Music video clip storyboard writing among focus group learners of media.

A storyboard is simply a sequence of drawings, similar to a comic book, which represents the sequence of shots in the finished screen work. It is essentially a timeline going from top to bottom, with the top occurring first. Hence, a storyboard is also an expression of everything or even a rough sketch that will be contained in the program telling where the menu screens in a computer interface will look like, what pictures either still or moving will be seen when and for how long, what audio and text will accompany the images, either synchronously or hyperlinked or in other words allows us to see what the scene will look like (Normaliza Abd Rahim et al., 2009). On the other hand, the storyboard expresses, in one way or another, everything that can be seen or heard or experienced by the end-user of the multimedia program. Therefore, this paper investigates the communication occurred during storyboard writing for the music video clip. Five pairs of subjects were involved in this study. A task was given to each pair and the length of time for them to discuss about the layout and the content of the storyboard was 3 hours for each pair in five weeks. The discussion will be taped and analyzed accordingly. The subjects were learners involved in a media course ages between 16-18 years old at one of the college sin Nottingham, six female and four male. The subjects had no experience in storyboard writing. They were to write the storyboard for a music video clip. This paper uses the ethnography communication theory by Hymes (1962) to analyze the conversations

The Effectiveness of Communicative Games in Developing Speaking Skills of Form One Students in SMKA Maahad Hamidiah, Kajang

This study aims to (1) investigate the Form One speaking skill through communicative game (2) provide variety in classroom teaching and make learning useful and meaningful in context and (3) determine the teachers and student perception on communicative games. The teacher-related variables are mere demographic characteristics (i.e. gender, teaching experience and in-service courses attended) and the teachers' experience in using communicative games. The student-related variables are mere demographic characteristics (i.e. gender, age, parent's occupation and their grades in the mid semester examination) and the students' experience in learning through communicative games 95% of the respondents in SMKA Maahad Hamidiah agree that communicative games are the most effective way in developing speaking skill

Adjective identification in television advertisements

Learning the Malay language has been a challenging task for foreign language learners. Learners have to learn Malay grammar structure rules in order to write simple sentences. The word choice is important in constructing a sentence. Therefore, the study focuses on the use of adjectives in television advertisements among Korean learners at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Korea. The objectives of the study were to identify and discuss adjectives incorporated into the advertisements. The students involved in the study were ten male and female subjects from a Malay language class. The subjects had to choose one television advertisement and view it several times. They were given three weeks to identify and discuss the adjectives in the advertisements. The subjects were interviewed on their views about the adjectives in the advertisements. The interviews were video recorded and analyzed for the purpose of the study. The results of the study revealed that each subject managed to identify five adjectives per advertisement. They also managed to offer their views on the adjectives, which were not directly uttered by the models in the advertisements. It is hoped that a future study will focus on the use of adjectives via other means of media technology

Emotions of children with special needs and its social meaning.

The word emotion refers to a broad repertoire of perceptions, expressions of feelings and bodily changes. Emotion is a feeling that is private and subjective, a state of psychological arousal, an expression or display of distinctive somatic and autonomic responses and actions commonly "deemed", such as defending or attacking in response to a threat. This paper focuses on selected social stories to be told to a group of children with Asperger's syndrome in Malaysia. Social stories are a tool for teaching social skills to children with autism, Asperger's syndrome and related disabilities. The selected social stories would be based on Malaysian culture and the children's emotions and conversation were videotaped and analysed for its social meaning by using the content analysis approach. There are six basic emotions grouped in three pairs of opposites; joy and sadness, acceptance and disgust and anger and fear. Four subjects with aspergers's syndrome from a school in Malaysia were chosen for the purpose of this study. Three social stories were read to them repeatedly for two a day for three weeks. Subsequently, the children were able to use the social stories in their everyday lives

Learning through blogging

Blog is an online diaries or journal for individuals who loves writing and as business entries for companies or individual in running business. It has been widely used since it can be published in the website for free. The objectives of the study were to identify and discuss the use of blog writing from the perspective of Korean learners learning the Malay language as a foreign language. The samples of the study consist of 60 male and female volunteered subjects from six classes of Malay language. The subjects had the experience in writing in the blog from the previous semester. The subjects were given a set of questionnaire and interviewed based on their opinions on blog learning. The results of the study revealed that more than 80% of the female subjects while more than 65% of the male subjects stated that they wrote in the blog for literature, language and multimedia learning. The results also revealed that all the subjects had increase in motivation and confidence in writing specifically in the Malay language. It is hoped that future research will focus on other technology to enhance writing in the second language

Online Collaboration Via Email: Analyzing Students Knowledge Construction In The ESL Classroom

This study explores students’ knowledge construction in an online collaboration via email discussion. The primary focus of this study centres on how participants communicate via email in a collaborative learning environment incorporating process writing approach and pair work activity. The data for this study embraces the email messages and writing assignments. Findings are that participants’ knowledge construction process transpired from an interactive process focusing on three main categories: questions, clarification and support. The findings will contribute to the development and testing of the efficacy and flexibility of process approaches to ESL writing instruction through e-mail. The study offers positive views for further study to be explored in order to attain a better understanding of how learners interact and construct knowledge in a collaborative learning environment via email discussions

Students’ perception towards the usage of the big book / Dr. Normaliza Abd Rahim and Nik Ismail Harun

Reading stories to children would be a challenging and utmost important activity to enhance learning and understanding a language. Various techniques or activities have been proposed in the literature to make reading an enjoyable activity in the classroom. Amongst the many, reading a big book is one of the activities recommended to facilitate students’ comprehension of a story delivered by the teacher. This paper focuses on the use of the big book in story reading sessions in two classrooms of primary schools in a rural area in Malaysia. The objectives were to assess students’ understanding of the content of or the graphics used in the big book and to examine their comments and opinion on the contents of the big book and its use. One hundred subjects aged seven years old from two literacy classrooms in a rural area school participated in the study. Five other subjects, selected at random, participated in the interview session. Findings of the study revealed that the use of the big book seemed to be of an advantage as it creates fun and meaningful learning of English in the classroom, as well as making reading activity an enjoyable one

Teknik pembelajaran kanak-kanak sindrom asperger

Sindrom Asperger merupakan gangguan kepada perkembangan interaksi sosial, komunikasi dan tingkah laku. Sindrom ini merupakan masalah pembangunan neuro yang memberi kesulitan kepada tahap komunikasi dan sering berlaku di peringkat awal kanak-kanak. Objektif kajian ini adalah untuk membincangkan mengenai teknik pembelajaran yang yang telah dijalankan bagi mencari pendekatan terbaik terhadap pembangunan kanak-kanak sindrom Asperger. Kajian ini dijalankan dengan menggunakan kaedah kertas konsep untuk melihat kajian-kajian yang telah dilakukan oleh penyelidik lepas berkenaan tentang teknik pembelajaran kanak-kanak sindrom Asperger. Selain itu, penelitian melibatkan kaedah-kaedah yang telah dilaksanakan bagi mengurangkan masalah kemerosotan sosial dan gangguan bahasa yang dialami oleh kanak-kanak sindrom Asperger. Hasil kajian mendapati bahawa masalah kemerosotan sosial dan gangguan bahasa dalam kalangan kanak-kanak sindrom Asperger dapat dikurangkan dengan pelaksanaan pelbagai teknik pembelajaran sebagai bahan bantu mengajar di rumah dan di sekolah. Kajian ini diharap dapat memberi manfaat kepada penyelidik seterusnya dalam menerokai teknik dan kaedah yang sesuai untuk diaplikasikan dalam kehidupan kanak-kanak sindrom Asperger agar masalah yang berlaku dalam kalangan penghidap sindrom tersebut dapat dikurangkan dengan lancar dan berjaya

The usage of short story via phone application: enhancement and motivation among second language learners

The study focuses on the use of short story via phone application among second language learners. The samples of the study consist of 21 subjects from two classes of Malay language. The subjects were given a story entitled “The Fox” from the phone application. The subjects were to watch the story for three weeks. Then, the subjects rewrite the story and the essays were marked accordingly. The results of the story revealed that majority of the subjects managed to write the character, characteristic and storyline of the story. The study also revealed that the subjects managed to write the correct vocabulary, sentence structure and spelling in their writings. In addition to that, short story via phone application enhances the subjects learning in the second language and motivates subjects learning in the classroom. It is suggested that future studies will focus on other short stories using the phone application