Topic 3:Morphology

In topic 3, we learned about Morphology including morphemes, derivational morpheme, inflectional morpheme, allomorphs, word structure and word formation processes. This is a new topic that I had learned. After learning this topic, I realize that this topic bring more advantages to us a future teacher. As we know, morphology can be defined as the internal structures of words are formed and it is part of the grammatical knowledge. 

For the first subtopic, I learned about morphemes which are free morpheme and bound morphemes. Morphemes is structure-based that can be broken to its smallest unit of meaning. Free morpheme is a word that can be stand on its own and has a grammatical function while bound morpheme is the morpheme which unable to function as a free standing word. The examples of free and bound morphemes are shown in the following table:

Free morpheme	Bound morpheme
expect	ation
lock	un
believe	able
respon	ible
kind	ness

After learning this subtopic, we know that bound morpheme is a sound or a combination of sounds that cannot stand alone as a word. For examples, “kindness” is a combination of bound morpheme “ness” and free morpheme “kind” and it does not have any meaning without the free morpheme.  

            Besides, I also learned about inflectional and derivational morphemes in this topic. Inflectional can be either give further information about the grammatical function they carry and therefore add further grammatical information to the other morphemes they combine with while derivational morphemes can be used to make further new words, in process of adding one morpheme to another where the parts of speech too many change in meaning. The examples of derivational and inflectional morphemes that I search from internet are shown in the following table: 

Example of Derivational Morphemes
Noun to adjective	boy (noun) + ish	boyish(Adj.)
Verb to noun	predict (verb) + ion	Prediction(Noun)
Adjective to adverb	exact (Adj.) + ly	Exactly(Adverb)
Adjective to noun	specific (Adj.) + ity	specificity (Noun)
Noun to verb	moral (noun) + ize	moralize(verb)

Examples of Inflectional Morphemes
They are only found in suffixes in English.	boys, Mary’s , walked
No change of Meaning	walk vs. walks toy vs. toys
Never change the syntactic category of the words or morpheme to they which they are attached.	walk vs. walked or walks (V--> V) boy vs. boys (N --> N) eat vs. eating (progressive) (V-->V)
English Inflectional Morphemes Examples	-s third person singular present She waits at home.  -ed past tense She waited at home.  -ing progressive She is eating the donut.  -en past participle Mary has eaten the donuts.  -’s possessive Disa's hair is short.  -er comparative Disa has shorter hair than Karin.  -est superlative Disa has the shortest hair.

On the other hand, I also learnt about allomorph. Allomorph is an alternative manifestation of a morpheme (a set of meaningful linguistic units). Allomorphs vary in shape or pronunciation according to their conditions of use, but not as to meaning. There are many types of allomorphs which are indicates plurality or third person singular present tense (dogs, cats, horses), past tense morpheme (talked, juggled, ended), the result of lexical conditioning (make-made, sing-sang, sit-sat, think-thought) and zero allomorphs (deer, fish, doctor).  

            I also learnt about word formation processes including affixation, compounding, reduplication, clipping, acronym and other minor processes which are blending, onomatopoeia and antonomasia. For me, this subtopic is quite difficult and sometime I feel confuse in learning this topic. For tutorial activity, we are required to conduct language games on word formation. Our group had carried out the activity named Word Chain, where every group will form a new words based on the last letter of the first word that had be given to them. The new word must relate to the word classes which are noun, verb, adjective and adverb. The advantages of this activity are they can think as fast as they can to form a new word and at the same time it will improve their knowledge in differentiate the word classes. Besides, everyone can participate actively in this activity. But the advantage of this activity is the limited time given to each group makes them difficult to think the suitable word although they might think as fast as they can. For me, this activity is fun and enjoyable especially while waiting the answer from each person. While conducting this activity, I can see that each group are competing excitedly to win the competition.

            As a conclusion, the topic Morphology is very interesting and as we know it is very important for us to master this topic before we proceed to the next topic which is Syntax. The activity that we had done in this topic, more explanation and examples given by our lecturer make me understands better about this topic.

Topic 2: Introduction to Phonology

For the second topic, we learned about Introduction to Phonology. In the topic Introduction to Phonology, we are introduced to the speech organ and English Sounds including vowel, diphthong sounds and also consonant sounds.

For me, this topic is quite difficult and complicated but after learning this topic, I realize that this topic is very important for us as a teacher. It is because we will apply what we had learned in this topic to our future students. For example, we will explain to our students how sounds are produced in the English sound system, especially when teaching the vowel and consonant sounds. At first, it is very hard for me to produce the vowel, diphthong and consonant sounds and I also confused with the phonetics, but with the help of the software called Pronunciation Chart given by our lecturer, I can master it well.

For the Tutorial Presentation 1, we were required to do the 3 types of Tongue Twister Competition. Each group will present their Tongue Twister with their own creativity. Our group had chosen tongue twister which is easy to pronoun. I found that this topic is very interesting and enjoyable. From this activity, we can improve our pronunciation accuracy. By referring to the dictionary, we manage to pronoun the word correctly and accurately. Besides, by doing this activity, I realize that how important dictionary to us. It is because before this I do not realize the important of using dictionary in learning English. Following are the Tongue Twister of our group:

Tongue Twister 1:

I wish to wish, I dream to dream, I try to try, and I live to live, and I'd die to die, and I cry to cry but I don’t know why

Tongue Twister 2:

Suzie, Suzie, working in a shoeshine shop.
All day long she sits and shines,
all day long she shines and sits,
and sits and shines, and shines and sits,
and sits and shines, and shines and sits.
Suzie, Suzie, working in a shoeshine shop.

Tommy, Tommy, toiling in a tailor's shop.
All day long he fits and tucks,
all day long he tucks and fits,
and fits and tucks, and tucks and fits,
and fits and tucks, and tucks and fits.
Tommy, Tommy, toiling in a tailor's shop

Tongue Twister 3: 

  Don't trouble trouble, until trouble troubles you! If you trouble trouble, triple trouble troubles you!

 

On the other hand, each group also required to present the five minimal pairs with initial, medial, final phonemes differences and transcribe the words in phonetics. This task is very complicated and takes time. It is not easy for us to find the correct minimal pairs. We make a lot of mistake while completing the table of five minimal pairs. From this presentation, we learned how to identify the different words with same sounds at the initial, medial and final phonemes.

To conclude, the topic Introduction to Phonology is the basic knowledge that we need to master before we move on to the higher level topic.

Topic 1 : Language and Communication

In the first topic, I had learned about language and communication in the subject English for Language Teachers. After learning this topic, I realize that language is very important and useful in our daily life. In this topic, I learned about definition of language, language and culture, functions of language, non verbal communication, speech and writing and English Language in Malaysia.

To help us understand easily about the definition of the language, our lecturer asked some of our classmate to write out a sentence using different types of language such as Chinese, Japanese, Tamil and Arab language. From this activity, we can see clearer and understand better about the definition of the language which is language can be regarded as a code for conveying a great variety of information. After looking at the different symbol of the different types of language, I realize that each word of a language is a symbol and sequence of sounds or letters which has a particular meaning. No wonder English has chosen as a international language because it can understand mostly by all the people around the world.

Besides, for the tutorial presentation 1, we were required to present our group discussion on how Malaysian culture affects English Language by the using factors multicultural society, urban and rural settings, political and historical influence and educational policies in the subtopic English Language in Malaysia. Our group got the topic Malaysian culture affects English Language by the using factors educational policies. From this presentation, we can understand better how Malaysian culture affects English Language and at the same time we can see the opinion of the other group when presenting their own topic.

On the other hand, I also learned about function of language. To understand better about this subtopic, our lecturer asks every group to prepare a dialogue with at least 5 language functions for role play. Our group had role play a dialogue about moving into a new house .Although our dialogue is quite simple and short, the function of language can be identified clearly. After doing the role play, I learned and realize that language has function and form. For example, we use language to ask something, to greet someone, to introduce, to require and so on.

In the subtopic non verbal communication, we were required to prepare 3 minute mime which is non verbal communication of a situation of our choice. Our group had mime the situation in a taxi. I find that this activity is very interesting and enjoyable. We can see the creativity of other group to mime their own action in different situation. I feel proud because our group has done the best miming among the other group. As we know, non verbal communication refers to modes of communication which send messages to the recipient with no voice involved such staring, winking, shaking hand and others.

In conclusion, the activities that I had done in the tutorial and Independent Self Learning (ISL) help me to understand better about the content of this topic. I hope that I can apply what I had learned in this topic to teach our future students.