Reflection
First of all, this is a collective view which has been combined from each of our member’s perspective in this group. We would like to put it in numbers form so then we can give a helicopter view to those who read it.
1.)We had a lot of difficulties in term of completing the whole assignments but it worth the efforts which had been poured into it.
2.)The first hardship is in term of blogging. We really need lots of time, skills, and money and don’t forget to mention a fast internet connection which is hardly can be obtained while working inside IIUM. We have to go to cyber café outside each time we wanted to improvise our blog, because of the service is much better than the cybercafés in UIA and more reliable than IIUM internet wireless service. Honestly, we don’t have any laptops, we only have desktops and IIUM kind of discriminates users of personal computers in term of wireless internet service.
P/S - The statement above is not used to slam or slander any particular organizations or individuals. It is just to vent out some of our frustrations.
3.)We actually have the same problem in CMC assignment. We have gone through a lot of hardship but it really taught us to be more patient and learning something new is our full job in real life. “Learning knowledge is compulsory to all Muslims”, we bear in mind this hadith and gratefully, we managed to complete our task in CMC.
4.)We have gained lot of knowledge from Dr.Rozina’s class. She teaches us a lot of things and we can somehow use the knowledge from the experiences after we graduated from UIA, InsyaAllah.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
A Video on Cursing.... Malaysian Style
The usage of this video is not meant for any political purposes.
It is just to give some picture on the scene of cursing in Malaysia and how some words are taboos in the Malaysian society. This is strictly academical in nature.
================================================
Over time, people started to accept cursing and taboo words a bit more openly compared to the past. In parliamentary debates especially, taboo words are used more openly, even when it might offend some people. Usage of racist remarks and comparison to animals are also prevalent.
The example in this video is the usage of the word 'babi'(pig) to refer to a person.
CMC Assignments - Abdullah Mohamed
Summary of CMC among Multilingual Students of English for Academic Purposes:
Linguistic and Sociolinguistic Communicative Factors in Online Written Responses
The article by Marsha Bensoussan, Eleanor Avinor, Bonnie Ben-Israel, Olga BogdanovDepartment of Foreign Languages, University of Haifa is about how asynchronous computer-mediated communication can boost the development of Second Language acquisition in relation to normal verbal speech to bilinguals and monolinguals.
The article states that by using the internet as a medium in teaching Second Language, every student get the chance to give their feedbacks on the topics given to them through writing which is at the same time created equality among the students with different native languages and backgrounds. CMC, through the Forum, produced not only equalization but an openness of participation both in quantity of participation and in quality. Both majority (bilingual) and minority (monolingual) groups participated more than has been experienced in face-to-face classroom discussion and in a variety of informal tones which previously had not been heard in the classroom. Responses indicated positive emotional involvement which motivated students to participate beyond the minimum requirement for class credit.
The research shows that linguistics and sociolinguistics is a factor for the students in giving their answers to the task given to them. By using the internet, students can have easy access to articles which consist of 5-10 pages for source of reference to assist them. In a CMC learning atmosphere, students have limitless boundaries and it is good to motivate the students to discuss with each other since they do not have to discuss face-to-face all the times since some students might have difficulties to verbally speak to students with different accents or level of English language. In this sense, CMC reduce language inferiority among the students which has proven to be a lot of help for the students in order to create a more active and critical class and at the same time, students have time to organize their ideas in words where CMC does not require a direct response such as answering questions verbally.
Web-based classroom give maximum benefit to students because it promotes communicative skills since all of the students get their information from authentic resources(on the internet) which can add depth to their English and their voice is heard where the students do not have to raise their hands or waiting for their turn to answer questions or give their opinions. Krauss & Chiu 1998:26, ‘similarity in language use between communicator and recipient reduces the perceived psychological distance between communicator and recipient, and this in turn can lead to greater receptivity to persuasive communication’.
The purposes of this study were:
1. to compare the written on-line English responses of bilinguals (with Hebrew as the L1 and English as the L2) and multilinguals (native speakers of Arabic, Russian, and Amharic, with English as the L3 or Ln) in terms of linguistic and sociolinguistic influences
2. to examine the extent to which text comprehension, language performance, and sociolinguistic communication differ among the groups.
The present study examines the extent to which the following linguistic and sociolinguistic differ among speakers of different native languages.
Linguistic factors:
• Text comprehension: understanding of texts, coherent answers, use of outside information, effect of text topic on responses
• Language performance: number of errors, cohesive devices (connectors and referents). Our evaluation of student errors took into account the speech-like quality of written discourse on the Internet (Gonzalez-Bueno 1998).
Sociolinguistic factors:
Length of response; tone, use of emphatic language, humor and irony; hedging; motivation; and responses to the teacher and students having the same or different native language.
Methodology
The research use sample population of 35 students with different native languages which is Hebrew, Arabic, Russian and Amharic. Native speakers of Hebrew are considered as bilingual and the rest is multilingual. The class is divided into two parts in a week. Students were given tasks which require them to use computer in order to respond. Students were given two tasks, comprehension and forum polls. Students were given marks and their responses were analyzed separately. As for the comprehension questions, only the teacher will see it and the rest is open for everyone. Comparison will be made between bilingual and multilingual and also comparison between male and female answers.
Findings
The research analyze that students give their responses and answers based on linguistics and sociolinguistics factors. In linguistic factors, students are mistake prone because they must write formally while fewer errors are made in the forum section because students use short and simple answers to avoid making mistakes. As for sociolinguistic factor, students give long response since their answers require them to get involve emotionally. Bilingual versus multilingual responses indicate that there are no big differences in their performance maybe due to the environment where the students felt the equality among them. The sociolinguistic communicative factor shows that even though multilingual students’ grades are lower than bilingual, however they tend to use more sociolinguistic communicative factor in their answers.
Conclusion
CMC really help the students to share their idea to the whole class and to boost their self-confidence. By using this format for a class, it will make the task of teachers easier and slow learners become more visible to the teacher.
Reaction to language learning in Malaysia
Malaysia is one of the fast developing countries in the world. Here in Malaysia, we have almost all kind of latest technology such as the monorails, high-tech government buildings, and much more. However, the education system and the methods of teaching used are sometimes seems to be out-dated. For example, in language learning, most Malaysian schools or universities still use the old methods of teaching which is by using the “old fashioned classrooms”.
It is well known that Malaysians have the tendency to be very shy during class hours and it is a rare occasion to see students to participate actively in class without being forced by their teachers or lecturers. The reason is due to the inferiority of using the English language verbally. Students do not want to be laugh at when they make errors in their speech in front of their classmates.
However, students never fail to give their response in writing essays or short answer questions in class no matter how low their vocabulary is or the grammatical mistake they make. Why? because, only the teachers or lecturers will see their flaw and weaknesses.
I recommend that the ministry of education should start to introduce CMC in primary schools. This way, children could be getting used to it and most probably, in their secondary school years, most of them will be fluent in their speech and will be excellent in their writings since they are being taught at an early age and their level of confidence in speaking and writing might be better.
I am not saying that it is useless to use CMC as teaching method in higher education institutes, but if the students are used to being “shy” or passive in class, then most of the students would not be able to change their attitudes towards learning language because being passive and shy has become part of them since they do not have the confidence in themselves to speak in English.
In conclusion, CMC should be introduced in our schools since English is the lingua franca of the world. Malaysia produce a lot of good quality students, however sometimes those students do not have the ability to communicate in English and it will eventually become a thick barrier for them to express their ideas to the whole world.
Linguistic and Sociolinguistic Communicative Factors in Online Written Responses
The article by Marsha Bensoussan, Eleanor Avinor, Bonnie Ben-Israel, Olga BogdanovDepartment of Foreign Languages, University of Haifa is about how asynchronous computer-mediated communication can boost the development of Second Language acquisition in relation to normal verbal speech to bilinguals and monolinguals.
The article states that by using the internet as a medium in teaching Second Language, every student get the chance to give their feedbacks on the topics given to them through writing which is at the same time created equality among the students with different native languages and backgrounds. CMC, through the Forum, produced not only equalization but an openness of participation both in quantity of participation and in quality. Both majority (bilingual) and minority (monolingual) groups participated more than has been experienced in face-to-face classroom discussion and in a variety of informal tones which previously had not been heard in the classroom. Responses indicated positive emotional involvement which motivated students to participate beyond the minimum requirement for class credit.
The research shows that linguistics and sociolinguistics is a factor for the students in giving their answers to the task given to them. By using the internet, students can have easy access to articles which consist of 5-10 pages for source of reference to assist them. In a CMC learning atmosphere, students have limitless boundaries and it is good to motivate the students to discuss with each other since they do not have to discuss face-to-face all the times since some students might have difficulties to verbally speak to students with different accents or level of English language. In this sense, CMC reduce language inferiority among the students which has proven to be a lot of help for the students in order to create a more active and critical class and at the same time, students have time to organize their ideas in words where CMC does not require a direct response such as answering questions verbally.
Web-based classroom give maximum benefit to students because it promotes communicative skills since all of the students get their information from authentic resources(on the internet) which can add depth to their English and their voice is heard where the students do not have to raise their hands or waiting for their turn to answer questions or give their opinions. Krauss & Chiu 1998:26, ‘similarity in language use between communicator and recipient reduces the perceived psychological distance between communicator and recipient, and this in turn can lead to greater receptivity to persuasive communication’.
The purposes of this study were:
1. to compare the written on-line English responses of bilinguals (with Hebrew as the L1 and English as the L2) and multilinguals (native speakers of Arabic, Russian, and Amharic, with English as the L3 or Ln) in terms of linguistic and sociolinguistic influences
2. to examine the extent to which text comprehension, language performance, and sociolinguistic communication differ among the groups.
The present study examines the extent to which the following linguistic and sociolinguistic differ among speakers of different native languages.
Linguistic factors:
• Text comprehension: understanding of texts, coherent answers, use of outside information, effect of text topic on responses
• Language performance: number of errors, cohesive devices (connectors and referents). Our evaluation of student errors took into account the speech-like quality of written discourse on the Internet (Gonzalez-Bueno 1998).
Sociolinguistic factors:
Length of response; tone, use of emphatic language, humor and irony; hedging; motivation; and responses to the teacher and students having the same or different native language.
Methodology
The research use sample population of 35 students with different native languages which is Hebrew, Arabic, Russian and Amharic. Native speakers of Hebrew are considered as bilingual and the rest is multilingual. The class is divided into two parts in a week. Students were given tasks which require them to use computer in order to respond. Students were given two tasks, comprehension and forum polls. Students were given marks and their responses were analyzed separately. As for the comprehension questions, only the teacher will see it and the rest is open for everyone. Comparison will be made between bilingual and multilingual and also comparison between male and female answers.
Findings
The research analyze that students give their responses and answers based on linguistics and sociolinguistics factors. In linguistic factors, students are mistake prone because they must write formally while fewer errors are made in the forum section because students use short and simple answers to avoid making mistakes. As for sociolinguistic factor, students give long response since their answers require them to get involve emotionally. Bilingual versus multilingual responses indicate that there are no big differences in their performance maybe due to the environment where the students felt the equality among them. The sociolinguistic communicative factor shows that even though multilingual students’ grades are lower than bilingual, however they tend to use more sociolinguistic communicative factor in their answers.
Conclusion
CMC really help the students to share their idea to the whole class and to boost their self-confidence. By using this format for a class, it will make the task of teachers easier and slow learners become more visible to the teacher.
Reaction to language learning in Malaysia
Malaysia is one of the fast developing countries in the world. Here in Malaysia, we have almost all kind of latest technology such as the monorails, high-tech government buildings, and much more. However, the education system and the methods of teaching used are sometimes seems to be out-dated. For example, in language learning, most Malaysian schools or universities still use the old methods of teaching which is by using the “old fashioned classrooms”.
It is well known that Malaysians have the tendency to be very shy during class hours and it is a rare occasion to see students to participate actively in class without being forced by their teachers or lecturers. The reason is due to the inferiority of using the English language verbally. Students do not want to be laugh at when they make errors in their speech in front of their classmates.
However, students never fail to give their response in writing essays or short answer questions in class no matter how low their vocabulary is or the grammatical mistake they make. Why? because, only the teachers or lecturers will see their flaw and weaknesses.
I recommend that the ministry of education should start to introduce CMC in primary schools. This way, children could be getting used to it and most probably, in their secondary school years, most of them will be fluent in their speech and will be excellent in their writings since they are being taught at an early age and their level of confidence in speaking and writing might be better.
I am not saying that it is useless to use CMC as teaching method in higher education institutes, but if the students are used to being “shy” or passive in class, then most of the students would not be able to change their attitudes towards learning language because being passive and shy has become part of them since they do not have the confidence in themselves to speak in English.
In conclusion, CMC should be introduced in our schools since English is the lingua franca of the world. Malaysia produce a lot of good quality students, however sometimes those students do not have the ability to communicate in English and it will eventually become a thick barrier for them to express their ideas to the whole world.
CMC Assignments- Amin Reza B. Tamizi
Introduction
The article “Facilitating Second Language Acquisition (SLA) in a Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) Learning Environment” by Masputeriah Hamzah from Faculty of Management and Human Resource Development Universiti Teknologi Malaysia is about a study which explored the application of Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) in an English for Civil Engineering (ECE) learning environment in University of Technology Malaysia. The purpose of this study is to examine how the use of CMC can help to create a conducive environment that will be facilitative of second language learning and acquisition and also, this paper is purposely to report on the potential of using CMC in generating opportunities for communicative practice of the English language through meaningful interaction using the asynchronous on-line bulletin board platform.
Research Questions
a) What kind of language does the learner engage in during a CALL
activity?
b) How good is the language experience in CALL for L2 learning?
Population and Sample
The participants in this study consisted of one English language teacher and a group, which comprised of seventy-three male (n = 38) and female (n = 35) students. The researcher was a non-participant observer in this study, assisting the language teacher during the earlier preparation of the task requirement and whenever there was a need to attend to technical matters related to the implementation of the task
Duration and Method
The students were required to conduct an asynchronous on-line discussion forum using the CMC bulletin board technological platform. The duration of the task covered a period of ten weeks, with one hour per week allocated for task implementation. However, due to the large group of students, limited number of computers, and limited Internet access available for all
students' use at one time, the students were given the flexibility to conduct the task as a self-access activity.
Data Analysis
Quantitative and qualitative procedures were adopted for the purpose of data analysis. There are two sets of text-based transcripts of database from the student-to-teacher and student-to-student interactional exchanges in the on-line discussion forum. For the purpose of analyses, the text-based transcripts of the postings were printed off to examine and analyse the written discourse. Seventy-five student-to-teacher interactional exchanges and a further seventy-five of the student-to-student interactions were arranged sequentially to reflect the overall interactive nature of the exchanges. Later on, a semi-structured interview was used to gain insights regarding students’ opinion, experience, and perception about the forum. The interview was conducted after the ten weeks of on-line forum discussion was completed. The interview works as the data collection about the teachers and students perception regarding the asynchronous on-line interaction.
Findings
The results revealed that:
Interview –both the teacher and students responded positively and favourably to the task conducted using the CMC platform. The asynchronous mode of interaction provided opportunities for students to monitor their language thus viewing and correcting their language first before posting it. The teacher reported that he could monitor each student’s performance more closely and provide individualized feedback in their writing and encouraged them to improve the problematic forms in their output. As such, this created more awareness among students. Moreover it encourages participation. This on-line platform was also perceived as providing a less stressful environment and a less threatening forum for students who lack fluency and confidence in using the language.
Interactional exchanges- This on-line electronic medium could be viewed as a suitable context that created numerous opportunities to make input more comprehensible to the learners. This occurred in various ways in the process of meaning negotiation. It could be seen that learners treated this on-line platform as a test-bed for them to test out hypotheses about the target language,
Reactions on the implications of the findings to the language learning scenario in Malaysia
In case of language learning scenario in Malaysia, it would best benefit the students while dragging the students into an enhancing learning environment. Language learning is in need of practice of real conversation and discussion or writing between entities and these findings are strengthening the point. The use of language itself is to interact to others, and the concept of interactive which asynchronous CMC endorsed to the language learning is a bless for the students to learn language. In addition while composing the messages, the students have time to recheck their language and repair their errors. It will give great advantages to the students to avoid unintentionally errors and to observe other errors committed by other students and to take lesson on the occasion.
Furthermore, it would greatly help the teachers in Malaysia to efficiently monitor their students and give feedbacks regarding their works or errors in language learning. Furthermore in class, direct criticism or direct correction in front of the class may result into the degradation of participation. The society in Malaysia is practicing “Collectivism” where direct correction from the teacher to the students without a correct method can result for the students to lose face. This is somehow a serious culture problem and CMC gives a great solution to this pertaining matter. The students can avoid the ‘lose face’ attitude and moreover, CMC can increase the output and participation plus confidence. Language learning has to be dynamic and thus effectively helps the students to grasp the proficiency fast and accurate. The findings in this article should be implemented in Malaysia language learning system thus leading to an efficient language learning environment.
Discourse Analysis of the Forum Thread.
Introduction
Forum: Lowyat.NET->Lifestyle ->PetsWonderland
Retrieved from: http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/967401
Thread topic: “Pantai TimuR Pet Owner.. and pet lover, Pahang, Terengganu, Kelantan.. and all” posted by azian 9100 on Mar 17 2009, 11:04 AM.
Short-Summary
This forum is about the discussion regarding their interest in pet care, how to take care their pet and naturally their discussion is in a specific range of context. The language used is in English and certain words are mixing with certain other language words where the term language borrowing can be best used to describe the situation. The culture of their language is mixing up with their mother tongue language where some words are being borrowed from the standardized language into English. Their English language is not strictly in accordance to the grammatical rules and this proves that the target group uses English freely without worrying about the grammatical rules and this somehow is the first step in learning language while observing others and interacting with them in the specific language. Self-confidence can be built from the provided situation.
Analysis
First of all, when we observe the topic of the forum itself, it promotes others who have interest in the specific interest to join and give opinions about their interest and discussion topic. What is important here, the topic “Pantai TimuR Pet Owner.. and pet lover, Pahang, Terengganu, Kelantan.. and all” is actually not a well sentence-structured topic but still the way it is presented can attract people to participate without concerning their level of proficiency in English language. This is actually a good effort in language learning basic.
Let’s take a look at one of the visitor’s comment.
JyEn
Mar 17 2009, 12:13 PM
“me raise in terengganu, was married to kuantan and had 7dogs there now at kl hav 2 lo.”
The sentence is indeed wrong in term of language rules but from the sentence we can perceive that the visitor is trying to communicate in English even though his proficiency in the language is low. The meaning of the sentence can be understood easily and the errors are not hindering the meaning.
xtreme_paranoid
i am from pahang..
raub, pahang
so far i only have tarantulas
3 tarantulas
The above sentence is simple and easy to understand. Grammatically correct and even though the pause (…) is being used excessively, it only shows us that the poster is trying to build confidence in sharing his interest.
Fatimus
Mar 17 2009, 12:55 PM
“Stuck at Kota Bharu for time being, have a black labrador retriever and he is undergoing fur shedding, driving my mom mad. “
This subject is using certain term to describe her pet and problem New vocabularies can enrich language learning and maybe if the visitors have problem in understanding the new words, it actually motivates the visitors and learners to find the meaning in other source. This kind of situation motivates language learning.
Advantages
People or students are reluctant to speak in class or public and may feel more at ease in a written format. It can build confidence in one-self and it is indeed an advantage. Forum also is having good trait in term efficiency of storage and people or students can re-read the messages repetitively. Furthermore, forum is in written format and it is easier to read a message or writing in L2 than to listen to it. In addition, the date of the postings can be traceable for future reference and greater precision.
Examples:
azian9100
Mar 17 2009, 11:04 AM
Regular
Group: Junior Member
Posts: 239
Joined: August 2008
I always lepak in LYN... what i know many of the Pet owner from KL, Selangor, Jb and penang.
So I open this tread just to.. gather all the Pet owner from Pantai Timur... tak kisah what ever pet you have...
I'm from Pahang .. and I have Rabbit...Fish and 1 cat (but always come and our come and out)
Come lah.. we have a chat .... PAntai Timur... Pet owner
JyEn
Mar 17 2009, 12:13 PM
Regular
Group: Junior Member
Posts: 273
Joined: June 2008
From: emo world
me raise in terengganu, was married to kuantan and had 7dogs there now at kl hav 2 lo.
azian9100
Mar 17 2009, 12:47 PM
Regular
Group: Junior Member
Posts: 239
Joined: August 2008
QUOTE(JyEn @ Mar 17 2009, 12:13 PM)
me raise in terengganu, was married to kuantan and had 7dogs there now at kl hav 2 lo.
hahaha... actually... I dont know lah.. I'm right or not.. But I think we in Pantai Timur... very very despretly need a very good vet with the very afforadable price. and somemore ... most of the Pet Shop here only selling fish... and nothing special for our lovely pet..
Like me I have to drive 2 hours just to see a vet.. and wanna buy good feed and anything for my pet .. I have to buy it online.
xtreme_paranoid
Mar 17 2009, 12:48 PM
LYN T-Shirt Designer '..::-/^\-::..'
Group: Senior Member
Posts: 829
Joined: September 2006
From: there to here..
i am from pahang..
raub, pahang
so far i only have tarantulas
3 tarantulas
Fatimus
Mar 17 2009, 12:55 PM
Regular
Group: Junior Member
Posts: 473
Joined: February 2006
From: Kay Bee
Stuck at Kota Bharu for time being, have a black labrador retriever and he is undergoing fur shedding, driving my mom mad.
azian9100
Mar 17 2009, 04:06 PM
Regular
Group: Junior Member
Posts: 239
Joined: August 2008
QUOTE(cracksys @ Mar 17 2009, 01:05 PM)
i have a couple of chicken and serati
hahah.. Itu sudah biasa.. that Pantai Timur people like Terengganu and Kelantan... love Chicken (as pet lah) and bird... and i belive the Serati people keep for their egg or something...
The article “Facilitating Second Language Acquisition (SLA) in a Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) Learning Environment” by Masputeriah Hamzah from Faculty of Management and Human Resource Development Universiti Teknologi Malaysia is about a study which explored the application of Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) in an English for Civil Engineering (ECE) learning environment in University of Technology Malaysia. The purpose of this study is to examine how the use of CMC can help to create a conducive environment that will be facilitative of second language learning and acquisition and also, this paper is purposely to report on the potential of using CMC in generating opportunities for communicative practice of the English language through meaningful interaction using the asynchronous on-line bulletin board platform.
Research Questions
a) What kind of language does the learner engage in during a CALL
activity?
b) How good is the language experience in CALL for L2 learning?
Population and Sample
The participants in this study consisted of one English language teacher and a group, which comprised of seventy-three male (n = 38) and female (n = 35) students. The researcher was a non-participant observer in this study, assisting the language teacher during the earlier preparation of the task requirement and whenever there was a need to attend to technical matters related to the implementation of the task
Duration and Method
The students were required to conduct an asynchronous on-line discussion forum using the CMC bulletin board technological platform. The duration of the task covered a period of ten weeks, with one hour per week allocated for task implementation. However, due to the large group of students, limited number of computers, and limited Internet access available for all
students' use at one time, the students were given the flexibility to conduct the task as a self-access activity.
Data Analysis
Quantitative and qualitative procedures were adopted for the purpose of data analysis. There are two sets of text-based transcripts of database from the student-to-teacher and student-to-student interactional exchanges in the on-line discussion forum. For the purpose of analyses, the text-based transcripts of the postings were printed off to examine and analyse the written discourse. Seventy-five student-to-teacher interactional exchanges and a further seventy-five of the student-to-student interactions were arranged sequentially to reflect the overall interactive nature of the exchanges. Later on, a semi-structured interview was used to gain insights regarding students’ opinion, experience, and perception about the forum. The interview was conducted after the ten weeks of on-line forum discussion was completed. The interview works as the data collection about the teachers and students perception regarding the asynchronous on-line interaction.
Findings
The results revealed that:
Interview –both the teacher and students responded positively and favourably to the task conducted using the CMC platform. The asynchronous mode of interaction provided opportunities for students to monitor their language thus viewing and correcting their language first before posting it. The teacher reported that he could monitor each student’s performance more closely and provide individualized feedback in their writing and encouraged them to improve the problematic forms in their output. As such, this created more awareness among students. Moreover it encourages participation. This on-line platform was also perceived as providing a less stressful environment and a less threatening forum for students who lack fluency and confidence in using the language.
Interactional exchanges- This on-line electronic medium could be viewed as a suitable context that created numerous opportunities to make input more comprehensible to the learners. This occurred in various ways in the process of meaning negotiation. It could be seen that learners treated this on-line platform as a test-bed for them to test out hypotheses about the target language,
Reactions on the implications of the findings to the language learning scenario in Malaysia
In case of language learning scenario in Malaysia, it would best benefit the students while dragging the students into an enhancing learning environment. Language learning is in need of practice of real conversation and discussion or writing between entities and these findings are strengthening the point. The use of language itself is to interact to others, and the concept of interactive which asynchronous CMC endorsed to the language learning is a bless for the students to learn language. In addition while composing the messages, the students have time to recheck their language and repair their errors. It will give great advantages to the students to avoid unintentionally errors and to observe other errors committed by other students and to take lesson on the occasion.
Furthermore, it would greatly help the teachers in Malaysia to efficiently monitor their students and give feedbacks regarding their works or errors in language learning. Furthermore in class, direct criticism or direct correction in front of the class may result into the degradation of participation. The society in Malaysia is practicing “Collectivism” where direct correction from the teacher to the students without a correct method can result for the students to lose face. This is somehow a serious culture problem and CMC gives a great solution to this pertaining matter. The students can avoid the ‘lose face’ attitude and moreover, CMC can increase the output and participation plus confidence. Language learning has to be dynamic and thus effectively helps the students to grasp the proficiency fast and accurate. The findings in this article should be implemented in Malaysia language learning system thus leading to an efficient language learning environment.
Discourse Analysis of the Forum Thread.
Introduction
Forum: Lowyat.NET->Lifestyle ->PetsWonderland
Retrieved from: http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/967401
Thread topic: “Pantai TimuR Pet Owner.. and pet lover, Pahang, Terengganu, Kelantan.. and all” posted by azian 9100 on Mar 17 2009, 11:04 AM.
Short-Summary
This forum is about the discussion regarding their interest in pet care, how to take care their pet and naturally their discussion is in a specific range of context. The language used is in English and certain words are mixing with certain other language words where the term language borrowing can be best used to describe the situation. The culture of their language is mixing up with their mother tongue language where some words are being borrowed from the standardized language into English. Their English language is not strictly in accordance to the grammatical rules and this proves that the target group uses English freely without worrying about the grammatical rules and this somehow is the first step in learning language while observing others and interacting with them in the specific language. Self-confidence can be built from the provided situation.
Analysis
First of all, when we observe the topic of the forum itself, it promotes others who have interest in the specific interest to join and give opinions about their interest and discussion topic. What is important here, the topic “Pantai TimuR Pet Owner.. and pet lover, Pahang, Terengganu, Kelantan.. and all” is actually not a well sentence-structured topic but still the way it is presented can attract people to participate without concerning their level of proficiency in English language. This is actually a good effort in language learning basic.
Let’s take a look at one of the visitor’s comment.
JyEn
Mar 17 2009, 12:13 PM
“me raise in terengganu, was married to kuantan and had 7dogs there now at kl hav 2 lo.”
The sentence is indeed wrong in term of language rules but from the sentence we can perceive that the visitor is trying to communicate in English even though his proficiency in the language is low. The meaning of the sentence can be understood easily and the errors are not hindering the meaning.
xtreme_paranoid
i am from pahang..
raub, pahang
so far i only have tarantulas
3 tarantulas
The above sentence is simple and easy to understand. Grammatically correct and even though the pause (…) is being used excessively, it only shows us that the poster is trying to build confidence in sharing his interest.
Fatimus
Mar 17 2009, 12:55 PM
“Stuck at Kota Bharu for time being, have a black labrador retriever and he is undergoing fur shedding, driving my mom mad. “
This subject is using certain term to describe her pet and problem New vocabularies can enrich language learning and maybe if the visitors have problem in understanding the new words, it actually motivates the visitors and learners to find the meaning in other source. This kind of situation motivates language learning.
Advantages
People or students are reluctant to speak in class or public and may feel more at ease in a written format. It can build confidence in one-self and it is indeed an advantage. Forum also is having good trait in term efficiency of storage and people or students can re-read the messages repetitively. Furthermore, forum is in written format and it is easier to read a message or writing in L2 than to listen to it. In addition, the date of the postings can be traceable for future reference and greater precision.
Examples:
azian9100
Mar 17 2009, 11:04 AM
Regular
Group: Junior Member
Posts: 239
Joined: August 2008
I always lepak in LYN... what i know many of the Pet owner from KL, Selangor, Jb and penang.
So I open this tread just to.. gather all the Pet owner from Pantai Timur... tak kisah what ever pet you have...
I'm from Pahang .. and I have Rabbit...Fish and 1 cat (but always come and our come and out)
Come lah.. we have a chat .... PAntai Timur... Pet owner
JyEn
Mar 17 2009, 12:13 PM
Regular
Group: Junior Member
Posts: 273
Joined: June 2008
From: emo world
me raise in terengganu, was married to kuantan and had 7dogs there now at kl hav 2 lo.
azian9100
Mar 17 2009, 12:47 PM
Regular
Group: Junior Member
Posts: 239
Joined: August 2008
QUOTE(JyEn @ Mar 17 2009, 12:13 PM)
me raise in terengganu, was married to kuantan and had 7dogs there now at kl hav 2 lo.
hahaha... actually... I dont know lah.. I'm right or not.. But I think we in Pantai Timur... very very despretly need a very good vet with the very afforadable price. and somemore ... most of the Pet Shop here only selling fish... and nothing special for our lovely pet..
Like me I have to drive 2 hours just to see a vet.. and wanna buy good feed and anything for my pet .. I have to buy it online.
xtreme_paranoid
Mar 17 2009, 12:48 PM
LYN T-Shirt Designer '..::-/^\-::..'
Group: Senior Member
Posts: 829
Joined: September 2006
From: there to here..
i am from pahang..
raub, pahang
so far i only have tarantulas
3 tarantulas
Fatimus
Mar 17 2009, 12:55 PM
Regular
Group: Junior Member
Posts: 473
Joined: February 2006
From: Kay Bee
Stuck at Kota Bharu for time being, have a black labrador retriever and he is undergoing fur shedding, driving my mom mad.
azian9100
Mar 17 2009, 04:06 PM
Regular
Group: Junior Member
Posts: 239
Joined: August 2008
QUOTE(cracksys @ Mar 17 2009, 01:05 PM)
i have a couple of chicken and serati
hahah.. Itu sudah biasa.. that Pantai Timur people like Terengganu and Kelantan... love Chicken (as pet lah) and bird... and i belive the Serati people keep for their egg or something...
CMC Assignments - Eizat Shahputra
Discourse Analysis of the Forum Thread
Introduction
Forum – Motor Trader Forum Malaysia
Retrieved from www.motortrader.com.my/asp/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7328
Thread Topic – “Pls try to use english as our discussion language” posted by forumer naza710 on 9/09/2005
Summary of the Forum
This forum is a place to mainly discuss about trading cars and the specs of a car. Forum member naza710 basically brought up the topic of encouraging the use of English language inside the forum discussions and threads. Most of other members agreed with his point about improving their English by posting their comments in that language. However one forum administrator, Chips does argue that the forum caters to 99.9% of Malaysians, so they should remain neutral to this matter and not discourage the use of the national language, Bahasa Malaysia.
Analysis
Firstly, quality of the English used in the thread is basically mediocre. There are some grammatical mistakes and spelling errors made in their posts. For example, “
Advantages
Internet forums are convenient tools for discussion compared to chat rooms. Chat rooms features real-time communication in which the users need to discuss at the same time but internet forums allow the posters to comment on something earlier but still get responds afterwards. Readers can also refer to older posts and threads to obtain information.
Summary of Article
Introduction
Title - Blogs in English Language Teaching and Learning: Pedagogical Uses and Student Response
By Brad Blackstone of National University of Singapore, John Spiri of Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, and Naeko Naganuma of Akita International University
Retrieved January 17 2009 from www.nux.edu.sg/celc/publications/RETL62/01to20blackstone.pdf
Purpose of Study
The paper aims to gauge the necessity of implementing blogging activities into English for Academic Purposes in a university by the method of using surveys and temporal incorporation of the blogging activities itself into the classes.
Research Questions
1. Are the students interested in blogging and associated activities?
2. Is the implementation of blogging and related activities within a university EAP and composition program justified?
Methodology
The research implemented blogging and related activities within four different English for Academic Purposes (EAP) courses over four different levels of studies during two full semesters of an academic year in an English medium university in Japan. At the end of both semesters, a survey was distributed to all the participants to obtain data for analysis. The surveys were conducted using an online survey program surveymonkey.com.
Population
The participants are made up of 145 students in eleven EAP and composition classes at a newly opened English language medium university in a rural area in Japan. Most of them are first and second year students, a few are third year students and six are international students. Half of them obtained average TOEFL score of 460-499 and others obtained 500 or more.
Duration of Study
The study expands over two full semesters of an academic year in a university. The surveys were conducted at the end of spring and fall semesters, 2006. The 11 EAP classes meet three times a week, 100 minutes per class, over 15 weeks each semesters while the composition courses meet twice a week over 90 minutes per class.
Method (Research Design)
The cycle included students setting up blogs, writing activities with blogging buddies or groups, making blog posts, reading classmates’ posts and commenting on it.
1. Blog posts – the students were given blog posts assignments which is incorporated into the courses’ activities. The students first were required to read or watch some related materials, and then use it as a basis to write their short comments and essays in the blogs.
2. Peer Reviews – involves paper based peer review activities involving commenting certain criteria and quality of a blog within a group of three or pairs.
3. Peer Comments on a Blog Post – require the students to respond and comment on a number of blog posts by their classmates. This utilizes the comment functions available in the template of a blog.
4. Blogging Groups – groups of four to eight students were created and each member were required to first respond to the posts made by their group mates before responding to their other classmates.
5. Blogging Buddy – the blogging buddy method is done by assigning partners to edit each other’s posts. It focuses on review and response.
6. The survey – to gather data on students’ view towards blogging. The four main topics of the survey are students’ attitudes towards writing, blogging as a classroom activity, doing peer reviews and being paired with blogging buddies. The answers range from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree”.
Findings
Most of the students find blogging activities to be useful and interesting. 81.4% answered “strongly agree” and “agree” to the statement of if they liked blogging.93.1% agreed on the item “I like reading my classmates’ written posts”. 83% is in favor of the blogging buddy system and prefer to have a blog buddy to proof read their posts. (Refer to Appendix I for graphs)
Data Analysis
The responses and data gathered in the survey underlined the important element of writing in this study. It seems that students who like writing as an activity will preferably like blogging as well, while students who dislike writing will dislike blogging. From the survey, it seems that the students enjoyed reading the posts made by their classmates and they did not ignore the teachers’ roles as well. Finally, the students realized the importance of improving their writing skills and recognized the need to have a peer to review and edit their writings.
There are a number of benefits for implementing the blogging system into the syllabus namely by motivating the students to write more, by allowing the students to edit and carefully think about their writings before posting it, and also by allocating punctuality in writing blog posts.
Some of the potential problems of using blogging activities is its public nature in which everybody around the world with an internet connection can access and read the posts. This can also be considered as a privacy problem. Another potential problem is the political “correctness” of the ideas that one puts on the blog posts, mostly due to the public nature of the blog.
CMC Assignments- Mohd Shakif
Introduction
The research article entitled ‘Toward an Effective Integration of Technology: Message Boards for Strengthening Communication’ written by Arif Altun from Nigde University & Abant Izzet Baysal University focused on how the attitudes and beliefs of language learners about the use of asynchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC) tools into language teaching gave momentum to the idea of exploring how they would approach these new tools. The findings of the study shows that students tended to develop positive attitudes toward using asynchronous communication tools in their language teaching program. The students also show positive reflections about the use of CMC tools and their integration into teaching.
Thomas and Hofmeister (2002) conducted a study on the efficiency of integrated message board systems into teaching. The researchers investigated whether the students’ responses by using the message boards (asynchronous) would be different according to prompt types. Students were given various types of prompts to comment and reflect upon. The researchers came up with a hypothesis that the more interactive the learning activity, the greater the increase in cognitive complexity. They concluded that the application of message boards into the teaching process would help students develop higher order thinking processes, if designed and handled efficiently.
Another research was done by Vonderwell (2003). She found that CMC was a negative aspect in collaboration among students. However, it is an opportunity for students to communicate and interact with the teacher in learning. Secondly, she found that students tend to favor interpersonal relationships with the instructor, rather than asking questions in class or public. Thirdly, students would expect consistent feedback from the teacher. Vonderwell (2003) then concluded that online instructors need to carefully make use of the web technologies for collaboration and interaction, not just simply providing discussion and group activities because it does not necessarily make the students participate in the community.
Research Questions
1. What are EFL students’ self-perceived attitudes toward communicating on computers?
2. Does access to computers and networks play a significant role with respect to EFL student’s attitudes toward new information technologies—the message boards?
3. Is there a significant difference between EFL students’ attitudes toward communicating on computers after using message boards in their teacher training courses?
4. What are EFL students’ reflections toward using asynchronous CMC tools?
Methodology
Participants
The participants in this research were 52 English teachers.11 male participants and 41 female participants. The students had no experience in using an asynchronous forum messaging system or other electronic conferencing system. In addition to their departmental courses, all participants had received a formal instruction on a basic computer course as well as word and math processing office programs.
Materials
Each participant would be given The Teacher Trainees’ attitudes toward communicating on computers questionnaire (ATC) during the first and the last weeks of the semester to monitor the participants’ attitudes and perceptions of communicating on computers in education in the beginning of their classes and by the end of their semester. The ATC included 10 items in a Likert type with six categories: Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Barely Disagree, Barely Agree, Agree, and Strongly Agree coded from one to six respectively. Before the classes started, a web based forum system called CALL Forum was created and developed. Students were asked to register with their own username and passwords before they were allowed to participate in forum discussions.
Data Analysis
The data was analyzed using SPSS 11.05. The students’ attitudes toward communicating through computers before and after using the message boards in their courses were analyzed using Mann-Whitney U statistics. An analysis of the completed reflection papers was included as written data. Students’ reflections were collected. First, a report for students’ interaction was recorded through the database. Then, the data was converted into a word document. Finally, the data was used depending on the content of interaction.
Findings
The students find message boards as a convenient communication environment. And since they communicated with others through writing, they find this way of communicating as an advantage. However, some students find the message boards as pretty vague. Initial beliefs tend to indicate concerns and anxiety, but it required some experience to understand and benefit from this tool. Students find this activity as an extra burden and time consuming activity at first, but after some time, their concerns and anxieties faded away, and they started to enjoy using this tool.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the integration of a message board as an asynchronous CMC tool into teaching process was hard, exhausting, and challenging. However, positive attitudes and students’ cooperation helps instructors and teacher training departments to make use of new technologies in their programs. Future studies including a longer period of time and the use of asynchronous tools are needed to better understand the components of web based instruction. Such research studies will contribute to our understanding of online communication discourses and to help us develop an active online community.
The research article entitled ‘Toward an Effective Integration of Technology: Message Boards for Strengthening Communication’ written by Arif Altun from Nigde University & Abant Izzet Baysal University focused on how the attitudes and beliefs of language learners about the use of asynchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC) tools into language teaching gave momentum to the idea of exploring how they would approach these new tools. The findings of the study shows that students tended to develop positive attitudes toward using asynchronous communication tools in their language teaching program. The students also show positive reflections about the use of CMC tools and their integration into teaching.
Thomas and Hofmeister (2002) conducted a study on the efficiency of integrated message board systems into teaching. The researchers investigated whether the students’ responses by using the message boards (asynchronous) would be different according to prompt types. Students were given various types of prompts to comment and reflect upon. The researchers came up with a hypothesis that the more interactive the learning activity, the greater the increase in cognitive complexity. They concluded that the application of message boards into the teaching process would help students develop higher order thinking processes, if designed and handled efficiently.
Another research was done by Vonderwell (2003). She found that CMC was a negative aspect in collaboration among students. However, it is an opportunity for students to communicate and interact with the teacher in learning. Secondly, she found that students tend to favor interpersonal relationships with the instructor, rather than asking questions in class or public. Thirdly, students would expect consistent feedback from the teacher. Vonderwell (2003) then concluded that online instructors need to carefully make use of the web technologies for collaboration and interaction, not just simply providing discussion and group activities because it does not necessarily make the students participate in the community.
Research Questions
1. What are EFL students’ self-perceived attitudes toward communicating on computers?
2. Does access to computers and networks play a significant role with respect to EFL student’s attitudes toward new information technologies—the message boards?
3. Is there a significant difference between EFL students’ attitudes toward communicating on computers after using message boards in their teacher training courses?
4. What are EFL students’ reflections toward using asynchronous CMC tools?
Methodology
Participants
The participants in this research were 52 English teachers.11 male participants and 41 female participants. The students had no experience in using an asynchronous forum messaging system or other electronic conferencing system. In addition to their departmental courses, all participants had received a formal instruction on a basic computer course as well as word and math processing office programs.
Materials
Each participant would be given The Teacher Trainees’ attitudes toward communicating on computers questionnaire (ATC) during the first and the last weeks of the semester to monitor the participants’ attitudes and perceptions of communicating on computers in education in the beginning of their classes and by the end of their semester. The ATC included 10 items in a Likert type with six categories: Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Barely Disagree, Barely Agree, Agree, and Strongly Agree coded from one to six respectively. Before the classes started, a web based forum system called CALL Forum was created and developed. Students were asked to register with their own username and passwords before they were allowed to participate in forum discussions.
Data Analysis
The data was analyzed using SPSS 11.05. The students’ attitudes toward communicating through computers before and after using the message boards in their courses were analyzed using Mann-Whitney U statistics. An analysis of the completed reflection papers was included as written data. Students’ reflections were collected. First, a report for students’ interaction was recorded through the database. Then, the data was converted into a word document. Finally, the data was used depending on the content of interaction.
Findings
The students find message boards as a convenient communication environment. And since they communicated with others through writing, they find this way of communicating as an advantage. However, some students find the message boards as pretty vague. Initial beliefs tend to indicate concerns and anxiety, but it required some experience to understand and benefit from this tool. Students find this activity as an extra burden and time consuming activity at first, but after some time, their concerns and anxieties faded away, and they started to enjoy using this tool.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the integration of a message board as an asynchronous CMC tool into teaching process was hard, exhausting, and challenging. However, positive attitudes and students’ cooperation helps instructors and teacher training departments to make use of new technologies in their programs. Future studies including a longer period of time and the use of asynchronous tools are needed to better understand the components of web based instruction. Such research studies will contribute to our understanding of online communication discourses and to help us develop an active online community.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Taboo words and actions in Malay culture
Almost every part of Malaysia, the elders often use the same taboos and practiced those words to discipline youngsters so that in the future, the children will be well behaved. Here, we will show you the examples of Malay taboos for those who might not be familiar with these words and practice. :
1) "Jangan duduk atas bantal, nnt punggung bisul" ( do not sit on the pillow or else you will get sores on your backside). The reason is, the pillows are used of the head, so it is not polite to sit on it.
2) "Jangan menyanyi di dapur, nanti dapat suami tua" (do not sing in the kitchen, or you(woman) will marry someone who is way older than you expect) The reason is, you might be careless while cooking in order to avoid accidents.
3) "Jangan keluar senja, nanti kena sorok dengan hantu payu-dara". ( do not go out and play at dusk, or you might be kidnapped by boogey-woman :p ) The reason is, most Malays are Muslims, so it is not good to go out at dusk because the devils and djinns usually wander at dusk.
4) Jangan kencing dekat busut, nanti bengkak kemaluan(Malay words for private part). ( do not urinate on termite bunk, or your(male) penis might be swollen. The reason is first, it is impolite to wee-wee out of nowhere. Secondly, a bunk might be a resting place for supernatural spirits and it might curse anyone who mess up their place.
These are only few examples that we show to you. We are looking forward to your kind co-operation to add comments on other taboos that you might want to share with us so that we can use it as a reference to our project in the future.
As you can see, all of those examples that we show you have one thing in common. They are used for an indirect moral lesson to children so that the children will be well behaved and discipline. In Malay taboos, fear is repeatedly used to educate children.
In our research,back in the past,words or content of conversations which is considered as Malay taboos only involves sexual and religious matters. For example, one cannot discuss about sex in public places and also at home. Sex is not meant to be discussed among the people because it is considered as immoral. The problem is, every grownups know about sex and share their "knowledge" among themselves but at the same time they do not want to expose their "knowledge" to the youngsters because they believe that it is no use to do so. The other thing is about religion, in the past, only the Ulama' or Ustaz can talk about religion. In Malay culture, religion seems to be a very sensitive issues back in the old days until today. For instance, the Malays believe that questions such as "do god exist?","who created the universe and why?","is Islam the true religion of all?". Don't get us wrong, but these question can get you into deep trouble if you mention it at school or religious classes.
We strongly believe that all of those mentioned above as taboos not because the subjects are immoral or corrupted,but the Malays are sometimes being restricted to certain knowledge by certain authorities for their own benefit, not because the words are impolite.
Now we want to show you the modern taboos of Malays. Nowadays, the young generation have their own taboos created among themselves which is not used as moral lesson, but to curse and to address people in an impolite manners. What interest us is not only because of why the new generation taboo exist, but also these words are not allowed to be used back in the old days( twenty-thirty years ago).
1) Bodoh sial, bangang nak mampus, palat, kepala bapak engkau, lancau, bengap, benyut, sengal, etc. All of these words are cursing words so we do not bother to translate it into English.
The main reason why we want to show you these examples is because those words all pretty well known to Malaysian youngsters. Actually, all of these words are taboos and cannot be used at home, school and public places. However, these words are widely used among the youngsters in their daily conversation. It really worry us as the youngster are the future generation, however, they are using such words to address other people. What if those words become a common thing in the future and be widely used by the society? For sure, Malays will become a rude race and negative impressions will be given to the Malays by other races in Malaysia. We want the Malay youngsters to be aware of what they are saying because our words usually shows our personality and backgrounds. Do you want to be labeled rude and uneducated by your parents because other people see the first impression of you by the way you talk to your friends??
In history, the Malays are well known for their polite manners. Nowadays Malaysian Government starts introducing new terms to make a word more polite in order for the public to converse using polite language. For example, the introduction of OKU(orang kurang upaya), warga emas, pendatang tanpa izin (rather than pendatang haram),and meninggal dunia. There are many euphemism being used all over the Malay language, but the people have the freedom whether to use it or not.
In conclusion, taboos exist within a community, our perception on certain subjects or words will determine whether some words or doings are considered as taboos. So, we must use euphemism in our everyday conversation so that we will not hurt other people's feelings. Remember, use polite words to address other people and choose the words carefully before we open our mouth. For example, instead of saying "orang cacat"(disabled) use "insan istimewa"(special). Please take note! do not use bad words and misuse taboos for bad things so that we can be nice to each other and be happy.
1) "Jangan duduk atas bantal, nnt punggung bisul" ( do not sit on the pillow or else you will get sores on your backside). The reason is, the pillows are used of the head, so it is not polite to sit on it.
2) "Jangan menyanyi di dapur, nanti dapat suami tua" (do not sing in the kitchen, or you(woman) will marry someone who is way older than you expect) The reason is, you might be careless while cooking in order to avoid accidents.
3) "Jangan keluar senja, nanti kena sorok dengan hantu payu-dara". ( do not go out and play at dusk, or you might be kidnapped by boogey-woman :p ) The reason is, most Malays are Muslims, so it is not good to go out at dusk because the devils and djinns usually wander at dusk.
4) Jangan kencing dekat busut, nanti bengkak kemaluan(Malay words for private part). ( do not urinate on termite bunk, or your(male) penis might be swollen. The reason is first, it is impolite to wee-wee out of nowhere. Secondly, a bunk might be a resting place for supernatural spirits and it might curse anyone who mess up their place.
These are only few examples that we show to you. We are looking forward to your kind co-operation to add comments on other taboos that you might want to share with us so that we can use it as a reference to our project in the future.
As you can see, all of those examples that we show you have one thing in common. They are used for an indirect moral lesson to children so that the children will be well behaved and discipline. In Malay taboos, fear is repeatedly used to educate children.
In our research,back in the past,words or content of conversations which is considered as Malay taboos only involves sexual and religious matters. For example, one cannot discuss about sex in public places and also at home. Sex is not meant to be discussed among the people because it is considered as immoral. The problem is, every grownups know about sex and share their "knowledge" among themselves but at the same time they do not want to expose their "knowledge" to the youngsters because they believe that it is no use to do so. The other thing is about religion, in the past, only the Ulama' or Ustaz can talk about religion. In Malay culture, religion seems to be a very sensitive issues back in the old days until today. For instance, the Malays believe that questions such as "do god exist?","who created the universe and why?","is Islam the true religion of all?". Don't get us wrong, but these question can get you into deep trouble if you mention it at school or religious classes.
We strongly believe that all of those mentioned above as taboos not because the subjects are immoral or corrupted,but the Malays are sometimes being restricted to certain knowledge by certain authorities for their own benefit, not because the words are impolite.
Now we want to show you the modern taboos of Malays. Nowadays, the young generation have their own taboos created among themselves which is not used as moral lesson, but to curse and to address people in an impolite manners. What interest us is not only because of why the new generation taboo exist, but also these words are not allowed to be used back in the old days( twenty-thirty years ago).
1) Bodoh sial, bangang nak mampus, palat, kepala bapak engkau, lancau, bengap, benyut, sengal, etc. All of these words are cursing words so we do not bother to translate it into English.
The main reason why we want to show you these examples is because those words all pretty well known to Malaysian youngsters. Actually, all of these words are taboos and cannot be used at home, school and public places. However, these words are widely used among the youngsters in their daily conversation. It really worry us as the youngster are the future generation, however, they are using such words to address other people. What if those words become a common thing in the future and be widely used by the society? For sure, Malays will become a rude race and negative impressions will be given to the Malays by other races in Malaysia. We want the Malay youngsters to be aware of what they are saying because our words usually shows our personality and backgrounds. Do you want to be labeled rude and uneducated by your parents because other people see the first impression of you by the way you talk to your friends??
In history, the Malays are well known for their polite manners. Nowadays Malaysian Government starts introducing new terms to make a word more polite in order for the public to converse using polite language. For example, the introduction of OKU(orang kurang upaya), warga emas, pendatang tanpa izin (rather than pendatang haram),and meninggal dunia. There are many euphemism being used all over the Malay language, but the people have the freedom whether to use it or not.
In conclusion, taboos exist within a community, our perception on certain subjects or words will determine whether some words or doings are considered as taboos. So, we must use euphemism in our everyday conversation so that we will not hurt other people's feelings. Remember, use polite words to address other people and choose the words carefully before we open our mouth. For example, instead of saying "orang cacat"(disabled) use "insan istimewa"(special). Please take note! do not use bad words and misuse taboos for bad things so that we can be nice to each other and be happy.
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