SELF VS PEER ASSESTMENT

1.0 INTRODUCTION

            Arshad Abd Samad (2011) states that assessment is any of a variety of procedures used to obtain information on students’ performance. Unlike a test, an assessment is seldom exclusively quantitative. A teacher may assess students' learning by looking at how students respond to instruction.

            There are many ways to assess students’ performance especially in English language proficiency. Self and peer assessment are two of these alternative assessments.

            Heidi and Anna (2009) state that self-assessment is a process during which students collect information about their own performance or progress; compare it to explicitly stated criteria, goals, or standards; and revise accordingly. The authors argue that self-assessment must be a formative type of assessment, done on drafts of works in progress: It should not be a matter of determining one’s own grade. As such, the purposes of self-assessment are to identify areas of strength and weakness in one’s work in order to make improvements and promote learning. Self-assessment can take in many forms such as writing conferences, discussion, reflection logs, weekly self-evaluations, self-assessment checklists and inventories, and rubric teacher-student interviews.

            Cornell University (2019) states that peer assessment or peer review provides a structured learning process for students to critique and provide feedback to each other on their work. It helps students develop lifelong skills in assessing and providing feedback to others, and equips them with skills to self-assess and improve their own work.  Peer assessment can be implemented in many forms such as allowing a group to mark its members.

            Self and peer assessments are important to encourage students to be independent students. Every student needs self-assessment to identify their strengths and weaknesses, and to find the best techniques and methods to overcome the problems. Meanwhile, peer assessment needs to encourage, critique, comment, correct mistake and provide feedback in any activities conducted at school. Both assessments have to use widely in Malaysia.

 

 2.0 THE IMPLICATION OF SELF AND PEER ASSESSMENT TO ESL IN MALAYSIA           

When the students are involved actively in assessment process, they can develop critical thinking because they need to analyse and think deeply when they want to assess something. The critical thinking and analysing skills can be used in any activities such as solve mathematics questions and construct a creative essay. When I was conducting a quiz, I asked four students to be evaluators by referring to the rubric that was given by me. The evaluators must analyse, think deeply and know the reasons of their marks to make sure they give reasonable marks. Meanwhile, I will be a facilitator by guiding and advising the evaluators and also the participants. After finishing the activity, I gave comments, suggestions, and encouragement. The participants can be evaluated based on the marks that given by the evaluators. Yang, Badger, and Yu (2006) state that peer feedback is beneficial in developing critical thinking, learner autonomy and social interaction among students.

            We are the only ones who understand ourselves. We know our strengths and weaknesses. We know what we know and what we do not know. We know what we have learnt and what we do not learn. We know suitable techniques to overcome our problems in learning process. That is why self-assessment is important in the teaching and learning process. An assessment checklist  is one of the forms to assess themselves. In self-assessment process, certain teachers give the students the assessment checklist to help them assess themselves after finishing a lesson. The students only need to tip at relevant points based on their assessment.  When the students recognise their weaknesses, it is easy for them to ask their friends or teachers for guidance. Meanwhile, the teachers can implement their tasks easily because they only need to focus on the weaknesses. The teachers can evaluate themselves too based on the assessment checklists. It helps them to improve their teaching techniques. It is supported by Centre for Education Innovation (2016) which states that self-assessment emphasizes student learning and helps students become better aware of their weaknesses and strengths.

            The peer assessment needed in learning process because the students have more influence to encourage and motivate their peers to work hard to overcome their weaknesses. They have close relationship compared to their teachers. The students can evaluate by doing an assignment together and being involved in group discussion. When the students recognise their peers do not understand about something, they can encourage and motive them to do more analysis and exercises to understand better. The students can evaluate their peers based on the analysis and exercise. They can evaluate quickly compared to their teacher because they are always together when needed. Teacher assessment can be additional to self and peer assessments when the students need more explanation and understanding. It is supported by Rimer (2007) who states that peer assessment is used to enhance learning as an effective way to increase motivation for students by engaging them in the evaluation process which has received attention in recent years from a number of international universities and to encourage peers to help each other to master the topic of learning. Azarnoosh (2013) states that based on the study conducted, peer-assessment seems to display positive effect towards students’ attitude and motivation in learning.

            Peer assessment encourage them to be involved actively in the classroom because they will be evaluated in any activity like responding to the teacher, give commitment in group activities, and communicate with each other. In these situations, the peer assessment may more accurate than the teacher assessment because the teacher only has two eyes and he or she cannot give attention to all students in the classroom. Direct method is suitable in this assessment. Besides, they can use the experience in the classroom to develop their communication skills in future. Tomayess (2012) states that this experience was interesting and an outstanding achievement from the lecturer's perspective, as the majority of the students indicated in their informal and formal feedback that completing the assessments allowed them to promote and develop their communication skills for university, future workplace, and life in general.

            Peer assessment encourages two way communication between the teachers and the students because they have to be involved actively in the class and not become a receiver only. They can assess not only on examination but also in any activity conducted in the classroom. They cannot sit passively on the chair but they have to respond to their teachers to get high marks. Wen and Tsai (2006) state through peer-assessment, it is said to be able to enhance the two-way teacher-students’ communication. In this situation, we can change from traditional method to fostering student-centred learning.

 

 3.0 THE APPROPRIACY OF SELF AND PEER ASSESSMENT TO ESL IN MALAYSIA          

            Taghi Jabbarifar (2009) states that assessment is a process that includes four basic components: measuring improvement over time, motivating students to study, evaluating the teaching methods, and ranking the students' capabilities in relation to the whole group evaluation.

            In my opinion, even though the government encourages the teachers to use student-centred approach like self and peer-assessment, teacher assessment is still relevant until now. Many teachers still use it especially when they want to evaluate students' essays. They never believe on their students to assess the essays because they need to check many terms such as grammar, punctuation, spelling, content and sentence structure meanwhile, the students do not have competence enough in assess them. The students do not have the level of language proficiency in giving opinion, and comment in the task. My lecturers and teachers never ask me to check my friends’ essays and so do I when I was a teacher. That is because the English level of the majority of Kelantanese are at the intermediate or beginner level. They do not use the language in daily conversations. That is why they are not confident in English class and tend to be a passive learner. Ferris (2004) states that student writers always have preference towards teachers’ written feedback because they believe that it is necessary for them to improve in their writing.

            In my opinion, self and peer assessment are only suitable for certain activities in Malaysia. The assessment checklists are one of the self-assessments that are suitable to be implemented in Malaysian classroom for English class. It is given when the learners finish a lesson. It is used to evaluate the level of understanding among the students. They only need to tick sincerely on the paper based on their understanding of the lesson. According to Wragg (2004), the main use of checklists is to stimulate students’ active learning through thinking about their answers and work, which may help them learn more effectively. However, this method is rarely used in Malaysia. My teachers and lecturers never use this method same do me. I think maybe because they prefer to use traditional methods and they do not have enough time. According to a study conducted by Zubairi, Sarudin and Nordin (2008) at a single public university involving a sample of 135 lecturers, lecturers adhered to the traditional method of student assessment; their assessment knowledge and practice had not improved much over the years. Meanwhile, Nurul Farehah Mohamad Uri and Mohd Sallehhudin Abd Aziz (2017) state that educationists in Malaysia rarely consider self-assessment as one of the options in their classroom assessment practices. They generally agree that time constraint is one issue that needs to be addressed first before one could contemplate implementing self-assessment as a tool for evaluation purposes.

Rubric is also suitable when we want to conduct self-assessment. Griffith and Lim (2012) state that a rubric contains some assessment criteria and descriptors which describe the different levels of proficiency or knowledge required for each criterion. In my opinion, rubric is one of a good self-assessment. We can know our marks or level based on its criteria and description. I always refer to the rubric when I am preparing an assignment to make sure I prepare the best assignment according to their criteria.

            Peer assessment is suitable to be implemented in presentation. The peers of the presenters will give oral feedback to assist or correct the mistakes that is made by them, at the same time, they may learn from other students’ mistakes during the presentation. Spiller (2012) states that students receiving feedback from their peers can get a wider range of ideas about their work to promote development and improvement. However, in my opinion, this method is only suitable to be implemented for advance and intermediate students. It is not suitable to be implemented for weak students because they do not have enough knowledge and understanding to evaluate it.

             

4.0 REASONS OF SELF AND PEER ASSESSMENT IS RARELY USED IN MALAYSIA

            Self and peer assessment are rarely used in Malaysia because the students prefer teacher assessment. It is supported by Tsui and Ng (2000) who discovered that all students prefer teacher feedback than peer feedback. Meanwhile, Yang, Badger and Yu (2006) state that a huge percentage of students adopted teacher feedback with reasons that teachers are more ‘professional’, ‘experienced’ and ‘trustworthy’. This situation happens because the teachers are a qualified person so, the teachers’ level are higher than them. That is why they believe more on teachers' feedback. The students also believe on the teachers’ knowledge compared to their friends.

            Peer assessment cannot be fully implemented in Malaysia because some students are biased in giving assessment for their friends because of friendship. The friendship may affect the reliability of grades. They may give higher marks for their close friends and give low marks for other students. It is supported by Saito and Fujita's (2004) report that a number of studies indicate that there are a number of biases associated with peer feedback including friendship, reference, purpose (development vs. grading) feedback (effects of negative feedback on future performance), and collusive (lack of differentiation) bias.

            Self-assessment is subjective. The students may not be sincere in evaluating themselves. They may be over confident about their abilities, strengths and capabilities. Some students may under-evaluate whereby they need self, teachers and peers help. It is supported by Cornell University (2019) which states that self-assessment can be subjective since students may not be sincere and may over-evaluate themselves which could lead to grade inflation and unreliability. Some students, however may under-evaluate. Need both self and teacher, and peers where practical.

            Besides, even though self and peer-assessment are frequently used in Malaysia,  the students still prefer teacher assessment. This situation happens because they feel it is the teachers’ tasks. They also believe on teacher guidance and knowledge. The teachers are more competent than their friends. It is supported by Ariffin and Husin (2011) who state that peer feedback is frequently used in the Malaysian classrooms. However, it is not preferred as much as teachers’ feedback. This is because Malaysian students have hesitance in completely trusting the feedback given by peers rather than teachers. They feel that it is the job of the teacher to provide feedback and at the same time students feel that they do not possess the linguistic competence to give feedback on their peers’ works.

             Some students are not satisfied with assessment provided by their peers. It happens because of several factors such as the peers may do not competence, do not enough understand and do not know how to give the best feedback. Xiao and Lucking (2008) state that some students were not satisfied with the quality and quality of feedback provided by their peers. Wen and Tsai (2006) state that learners happen to have low self confidence in evaluating their peers where they prefer being briefed concerning the marking and grading system beforehand.

 

 5.0 CONCLUSION

     In conclusion, even though self and peer assessments are good to be implemented in teaching and learning, we have to use other techniques and methods too to make sure the students are not bored with the same methods and techniques. As we know, we have to create fun environments in the classroom.

            When we want to choose certain techniques or methods, we must look at our students' level first. If we want to implement self and peer-assessment in primary school, we have to choose relevant method for them. Assessment checklists and multiple-choice questions are examples of techniques that suitable for them. Intermediate and weak students do not have competence enough to evaluate activities like conversation, essay, and presentation especially students in rural area. That is because, they do not use English in daily conversations. They only use it at school, and they are very passive in English class. They only give respond to simple conversation.

            Self and peer assessments are suitable to be implemented in secondary school for advanced and intermediate students for certain activities like quiz, rubric, assessment checklists, multiple-choice questions, self and peer marking, and presentation session. However, assessing essay is suitable only for advanced students because they have to check many items such as grammar and sentence structures.

            The teacher centred approach is still relevant in Malaysia. Even though the government encourage us to use student centred approach, we have to choose suitable techniques for our students which is suitable for the situation.

Teacher assessment is also relevant until now because our students believe in the teachers’ qualification, knowledge, proficiency, experience, and skills. It is still used widely until now. Even though the government encourage us to use self and peer assessment, the teacher assessment has to use as additional assessment. Critiques, comments, suggestions, and encouragement from the teachers are still needed as references. 

 

DIGITAL CAMERA

1.0 INTRODUCTION

            According to Computer Hope (2020), a digital camera is a hardware device that takes photographs and stores the image as data on a memory card. Unlike an analogy camera, which exposes the chemicals on film to light, a digital camera uses digital optical components to register the intensity and colour of light and converts it into pixel data.

            The digital camera requires no film. The images have taken will be stored on a small memory card inside the camera. When this card is full, the images can be transferred to other devices. It allows the memory card to be used repeatedly.

Most of the digital cameras allow the images to be viewed on an LCD screen embedded in the camera. The images can be viewed immediately after they have been taken. They can be deleting or save as required. The images also can be downloaded to a computer.

            The digital cameras have many features compare to a regular camera such as an optical viewfinder, a variety of flash and exposure modes, a zoom lens and a rechargeable battery. However, they have many disadvantages too. In this assignment, I would like to discuss on a compact camera and a DSLR camera only.

 2.0 THE TECHNOLOGY OF DIGITAL CAMERA

I would like to discuss two types of digital cameras. They are compact camera and Digital Single-Lens Reflex (DSLR) camera.

2.1 COMPACT CAMERA

The compact camera is also known as a point-and-shoot camera because it’s used for ordinary purposes. It’s an inexpensive entry-level camera. It’s small and lightweight. It usually comes with standard and automatic settings. It doesn’t have an optical viewfinder. It’s the most widely used. It contains fewer features, thus reduce the quality of a picture.

2.2 ADVANTAGES OF USING THE COMPACT CAMERA

2.2.1 Portability

            It created in small size and simple. It’s easy to bring anywhere, at all times. It’s very light. We can leave it in our pocket or handbag.

2.2.2 Easy to use

            It’s easy to use because it has auto modes. We can point the camera at the object then, press the “shoot” button. The camera will handle all the technical stuff. It is user-friendly too and we don’t take much time to learn how to use it.

2.2.3 Affordable

            It’s inexpensive. We can get the compact camera at a price as low as RM250.00. Jessica (2020) stated a compact camera is inexpensive compared to other types of cameras and there are many good value options out there.

 2.3 DIGITAL SINGLE-LENS REFLEX CAMERA

DSLR is a digital camera that uses a mirror mechanism to reflect light from a camera lens to an optical viewfinder or let light fully passes into the image sensor by moving the mirror out of the way. It’s larger and heavier than compact cameras. It uses interchangeable lenses. If we want to get a bit more serious about photography, we have to choose it.

2.4 THE ADVANTAGES OF USING DSLR CAMERA

2.4.1 Better image quality

DSLR camera gives better image quality because it has a bigger sensor. It can give more details, faster shutter speeds, and sharper photos, especially in low-light situations.

2.4.2 Focus speed

DSLR camera doesn’t need more time to focus. It can take multiple shots per second. It has a device called a shutter. It plays the main role to take the images quickly. When we capture the images, the shutter will open and close instantaneous. There’s no delay from the moment that we press the button.

2.4.3 Interchangeable lenses

The ability to change the lenses allows us with unlimited possibilities because the lenses are important to capture sharp and detail pictures, and determine the quality of the pictures.

There’s no perfect lens for every situation so, we have to consider the pros and cons of every option, and choose the best compromise when we want to shoot an image. There are lenses that can take great pictures in low light conditions, wide lenses for capturing a lot of detail, zoom lenses for long-distance photography, wide aperture lenses for portraits, and many more capabilities than the regular cameras do not have access to.

3.0 THE COMPARISON BETWEEN COMPACT CAMERA AND DSLR CAMERA

            There are many differences between both cameras. People choose them based on their usage. Below are several comparisons:

3.0.1 Processor

Ryosuke (2018) stated that an image processor is an essential electronic component that is akin to the “brains” of the camera. It controls the camera to a high degree, from how it functions to how it depicts and records images.

            Canon has produced the DIGIC (Digital Imaging Integrated Circuit) image processor which becomes the brains of a camera. DIGIC 8 is the latest and the best of the DIGIC image processor. When a camera uses the best image processor either a compact camera or DSLR camera, it will increase functionality, pixel counts and sophistication.

            The best image processor can give good effects for all cameras in a few ways likeability to shoot in dark places, ability to shot at high speeds with minimal noise, ability to process all information rapidly, ability to evaluate the subject’s brightness and colour and detecting faces, recognise and track the subject faster and more accurate, and so on.

3.0.2 Image resolutions (megapixel)

            SLRLounge (2019) stated that a megapixel is one million pixels. A pixel is a single site or spot on a digital image sensor that gathers photons of light and converts these photons into electronic information. A single pixel is a single point of light, the smallest unit of measurement in a digital image. The pixels (and megapixels) cumulatively receive "count" photons of light on a whole digital sensor and convert the light into the electronic information that makes up a digital image.

            The compact camera can produce until up to 24 megapixels. Generally, more megapixels can be better. Each pixel has information about the colour and intensity of the light gathered at its location. The best quality of the final image will be produce when more information about the qualities of the light that can be captured by the camera's image sensor.

            The DSLR camera can produce up to 120 megapixels. However, the 120 megapixels will yield RAW photos in which the image data has not undergone processing. They take up more space than typical JPEG images. The RAW files often need 5 to 10 times more disk space for each image captured. So, the RAW image data have to save in proprietary file format specific to the camera manufacturer.

            However, megapixels are not everything for most people. We have to consider about sensor size too. The size of the sensor determines how much light uses to create an image. A bigger sensor can gain more information compared to a small sensor and can produce better images. If a compact camera and a DSLR camera have the same number of megapixels but, different sizes of image sensors, better for us to choose the DSLR camera with a big image sensor because of it capable to produce better dynamic range and less noise.

3.0.3 Image editing features

            Both cameras have some editing functions within them. We can select via a menu before photos are taken. The most common thing is the degree of sharpness, the amount of contrast (the difference between the lightest and darkest areas in a photo), saturation (vividness of colours) and changing an image to more subdued colours or monotone.

            After the image was taken, both cameras can view the image in Playback Mode. Then, we can perform basic editing such as cropping, resizing, adjusting brightness and/or contrast, black and white, rotating and sharpening. 

                                                     

An only DSLR camera can create field blur and bokeh effects because it has a large size of the image. We can bring out the main theme in a photo by blurring a large background. Figure 3.6 is an example of field blur and bokeh effects. The compact camera cannot do it because it has a small image sensor, and do not support exchangeable lenses.

          

 3.0.4 Video capture capabilities

The best of both cameras offer high-resolution 4K with no real limitations. We would have no loss of details or colours whatsoever. Most 4K cameras capture 8-bit video internally to memory cards. However, they only can record Full HD video movies in 30 minutes only.

The DSLR can make high-quality videos compare to compact cameras because it can function well even in low light conditions. Whereas the compact camera has fixed lens devices with small sensors so, it has a limitation in terms of versatility and performance.

An electronic viewfinder makes the DSLR cameras capable to shoot movies while holding the camera to your eye. By using electronic viewfinders, we can record a video without distracting surroundings.

The DSLR camera can record the video manually and also autofocus. However, if you want to produce a good quality video, better for us to use it manually. Meanwhile, the compact camera cannot capture the video manually.

The DSLR cameras can record the video with sound too. Meanwhile, the compact camera cannot record the video with sound.

4.0 THE STORAGE ON DIGITAL CAMERA

            Nowadays, digital cameras use several types of storage systems. According to National Centre for Technology in Education (2008), most camera manufacturers use one of the following memory cards inside their products: SmartMedia, CompactFlash, a memory stick, multimedia (MMC), secure digital (SD) or xD cards. The higher the pixels count of the image, the greater the size of the file to be stored and therefore, the greater the need for a large capacity memory card. Computer Hope (2018) stated that a memory card is a type of storage media that is often used to store photos, videos, or other data in electronic devices.

            Here, I would like to discuss on SmartMedia and secure digital (SD) only.

4.1 SmartMedia

            It consists of a Flash-Memory chip that stores data. It was one of the first memory cards that are produced and used in digital cameras and other electronic devices. The first card was developed by Toshiba. It had a smaller capacity, ranging from 2MB to 128MB, and physical dimensions of 45mm x 37mm x 76mm.

            However, this card is no longer manufactured or developed because it has been overtaken by more powerful storage media cards. This situation happens because of several reasons:

4.1.1 Low storage capacity

            It was popular in 2001. However, in 2002 it started to experience problems with low storage capacity as the camera increased image resolutions. Its maximum size is only 128MB.

4.1.2 No plan to increase its size

            There is no plan to increase its size in the future even though, everyone aware of the limit size. It is supported by James (2020) who stated that with memory demand at an all-time high, 128MB is a thing of the past. There are no plans to increase the size of the memory in the future, so this decision has more or less sealed SmartMedia cards' fate.

4.1.3 Data loss

            When we remove the card while the camera is still on and operating, it can be corrupted and unusable while, the data inside the card can lose. However, it can be repaired and recovered by an expert.

4.2 Secure Digital (SD)

            SD card is the standard for portable non-volatile (flash) memory. It produces with a small size of 24mm x 32mm x 2.1mm. This card was created in 1999. It jointly developed by SanDisk, Panasonic, and Toshiba. Later, the three companies formed the SD Card Association to create, promote and enforce SD card standards across the industry.

SD card is designed for the digital camera, cell phone, PDA device, and video camera. It has three types; postage stamp, the Mini SD Card and Micro SD Card. It contains up to 2GB of storage. There are three issues related to this memory card:

4.2.1 Price

            Even though we can get it at an inexpensive price, better for us to buy another card because we can get extra storage and speed at the same price. It is supported by Joe (2010) who stated that even though you can get these memory cards at a capacity of 2GB for as low as $5.00, I do not advise purchasing SD Cards. For $5.00 more you can buy a 4GB SDHC card. The extra storage and speed that you receive for the price are worth especially with the higher resolution, quicker cameras, and video-capable DSLRs being built now.

4.2.2 Space

            The SD card can only hold 2 GB of data and have been fully discontinued. The SD Card Association has been replaced by the newer-generations called SDHC and SDXC cards.

4.2.3 The speed of the card or transfer rate

            According to ScanDisk Global Customer Care (2020) rated speed is the maximum speed of the card and also what you would expect to approximately see in typical usage of writing or reading files on the card. This measurement is pertinent to still photography, especially for taking pictures with high resolution and/or saving in a RAW format where the files created are very large. The faster the card, the faster it can save the file and be ready to take another picture.

Each camera has its rate which is able to move the data to the memory card. In this situation, we have to choose the right memory card which is suitable for our camera. For example, if we have a camera that capable to move the data at 10MB/s so, we have to choose the right memory card which has the transfer rate suitable with our camera because the transfer rate is dependent on how fast the camera and memory card work together to transfer the files onto the card.

5.0 CLOUD STORAGE

           

            Lakshmi and Padma (2014) state that Cloud storage is a service that maintains data, manage and backup remotely and made data available to users over the network.

            There are many cloud storage providers. Every provider provides free space up to certain gigabytes, for example, Microsoft SkyDrive provides free space up to 7GB. If customers cross the free space limit, they have to pay a certain amount according to the plan. By using the cloud storage service, we don't need to invest in storage devices, even technical support likes maintenance.

5.1 The significances of the cloud storage

            People always look for new technology when the current technologies have problems. That is why cloud storage is created. It has many significances:

5.1.1 Store data

When a memory card is full, we have to remove the data into other devices. However, the devices cannot solve the storage problem too. In this situation, people started to look at cloud storage as a place for storage. According to Dan (2006) if your laptop crashes or gets stolen, and you haven’t backed up your photos in another place, then they’re gone forever. Most forms of digital storage are unreliable in the long term. Hard drives crash, computers die, and CDs and DVDs get scratched up and become unusable.

5.1.2 Save the data from disasters

            The cloud storage saves the data via the internet. So, it can protect the data from disasters like tsunami and fire.

 5.2 The ways that the cloud storage overcomes the issue of storage size

The cloud storage overcomes the issue in several ways:

           

5.2.1 Do not need physical items to save data

It overcomes the storage size problems without need a physical item or container. When I save the data via cloud storage, I don't need to think about occupy space and I don't need to bring the data anywhere.

           

5.2.2 Can access the data anywhere

Once we need the data, we can get them anywhere as long as we can connect the internet line. It can save the storage problem and also can access the data immediately. For example, I can finish my office’s work at home which is I can take the data via the internet.

5.2.3 Save money

It can solve the storage problem without adding our money as long as we don’t use over the limit for example, Google Drive gives 15GB free storage. If an organization uses Google Drive, they can save their budget as long as they do not use over 15GB.

 6.0 CONCLUSION

            In conclusion, the camera industry has developed faster and its effect on the new camera become more popular and less expensive. The advancing technology affects the camera digital not only used for capturing images but, also for recording videos.

When we want to choose a camera, we have to evaluate how much functionality we need. If we want to capture good quality images without too much hassle, we have to choose a compact camera. Meanwhile, if we are a photographer and consider the quality of images, we have to choose a DSLR camera.

The DSLR can consider as a good camera compares to the compact camera. However, it has disadvantages too. Because of the disadvantages, the compact camera is still relevant and owned by many people.

We can transfer the images from a memory card to a computer when the memory card has full and it can be used several times. However, both cannot overcome the storage problem too.

The cloud storage is one of the ways to overcome the storage problems. We can use it without pay anything as long as we don’t use it over the limit. It can save our data from disaster, stolen and lost. We can access the data anywhere as long as we can access the internet line.

Even though people have created many things to overcome the current technologies, problems and weaknesses still exist. As a user, we have to consider the pros and cons when we want to choose certain things to make sure we choose the correct product, suitable for our wants.

           

SOCIOLINGUISTICS

1. introduction

        Gender refers to sex. Sex is biological, either male or female. However, the term gender is more concerned on sociocultural behaviour rather than biological characteristic. 

Wikipedia (2018) stated that gender inequality is the idea and situation that women and men are not equal. It also refers to unequal treatment or perceptions of individuals wholly or partly due to their gender. It arises from differences in gender roles.

            Gender influences our language in many aspects and one of them is communication. Female and male speak in different ways and have talked differently since children. Sanow (2015) stated that men and women communicate differently. Although men and women speak the same language, we have differences in priorities, internal processing and behavior patterns. It is easy to misunderstand, misinterpret or simply not get where the other is coming from. To increase your ability to persuade, motivate, influence and get along, you must understand gender communication rules or gender codes for how men and women communicate. This in-turn will help you build rapport, relationship and connect.

            Language is an art and artefact of society. It is used for conversation, written and to express identity. It can be recreated, expanded and extended. Its constructs are based on sounds and symbols. Each symbol and sound has its own meaning. The most important symbol of language is words. It also has its rules like grammar. It is supported by Graham (2014) who stated that the symbols of language are words. By constructing words and stringing them together according to a set of rules – the grammar of the language – we are able to construct meaningful utterances.

2.0 GENDER INEQUALITY IS BUILT IN ALL HUMAN LANGUAGES

            I agree with the statement “Gender inequality is a phenomenon that is built into all human languages” because of several reasons. The reasons include the following:

 

2.1 Kelantan dialect among men is purer

If we look at how Kelantanese talk, a man tends to use pure Kelantan dialect compared to women. We can see when a man talks to his male friend, he tends to use the words ‘kawe’ and ‘demo’. He rarely talks by using “saya” vs. “awak”, “aku” vs. “mu” or “kamu”. This situation is different among Kelantan woman in which she also uses Kelantan dialect but not as pure as the man. She talks by using pronouns such as “saya” vs. “awak” or “aku” vs. “mu”. She rarely uses pure Kelantan words like “bedooh lalu”, “timbok”, “nate”, “pozek” and “berat nane”.

 

2.2 The level of education among female is higher than male

Nowadays, we can see that the women have higher education level than men. If we go to universities, we can see they are monopolized by women. If we go to schools, we can see that the cleverest classes are monopolized by girls. The Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 specifically mentioned the problem of ‘lost boys’, warning that these alienated youths are a potential source of social instability (Ministry of Education Malaysia, 2012). This situation will affect many sectors like education, manufacturing, political and so on.

The Ministry of Women and Family Development (2013) stated that the University of Malaya has been emblematic of the shift from female underrepresentation to forming the majority of undergraduates. Two years after independence, University of Malaya enrolled 77 female undergraduates, comprising a mere 10.7% of their total undergraduate student population, while the female undergraduate enrolment in 2012 was 61.6%. The drastic change in gender ratio has changed the discourse of educational inequity from enabling educational access to female students to ensuring equitable participation of males in education. So, this is one proof that the achievement of female in education is higher than male.

The gap of education achievement between male and female gives several effects on the style of language usage. Fabrega (2012) stated that an educated person has the ability to communicate thoughts and ideas in writing, clearly and concisely. So, that is why they do not like to talk unimportant things, babbling and talk too long. Female might feel bored if they are conversing with uneducated person. So, that is why female cannot be a close friend with uneducated person even though that person is her boyfriend. Majority of them will break up some day. Female who married uneducated person will feel incompatible with her spouse because of the language that he uses, lacking of knowledge in many things, does not know to entertain her properly and talks irrelevant matters. The situation is different when an educated person meets an educated person. It is supported by Fabrega (2012) who stated that an educated person understands human nature and has the ability to establish, maintain, and improve lasting relationships.

 

2.3 Men tend to use assertive language

            As we know, most of the men are strict in educating their child so, that is why they always use assertive sentences. For example, “finish your homework before 5pm”. They always use the assertive sentences at their office, for example, “I finished it yesterday”. It is supported by Bud (2015) who stated that women use less assertive tone which can be traced back to her upbringing. As little girls, women are taught to be polite, not aggressive or assertive. Men are encouraged and rewarded for aggressive tendencies when they are little boys. So, that is why they are different in attitude and the language usage.

            Women tend to use polite forms like “Would you mind ......”. The words and phrases are nicer and more polite. It is supported by Abdul Halim Ibrahim and Mariam Mohd Nor (2012) which stated that expressively polite forms such as please, I would be forever grateful, Would you please, If you don’t mind? are used more by women.

When she wants to refuse a request, she uses softener or polite phrases like:

“I'm sorry, I cannot attend the party tonight”

“I'm afraid, I don't have enough time this evening”. 

            The situation is the same when she wants to ask for permission like, “Could I borrow this pen please?”. Meanwhile, when she wants to ask something, she likes to use negative question form because it is more polite. For example, “Shouldn't we redesign the club logo?”. It looks like an indirect suggestion by changing the question into a negative question.

 

2.4 Giving of name

            Time influences us in choosing a suitable name for our daughter and son. People who live before independence time tend to use the Malay name for their baby like Melor, Mawar, Bawang Putih, Dewi, Awang and Mat Kilau. Then, they tend to use Arabic words for their babies’ names like Abdullah, Muhammad, Mansur, Sarimah, Khadijah and Fatimah. After several generations, people tend to use shorter names for their son or daughter like Azim, Anwar, Faizal, Salim, Azlina, Maslina and Hayati. We can see that people who were born in the 1980s and before have short and simple names.

Nowadays, people tend to use interesting and long names. It involves two, three or four words like Danial Haikal, Syafiq Aiman, Atiq Baihaki Darwisy, Farisya Idayu, Fasya Balqis, Nurul Ain Nurul Syuhada and Auni Insyirah. It is supported by Baby Centre (2012) which stated that there are quite a few newcomers to this year's top names for boys, including Aidan, Darwish, Umar, Amsyar and Alif. Other boys' names that are increasingly popular among BabyCenter parents are Aaron, Jayden and Isaac. Baby Centre (2012) added that when it comes to names for baby girls, this year's big gainer is Zara, which climbed three spots from last year's fifth to claim the second place.

We give different names for our daughter and son. We never give our daughter a name like Abdullah, Abdul Rahman and Syafiq. This situation is the same to our sons in which we do not give them names like Farisya, Hazwani and Diana. When we use Arabic names, we have to follow their culture, grammar and meaning.

                                                            

2.5 Malay style and title

            As we know, we use different title for different people depending on his or her status and also gender. That is because the Malay language has a complex system of styles, titles and honorifics, which are used extensively in Brunei and Malaysia (Wikipedia, 2018).

            We use different titles for a Muslim man and woman who have performed the hajj, that is ‘haji’ for man and ‘hajjah’ for women.

Another title is ‘Encik’. It is equivalent to ‘Mr.’ It can be used for all men. It is a formal title for a man. We use ‘Cik’ for unmarried woman. It is equivalent to ‘Miss’. Besides, we use ‘Puan’ for married woman which is equivalent to ‘Madam’.

We also use different title for a male and female of Malaysian Royalty. We use ‘Sultan’ or ‘Raja’ for male royalty whereas ‘Sultanah’ or ‘Permaisuri’ for female royalty. However, we use different titles for the country’s ruler that is ‘Yang di-Pertuan Agong’ for male and ‘Permaisuri Agong’ for his wife. He is elected among the nine heads of the royal families. Negeri Sembilan has used different titles for their ruler which is ‘Yang di-Pertuan Besar’. Meanwhile, Penang, Melaka, Sabah and Sarawak do not have royal titles. The title for the Head of the State (Governor) is ‘Yang di-Pertuan Negeri’.

There are several federal titles that exist in Malaysia. The federal titles have been granted by ‘Yang di-Pertuan Agong’ as awards which are honorary and non-hereditary. ‘Yang di-Pertuan Agong’ can revoke the titles or the individual can return it. Some of the federal titles are:

• ‘Tun’ is given by ‘Yang di Pertuan Agong’ for the most-deserving recipient who has highly contributed to the nation like Tun Dr Mahathir. The title for his wife is ‘Toh Puan’.
• ‘Tan Sri’ is the second-most senior federal title. His wife is called ‘Puan Sri’. Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh is one of the examples.
• ‘Datuk’ is limited to recipients of ‘Panglima Jasa Negara’ and ‘Panglima Setia Diraja’. It is given to a male while ‘Datin Paduka’ is for female. However, ‘Datuk’ and ‘Dato’’ are different. ‘Dato’’ is given by ‘Sultan’ while ‘Datuk’ is given by ‘Yang di-Pertuan Negeri’ which is the non-hereditary head of state. ‘Datin’ is the title for his wife.

 

In Malaysia, the ruler or governor state can grant state title awards for Malaysians and also foreigners. The state titles are:

• ‘Dato’ Sri’ or ‘Dato’ Seri’ is the highest state title who has contributed greatly to the nation or state. His wife is called ‘Datin Seri’. Dato’ Sri Najib and Datin Seri Haflin are some of the examples.
• ‘Dato Paduka’ is the most-common title awarded in Brunei. His wife is called as ‘Datin’. However, if the award is conferred on a woman in her own right, it is called ‘Datin Paduka’.
• ‘Pehin’ is used in Sarawak and Brunei like Tun Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib.

 

‘Abang’ is one of the Malay titles that can be inherited. The title is found in Sarawak. The title is from the family of ‘Datuk Patinggi’, ‘Datuk Temenggung’, ‘Datuk Bandar’ and ‘Datuk Iman’. The children of these state dignitaries carry the title ‘Abang’ for male and ‘Dayang’ for female.

‘Syed’ is one of the titles that can be found in Malaysia. It is inherited from the Prophet Muhammad via his grandson Hassan and Hussein. Female descendant is known as ‘Syarifah’.

‘Megat’ also is a title inherited by male descendant of ‘Pagaruyung Prince Megat Terawis’. He was the first Bendahara of Perak. His female descendant is known as ‘Puteri’. Besides, ‘Megat’ has been used by a half-blood royal male descendant of a female royal of Pahang.

We have the title ‘Wan’ in Pahang, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu. It is inherited to a son and daughter of a royal-family mother who has married with a commoner. An example of ‘Wan’ is Wan Azizah bt Wan Ismail.

Because of the different titles to male and female, this situation will produce many words in Malay language and enrich the language.

 

2.6 Kinship terms

Kinship term is used as a form in addressing and speaking with close people like family members and close friends. It has been used in Malay culture and also other cultures. We have to use the correct and proper kinship term to avoid people from labelling us as a rude person.

            In Malay language, we use different kinship terms to different gender. For instance, we use ‘ayah’, ‘abah’, ‘dady’, ‘papa’, ‘baba’, ‘walad’ and ‘abi’ for father (man). In English, they prefer call ‘father’ or ‘dad’. Father is our mother’s couple. He is the leader in a family. Father has produced many terms of words in the Malay language.

Mother also produced many terms of words in our culture like ‘mami’, ‘mama’, ‘ma’, ‘mak’, ‘ibu’, ‘umi’ and ‘mek’. Mother is someone who born us. In English, we call ‘mum’.

Besides, we use ‘kak’, ‘kak long’, ‘kak ngah’ and ‘kakak’ for sister. Sister is a girl or woman who has the same parents as us while a boy or man who has the same parents as us is our brother. We call him ‘abang’, ‘abang long’ and ‘abang ngah’.

 Words like ‘mak cik’ (untie), ‘pak cik’ (uncle), ‘mak sepupu’, ‘pak sepupu’, ‘nenek’ (grandma), ‘datuk’ (grandpa), ‘nenek saudara’ and ‘datuk saudara’ are also other types of kinship terms. They are also called as gender-specific common nouns.

 

2.7 Women tend to use more standard language than men

            Trotta (2012) stated that in linguistics, non-standard language usage is defined as any language usage that differs from the officially recognized prestige language variant as it is used primarily in written language and formal speech situations. Example of non-standard language is Penang dialect and Terengganu dialect.

            Not everyone agrees that the women tend to use standard language than men but many investigations have shown this and the evidence for it is very powerful. It is supported by Kyduyen Nguyen Tran (2016) who stated that female speakers tend to use more prestige forms than males. In all styles, women tend to use fewer stigmatized forms than men. In formal contexts, women seem to be more sensitive to prestige patterns than men.

 

2.8 Respond

            People like to give minimal respond to something unimportant. Minimal response is paralinguistic features like "mm", "uh-huh", “I agree”, “okay”, “no” and "yeah". They are used to show support to a speaker and also to give the speaker a sign that he or she can continue to talk.

            Female thinks that male tends to use minimal respond more than male but as a matter of fact, many studies have shown that women like to use minimal responses more frequently and more appropriately than men. It is supported by a research conducted by Hiba Tawfiq Abu Al Rub (2017) that showed 82.5% of his female respondents like to use minimal respond compared to 17.5% of male respondents.

 

2.9 Morphology

            Morphology is the study of words formation. There are many English words take the male form. When the words are used for female, they have to add suffix like lioness, stewardess, actress, princess, waitress, duchess and widower. However, they never add suffix for new word nowadays. It is supported by Debuk (2015) who stated that by the 1980s feminine suffixes were already less common than they had been 30 years earlier, and in the last 30 years their decline has continued. They survive in older words which are still frequently used, like actress, princessand heroine (and also in some less frequently used, ‘exotic’ items like dominatrix), but they aren’t generally added to new terms: there’s no such thing as a coderess, for instance, or an online moderatrix.

 

 

3.0 CONCLUSION

 

            In conclusion, male and female use different words, phrases and sentences when talking and writing. The differences build our language. They give effects on the existence of variety words because we have to use different word to different gender like “abang”, “datin”, “syarifah” and “ayah”. So, when we talk about certain words, we already know that the words are for certain gender.

            Gender also influences the sentence style like “Bakpo demo tok royak kawe demo nak gi KL”. Kelantan male tends to use pure Kelantan dialect. So, this situation affects the existence of sentence style. Usually Kelantan woman says “Bakpo awak tok royak saya, awak nak gi KL”. The different styles of talking show that gender influences the usage of language.

            Different gander has different attitudes. These attitudes influence our language. Female was born with softer characters than male so, she likes to use softer words, phrases and sentences. That is because her attitude influences the usage of words, phrases and sentences and also intonation. Male tends to use assertive sentences because he is born with an aggressive attitude.

            The gap of academic achievement between male and female influences our language. Female tends to use the standard language compared to male because she has better academic achievement than male. So, this situation will give effect to many sectors in our country like politics and economics since female will dominate those sectors.