CENTRE

Tuesday, 9 April 2013

graded assignment 2: research on the use of CMC on Youtube

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
السلام عليكم


ABSTRACT

            This research paper is to investigate how native speakers stress on certain words when they are giving speech in public. As we concern, there are many mediums that we can rely on in order to learn how native speakers speak. For time being, YouTube is one of the channels that suitable for us to learn how they speak. Every day, there are many videos are being uploaded. Thus, we can use these channels to learn as nowadays computers are giving us so much benefit to be used.

OBJECTIVE

            In this research, we analyses a video that we have transcribe into written form to point out the important of the stress and unstressed syllables as well as the intonation of rise and fall.  By the end of this research paper, we will be able to determine which one of the word is either stress or unstressed. Not to forget, that the tone of the words is different in terms of rising and falling in pitch of the words. The focuses for this research are to learn the differences of native speakers and non-native speakers when they construct the sentence also to compare the words when they pronounce certain words.

LITERATURE REVIEW

There are many studies have been conducted regarding computer-mediated-communication (CMC). As far as CMC is concerned, there are two types of CMC available which are synchronous and asynchronous. Synchronous mode of CMC focuses on the real time conversation in which the exchanges between people is immediate and more rapid. Asynchronous mode of CMC focuses on non-real time conversation in which the response from the people can be delayed.

There are many views on CMC as a helping tool for secondary and foreign language learning. Chen (2005) suggested that by using synchronous CMC tools, EFL learners can be exposed to the use of the target language. Web conferencing can overcome the communication problem due to distance. Cunningham, Fagersten & Holmsten (2010) have found that web-conferencing can be used in order to complete synchronous communication learning tasks involving students residing in different countries. It can also solve the problem faced by the students who are attending different universities in different countries to participate in the same learning activity (Jauregi & Banados,2008).
Another view is that CMC is believed to be one kind of a socially rich environment. Michinov, Michinov, and Toczek-Capelle (2004) who have conducted a study on 72 school students, have found that these school students only need about 90 minutes to develop their sense of belonging in synchronous CMC groups. By comparing face-to-face communication with CMC, Tidwell and Walther have confirmed that intimate exchanges or disclosures happened more frequently in CMC as compared to face-to-face communication.

As an e-learning tool, where e-learning is defined very generally as any learning supported by electronic tools and media in a synchronous or asynchronous situation, web-conferencing platforms have gained popularity among educators during the past decade due to greater flexibility as a result of web technology and broadband connectivity improvements (Falloon, 2011; Dammers, 2009; Skylar, 2009)

METHODOLOGY

The study was done in a form of analysis of the transcribed version of a native speaker speech on one of the videos on Youtube. The data are presented in tables as to ease the reading.

PROCEDURE

The first step on this research is to find a video on Youtube. The video that we have found is the video of Oprah Winfrey who is announcing to her audience about her leaving her show. The video duration is about three minutes and thirty seconds. After getting the video, we transcribed it as to make the analysis to be easier. From the transcribed version of the speech in the video, we analyzed the syllables (stressed and unstressed), the mood and the intonation of the speech being uttered by the speaker. Then we came out with rational reasons for certain words that are stressed by the speaker as well as the reason behind rising and falling intonation of the speaker’s speech. Other than that, we tried to relate the use of rising and falling intonation of the speech of the speaker with the mood of the sentences being produced.

SAMPLING

In this analysis, we only used a video that we took from the Youtube. The sample is the speech of Oprah Winfrey who is a native speaker of English. She is the host of her own programme which was the Oprah Winfrey Show. The video was posted on the Youtube in 2009.

INSTRUMENT FOR DATA ANALYSIS

Our linguistic area under study is phonetics and phonology. Thus, we decided to analyze the data by using the instruments that is related to that area which are stress, intonation and mood in relationship with the speech of a native speaker. For the analysis of mood and tone, we have referred to the table of the primary tones of spoken English as being outlined by Halliday (refer Appendix 1).

FINDING

            For the findings of this research, we have found that every word has its own meaning based on the sentence structure or the words construct. As for example, the word ‘board’ does not mean thin, flat piece of wood instead ‘board’ means the time the viewers followed the show. Other findings are the stress and unstressed syllables of the word. Some words are stressed while other is unstressed. Words are being stressed because the speaker wants to emphasize on the word to the audience. These stress words will catch the attention of the audience to listen carefully as to get the full information given by the speaker. On the other hand, the unstressed words are to make the sentences to be more reliable and can be understood by the audience. For instance, the stressed word in the analysis is news. News is stressed to emphasize on what news that the speaker, Oprah has promised the audiences at the beginning of the show. In addition, the finding also served to compare native speaker and non-native speaker on how the construction of the sentence and the context of the sentence. Meanwhile, as for the finding for the intonation part we find that, the speaker use more falling action in pitch movement when the speaker is speaking. This is because the speaker use declarative clause when making a sentences.

CONCLUSION

            From the analysis, there are reasons for stress and unstressed words in a sentences as well as the reason why the speaker used certain intonation for a particular sentences being uttered. Among the reasons for a word to be stressed are the facts that the speaker wants to emphasize a particular word in order to get the message clear. Other than that, a word is stressed to give a certain impact to the sentences being uttered. For the intonation part, we can see that the speaker chooses to use more falling intonation rather than rising intonation because of the mood of the sentences are mostly in declarative.  

REFERENCES

Halliday, M. A. K. (2004). An introduction to functional grammar. (3rd ed.) London: Hodder Arnold.

Lara, N. A., Lomicka, L., Lord, G., listed, A. a., order, i. a., to, c. e., & article, t. (2005). Using computer-mediated communication to establish social and supportive environments in teacher education. CALICO Journal, 22(3), 537. Retrieved from http://210.48.222.80/proxy.pac/docview/750586215?accountid=44024

Wang, C. X., Jaeger, D., Liu, J., Guo, X., & Xie, N. (2013). Using synchronous technology to enrich student learning. TechTrends, 57(1), 20-25. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11528-012-0626-9



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