Introduction

Chitty Malay is an alien word for some Malaysians and we strongly believed that only small number of students in this class have some idea on what Chitty Malay is all about.

Chitty Malay is under Sociolinguistics studies. It can be said as the study of society, including cultural norms, expectations, and context on how the way language is used. It is also studies of how lects differ between groups separated by certain social variables, e.g., ethnicity, religion, status, gender, level of education, age, etc.

From the readings and research done by us, we have seen no effort being done to maintain Chitty Malay. Therefore, our creation of blog is a stepping stone to introduce this heritage to the rest of Malaysian and for people from different places in the world.

Perhaps the loss of Chitty Malay language and culture is due to inter-cultural marriage with other races and religions. Indeed, the Chittys admit that some of them no longer use their native language to speak with their children at home. They simply used English since it is widely spoken all over the world.

Tremendous effort done by the Government of Malaysia to maintain the culture of Chitty however they are closing one side of eyes towards the Chitty Language.

Therefore as a student of Linguistics and Literature, it has become our responsibility to enlighten others because by sharing and spreading the knowledge we can maintain our country's precious legacy.

Lesson Plan Reflection

Our reflection

We find this assignment very fun and interesting. It provides us an idea and inspiration on how to teach English in a fun way. In fact, it is a stepping stone for us to pursue our dream as a teacher. Moreover, it exposes us in lesson plan guideline.

At first, we thought lesson plan is an easy and simple task to do; therefore we take it less serious and do it in a fun way. However, after consulting Dr. Rozina twice, we finally realized that lesson plan is a challenging task to do. She explained that we should not prepare a lesson plan that is out of context and not applicable in language learning. By consulting Dr. Rozina around 30 minutes, she enlightened us with the right track on doing a perfect lesson plan. We decided to change our previous lesson plan because it does not fulfil the right element and aspect in language learning. This is the most challenging part because we have to change every single idea and start looking for new things especially the right software within limited period of time. It gives us pressure since we have to deal with other assignments and several presentations within the same week. However with the support from Dr. Rozina, we have gained our spirit and courage.

Nonetheless, we keep supporting each other in completing the task. One of our group members who stays in different mahallah sacrifice by squatting at our place because we have to complete the task together. We divided the task among the three of us. One person is looking for the software, second person is sketching the outline on lesson plan and the other person completes the task by typing out the lesson plan and prepare for the presentation. In the making of the lesson plan, we have to imagine ourselves as the teacher who will teach the students according to the lesson plan. This enables us to understand more on the role of the teacher and what difficulties that the teacher have to face.

We also put ourselves in the shoe of the student from CELPAD. We explore their way of thinking and what they expect from the lesson. We try to understand their level of competency in English as well as their level of learning. After working for a few days, we finally completed the task. This experienced has thus created such a memorable and wonderful moment for the three of us since this is our final semester together.

Student’s Reflection

Students will find this lesson as a new technique in acquiring new words in English language. They will also find this activity a fun way to learn new words because it involves computer mediated software where it will make the experience of learning more interesting. Each student will participate individually and also in group. From there they can build their sense of confidence and enhances social interaction among them. Indeed, the new words they will learn can be use in their daily conversation as they will be familiarized with the meaning and the usage of the words within different contexts.

Nurul Afrah Abd Rashid

Matric no:
0524110

Date of birth:
09th September 1986

Hometown:
Selangor

Hobbies and Interests:
Watching movies, Listening to musics, Cooking, Reading magazines and online newspaper

Favorite Books:
Matilde, Secret Garden, Kabuliwala

Favorite Movies:
Matilde, Midsummer Night Dream

Favorite Musics:
R n B, Pop, Classic, anything that soothes the ears but no hard metal rock musics

Zodiac Sign:
Virgo

About me:
I'm just a girl trying to survive in this complicated world

Nur Ira Fathihah Ahmad Zaki

Matric no:
0527978

Date of birth:
23 September 1986

Hometown:
Kuala Lumpur

Hobbies and Interests:
Reading books, taking photos, listening to music, baking cookies and cupcakes.

Favorite Books:
The Guide by R. K. Narayan, Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Spark, Animal Farm by George Orwell, Babysitters Club series, Sidney Sheldon's, V. C. Andrew's.

Favorite Movies:
Notebook, Green Mile, Cast Away, Pursuit of Happiness.

Favorite Musics:
Paramore, MCR, Yuna.

Zodiac Sign:
Libra

About me:
Eager to learn new things, good with team works and approachable.

Rahimah Abd Rashid

Matric no:
0527550

Date of birth:
09th of July 1986

Hometown:
Kuala Lumpur

Hobbies and Interests:
Hanging out with my super troopers ;)

Favorite Books:
Hamlet & Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Favorite Movies:
Pursuit of Happiness, Their Eyes Were Watching God and Goodfellas

Favorite Musics:
R&B and Raggaeton weeeeeee ;)

Zodiac Sign:
Cancer

About me:
I am a simple girl who lives in a complicated world. I have Malay, Indian, Pakistan and Afghan Blood. I love to argue a lot ;)

CMC Reflection: Nurul Afrah

For me, this assignment is very interesting because it analyses the use of chatting in learning context. Chatting is not something new to me since I knew about it back in high school years. However, I never thought that by chatting we can learn English since chatters do not use the conventional structure of English while chatting. So, it is interesting to analyse the use of language in chatting and how it can help in the learning process.

When I was given the details on the assignment in class by Dr. Rozina, I had some idea on what I had to do. All that I need to do is to find a journal, which based on synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC), then summarize it. After that, I have to comment on the use of CMC on the context of language learning in Malaysia. The hardest part of this assignment is the second part where I had to find 3 pages of chatting and analyse it based on one discourse element such as jargon and turn-taking.

At first, I tried to search in the internet for a journal which the research is based on SCMC. Although there are many journal that had been found, I could not find that is suitable. Then I thought about the website which is on the CMC note that Dr. Rozina had provided for the class. So, I decide to try and look up the website provided. To my delight the website provided is linked to the website on CMC journal. My journal was taken from Language Learning and Technology journal. I was not quite sure about the journal I had chose until I went to see Dr. Rozina for her approval. Thanks to Dr. Rozina, who was so tired on that day because of all her meetings, she manage to see my journal and gives her approval. When I was given the green light, I was so happy. Slowly I read throught the journal to find relevant points for my summary. In the next class, Dr. Rozina gives some more explanation regarding the assignment and even point out what to include in the summary.

Althought I had about one week to do the assignment, I took my time in reading the journal and do the the assignment. I had to read the journal more than one time to understan fully what the research is about since the use of language is a bit complex. Then, I thought about the second task, which is to find a chatting sample. This task is a bit difficult because I do not really know how to chat with a stranger. At first, I thought about chatting with my friends, which must be more than 3 people. Then Zarikh told me that there are chatrooms for EFL (English as Foreign Language) and ESL (English as Second Language) learners that I could go to. So, I decide to check out the website that Zarikh talks about. There are many chatroom available but the problem is that I am not good at chatting and I do not know how to begin. I tried to chat in some of the chatroom but it seem that it seem difficult to initiate the conversation. I decide to go to www.englishforums.com to get the chat sample from EFL/ESL chatroom and analyse it. There are many chatting sample that I obtain including the one that I participate in but I need only one sample to analyse.

After I obtain the chat sample, I began writing my summary and basicly try to finish the assignment before the due date. Then, I also need to make a soft copy on a cd.Thanks to God I finish the assignment in time. Well, overall I find this assignment fascinating since before I was introduce to CMC, I only thought that chatting is just some social communication that people share knowledge or experience beside getting to know new people. I think that it is good if Malaysia could apply the use of SCMC in language learning since it bring a new technique to the method of teaching. Beside, it helps for those who are too shy to talk when it is face-to-face environment...

CMC: Nurul Afrah

Introduction

The article, ESL students’ computer-mediated communication practices: context configuration by Dong-Shin Shin (2006) was taken from Language Learning and Technology journal, volume 10 and number 3.

In the article, the writer examines how the practices of synchronous activity of computer-mediated communication (CMC) affect ESL student’s language learning, focusing on a group of ESL students engage in online interaction through CMC activities in interactional patterns and norms. The study highlights the smoothness of the learners’ conversation with the learning environment as language socialization processes. The significant of the CMC practices is to bring current uses of CMC into various situations beyond university-based language programs and encourage more language teachers to draw on CMC in their teaching practices. Moreover, it helps to bring about an understanding of the complexity of its contexts in language learning and teaching.

Method

Research Questions

In the study, the writer explores three questions which are; what kinds of interactional patterns are a group of ESL students jointly constructing? what kinds of interactional norms are the ESL students establishing within computer-mediated social interactions? and how do ESL students utilize CMC activities for their linguistics, social and academic goals?

Sample

The participants consist of an intermediate adult ESL class with 16 students at a university in the north-eastern United States. All of the ESL students are from northeast Asia with the exception of a single student from Peru. The participants are graduate students and visiting scholars, who are all male participants, and also wives who accompanied their husbands. The teacher, Tom, was also a graduate student in the local university.

Duration

The study takes about a semester from September to December of 2003, to gather data from both the observation made during Face-to-face (FtF) meeting and Web-based chat meetings, MSN Instant Messenger.

Method

Once a week for about one and a half hours every Sunday night, the participants log on to MSN Instant Messenger in their homes and chat. In FtF meetings, the participants meet twice a week on Monday and Wednesday nights in a university classroom, with each class lasting two and a half hours. The writer manage to collect qualitative data which include electronically saved chat meeting transcripts, field notes, recorded class interactions from the FtF class meetings, formal and informal interviews with participants, e-mail exchanges between the teacher and the ESL participants and survey information that included the participants’ personal files.

Data Analysis

The writer use ecological perspectives of Second Language Learning as a core construct of this study to explain contextual fluidity in relation to learners’ agency in their learning. It is associated with sociocultural theories which argue that language learning is a situated social practice that occurs through social interactions at a specific time and place. The social practice of learning is tool-mediated and involves the use of cultural semiotic artifacts that is based on the cultural and social norms of a discourse community, which influence individuals’ perceptual and conceptual boundaries, interests, world views and patterns of thought. This explains how learners as social agents configure contextual elements and construct the context of learning.

Findings

In the study, the writer finds the participants asked Tom to opens and manages chat room to avoid the problem of multiple chat windows, hence, his role as a teacher change back into a “traditional” teacher role and reshaped the interactional structure of the CMC meetings, from casual gathering to formal teacher-centred class. Tom who also initiates the chat room by giving a pre-selected topic before the chat session through the participants’ email, has also made an effort to help all the members to participate by inviting them to the discussion and control turns-at-talk among the participants who could not participate in the chat sessions because of their lack of typing skills and inexperience with written English. Furthermore, in the study the writer finds that the participants constructed interactional norms within group dynamics. The significant interactional norm was helping each other to save face in communication through sharing similar experiences. Another strategy for saving face was avoiding disagreements in conversation in order to avoid possible confrontations and maintain harmonious relationships among themselves. Besides that, ESL students reconstructed and utilized the social practices of their CMC activities for different purposes that reflected needs in their lives. Firstly, the graduate students look for opportunities to practice and improve their spoken English through CMC activities, without considering issues of standard or non-standard English. Secondly, CMC activities also help visiting scholars to know about American university culture and helped them towards their academic and linguistic needs, which include writing and presentation. Lastly, three out of the spousal participants showed progressed in reading and typing and unlike the rest of the women who encounter difficulties in participating in the chat meeting such as lack of reading and written English texts experience and they could not follow the speed of the graduate participants’ chatting. Overall, these findings suggest some points for language teachers to consider using CMC tool for their teaching lessons.


The Context of Language Learning in Malaysia

Based on the finding of the journal, the CMC activity could be accomplish in certain parts of Malaysian schools such as in urban parts where most houses and learners are computer savvy. However, some houses in rural areas will have difficulty since there will be problem with connection and the question whether the learner is computer savvy or not. In the finding, it also shows that there are some participants who encounter difficulty in using the computer such as typing. Furthermore, Malaysia as a developing country cannot afford to provide each student in every school a computer, and if computer can be provided some school such as in rural areas are hard to reach in order to deliver the computer. Moreover, there might be some teachers who are not computer savvy, hence will find it difficult to teach the students.

On the other hand, despite the barrier CMC activity can be accomplish in Malaysia institutions because it provide learners an interesting way to learn a language and getting information from other people. In Malaysia, there is also the problem of fear when speaking in class. Hence, this activity will help students to learn without feeling any threat or embarrassment since it is not face-to-face interaction. The role of a teacher also does not disappear as the teacher still plays the role of a traditional teacher who assists students in the chat room. So, overall the activity is actually benefits students and teacher at the same time. In addition, there are free CMC tools such as Yahoo Messenger and MSN Instant Messenger, which can be obtain free. Hence, as stated there are some advantages and disadvantages in conducting CMC activity in Malaysian institutions.

Videos on Chitty

1. Chitty Dance In Melaka
Link


2. Chitty Holy Ceremony
Link


3. 3 days before Harvest or Bhogi festival for Chitty society
Link

Our References

1. Link
2. Link
3. Link
4. Link
5. Link
6. BMSF.com
7. Forum Hub
8. Global Oneness
9. Wikipedia

Chitty Gallery

This picture shows the Bhogi festival which is the biggest harvest festival. The set up Bhogi fire and God is worship to provide rain for harvesting.

This is the example of "Thai Ponggal's" celebration for harvesting season

This is an example of "Maatu Ponggal" celebration. It is a Thanks Giving Day for cows, buffaloes and bulls because of their hard work in field and providing milk to people

More examples on Chitty fancy attire at the CHITTY MUSEUM in Melaka

This is "Nasi Kembuli", Chitty's popular dish

The example of Traditional Chitty Wedding in Melaka

CMC Reflection: Nur Ira Fathihah

Upon receiving the CMC assignment from Dr. Rozina in Comp App class, I was very much frustrated by it. This is because the assignment acquires me to read a research journal and summarize it in my own word which is something I'm not good at. Especially when I had an experience in doing this sort of work before and I scored somewhat terribly. However, I have to accept the assignment as a challenge for me to work even harder and to improve myself to become better equipped.

The first stage of the assignment, I have to search for a suitable research article on Synchronous CMC and I find it quite hard to find one as it acquires you to scan through the whole research article to find the right one that Dr. Rozina will approve of. At first, I had found my first article and straight away went to see Dr. Rozina for her approval but to my dismay, the article is not the right one as it is about language learning through SCMC but it is just a research on something else. So I continue on searching on the internet until my friend, Afrah, introduced me to this one website which holds various kind of research article online on language learning using computer. Right after that, I found my perfect article from the website and Dr. Rozina also approves of it which makes me so relief and happy.

To summarize the article, I have to read it two to three time to actually understand what the article is all about since there are a lot of jargons used in the article that can make me confused a lot. Thank God Dr. Rozina has laid down the guidelines of what the write on the summary or I'll be lost in that article full of facts and figures. After knowing what to write about, I just paraphrase the contents required for the summary. Eventhough it looks kind of hard at first, after having done it, I felt it is quite easy. Then for relating the findings with the language learning context in Malaysia, I also did it with ease as the topic is something I'm familiarize with. I just write whatver comes out from my mind.

The second task is to analyze a chat transcript of a bout 3 pages long which we have to provide ourselve. I was having a hard time trying to produce a chat transcript in English 3 pages long since I'm not a frequent user of chat. I did try many chat rooms to start a conversation on whatever that is interesting but a lot of the chatters were not co-operative and they seldom talk about inappropriate things that I don't think allowed to be inserted in my analysis. After many attempts, I finally got to chat with a group of people in an English chat room in icq.com discussing about music. I find it interesting to be able to talk with strangers. Then the transcript is used to analyze the usage of turn taking in chatting. I'm really not a good analyzer but I do try to be good at it. I hope what I've done is good enough for Dr. Rozina.

Alhamdullilah the assignment is done and submitted right on time. I'm very happy with my writing and I don't regret on doing what I did on the assignment. I would not wish to change anything on the assignment as I think I did quite good on it and I could only hope that Dr. Rozina is satisfied with it. I hope the assignment I made meets Dr. Rozina's requirements.

CMC Journal Summary: Nur Ira Fathihah

Introduction

The title of the journal is Synchronous CMC, Working Memory, and L2 Oral Proficiency Development from the journal Language Learning & Technology volume 9, number 3, September 2005 issue, page 35-54, which is done by J. Scott Payne and Brenda M. Ross from the Pennsylvania State University. The objective of this journal is to examine the patterns of the language used in chat transcripts with the goal of better understanding the interaction between individual differences in working memory capacity, Synchronous Computer Mediated Communication (SCMC), and cross-modality transfer of skill from chatting to oral proficiency development.

Method

Research Question

The research question of the study deals with whether the frequency of repetition and relexicalization in Second Language (L2) SCMC would change over the course of the semester. Other than that, this study analyzes whether individual differences in working memory capacity (phonological and executive function) play a role in the frequency of repetition and relexicalization in L2 SCMC and does it modulate language output as measured by the average number of words, utterances, and turns generated per chat session. Finally, the study looks at the relationship between individual differences in working memory and oral proficiency development.

Sample

In this study, the participants consist of 24 volunteers (2 males and 22 females) ranging in the age from 18-26, from two sections of third-semester Spanish at a medium-sized university in the western United.

Duration

The study needs the two sections of third-semester Spanish to engage in 20 different 50-minute chat sessions over the course of the 15-week semester with 3-4 separate chatrooms per course for a total of 150 chatroom transcripts. There will be involving 4 hours of hybrid or blended instruction per week (2 days online in the chatroom, 2 days in the classroom).

Method

For the methodology, this study uses a qualitative method. The participants have to attend to a chatroom discussion on a given question by their instructor which is conducive to good discussion for 50 minutes. Each class will be given the same set of questions to be discussed and they have to interact only in Spanish. Another method is through measuring oral proficiency where participants have to select one of four envelopes containing instructions for a speaking task written in English. Then they have to read the instruction and speak in Spanish for approximately 5 minutes in front of the class. This is to analyze the two working memory from the participants which are; (a) nonword repetition task, as a measure of phonological working memory and (b) reading span.

Data Analysis

To analyze the data, a median split was performed to divide participants into high- and low-span groups for both the reading span and the nonword repetition tests, making working memory span an independent variable. The changes in oral proficiency based on working memory span group for both working memory measures were calculated with an ANCOVA. Then the chatroom data were divided into two periods representing the first and second halves of the semester in order to measure potential developmental changes in language use. Frequencies were tabulated for average number of words, utterances, and turns generated per chat session per participant, as well as repetition and relexicalization. The Wilcox Signed Ranks and Mann-Whitney U tests, the non-parametric equivalents to the t test and the Kruskal-Wallis, the non-parametric equivalent to the one-way ANOVA are used to analyze the more elaborate data.

Findings

After the study has been done, the received data is analyzed using the data analysis and resulted to several findings. First finding is that the use of repetition and relexicalization by third-semester Spanish learners as a strategy for them to improve communication in L2 chatroom discourse actually declined in frequency over time, it is an effect that was unrelated to working memory capacity. However, one possible interpretation for this outcome is that the frequency of repetition and relexicalization has nothing to do with proficiency. In other words, as learners expand their lexicon and become more proficient in producing language spontaneously as required for conversational exchange, they reduce their reliance on repetition as a strategy for maintaining continuity in discourse. The second finding is the obvious differences in the chatting style of the low phonological working memory students. The low-span students produce a greater number of words per utterance on average than was exhibited by the high-span students. The low-span students were taking advantage of the reduced cognitive burden introduced by the chatroom to produce more elaborate constructions of word something they may have found difficult in a face-to-face setting. The third finding result from this analysis revealed an interaction between executive function and phonological working memory that makes the interpretation of the role of working memory in L2 SCMC potentially more complex. These findings suggest a potentially interesting interaction between the reading span and nonword repetition as measures of working memory capacity and their impact on performance in non-laboratory settings.

The Context of Language Learning in Malaysia

The finding from the journal indicates that synchronous CMC (SCMC) could help the students greatly in learning second language (L2) through the use of online interaction. The study might prove that online chatting could only improve a little in the working memory of oral proficiency but undeniably, students can create an elaborate construction of words from the online interaction. From this research, it has proven that language learning does not have to be limited to a classroom discourse but could also be learn through SCMC.

In Malaysia, the learning of L2 is still confined to the classroom discourse where the teachers do all the teaching and the students just listen and learn. The lack of interaction between teachers and students can give a negative impact to the second language acquisition (SLA) of the students as learning L2 is all about live interaction. Looking at the amount of the students in one class could not help in learning L2 either as it is very hard to achieve SLA when only one teacher is assigned to teach 40 students all at the same time. This is the problem Malaysia is facing even in this modern era where this kind of environment can hold back students’ attempt to SLA. Malaysia should try to come up with a new approach that could not only encourage students to learn L2 interactively, but also could make it more fun for them in acquiring it. The perfect example is through SCMC where students can engaged in an online chatting with a native speaker of the L2 where they can practice authentic use of language. Through this, students can experience the live interaction personally and gradually could also improve their SLA. The only problem would be the insufficient amount of computers in schools for the students to use. Computers are very scarce and internet connection is also mostly unavailable especially in government schools in Malaysia. Therefore, online interaction for students in language learning in Malaysia is a hard one to achieve. Hopefully the government will make changes for the betterment of the future generation.


Journal Synchronous CMC, Working Memory, and L2 Oral Proficiency Development
by Payne & Ross -Link

CMC Reflection : Rahimah Abd Rashid

Dr. Rozina assigned us the toughest assignment on earth which is summarization on journal article upon synchronous mediated communication and we also have to provide our point of view upon the context of language learning in Malaysia. Firstly, we have to look for the suitable journal to be summarized. Next the hardest thing to do was to wait outside her office just to get her approval. I have arrived around 4.30 pm and she came in the office around 5.30 pm. Dr. Rozina complained to me saying she was very busy the whole day and that very moment she told me she's having a vertigo. i decided to go back to my room however she was so kind to checked on my journal before giving approval. Indeed I was so happy to see her even though I have other assignment and presentation to do. Luckily one of the journals chosen got the approval from Dr. Rozina. She asked me to post my title and the name of the researcher in our ENGL4740 forum. This is to ensure,that there will be no duplicate of journals before we started on with our summaring process.


Besides that, Dr. Rozina makes it even tougher for us by asking us to look for 3 pages of chat transcript. I have went to several chatrooms to participate in the chatting programme. However, the transcript was not reliable because they are discussing about politics, sex and religion. Luckily i found the most simple chat room whereby i do not have to sign in for member. All i have to do was create a nick name and join the group. I have chosen the entertainment room and focused on movies. It was very terrible and awkward moment because nobody pay attentioned to me. Nevertheless, with my magic touch on communication, i have succeded to manipulate the chat room ;) Fellow friends can give it a try to chat at www.icq.com.


To tell you the truth, I have plenty of time to complete my work however I am a "LAST MINUTE" person. Two days before the date of submission, i started with the introduction part of the journal summary. Next, i moved to the methodologies and during this part i faced severe problem. The journal i have chosen does not provide direct information of what i wanted to use. I have to schemed down the journal and understand what Dr. Rozina wanted. After that, I successfully lay down each and every single information she wanted. Before 1 hour of submission, I have indeed compiled all the tasks given ;) weeeeeeeee


The tough tasks helped a lot in understanding the course i am doing now. Thanks to Dr. Rozina who helped me a lot, Sister Amira who also helped me by asking me to see Dr. Rozina for further details ;) and last but not least to my fellow friends...thanks a lot ;)

CMC Journal Summary : Rahimah Abd Rashid

Introduction

The title of the journal chosen is “Distance Language Learning via Synchronous Computer Mediated Communication (SSMC): Eight Factors Affecting NS-NNS Chat Interaction”. The research is done by, Yoshiko Okuyama. The journal is taken from The JALT CALL Journal, 2005, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp.3-20. The main objective and purpose of the study is to see whether adopting a new technology of interpersonal communication improves the effectiveness of distance language education, in this case using chat. Besides that, it is to help teachers to know which learning process suitable for students. Indeed, the purpose of the study is to describe some factors crucially affecting SCMC. The significance of the journal is to confirm that advance technology may assist students in language learning.


Methodologies

Research question:
The research question in this journal is to see whether technology of interpersonal communication improves the effectiveness of language learning. In this case, it is about how technology assists non native speakers (NNS) of Japanese to acquire Japanese language through engaging in chatting programme. It is also to decide what materials and activities suitable to provide for students in order to help them in acquiring the target language. It offers guidelines for teachers as the main source in assisting students in grasping entire knowledge on language.

Sample:
The sample or population of this study is 11 NNS of Japanese. They are native speakers of English with varying sub levels of intermediate Japanese. The youngest NNS is 19 years old, while the ages of the rest of NNS ranged from about 20 to 60. Three native speakers (NS) of Japanese also participate as interlocutors in NS-NNS chat conversations.

Duration:
Participation in chat conversations is assign via the website as part of the 18 module coursework of this distance language course. The duration of this study is 20 hours of chat conversation. The Japanese language course is in four weeks.

Method:
The method of the study is in qualitative manner. The analyzing involves chatting transcript and interviews. It is conducted as an action research investigation which is typically carried out by language instructors on their classroom practices. Teacher involvement is intended for re-seeing learners, the learning process, and the teaching process and is aimed at improving practice. During the first two days, the chatting task is mainly getting to know each other by exchanging greetings and interviewing the NS guest. After that there is a new task for students in chatting, which involves a game type activity. This is to increase each student’s CMC participation. Chatting texts is the main source for the study as it is used for analyzing. 20 hours of chat conversation from 25 chat sessions module has been used.

Data Analysis:
Student’s background survey is administer to all the NNS subjects via WebCT on the first day of the course, and their online class performance (e.g., number and duration of logging in to the course website) is recorded daily in WebCT’s student tracking records. The learners’ chat conversations are store in WebCT’s chat scripts for later retrieval. NS interlocutors participate in twenty-five chat sessions with the NNS subjects conducted on seven separate days via the website across the four week course. Short follow up interviews will be conducted with some participants to assist the interpretation of the chat data. The use of student’s tracking data, the background survey responses, and comments from the interviews provides valuable information for the research analysis. The units of analysis used to describe SCMC participation patterns are turns or lines. These turns is automatically recorded in WebCT’s chat logs. There is a big total of 2,848 turns taken in chat base tasks. Besides that, to ensure the subjects’ anonymity, their names have been changed to two-to-three-letter acronyms (e.g., JA, BOK). Although WebCT does not provide the numbering of turns to indicate different lines, that information is added for the convenience of discussing the transcripts. The analysis of the conversation covers turn taking sequences, greetings, closings and other utterances, as well as the use or non-use of paralinguistic devices which is emoticons.

Findings
The crucial findings of the study are greetings and closings, ease with SCMC in Japanese, spelling errors, interactional modifications and negotiating for meaning, and students’ enjoyment using SCMC. For greetings and closings both NS and NNS tend to use fixed formulaic expressions, such as ‘ohayoo gozaimasu’ (Good morning). After several rehearsal sessions, they start to use more variety of words. The comments from the transcripts of various sessions indicate that some NS and NNS participants felt anxious about chatting in SCMC even in communicating in the target language. Chatters say that they are nervous and it is difficult to use Japanese language in chatting. Indeed, there are vast usages of English smileys through out the chat session. This is to indicate feelings and expressions from learners. Both NS and NNS users of SCMC also make numerous spelling errors in Japanese. One NNS commented on difficulty in transcribing oral Japanese in the alphabet during the chat session, this is because the chat program of WebCT does not support Japanese fonts. All of the participants use Romaji a transcription of Japanese using the Roman alphabet. Besides that, due to the reflective nature of text based SCMC, the NNS participants often make errors in previous messages and correct them in the next turn. Although depending on the individuals, the NNS participants frequently made comprehension or confirmation checks by requesting the NS interlocutor to supply English translation for an unknown word. Toward the end of the course, many of the participants, including the apprentice chatters, express enjoyment in speaking Japanese via SCMC. Upon completing the game, several NNS participants verbalized their excitement in Japanese.


Context of Language Learning in Malaysia
We live in the world of language. To understand each other, one must understand the nature of language. Undeniably, English has been regarded as universal language throughout the world. Therefore it is essential for every individual to acquire and perhaps master the language. Without a doubt, severe problems might occur to non-native speaker to learn this language. The government of Malaysia has come out with standard teaching guidelines for all English teachers whereby it focuses more on acquiring grammar in learning English. This has caused confusion and worsens the young learners’ condition. Grammar somehow is important in learning English but it will not help young learner to grasp the knowledge on English language entirely. With complicated structure of English, learners might lose interest in acquiring it therefore takes English slightly in life.
From the findings of the journal, non native speakers of Japanese, enjoy using the chatting programme to acquire their target language. Most of them improve a lot during each and every session during four weeks of language course. The technology using Internet based has changed the way we communicate and learn over the past three decades. Today’s college students have never known a world without computers. For them to communicate electronically is natural. If we want to apply chatting programme in order to acquire English language several factors have to be taken into account. The cost for providing computers and internet for each students in public school may cost a lot. We may take a big risk if we apply this advance way of language learning to students. Perhaps Malaysia should maintain their traditional way by adding more reading, listening and social interaction activities for students to follow.

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Why We Have Chosen Chitty Malay

The main reason we choose this topic because we want to expose people about the existence of Chitty Malay, its culture, language and even religion. In Malaysia as a multi-culture society, we have different race living under one roof. There are Malay, Chinese and Indian, who are the majority race in the country. Between these race there are the mix marriage which brings out the mix of two different world. This is how BabaNyonya came about and also Chitty Malay. We find that not many people know about Chitty Malay compare to BabaNyonya culture. That why we have choosen this topic, to preserve Chitty Malay and share our knowledge about the culture.

Chitty Language

Examples of Chitty sentences

i) “Tamil takda faham” (I don't understand Tamil)

ii) “Jarang nak jumpa…” (hard to find)

iii) “ Dia punya huruf sama, sebutan lain..” (same letter but different pronounciation)

iv) “Itu adat kita guna..” (that the tradition we use)

v) “Tu dia punya sifat la.” (that's his/her personality)

Examples of Chitty Vocabulary

Family

i) ‘amma:’ (mother)

ii) ‘appa:’ (father)

iii) ‘akka:’ (sister)

iv) ‘atte mama:’(cousin)

v) ‘anni’(sister in law)

vi) ‘periyanni’(elder sister in law)

vii) ‘periyamma’ (aunty's mother side)


Food

i) ‘ kauci’ ( makanan daging/beef food)

ii) ‘marekari’ (makanan sayur/vegetables food)

iii) ‘eraci’ (daging/beef)

iv) ‘kari’ (kari/curry)


Others

i) ‘sakiak’ ( wooden slipper)

ii) ‘ma:du’ (lembu/cow)

iii) ‘kanni’ (anak dara/girl)

iv) ‘kutung’ (kumpulan/group)

v) ‘kudumbam’ ( keluarga/family)

vi) ‘a:ma-a:ma’ ( mengiya/agree)

vii) ‘yenna’ (pertanyaan/question)

Chitty Language is a Creole

When a pidgin language became the native language of a community, then it is considered as creole.

It is when the language becomes the main language whereby the number of speakers increased thus, the children will also use it as their main language.

It should be noted that Chitty Language is not a dialect but it is a language of its own.

In the beginning, Chitty language is considered as a pidgin because it exists as a tool for other traders to communicate as they speak different languages (lingua-franca).

Moreover, the grammar and vocabulary structure of Chitty language expand with some adaptation from Tamil, and in terms of phonology and pronunciation it maintains the style of Malay Language.

Costume of the Chittys

Men:
A dhoti and shirt for religious functions, while for traditional events they will wear the sarong or kain pelekat with the loose Nehru jacket and a cap. A piece of colorful cloth is often draped on the left shoulder.

Women:
A kebaya panjang or kebaya pendek depending on marital status, with a sarong. The handkerchief or binpoh is worn on the shoulder like a shawl.

This is the attire of a Chitty Men for traditional event.

This is the attire of married Chitty women (kebaya panjang)

Festivals and Celebration

As for festivals, the Chittys celebrate three types of "Ponggol Day" which are "Thai Ponggol", "Maatu Ponggol and "Kaani Ponggol". Ponggol Day is also known as a harvest festival. Thai Ponggol, is a celebration for harvesting process, while Maatu Ponggol is a celebration to show gratitude towards cows and buffaloes. As for Kaani Ponggol, it is to dedicate to everyone who work hard during harvest time. For that reason, they will visit many places of interest during this festival.

The celebration for harvest festival took place in January on a grand scale.

One of the main festival is the "Bhogi Parachu" usually falls in January. Chittys make offerings to their ancesstors during this festival. God is worshipped for bringing rain for the plantation. Bhogi will be celebrated four days before the Ponggol festivals. It is celebrated early in the morning whereby all the family members gather in front of their house and set a big fire to worship their God.

Kampung Chitty Headman pouring a milk into coking pot during the ceremony of Ponggol

A sacred cow eating offered items after prayers at the temple

Young ladies from the Chittys taking blessing from a Holy flame after priest completed the rice prayer ceremony

Religion

Most of the Chittys practice Hindu religion and uphold their religious ceremonies and beliefs with a unique blend.

Indeed they are practicing 15 century Saiva Hinduism.

Due to inter culture marriages, some of them embrace Islam and Christianity.

This the holy place for Chittis who embrace Saiva Hiduism