http://www.siam2.com/jukebox/pop-player.php?id=552

ความรักของคนบางคนอาจเริ่มความเป็นเพื่อนที่ค่อย ๆ สนิทกันมากขึ้น มากขึ้น

คุยไปคุยมาเราก็ชักเริ่มรู้สึกว่าไม่เคยคุยกับใครได้มากเท่านี้มาก่อนในชีวิตแล้ว

 "คนรัก"

แค่ไม่กี่เดือนอยู่ ๆ ก็เกิดหมดเรื่องคุยกันขึ้นมากะทันหัน

เรียกร้องกันมากขึ้นพูดอะไรก็ผิดหูกันไปหมด

 ยิ่งพยายามยิ่งเหมือนกลายเป็นคนแปลกหน้า

พอตัดสินใจว่าจะเลิกต่างคนก็ต่างเสียดายห่างกันได้ไม่กี่วันก็กลับมาคบกันอีก

จนวันหนึ่งก็รู้สึกว่าถึงแม้เราจะคบกันเป็นแฟนไม่ได้

 ทำไมเราถึงจะต้องเสียเพื่อนที่ดีที่สุดคนหนึ่งไปด้วยล่ะ

 ในที่สุดเราสองคนก็กลับมาเป็นเพื่อนสนิทกันเหมือนเดิม

มันเหมือนมีช่องว่างดี ๆ ที่ทำให้เราต่างคนต่างได้หายใจ

ในสายตาคนอื่นที่เฝ้ามองเราไม่มีใครเชื่อ

ถามว่ายังรักไหมก็ตอบได้อย่างไม่ลังเลอีกเหมือนกันว่า รัก"

เขายังเป็นคนคนเดียวที่เรารู้สึกว่าคือคนที่จะคุยกันไปได้ตลอดชีวิต

แต่ที่เป็นไปได้สำหรับเราสองคน  ก็คงแค่เป็นได้แค่ เป็น

 "คนพิเศษ"  ของกันและกันอย่างที่เป็นอยู่ทุกวันนี้เท่านั้นเอง

http://en-light.com/V2/p/01_Diary.html

“ จงรักกันและกัน  แต่อย่าสร้างพันธะแห่งความรัก
และขอให้ความรักนั้น เป็นเสมือนห้วงสมุทรอันเคลื่อนไหวอยู่
ระหว่างฝั่งแห่งวิญญาณของเธอทั้งสอง
จงเติมถ้วยของกันและกัน แต่อย่าดื่มจากถ้วยเดียวกัน
จงให้ขนมปังแก่กัน แต่อย่ากัดกินจากก้อนเดียวกัน
จงร้องและเริงรำด้วยกัน และจงมีความบันเทิง
แต่ขอให้แต่ละคน ได้มีโอกาสอยู่โดดเดี่ยว
ดังเช่นสายพิณนั้น ต่างอยู่โดดเดี่ยว
แต่ว่าสั่นสะเทือนด้วยทำนองดนตรีเดียวกัน
จงมอบดวงใจ แต่มิใช่ต่ออีกฝ่ายหนึ่ง
เพราะหัตถ์แห่งชีวิตอมตะเท่านั้น ที่จะรับดวงใจของเธอไว้ได้
และจงยืนอยู่ด้วยกัน แต่ว่าอย่าใกล้กัน อยู่ห่างกัน
เพราะว่าเสาของวิหารนั้น ก็ยืนอยู่ห่างกัน
และต้นโพธิ์ ต้นไทร ก็ไม่อาจเติบโตใต้ร่มเงาของกันได้ ”

Atipat Boonmoh

Jonathan Hull

Wareesiri Singhasiri

“Ah, ‘different, difference’ I know that they are different but when I have to write by myself, I was not sure. I know that ‘/kuam some rej/' is equivalent to ‘success’ in English but I don’t know whether I have to write ‘success’, ‘successful’, ‘successfully’ or something like this”. 

                                                                                  (Subject D, Think Aloud)

Introduction

Writing in a foreign language can be problematic for many language learners.  The learners might encounter several problems from the beginning – brainstorming, grouping, outlining, drafting, editing – to the end.  One of those major problems is many foreign language learners cannot write essays directly in English; some of them need to write a draft in their mother tongue first before translating it into English. This problem is also found in Thailand. Boonmoh (2003) mentions in his study that, because of translation, the students’ writing contained many mistakes, both in terms of forms and meanings. Basically, we assumed that the mistakes might arise from insufficient linguistic and lexical knowledge. However, from classroom observation, we have found that the tool which the students used to help them while translating is a dictionary, particularly, an electronic one.  From this evidence, it strikes us that firstly whether electronic dictionary is good enough to be used as a 'translator'. Secondly, the problems might come from the students themselves because they might not know how to use it efficiently.  This article will, therefore, discuss problems that Thai students had when they used electronic dictionaries to translate Thai written essays into English.  The problems will be divided into two parts which are the problem in terms of the electronic dictionaries themselves and in terms of the users of electronic dictionaries. Possible solutions will also be discussed as we assume that the students and teachers from other countries may have the same problems as Thais do. In addition, the suggested solutions may be applicable to other learning and teaching contexts.    

The Study

The instruments used for this study were questionnaire, written essays, verbal reports (think aloud), retrospective interviews, and observation check sheets.  The questionnaire was used to help the researcher choose the subjects in the study. They should be the ones who wrote the first draft in Thai and translated it into English by using electronic dictionaries. The subjects were 6 undergraduate students who studied LNG 101, Fundamental English I, as a compulsory English course in the first semester of 2003 at King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, Thailand.   These 6 selected subjects were asked to write an English essay according to what they reported they usually do when they are given written assignments from their English teachers, i.e. write a draft in Thai first then translate into English.  Their electronic dictionaries were the only technical support they were allowed to use while they were producing English essays.  After the subjects finished writing their essays, the researcher analyzed the think aloud protocols, interview transcripts and observation check sheets so as to find problems they had and strategies they used to try to solve the problems. The versions of electronic dictionaries that the used in this research study were ‘Super Smart’ (1983/2001) and ‘Super King’ (1996/2002) from TalkingDict by Union Sense Ltd.

Problems Found from Electronic Dictionaries

From the analysis of think-aloud report and dictionary examining, the researchers found out that the dictionaries themselves created a lot of problems.  In other words, the electronic dictionaries that the subjects used were not as helpful as they should have been.  Table 1 reports the problems and possible solutions for electronic dictionary compilers.  

Table 1: Problems of Electronic Dictionaries                  

Problems of Users of Electronic Dictionaries

            Apart from the problems found in the electronic dictionaries themselves, it is  interesting to learn that the subjects themselves also have problems in finding the targeted words.  Types of students’ problems and possible solutions will be discussed in Table 2. 

Table 2: Problems of Users of Electronic Dictionaries

Additional Tips for Dictionary Training  

We have reported several problems of using electronic dictionaries and also suggest ways to solve in particular problems. This section will, therefore, provide teachers some further suggestions for training students to use electronic dictionaries. 

·        Be aware of choosing types of dictionaries: Discuss with them about types of dictionaries they should use for a particular task.  Inform the students that electronic dictionaries are more likely to be useful with reception, that is when they want to read something and need to find the meaning quickly.  On the other hand, for production where accuracy is concerned, they might need monolingual printed dictionaries to help them.

·        Analyze similarities and differences between an electronic dictionary and a printed dictionary: Guide students to analyse them in terms of functions, format, or ways meanings are given.  This dictionary analysis will let them have higher awareness when they want to use electronic dictionaries.  Moreover, they might know some advantages and disadvantages of both types of dictionaries and, thus, be able to determine to what extent they can make use of their electronic dictionaries. For example, due to the limitation of screen space in electronic dictionaries, the users may view only the entry and its translation with part of speech.  This narrows learning since there might be only a few translations provided on screen.  If the users want to see other related information or grammatical information of that word, they have to click other buttons. In addition, some dictionaries have low capacity to store large numbers of vocabulary items due to the memory provided, thus the students may not be able to see sample sentences, word explanations, collocations or even synonyms. On the other hand, a printed dictionary enables the users to see at least a double-page spread with other words from the same family, idioms, common phrases and phrasal verbs related to the same entry. If possible, show them the advantages of each type. For example, an electronic dictionary might be portable since it has light weight. However, in case of efficient consultation, a printed one is a better alternative.

·        Train specific skills: Be aware that training students to use electronic dictionaries should be different from training them to use printed dictionaries.  This is because “the electronic dictionary requires different skills or habits than those required by the printed dictionary.  These skills resemble ‘computer skills,’ which usually do not take long to master.  On the contrary, ‘dictionary skills,’ demands lots of skimming and scanning as well as reading especially in the monolingual dictionaries” (Koren, 1997, p. 10).

·        Study dictionary functions: Ask students to study the electronic dictionary functions carefully.  It would be beneficial to the students to know how to operate each function in the first place. Make sure that the students know how to use important functions related to word look-ups.  For instance, the students should know how to find synonyms, antonyms, or verb inflections of the target word.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is seen that one of the problems occurred when writing in a foreign language is the problem of using dictionaries.  Moreover, knowing that electronic dictionaries are becoming popular for Thai students and that depending too much on them might cause students problems.  Teachers should, therefore, train their students to be aware of the limitations of electronic dictionaries and encourage them to use printed monolingual dictionaries or CD-Rom monolingual dictionaries.  However, if the students insist on using electronic dictionaries, it is important for teachers to train them how to make maximum use of them and to train them effective strategies to search for words.

Reading List

Boonmoh, A., 2003. Problems With Using Electronic Dictionaries to Translate Thai Written Essays into English, Master’s Thesis, Master of Arts, English Language Teaching, School of Liberal Arts, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi.

Koren, S. 1997. Quality Versus Convenience: Comparison of Modern Dictionaries from the Researcher’s, Teacher’s and Learner’s Points of View, Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language. Vol. 2 No. 3 (Online), Available: http://www-writing.berkeley.edu/TESL-EJ/ej07/a2.html pp. 5-10

Super King Talking-Dict, 1996/2002. Oxford Compact English Dictionary, First Edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Super Smart Talking-Dict, 1983/2001. Concise American Heritage, based on the Second College Edition: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Thompson, G. 1987. Using Bilingual Dictionaries. ELT Journal. Vol.41 No.4 p. 282-286.

Atipat Boonmoh graduated with a Master’s Degree in Applied Linguistics (English Language Teaching) from Department of Applied Linguistics, School of Liberal Arts, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT), Thailand.  He is working as a lecturer of English at the same place after he graduated.

Dr. Jonathan Hull has his PhD. from the University of Glasgow.  He is an English lecturer at the Department of Applied Linguistics, School of Liberal Arts, KMUTT, Thailand.

Dr. Wareesiri Singhasiri received her PhD. from the University of Essex.  She teaches a variety of courses to undergraduate and graduate ELT students at the Department of Language, School of Liberal Arts, KMUTT, Thailand.

This is Atipat or ‘ArTy’.  It’s been a long while after I wrote the first email to you.  I hope you enjoyed your Christmas and New Year Holidays na krub.  I would like to take this opportunity to wish you a Happy New Year, happiness in your life, and success in whatever you are pursuing na krub.  May this new year be the prosperous year for you krub. 

I would like to update some parts of my life so far na krub.  I am fine here.  I think I am getting used to a lot of things in this country: the bland food, the unpredictable weather, and the people. 

For my study, I attended one Ed.D. module ‘Research in English Language Education’ in term one (Sep to Dec).  I learned about three research paradigms: positivism, constructivism, and critical discourse analysis.  I also learned research traditions.  I met my supervisor every ten day.  She asked me to keep reading at least one article and write a critique.  She is very nice and energetic.  This term, she suggested me attend another Ed.D. module ‘Research Methodology’.  I can choose one MA module to study but I do not know which one to choose yet. 

Classmates- there are only four PhD students and seven Ed.D. students.  There are two Thai Ed.D students.  Both of them are from Chulalongkorn University.

For food, I would not worry.  Although I am one of the worst cooks, I still feel that my food is much tastier than the British one.  I am being a bit judgmental here.  My all time favorite menus are dark fried rice (with soya sauce), yellow fried rice (with Lobo instant ingredient, red fried rice (with ketchup), brown fried rice (with chilli paste).   I cook every other day to save time.  I become addicted to Ovaltine mixed with a little coffee and condensed milk.  I drink it every day (breakfast and before going to bed). 

Friends – there are a lot of Thai students at the university.  Most (if not all) of them stay in en suite accommodation while I am the only one who stays far from them.  In my flat, there are 12 people: 6 male and 6 female.  (4 from the UK, 3 from China, 1 from Hong Kong, 1 from Turkey, 1 from Kenya, and me from Thailand)  We get along very well.  I first started to cook Thai food for them in the third week.  Then it becomes like a tradition. So far we threw four kitchen parties.  The last one was the Christmas party by the British people. 

Leisure – I applied for a full membership of the Sport Centre.  I normally play badminton with a group of Thai PhD students every Sunday, and my Chinese flatmate every Wednesday.  It is very relaxing.  I sometimes go swimming.  The sport centre is just 50 metres away from my room.  So it is very very very convenient for me.  My accommodation is near to everything.  A few minutes walk to study building, Tesco, Post office, Student Union, bus stop – and a few seconds walk to the sport centre. 

Hobby – I am one of the three teaching staff.  I am a member of Thai Student Society.  The society organizes Free Thai lessons to any one who is interested in learning Thai.  So I volunteer to be a lecturer without hesitation.  I want to learn how to teach Thai since I have never taught it before.  It is very challenging and good in a way that I become more aware of my own language and know what kind of problems learners might have. 

Trips – this is a very very interesting topic to talk about.  I have been to the following places so far

Cambridge –

Oxford –

London – Buckingham, London Eye, Tower Bridge, China Town,

Stratford Upon Avon – Shakespeare birth place, a Shakespeare play

Nottingham – shopping with Aj. Pattamawan

Bath – a Roman Bath

Stonehenge – one the seven wonders

Exeter

Bristol

Reading – Aj. Pu’s uni

For Europe, I have been to Italy: (Verona, Venice, Pisa, Rome), and will go to Netherlands on January the 4^th to 7^th. 

If you want to know how I look at the moment, you may want to see my pictures at either

my msn space http://spaces.msn.com/members/AnOrdinaryOne/

or at this web board   http://www.pantown.com/board.php?id=11872&name=board1&topic=106&action=view 

(ไปเที่ยวอิตาลีกันไหม Let\\'s go to Italy)

I wish everyone good health and success for the next year krub.

Atipat,