Sunday, October 26, 2014


Assalamualaikum and Hello Dr Burn!


Based on (Chaffey ,2012) and( Rueda-Sabater, Derosby, 2011), digital natives refers to people who have been raised on the Internet since late 1990 that will relate to the internet in markedly different ways than do most of today’s adults. Members of these web-savvy ‘Net generations’ will tend to view the Internet as an extender of their own cognitive capabilities and as a portal to a virtual experience.

While on the other side of the note, Based on (Prensky 2001), he defined Non- Digital Native as a person born or brought up before the widespread use of Digital Technology. Chances are many Digital Immigrants will find managing on line privacy a daunting prospect.

Digital native from infancy have been exposed to massive technology’s ability and other technological advancements. In this situation, the focus is regarding the impact of it to our education system. In addition, there is a huge gap between the digital natives and Non- digital natives in the way they perceive, think, learn, interact and managing their learning style in their teaching and learning experience. As for example, digital native students can always look for information using internet, connect with each other using social media such as Skype, whatsapp, facebook, etc. Meanwhile, the Non-digital native students might not be able to do so.

Born in a digital native era somehow make me feel how lucky I am to be able to use all these technologies compared to the older generation. In fact, I can’t barely recall how my life is without technology and internet for sure (haha). Grown up with constant connectivity and limitless personal choice indirectly affect my lifestyle as a person as well as an educator. Fortunately, our era (my students and I) are not much different. I can still relate to what they are saying compared to the seniors teachers who sometimes can’t even understand a thing. However, like what you said in the previous class, to become a technology-savvy, is not impossible yet it is possible! We just need to learn and try to acquire the knowledge needed as we are now in the era where everything is constantly move and more challenging compared to before.

In this aspect, I would say that it is mostly impossible to find a student that know nothing about technology. Yes, it is undeniable that there are small amount of students that might not really ‘technology-savvy’ (at my own school for example), indeed. But as a whole, students nowadays are all technology literate.

Educators need to acknowledge their students' ability in technology and try to apply more students cantered learning as we are now moving to the 21st century of education. It is important to meet their needs and inculcate the use or technology in our lesson.


Thanks for your time!



Thursday, October 16, 2014

Assalamualaikum and Hello again Dr  Burn!
The three theories on technology and language education that we have discussed in the previous class which are The Sociocultural Approach, The New Literacies Studies and Multimodality, are an eye opener for us as educators. All the three concepts are indeed important in order for teachers to maximize the usage of technology in their lessons yet still give a huge impact for learners as well as the educators. Personally I am not really sure if I would integrate all the three theories into my lessons as it is quite hard to apply and implement it into the classroom .However, I would try my very best to enhance the way I’m handling my classes after listened and learned about this three important theories.  
The sociocultural Approach emphasizes more on interaction as part of social terms and the importance of virtual environment. As for examples, it will provides many opportunities for learners to interact, to study in collaboration and to understand the target language with the help of technological devices and special designed tools such as virtual meeting programs, notice boards and even all types of social media to interact such as email, Skype, twitter, as well as Facebook. In fact, Lamy and Hampel (2007) emphasize the importance of computer conferencing which allows to connect learners and teachers by offering them new possibilities to practice the target language in a more authentic/ less anxiety environment. It is an ideal atmosphere foe learners to learn the target language, however as mentioned above it is quite hard to implement it in my classroom, which is the sub-urban school.
Multimodality challenges readers to consider a relatively new educational concept and focus on the variety types of information transmission such as via visual, digital, audio, gestural, as well as linguistic design. For instance, information can be transmitted visually through a still photo or video and accompanied by aural linguistic input in the target language. In this situation, it will greatly enhance learners understanding about the lesson.
In the nutshell, it is crucial for educators to construct lessons that meet their students need and interest. Therefore, in tasks and activities that were designed earlier, it should have enough opportunities for learners to become more autonomous and more on students cantered instead of teachers have absolute power in the classroom. This will help them to feel self relevant, successful and self motivated in learning. It also should provide learners to take their own learning responsibilities. On the other note, learning environment should be designed to provide any guidance when they need. Educators need to be the facilitators still.  
Thank you for your time.


Thursday, October 9, 2014

Assalamualaikum and Hello Dr!

Is Google Making Us Stupid?


I would say No but in the same time I would say Yes as well.  Cliché indeed, but that is my humble opinion. Based on the article that you have provided for us, there are many issues in it that I can relate to myself. As for instance, in the article Bowman stated that;

“Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do. I feel as if I’m always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.”

The statement above is definitely true based on my personal experience. Back then, I used to read lengthy essay (Normally I read it for the educational purposes during my secondary school) and I had no complaint about it. Access to the internet was there, but we did not train to use or rely too much on it when attempting the task given by the teachers. It is like we have to read the reading materials given by the educators by hook or by crook if we want to know the content discussed. Failed to do so, you will end up knowing nothing in the classroom during discussion session.

However, once I entered university life, Google is like everything to me. I would say that I couldn’t survive without Google! It makes my works much easier and faster.  Everything is on our fingertips! Not to mention, Google is a life saver for most university students (I am truly sorry that you have to read this Dr, ugly truth indeed).

Google makes everything seems so possible. In fact, nowadays you don’t need a book to find information needed, instead you just have too Google it! Not to mention, we become lazier when we still do the shortcut way of work even though we are using internet. As for instance, we just skim and scan the information, read the headline as well as plagiarism. It is discussed in the article as it said,

“I’m not working, I’m as likely as not to be foraging in the Web’s info- thickets’reading and writing e-mails, scanning headlines and blog posts, watching videos and listening to podcasts, or just tripping from link to link to link. (Unlikefootnotes, to which they’re sometimes likened, hyperlinks don’t merely point to related works; they propel you toward them.)”

P/s: Reading the articles that you have provided for us is a struggle though.

That is all for now.


Thank you for your time.

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Assalamualaikum and Hello Dr Burn,



Based on our discussion about the ‘8 conditions’ in promoting English Language using technology last week, I would say that there are some points that is being practice at my school and vice versa. As for instance, at my school we did use the facilities offers such as computer lab, lcd, and laptop in teaching our students in the classroom. However, the equipment is not really in a good condition and really limited in usage.



Next, in my opinion, there are some issues that need to take into consideration in using technology as tools in promoting English Language among students. One of the important aspects that need to take into account is regarding the ‘lesson plan’ itself. Sometimes, teachers are not prepared to teach the students as they assume that if they integrate the use of technology (as for instance they bring the students into the cyber lab), they don’t have to teach the students. Instead, the teachers just let the students do anything they want (watching English videos on YouTube, online games, listen to English songs) as they think it is indirectly promoting English Language in a way.  Not to deny it is indeed true, and perhaps a very affective way in learning English which is not in a conservative way. However, by giving 100% freedom to students and also did not assist them at all is not a really good idea. Students did not understand the motive of doing it and just having fun surfing the internet. Teachers need to first let the students know the objective in doing those activities. Inform them that it is one of a good way in learning English apart from reading books, do exercises, etc. In that way, students will acknowledge the purpose of the activities and try to not take it for granted.


In addition, teacher needs to as well be a facilitator and control the students’ behavior trough the whole lesson. Make sure they do what is supposed to do since I’ve noticed most of the students did not follow their teacher’s instruction. In fact, they were doing things that is not related to English at all (watching Malay videos on Youtube – Girl on Kpop artists, Boys- motorcycle/footballs videos, listen to Malay songs,ect).  If the lesson is planned critically, and it did went as what it supposed to be, it will hopefully give a great impact to the students’ acquisition in English Language.


I’m a new teacher and I’m still learning about a lot of things. Hopefully, I would take this as a lesson, as well as guidelines to be a better teacher in future.


This is a true story that happened in schools. Not a myth. 

That is all for now.

Thank you for your time.

:)