Another reason to rejoice

8 May 2007

"Rejoice with those who rejoice!" (The Apostle Paul)
Today I have presented my paper at KOLITA (the Annual Atma Jaya Linguistics Conference). Finally! There goes one burden.
My paper, probably too Christian-minded, received two important comments. One was by a lecturer from Petra Christian University who is researching various versions of the Bible. Another one is from a researcher from SIL (Summers Institute of Linguistics) International. She is an American who have lived in Indonesia for 25 years. Her interest is translating the Bible. I used to dream as a young university student that someday I would help translating the Bible. Well, who knows the dream may still be possible to achieve.
Other than that, I had the chance to speak to a Professor from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia who is interested in Computer Assisted Language Learning. I always have this negative perspective about the use of information and computer technology in education for various studies do not support the the argument that technology is beneficial for learning. He, on the other hand, was very positive about that. He suggested that the variables that influence the effectiveness of ICT in education should not be down graded. Therefore, various studies that have shown that ICT is not useful, do not prove anything yet. We still need comprehensive research that would take into account all variables related to Computer Assisted Language Learning. This seems like a very good topic for research and discussion. I bet Pak Agus Santoso from UPH is going to be interested in this matter and would like to talk to that Professor from UKM.
Overall, I think participating at KOLITA is useful. It opened me to many new links and new research interests.
So, wait for my next papers which will investigate future time perspective theory application for TOEFL students and another one hopefully about education (still no idea at all, but really need to submit the paper to Sampoerna Foundation soon), and the last one is about Pendangkalan Nilai-Nilai Kekristenan dalam Novel Populer Kristen: Suatu Kajian Novel Picisan. That probably would not be the title, but it is a very interesting topic, and I do not know yet how to translate that into English. Any idea anyone?