing a full complete sentence but there is a spelling error occurs in the word ‘pratice’. However, it is not a big matter for the chatters in this room as most of them know the actual word for that is ‘practice’. The other example is in the sentence in page 2, line 57, “sara, i work as a business writer in the marekting department. what bout you?”. In this sentence, the word ‘marketing’ is wrongly spelled as ‘marekting,’, while the word ‘about’ is incorrectly spelled as ‘bout’. The word ‘bout’ might be wrongly spelled, and might be purposely spelled that way as the absence of the letter ‘a’ is not a big matter for the chatters to understand that word. This means, the chatters can understand the sentence successfully even though the spelling is incorrect as the meaning of the message is very much assisted by the other words in that particular sentence.
As we aware, chatting is one of the synchronous methods in computer-mediated
communication (SCMC) for communicative language learning. So, it is known for its instantaneous message composed and received between the chatters. So, the usage of complete sentences is not really important. However, as the chatters in this room are all from EFL and ESL learners, who join this chat room in order to improve their English, the production of complete sentences are easy to find. For instance in page 2, line 39, “what is the topic for today?”. This is the complete sentence that produced by one of the chatters from Malaysia. The other example for this type is in page 2, line 45, “how about dystopian and utopian?” This is the example on how the chatters are practicing producing the complete sentence in English.
The final type is the sentence with incomplete structure as well as the grammatical and spelling error. The incomplete and ungrammatical sentence is produced when the chatters are asking the location of other chatters, their ages, their condition and so on. This is normally the short forms used by many chatters and it is understood by all. In other words, there is unanimous agreement between all the chatters on that short form regarding certain message. The example for this type of sentence is in page 2, line 53, “wb, seli”. The actual sentence for that sentence is “welcome back, Seli”. The second example is in page 3, line 69, in the word “lool”. The actual meaning for this word is ‘laugh out over loud’, which is to express the laughing emotion of the chatters. This final type of sentence is usually the most popular type used by the chatters as it is simple, short, and the most significant factor is, this type of word or sentence is understood by all chatters.
In conclusion, in synchronous method, the understanding of the message is the priority for all chatters, not the structure or form of the sentences. This is as the result from the instantaneous message delivered and received by the chatters. If they are going to concern on the grammatical and form, the message delivering will be delayed. The delayed might cause the topic that they are chatting on become less interesting. If they are going to correct others’ grammatical error, the motivation of the one who is corrected might be affected. Perhaps some may like the correction is going on, and perhaps some might become de-motivated because of their sentences is being corrected by others as they will feel ashamed.

REFERENCE:
Thechatpage.com. Retrieved March 15, 2009, from
http://thechatpage.com/chat/

APPENDIX B:
The Chatroom Data
Thechatpage.com

1. seli12: glad to hear this, GG
3 mins ago
2. Sweden1261: nice to meet u
3. seli12: nice to meet you too
4. keepsmiling: ok guys time to leave now
5. keepsmiling: bye and take care
6. seli12: bye keepsmiling
7. seli12: have a good night
8. keepsmiling: with Regards keepsmling
2 mins ago
9. keepsmiling: keepsmiling
10. Sweden1261: i want someone who help me to
11. Sweden1261: improve my english
12. Sweden1261: well
13. Grammar Geek: good night keepsmiling
14. Sweden1261: i want someone who help me to
15. Sweden1261: improve my english
16. Sweden1261: well
17. Grammar Geek: good night keepsmiling
18. Grammar Geek: Sweden1261 this is a good place to pratice
1 mins ago
19. Sweden1261: ok
20. Sweden1261: where are u fom grammar geek
21. Grammar Geek: if you want someone to point out mistakes we can do that
22. Grammar Geek: usually i don't correct people in chat
23. Grammar Geek: but i will if asked
24. Grammar Geek: i'm from the US
25. Sweden1261: ok
26. Sweden1261: thank you
27. Sweden1261: nice to meet you
28. Israel958: GG i promise to send Myra her pizzas,just don't come with ur swords
This is the Lobby, all conversations here must be in English, there are 7 other people here.
29. Sweden1261: what s your name
30. Viewing1365: hi all
31. Grammar Geek: no swords :)
32. Grammar Geek: hello Malaysia1365
33. Grammar Geek: Sweden1261 my name is Barbara. what about you?
34. Malaysia1365: hi g.greek
35. Malaysia1365: hi barbara
keepsmiling has left
36. Malaysia1365: i m didy
37. Israel958: no swords just word,got it ;)
38. Sweden1261: my name is sara
39. Malaysia1365: what is the topic for today?
40. Israel958: nice name sara ;D
41. Sweden1261: what do u do barbara
42. Israel958: there is no topic malaysia
43. Sweden1261: ??
44. Malaysia1365: we can talk about anything then'
45. Malaysia1365: how about dystopian and utopian?
46. Israel958: everything on ur mind malaysia
47. Malaysia1365: i juz want to get some views about utopian
48. Israel958: what's utupian?
49. Israel958: ah,ok .
50. seli12: back
51. Grammar Geek: i don't even know what dystopian means. it's it anti-utopian?
52. Malaysia1365: okay, i will give a brief definition first
53. Grammar Geek: wb, seli
54. Israel958: welcome back seli ;D
55. seli12: thanks, GG
56. seli12: thanks, Idan
57. Grammar Geek: sara, i work as a business writer in the marekting department. what bout you?
58. Malaysia1365: utopian world is the world like in heaven
ISalm-girl has joined from www.englishforums.com
59. ISalm-girl: selamm alikum
60. ISalm-girl: hi
61. Malaysia1365: while dystopian is like hell
62. Grammar Geek: ISalm-girl hello - salaam
63. Israel958: hello Isalm-girl,how are you?
64. Malaysia1365: walaikumsalam islamgirl
65. Israel958: ah ok malaysia
66. Grammar Geek: okay, i've always heard "anti-utopian" for that
67. ISalm-girl: Israel958 are u the Piza déliver.
68. ISalm-girl: Israel958 ELhamdulilah i am fine
69. seli12: lool
70. Israel958: yes that's me ;)
71. ISalm-girl: Israel958 how are u brother?
72. ISalm-girl: seli12 how are u sister
SaudiArabia1363 has joined from thechatpage.com
73. SaudiArabia1363: walecom al slam
74. Israel958: how was the holiday? ;D
75. Malaysia1365: do u you think our world today is utopian?
76. Sweden1261: i m engineer in telecommunication and network
77. ISalm-girl: Malaysia1365 its begin today
78. Israel958: I'm fine thanks
79. seli12: i am fine, thanks... how are you, ISalm-girl ?
80. Sweden1261: but i have problem with my english
81. ISalm-girl: seli12 fine but i have flu :s
82. Israel958: tomorrow i'm working in 2

REFLECTION ON CMC

Computer mediated communication (CMC) is a new way for me to learn English as a second language. In doing the CMC assignment, I have to read a very thick article on the study of synchronous method in CMC. I have a very hard time to find the important point to be included in the summary as instructed by Dr. Rozina. Actually, I already have the journal on CALL, as I have browsed through the internet since the first day Dr. Rozina told the class about this particular assignment. This is because, I want to be prepared as I do not want to do the assignment last minute. However, I was wrong as I have chosen the wrong article because Dr. Rozina has determined the specific method of CMC, which is the synchronous for section 1. Luckily, my good friend, Nur Aizuri has an extra article. So, she gave the article to me. Fortunately, the article has been approved by Dr. Rozina. Once the article has been approved, I read the article and make the summary of it. I was very happy as I have done that particular part. But, the ‘history’ repeat, as I have to re-do the summary as after one week I have done the summary, only then Dr. Rozina gave the guideline to do the summary in class. I admit that it is my fault for not going to meet Dr. Rozina and consult with her earlier. After I have the guideline with me, I started working on the new summary. I was lucky again, as what I have done, is not really far from the guideline. So, I just have to edit a few parts of the summary only. I enjoy doing the summary as the study in the journal is quite interesting. Moving to the second part of the CMC assignment, the discourse analysis on chat room. At first, I think that this might be easy as I just have to analyze any chat room that can easily be assessed through the internet. But, the problem comes again. I spent quite some time to get the suitable chat room to be used as my data for the discourse analysis. However, with the help and bless from Allah, I found the chat room and I started doing the discourse analysis. Thanks to Dr. Rozina as she has given the guideline for the discourse analysis. I can complete the analysis easily with the help of the guideline given by Dr. Rozina. In a nutshell, I believe that CMC assignment is very good for the students to practice using the synchronous method as well as understand how the system works. I should suggest to Dr. Rozina to continue the CMC assignment for the future semester as the future students will enjoy the benefits as I have today.