Throughout this semester of taking ENGL 4740:Computer Application in Language Learning, we have been given a few tasks to be completed. There are two categories of tasks or assignments that been assigned to us; graded and non-graded assignments. In this section, we are basically going to discuss and share what we have done for the graded assignments and what are the elements that reflect us in completing those tasks.
The first graded assignment is the summary of the article related to Computer Application in Language Learning. The article that we have chosen is, Effect of Locus and Learner-Control on Web-Based Language Learning by M. M. Ho. Briefly, this paper is to experiment whether the method of leaner-control or programme-control gives effect in web-based language learning. The result from the research is that the students from leaner-control group performed better than programme-control group. By looking this in general point of view, everyone will surely have their own free will in doing anything, especially in learning; which is imply from learner-control. The free will that we need learning gives us the advantages to search for anything or even improvised it in a creative way. Therefore, it will contribute to the good result. Even for us, we surely prefer the learner-control medium of study.
The second assignment is the task for us to explore the area of computer-mediated communication (CMC). From this area, we have been given a task to study any linguistic elements in any form of CMC. As for us, we have chose to observe on humor and sarcasm, and use of emoticon in bulletin board from the website www.warez-bb.org. We use three research articles as our guideline which are: Emotional Expression Online: Gender Differences in Emoticon Use by Alecia Wolf, Lexical Influences in the Perception of Sarcasm by Roger J. Kreuz and Gina M. Caucci, and Jokes and the Discourse on Disaster by Elliot Oring. From the observation that we made in order to look on the use of those linguistic elements (sarcasm, humor and emoticon), it is found that purpose of using sarcasm and humor varies in different context. At one context, even humor can become sarcasm and the other way around. Meanwhile, emoticon is just basically an expression of feeling or emotion in the form of text and can be found in almost every post made in the bulletin board. Well, the uses of sarcasm for us sometimes necessary for the sake of given clear message of what we intended instead of saying it directly. It may somehow become one form of jokes, but in a way that has message in it.
The last but not least is the third assignment. For the third assignment, we have been given a task to present on the area of corpus linguistic, specifically; concordancer. This is one of the difficult task for us as this is can be said as something new to us; even we haven't heard of the word corpus linguistic since our course of introduction to linguistics =). So we have done extra "digging" in order to complete the task. Even so, we still facing problems in using the software to analyze the corpus which called "concordancer". And finally we have found an online concordancer that help us to demonstrate the use of the software to find the concordance (lexical items in a corpus).
And overall, this course definitely teach us something new especially in the area of language learning. Some of us know a lot of knowledge in solving computer problems (virus, hardware, software), but when it comes to creating this blog (which is THE ULTIMATE TASK!) it cannot be done. This is of course due to the less exposure and the feeling of why-should-I-do-it. So when the task of creating blog is our main task of the semester, like it or not we must learn how do it. And surprisingly, the process of learning to create this blog somehow fun. We actually do the thing we never intend to do. We search the thing that we never care to know. And we created the thing that we never thought we could!
In line with the Islamic teaching that always encourage us to try something new for the benefit of having knowledge of it, we finally done it. We not just learn something new for academic purposes only, but also something for us to apply in our life. So, it is true that "something will never come rolling" to us ^^. We have to search for it if we want to know about it as we are searching and solving the way to complete the task given in this course.
