Friday 9 May 2014

Morphology: Drawing Morphology trees



Pictures taken from:https://sites.google.com/a/sheffield.ac.uk/all-about-linguistics/branches/morphology/what-is-morphology


Watch this video to understand more on how to draw Morphology trees:



Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DfuzNxnfm_k

Morphology: About morphemes

Source: http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/schuh/lx001/Web_Quizzes/Quiz_03/03web.html


Morphemes - the building blocks of morphology

There are two types of word. The first type is called simple words. Simple word don’t have an internal structure and only consist of one piece, like work. There is no way we can divide work (wo-rk?) into smaller parts that carry meaning or function. Complex words however, do have an internal structure and consist of two or more pieces. Consider worker, where the ending –er is added to the root work to make it into a noun meaning someone who works. These pieces are called morphemes (the smallest meaning-bearing units of language).
   
A simple word only consisting of one single morpheme is therefore a free morpheme, that is, it is a word itself. Examples are house, work, high, us and to. Morphemes that must be attached to another morpheme to receive meaning are bound morphemes. If we break the word unkindness into its three morphemes un-, kind and -ness, we get two examples of bound morphemes: un- and -ness, as they require the root kind to make up a word. 


These are also called affixes as they are attached to the stem. The affix un- that go to the front of a word is a prefix and -ness that goes to the end is a suffix.There are also infixes and circumfixes. However, these two types are not common in English language. 


Pictures taken from:https://sites.google.com/a/sheffield.ac.uk/all-about-linguistics/branches/morphology/what-is-morphology



Morphology : Formation of new words


New words are regularly being formed through familiar word formation processes: below are a few examples of these processes, along with some words that result from their application.
An acronym is formed out of the first letter of each word of a phrase. 
Example of acronyms are : 
  • LOL — laugh out loud 
  • GTG - Got to go
  • BRB - Be right back
  • radar (RAdio DetectionAnd Ranging) 


blend combines two words to create a new word. 
Example of blends are: 
  • Smog: blend ofsmoke plus fog
  • Mockumentary:  combines mock and documentary
  • Jeggings: snug-fitting leggings that look like jeans

Clipping is the reduction of a word into one of its component parts. 
Example of clipping: 
  • app:clipped from application.

Compounding is the combining of two or more roots to make a new word, 
Example of compounding: 
  • birdhouse 
  • redneck 


Knowledge in morphology enables us to create new words! 

Source taken from here 

Sunday 4 May 2014

TABLE OF CONTENT



OPENING REMARKS
ABOUT US
REFLECTION WEEK 1: INTRODUCTION TO CALL
REFLECTION WEEK 2: HISTORY OF CALL
REFLECTION WEEK 3: CALL IN LANGUAGE SKILLS
REFLECTION WEEK 4: E-PORTFOLIO
LESSON PLAN
GRADED ASSIGNMENT 1: LESSON PLAN (REVISED)
REFLECTION OF GRADED ASSIGNMENT 1
GRADED ASSIGNMENT 2: (CMC)
REFLECTION ON GRADED ASSIGNMENT 2: CMC
GRADED ASSIGNMENT 3: RESEARCH PROPOSAL
REFLECTION ON GRADED ASSIGNMENT 3: RESEARCH PROPOSAL
ISLAMIC AWARENESS
REFLECTION ON BLOG



Saturday 3 May 2014

REFLECTION ON BLOG



BY SHARIFAH SHAKINAH

This blog had helped me in reflect on every chapter I've learned. Through reflection, I feel that it promotes the free flow of expressing oneself and understanding the true meaning of certain subjects. I certainly hope that this blog will help others too. Now, every chapter that we've learned is not a mere chapter but the significance of this subject could be applied to our life as a Muslims.


This blog also helped us in strengthening our group bond as after every chapter we will sit together and discuss on what we have understood and gained in that particular chapter. This blog has helped us in expressing opinions and it also help us in being patience as to reflect and ponder might take time and requires commitment from each and every members. This blogs also teaches us to work together efficiently as a group and not individually. I realised that this is the same setting that I'll face in my career phase, hence the experience of working in a group will help a lot in the future.


Not only that it helps me in improving myself, I am also inspired to help others after spending time in pouring all the information needed for a student to master morphology by using CALL. I believe that this blog can help students in understanding Morphology better by reading our research in corpus linguistic that touched on the usage of reductions. In fact, teachers can also benefited from this blog as we had posted lesson plan on how to teach speaking skills using CALL. 

Blog is all about sharing, and this blog had made me experience the true feeling of happiness in sharing our knowledge with others. This blog has helped us so much in understanding Morphology more. Not only that, our knowledge about Islam grows together as we were required to reflect on each assignment that we were given. I believe that students should use blog as a medium to grow together with friends with the same passion and interest they are in.


As a Muslim, this blog had made me realised that this is one of the medium where a person can became a dai'e and also a helper to others. Whenever knowledge is shared, all of us can improve together. I really hope that this blog will benefit a lot of other students and friends that had spent time reading it.


This also shows that we as Muslim can be a dynamic Muslim where we find new ways in doing da'wah and spreading goodness to others.



BY NURSYAHIRAH SAIFUL



After the completion of this blog, indeed I would say I have learned so many things. They are inclined towards the matters that are related to time itself, you and your group members’ contributions and participations towards the works given, and the solutions on how to handle conflicts. As for the works assigned and by having the necessity to do the reflection on each lesson learned in class and the reflection of all the assignments and to put them on the blog, it is undeniable that I feel so pleased as I get to learn about the area in CALL, the existing subject that I have learned in previous semester which is MORPHOLOGY, I struggle and learn on how to use BLOG ( in all honesty, I have never had a blog before and now I become so skillful at it ), and altogether I get the chance to expose, to reflect my ideas about any of the subjects I am reflecting through the use of computers. I love this subject very much and I would want to congratulate myself and my group members for making all of these works possible. A special gratitude, thanks, goes out to Dr. Rozina for her kind commitment in assisting us throughout this semester. Thank you very much. It has been full of great moments in this class indeed, as we have received innumerable input, various knowledge and numerous advantages from different disciplines. All praises be to Allah S.W.T.




BY AKMYR SYAHAR AZWAR


Praise to Allah, throughout this semester of taking the subject of Computer Application in Language Studies has introduced and presented us to the methods of teaching and learning English using applications in the computers. All over the semester, we were taught to use various possible approaches and procedures such as using corpus, software, concordancer, online journal, internet blogging and many others to assist us in finalizing our assignments and presentations. We are more conscious of the significance of computer applications in language learning and teaching in the sense that we found many applications that are helpful and useful for educational institution. We could say that the task given by Dr. Rozina is rather challenging for us to accomplish, however, we take it as a test in our life surely since it provide a lot of advantages for us in the present modern life and also in the future, obviously. Overall, we actually enjoy working together as a group where we learned the significance of teamwork, tolerance, and cooperation among group members, the four of us. Finally, we would like to express our gratitude and to thank our lecturer, Dr Rozina for her generous commitment and supervision in guiding us through the semester. Alhamdulillah and Thank You.




By Amiza 'Izzati Zulkefley

When the creation of this blog commences, I was overly confident in thinking that we would finish it in a blink of an eye, as I have owned several blogs before. What I did not know however, that this is the only blog (in my experience) that requires so much discussion with high-order thinking, in producing ideas of our own. To even create a post would require a lot of energy and time. But Alhamdulillah, Allah s.w.t. has granted me with three hard-working groupmates that are willing to go beyond to achieve the impossible.

Since we were given the task to reflect on the lessons and assignments that we received, weblog is a perfect platform to do so, as it gives us many space and medium to share. Even sharing our knowledge to others is a great lesson of its own. In reflecting our lessons, I realized that there is more room for me to improve myself. All it takes is perseverance and blessings from Allah s.w.t. I also discovered that negative thoughts and negative people will bring you down if you let them; therefore in order to achieve success, I must learn to ignore negativity around me and have faith in myself. 

I have learned a lot from this course throughout the semester; I learned that technology is a great tool to gain knowledge and if I used it wisely in pursuing the right path, I can succeed. InshaAllah.

Friday 2 May 2014

ISLAMIC AWARENESS



BY NURSYAHIRAH SAIFUL

It has been almost 5 years since I have been in this university and I do realize now that I have gained a lot of inspiring Islamic information from the lectures I have attended to. I have learned many things here and those are things like; the sense of humanity, your relationship with the only one Creator, to have an absolute faith in the existence of Allah and the Day of Judgment, what you should do, what should you forbid as a Muslim and many more. Truth is, I gradually push, force myself to be a good Muslim because I am so aware that this life is just temporary and death may come upon you at any moment. No one knows when they are going to meet their Creator, and because I wish to be a better Muslima, I feel the necessity to improve myself (self-improvement) slowly starting from this moment, now on. This makes me feel special as I am surrounded by Allah’s mercy. On top of that, I feel the obligation to keep on researching more about Islam so that again, I can feel and get close to Allah S.W.T. Other than that, I often greet Muslim brothers or sisters with Salam instead of saying Hi like I used to say before, (due to the UIA environment where most people greet each other by giving Salam and subsequently I also get affected and thus, apply it in daily lives when meeting people). I become so used to utter Alhamdulillah at most times (also because of the awareness I have gotten from the surrounding), I become so sensitive about people, I can get pity towards anyone very easily, and without any hesitation I always feel the necessity to help others who are in need. I learn to be moderate in all dimensions of my life as well. Nevertheless, I know that I am not a perfect Muslim woman just yet, but I am sure that as time passes by, I am going to make sure everything is done in accordance to what is prescribed in the QURAN and SUNNAH, the main guidance, the way of life for mankind in leading a proper, God-pleasing life.
“And be moderate in your pace, and lower your voice; for the harshest of sounds without doubt is the braying of the ass.”  (31:19)
Abu Hurairah  narrated that When this verse was revealed, "Whoever does evil will be required for it" (4:123), and when this was conveyed to the Muslims they were greatly perturbed. Thereupon Allâh's Messenger r said: “Be moderate and stand firm in trouble that falls to the lot of a Muslim (as that) is an expiation for him; even stumbling on the path or the pricking of a thorn (are an expiation for him).”   (Muslim 6243)


BY AKMYR SYAHAR AZWAR

Years in IIUM have taught me uncountable lessons about the reality of life. In my opinion, IIUM is somehow different from other universities as it holds the hope of Muslim everywhere around the world. After all, IIUM was one of a kind with a very general name of IIU. I myself once said that I’ll never enter UIA because I have absolute zero knowledge about Arabic. Being a student from a normal secondary school, not even a religious school, IIUM is not the first university to come up to my mind. I would even joke about entering IIUM. And yet here I am, preparing an assignment for my last semester. Only when I’m enrolled here I learn that English is used both as its medium of instruction and the language of its administration. Also, there is a lot of focus on the Islamic civilization and the Muslim Ummah in terms of syllabus in courses offered. It blends harmoniously modern and professional disciplines with traditional values and moral virtues. It’s a wonderful experience in the sense that it give me lots of memories, from good and bad, from friendship to relationship and also from nobody to somebody. I really enjoy my day life as IIUM student.

BY SHARIFAH SHAKINAH


IIUM has given me a new perspective in life. Not only I learned a lot here, I also grow as a person. To be in such a beautiful environment where every step i take here is a step closer in knowing my Creator. IIUM is filled with religious talk and 'tazkirah' where I could feed my sinful soul. Boys and girls are not allowed to mingle freely without boundaries. Hence, IIUM environement make us girls feel safe, which is something I love.
              Here, I learned that every one is indeed under Allah's mercy and help. Sometimes, when I feel that life gets too overwhelming, I remembered how lucky I am to be here. Not many students had the chance to experience what I've experienced being an IIUM students. Here, every lesson is filled with Islamic perspective which allowes me to learn about Islam deeper and use it in my life. I've learned that the act of gaining knowledge is not only for this world, but to gain barakah in the here after. Studying here in IIUM push me to be a sincere student, where the knowledge I seek is not for the sake of grade only.

            I love seeing people from different country come together and be friends with one another. IIUM had given me the chance to know people from all around the world and broaden my horizon. I've also managed to get the chance in joining charity club here in IIUM and now I've became more grateful as there are many unfortunate people out there that needed our help. Hence, all the knowledge that I'd gained here will be one day be used in helping others InsyaAllah. I'm so grateful that Allah has made me the chosen one to be one of IIUM student. This is a responsibility that I'll not take lightly and will try to fulfill as much as I'm able to do so.


By Amiza 'Izzati Zulkefley

The end of my journey in IIUM is almost here, as this course (among others) walks me through to the graduation day. I have to admit that the things I have gone through since Day 1 until today, have taught me many things on life in general.

I learned that the challenges are mere tests from Allah s.w.t. to strengthen myself for the days to come. I also learned that people come and go-- specifically negative people-- while family, friends and God have my back all the time. I explored many things, from foreign foods to staying up all night finishing assignments. I ventured into things that I have never dreamed doing, and I do not regret a second of it.

In all honesty, I committed mistakes that I am not proud of. But through these things I discovered true friends, lessons that worth a lifetime and beautiful things about my Deen. I am grateful to Allah s.w.t. for the experiences and obstacles that He had put me through, and also for the Strength He had given and the people around me He had blessed me with. After all those things, I am always eager to learn and improve myself for the better; for Islam always encourages Muslims to strive for greatness until the last breath.

I will not forget everything IIUM has taught me, and will use the knowledge it had given me the opportunity to gain, in the next chapters in my life. I will continue to improve myself as a better Muslim and a better human for as long as it takes, for as long as Allah s.w.t. grants me the chance to.

Reflection on Research Proposal



For the third task, we have been assigned by Dr. Rozina to come out with a mini research proposal. This task is the last assignment for the semester, aside from the blog. We have been given the freedom to choose any topic as long as it is related to this course. Therefore, we chose the topic of Exploring CALL's Effectiveness On Reading Comprehension Among ESL Learners. 


While completing this assignment, we encountered several challenges. This is because as we do not have any knowledge on the chosen topic,  we need to find suitable articles and journals written on the same or similar topic as reference.This is quite difficult as not many scholars did research on the topic. After finding a similar one and we began writing, we struggled to figure out the methods that are suitable to this research. We were worried that the anticipated result might not be parallel to the purpose of the study. After many discussions, we came through and we managed to finish the research proposal on time.


After finishing the assignment, we realized that when working in a group, communication is crucial as group members could misunderstand each other without proper discussion. Honesty and respect are two significant elements that need to exist in a group in order to have desired result. When dealing with one another it is important to understand the other person's situation to avoid offense. Communication skills is important in the working world as we will work with other people whom we might not know that well, especially when writing a research proposal that requires spending time together in gathering information.