Problems that stop us in learning language

Based on the survey that our group had done,it shows that most of the respondents stated that friends are the reason why there is an obstruction for them in learning language.This is due lack of supportive from friends whenever the respondents try to speak in English.The respondents claimed that some of their friends will give that kind of 'look' whenever they try to speak in English.

Meanwhile,respondent 2 and 3 stated that shyness and fluency are the reasons why they stop learning English language.They worry that they might speaks incorrectly and it will make them look stupid.

Solving the problems
To solve the problems faced by all the respondents,first of all they should put the shyness and the fear to speak in English in front of the public away.Of course we will do mistakes in learning but the fastest way to learn anything is to do it again and again until you get it right.Besides that,there is a lot of technologies that 
could help you to learn language faster and easier.


1.Watch English films and television can actually help you learning English in a fun way yet effective.You can learn how the actor speak the language and learn the accent that they used in the film.
2.Dig more any English material that you could find.For example,in the internet you can find a lot of English learning website that provides you free English language lesson.Some of them are proven to be really effective 
and have a lot of fun activities that could be related with the English language learning.
3.You can also could gain benefits from your mp3 player by listening to a lot of eEglish songs as it is often a way to improve your comprehension,.

EXAMPLES OF ONLINE DICTIONARY.

1. Longman English Dictionary Online.

     2. www.yourdictionary.com

• Offers definition serach.

     3. www.merriam-webster.com

• comes along with the audio pronunciations, thesaurus, Word of the day and word games. 

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ONLINE DICTIONARY.

Based on the survey that is being done by my group, all the respondent has stated in their interview that online dictionary is very useful and helpful to them in terms of learning English language. Online dictionary can actually help to improve a person vocabulary and grammar thus making them proficient in using English language. Besides that, the respondent have also stated that the online dictionary is very fast and effective in terms of learning a language especially English language. 

WAYS TO BE EQUIPPED IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

1. www.usingenglish.com

This website provides the resources to learn English language for ESL, EFL, ESOL, and EAP. 

     2. www. esl.about.com

This website provides learning material in English such as materials for those who are beginners in English language. There is also quizzes and tests that are related to English language. There is also grammar exercise for users to improve their grammar as well as free online English course.  

      3. www.englishpage.com

Englishpage.com provides free English lessons with English grammar and vocabulary exercises.  

EQUIPPED IN USING ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

Based on the interview that has been conducted by our group, all the respondent are well equipped in using English language. In order to learn or understand the English language, all the respondent either use the dictionary, grammar book or lectures notes as a method or way to learn English language.

WAYS TO IMPROVE THE LACK OF PROFICIENCY IN USING ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

1. By reading materials that is related to English language

• There are a lot of reading materials that can be found in English language. 
• We can read up newspaper that uses English language as the main medium to convey their news or information. For example, The Star newspaper and The Sun newspaper. 
• By reading materials that are related or uses English language, we can actually improve our vocabulary as we are able to pick up new word thus increasing our vocabulary. This can indirectly improve our proficiency in using English language. 

     2. We must make sure that we are surrounded by people who are in contact with literary or spoken English. 

• We must keep aside our shyness and hesitation and speak out whatever that comes out from our mouth.
• Although we will be criticize by people that are proficient enough in using English language, do not step back and continue the effort of learning and improving our proficiency in using English language. 

      3. We can start our own English blog.

• This course has allowed us to improve our English language proficiency as we are given an assignment to complete our blog.
• By having our own blog, we can actually improve our vocabulary through our writing. 
• We can gradually improve our grammar as well when we often write.
• It can also boost our confidence in using English language.

      4. We can also visit websites that are related to English language.

• www.english-zone.com

  By visiting this website, we can actually learn more about grammar thus helping us in our grammar. Visitors of this website can also practice their English verb as well as their English idioms. 

• www.englishbanana.com

This website allows its visitors to download for free books, games, quizzes for English learning plus free worksheets and free games that can help to improve our English proficiency.

PROFICIENCY IN USING ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

Based on the survey that has been done by our group, we have found out that there is a lack of proficiency in using English language. Out of the 5 respondent that our group had interviewed, only one respondent is confident in using English as well as proficient enough in using English language. Only the third respondent is proficient enough in using English language as the respondent said that she is fluent in using English Language. Respondent 1, 2, 4, and 5 are not proficient enough in using English language. Respondent 1, based on the interview that we have conducted on the respondent said that although he is not good in the language but the respondent can still use the language in a minimum scale. On the other hand, respondent 2 said that he is not very fluent in using English language and is lack in using the vocabulary in the English language. This are the result that our group has gain from our respondent based on the proficiency that each of the respondent has in using English language.

Lack of vocabulary sources

In Statistic #2 Problems and perceiving problems, we can see that all respondents stated that lack of vocabulary as sources is one of the problem in language learning. 

http://www.metaglossary.com/ :

in metaglossary, users just need to enter any key word in the search bar and click 'define'. It will give the definition of the word, synonyms to it, explanation and exemplifications of using the word. The best part is, it also gives related term for the particular word. For example, the word assured is related to the term insurance, declination, policy, conditions and more. This is helpful because not all synonym are suitable for certain sentence. 

http://freerice.com/category

freerice is site where users play various of educational games for example math, geography, art and VOCABULARY. It will give the users a word, the users can also click the 'speaker' button for pronunciation. Then, answer the question right. For example, Stink means: appear, smell bad, find, donate. If you answer it right, it will donate 10 grains of rice to fight hunger around the world. isn't that great? it helps students to learn new vocab while doing charity!

http://a4esl.org/

Activities for ESL students is a web tools to enhance language as well. For vocabulary activities, it have quizzes with easy, easy with pictures, medium and difficult level. For the easy level, the users can choose noun, verb, adjectives, pronoun and other general category such as synonyms and antonym. When the users have answered all categories in level one, they are encourage to move on to next level for better proficient in vocabulary wise.




There are many more language site that could help in improving vocabulary. but this is the best three suggested by us as the games provided can show improvement phases by phases.  

Suggested online Social Network

I have checked out some online social networks that may help in language learning.We can make friends online and at the same time have fun learning the language with people all over the world.


Live Mocha
Live Mocha is one of the world largest online language learning community.It is free and it is a new way to learn a language. Livemocha allows people around the world to help each other with language learning, and provides 
our community with opportunities to learn and practice new languages together


Busuu
Busuu.com is an innovative online community for learning languages.Bussu offers you the fun way to learn a language.The user of busuu may learn languages online with interactive language course and then practise your language skills with other member around the world.

.

Online Social Network Helps in Language Learning

Based on the survey that we have done it shows that most of the respondents agreed that online social networks actually help in learning language.Out of 5 respondents,only 1 of them disagree that online social network helps in language learning.To make it more clear I have re blogged again the pie chart that Ummi Hasnee has made.

Does online social network helps in language learning?

.

Respondent 2 agreed that social network does help in language learning as we are able to communicate with the people form other countries and more or less we are actually  learning their language maybe in form of the slang and accent that they use.

Respondent 5 states that social network helps in language learning by creating a group in facebook for example.And  all the members of the group have to use proper English in order to communicate.The members of the group also able to share any finding that they have find out  about language learning in the group.

Meanwhile respondent 3 does not agree that online social network is actually helping stuedents in language learning since people will tend to use shortfroms and informal language when communicating with others.

Statistic #3 (Technology and Language)

This section is about how technology could help in English language learning.


1. What technologies you use in language learning?

As you can see, more of the respondents prefer using the computer. 

2. Does online dictionary helps you improve your vocabulary?

Four of the respondents says yes while one of them says no.

* Respondent C says that online dictionary is much faster.

* Respondent D says that using manual dictionary enhance comprehension. 

3. Does online social network helps in English language learning?

YES:

* Respondent B stated that we can communicate with other people world wide and compare their language usage. 

* Respondent E stated that in Facebook, we can create a group where everyone use English to communicate.

NO:

* Respondent C says that people tend to use broken English and short forms in social networking.

4. Do you have tendency to  use or change the language options?

Three of them says yes:

* Respondent B says yes if there are certain words that can not be understood. 

Two of them says no:

* Respondent D says no because it can help to improve English language. 

5. How technology does help you? State reason.

Only one of the respondent says to make better assignments.

*  Respondent D says that Internet helps to find more information.

*is extra note by specific respondent.

Statistic #2 (Problems & Perceiving Problems)

This section of the interview is to identify students problem in learning English and how they cope with it.

1. Will you stop learning English if someone criticize the way you talk?

All respondent gives positive response by saying no. 

* Respondent B says that English is a beneficial second language. 

2. What is the lack in terms of source when learning language?

All of them agrees that the source of vocabulary is lacking in language learning. 

* Respondent B & C says that the factor of less reading newspaper is the reason.

3. Does your family or friends support your English language learning?

Apparently, all respondent's family members and friends support them in English language learning.

* Respondent C speaks English with family members. 

4. How well equipped are you in language learning? (books, dictionary, etc)

One of the respondent uses English novels whereas another one respondent uses teachers notes. Other respondent are equipped in using dictionary. 

5. State other problems that stop you in the process of English language learning.

Three of the respondent says that peers are one of the problem as they communicate in Malay almost all the time. However, one of them stated that fluency problem complicates them to speak in English while another one respondent stated shyness as the factor. 

*is extra note by specific respondent. 

Statistic #1 (Background)

This section of the interview is an exposition to the respondent's language background. 

1. Are you comfortable in using English or Malay?

Two people from the respondent are much more comfortable using Manglish while the other 3 uses English as the medium of conversation.

2. When was the first time you use English?

One of the respondent started using English in early childhood within the age of 1 to 4. Another one respondent started using English in primary school and the rest of the respondent started using English in kindergarten at the age of 5 to 6. 

3. Are you proficient enough in using English?

Four of the respondent stated that they are not fluent in speaking English while one of them speaks fluently. 

4. What language does you use in school until now?

Three of the respondent use Malay language in school. All of them have the similar reason which is the factor of peers communication language. However, the other two of them using English as they believe it can improve their English much better.

Introduction

Hello readers.

This is a little group project by a group of students from University Kebangsaan Malaysia in SKBP 1023 Language and ICT.   

The owners of this blog are Siti Ummi Hasnee Mohamad Fahmy, Saidah Umairah Zul Azki and Dasmesh Kaur.

Each entry will be labeled under the author's name so that readers will know the author for the entry.

We are discussing about personal learning style which specifies on the problems faced by students in learning English and using Web 2.0 tools as the solution.

We had interviewed 5 respondent from different faculty.

We will label each respondent as Respondent A, B, C, D, and E throughout our report in this blog.

So, this is how the plan works:

(click on the picture for larger view)

looks simple isn't it? 

This is just a personal review blog so the points can be argued. Your constructive comments are most welcome. 

Thank You.

-Long socks