Islamization of Knowledge in “A Room with a View” by E.M Forster
Literally,
Islamization of knowledge is a terminology that describes a variety of
approaches to create the ethics of Islam with various subjects of modern
thoughts. These subjects are such as English literature, linguistics,
psychology and others. A prominent Malaysian scholar, namely Syed Muhammad
Naquib al-Attas coined the phrase “Islamization of Knowledge” in his famous
writing, “Islam and Secularism”. Later on, it was again proposed by a Palestinian
philosopher, Ismail Raji al-Faruqi in 1982. In English Literature 20th
Century and Contemporary (ENGL 3040) class, students are exposed to various
plays, novels and poems. This assignment is significant because it is a step
towards the Islamization of the curriculum in ensuring that what is learnt in
English Literature 20th Century and Contemporary subject is
reflected with the Islamic worldview. It is crucial for educational purposes
and it promotes better understanding of Islam as a religion.
The
novel that we are focusing on is “A Room with a View”, a medieval English
narrative written by E.M Forster. There are quite a number of themes presented
in this novel. Since it is a novel that depicts the lifestyle of French and
English people, Islamization can be applied at almost all parts of the
themes.
Firstly,
the novel discusses on the rights of women in the society. Lucy Honeychurch,
the central character of the novel, was not given the opportunity to make her
own choice upon whom she will marry and who she thinks is the best for her.
This act is totally contradicted as compared to Islamic point of view since
Islam views men and women at the same level. Therefore, according to Islamic
teachings and jurisprudence, women should be given the choice in determining
their own destinies as long as it does not astray from the teaching of the
religion.
Secondly,
E.M Forster presents the theme of repressed sexuality in the English community
back in the 19th Century. Repressed sexuality is also known as sexual
ethics that is a state in which a person is prevented from expressing their
sexuality. Sexual repression is very subjective and it varies greatly between
cultures and moral systems. This is opposed to the French society in Florence in which the
people are more open in discussing and dealing with sexual matter.
Finally,
through this novel, readers have the chance to explore more about Italy and England
because the novel is set in Florence and London. It reveals to
readers the significance of these places and it opens our minds to ponder and
explore the beauty of nature as described by E.M Forster. During Lucy’s visit
to Italy,
many interesting places are mentioned in the novel such as the churches, museum
and etcetera. As Islam always encourages mankind to explore the creation of the
Almighty, this novel never fails to open our minds in imagining and witnessing
beautiful places and wonderful nature in most of its settings.
This summary is based on the article
entitled “Blogging in teacher professional development: Its role in building
computer-assisted language teaching skills” written by Puvaneswary Murugaiah et
al (2010). The goal of the study is to reveal teachers’ involvement in
practicing the usage of multimedia and computer technology in assisting them in
learning and teaching processes. It aims to explain on how English language
teachers in Smart Schools[1] exposed to technical
skills that is required to teach in technology-enriched schools. This skill is
the process of teaching through blogging in an English community.
As
mentioned by Puvaneswary (cited in McLaughlin and Oberman, 1996) computer
functions as a teacher in gaining and understanding new concepts of content and
pedagogy as well as the new role of educator that it plays. According to Hampel
and Stickler (2005), their skills pyramid[2] explained that in Level 3,
the computer that plays the function as online teacher must be able to confront
any obstacles and possibilities of the approach that they use. Computer also
plays role as pupil when students are given the opportunities to engage in
knowledge exploration, information exchange and individual knowledge
enhancement when they utilize computer as partner in solving the given task
(Liaw et al, 2008). Farmer (2007) also agrees with this point when he explained
that computer users connect with each other by expressing their ideas and
emotions through blogging. On the other hand, computer functions as tool in
Level 1 of the skills pyramid (Hampel and Stickler, 2005) when it shows that
computer applications are used in order to assist students in competing their
tasks. For example, the usages of word processing and internet. In Level 2, the
skills acquired at this level are correlated with computer being product and
also process oriented. For example, the process of using specific software
resemble that computer can be a medium of process oriented while the outcome is
product oriented. It is proven by Barlett-Bragg (cited in Muwangga-Zake et al,
2010) that through product oriented, blogging is proven to have the potential
to enhance students’ higher order thinking skills (critical and creative
thinking). According to Snyder and Briggs (2003), computer can be a medium of
discovery learning in which students can solve problems, share ideas, build
strategies and develop relationships with other members. Through discovery
learning, computer helps students in their professional growth and also
professional development of teachers.
As pointed by Yang (2009), blogging
serves as a platform for student-centered learning. It means that
learner-centered approach encourages student to have multiple perspectives upon
a subject matter. Added by Farmer (2007), it is important that students have
multiple perspectives because knowledge is obtained from diverse nationalities,
cultures and characters. Authentic use of language is applied in blogging as
students exercise to express their personal statements through networks. This
is proven by Efimova and Fiedler (2003) that this exercise enriches the
collaborative learning process which requires the blogger to practice using
proper language.
Methodology
The method that this project used
involved twenty teachers from five Smart Schools located in the Klang Valley
and the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur. From twenty of the teachers, there
are five female teachers from the English language community. Their teaching
experiences had been ranged from five to eighteen years and four of them
experienced ten years of teaching. In order to make them know each other
better, two meetings had been arranged.
These meetings are arranged to specify their tasks in the group during
the project time. As the project is designed with its own aims, the number of
group members is smaller, for example, from five to eight people.
Teachers are invited to have
face-to-face meetings in order to form a strong relationships between them and
get to know each other. In this online project, specifically blogging activity,
participants are required to post blog entries on two tasks regarding their
teaching practices which are about the reflection of a lesson whether they are
good or poor. Then, teachers have to participate in a discussion forum to
discuss or give comments about posts that had been posted by their
friends. Basically this blogging
activity was conducted within five months time and there are moderators that
involved giving them mental and emotional supports.
Findings
The
three main findings that are highlighted in this article are the exposure to
skills, enhancement of existing skills and the other one is sharing and
collaborating through blogging. This
project assists the teachers to be exposed to new skills besides enhancing
their existing skills on online system. In addition, by sharing and
collaborating in blogging activity, they also can get the support from friends
of the group.
There are seven levels of skills that
they can get from the blogging activity which are the basic of ICT competency, specific
technical competence for the software, dealing with constrains and
possibilities of the medium, online socialization, facilitating communicative
competence, creativity and choice and the last one is acquiring own style. Teachers should have basic information
technology skills for example the emailing system and browsing skills. It leads
to the possibilities of the medium to bring positive emotions to the students.
Moreover, online socialization deals with interaction in which will develop
communicative competence. From the previous skills, teachers will produce
creativity and have choices for the interesting activity and it will leads to
the teacher’s own style.
Obviously, this project provides
teachers with an opportunity to learn about competence which is always expected
from the teachers nowadays. Besides, it polishes their existing competence thus
it helps them to build their self-confidence in implementing new technology in
educational system.
According to the article, the findings
of the project also consist of the enhancement of existing skills and sharing
and collaborating through blogging. This
project creates a common platform or as a medium for the teachers to share
their opinions, thoughts and feelings about computer assisted language
learning, for example, the methods to teach students by using computer or
internet. Through the entries in blog
and further comments or discussions, some solutions can be made and implemented
in teaching system. The ongoing interactions build strong connection between
the teachers involved in which they always share common feeling and give
support to each other. From that, they
will be more confident in making a decision about computer learning and
application.
The use of computer technology in
assisting language learning improves students’ participation and excitement in
learning language. It also requires the teachers to convey their knowledge in a
more creative way. Simultaneously, they may enhance students’ higher order
thinking skills in acquiring the knowledge of language learning. From this
article, we can clearly see that the writer agrees that computer can be made as
teacher, pupil and tool in teaching and learning processes. It promotes
different approaches in acquiring language and also improves their
understanding towards the subject that they are learning.
Implications
There
are some implications of blogging in computer assisted language teaching. First
of all, it provides opportunities for the teachers themselves to learn about
the computer, especially in blogging fields because computer is part of
technology. It is for the teachers to simplify their methods in teaching and
learning processes, either present or in the future. Another implication is it
enhances the interaction between teachers and students. Nowadays, blogging has
becomes one of the famous activities among youth and elder people. This enables
teachers to deliver their teachings well, and students are capable of asking
anything about the subject that they do not understand at any time.
Furthermore, it also enhances the interaction between the teacher and the
students. As a blogger, they are also known as community of practice and by
this, they are still in learning process and share their knowledge through
blogging, and this is one of the benefits that the teachers will get. Last but
not least, it can improve the teachers and students’ knowledge regarding the
technology itself through blogging.
[1] Smart School is a
school that is fully-equipped with facilities that are technology-supported for
students.
[2] Skills pyramid is
identified by Hampel and Stickler and it presents the competency of computer
application in assisting learning process by the teacher.
Reference:
Murugaiah, Puvaneswary . "Blogging in teacher professional development: Its role in building computer-assisted language teaching skills." International Journal of Education and Development using Information and Communication Technology (IJEDICT) 6.3 (2010): 73-87. Print.
English Literature 20th Century and Contemporary is the literature produced beginning World War 1 to the modern era.
Among various subjects discussed in class, we are focusing on only one significant novel that is relevant with the theme given which is, 'A Room With A View' written by E.M Forster.
The novel is written in 1908, and it was set in Italy (Florence) and England (Surrey).
The story is both romance and also critique of the English society at the beginning of the 20th century.
The image of the front page of the novel, "A Room with A View"
E.M Forster
The themes discussed in the novel are ;
repressed sexuality
freedom from institutional religion
rights of women
true love
growing up
nudity
Theme of the Blog
Normally when we open our windows, we can see beautiful
views from the room.
As it is the major concern of the novel, therefore,
we choose a template that portrays the wonderful views outside the room
and how it can inspire our lives.
This view proves to us that we should be thinking out
of the box and not conformed to traditional ways of thinking because it assists
in building our personality.
The choice of colors used is to enhance the reader’s
and bloggers’ interests in Literature. Rather than assuming it as a
tedious subject matter to be discussed, the blog shows how interesting the
subject of Literature is.
Why do we choose
English Literature: 20th Century and Contemporary?
We choose English Literature: 20th Century and
Contemporary because this subject deals with various kinds of literary works
and it keeps developing throughout the century. For example, T.S Eliot, George
Bernard Shaw, Samuel Beckett and others
respectively used different methods in conveying their thoughts and emotions to
readers.
Other than that, by learning this subject, we are exposed
to many legacies that reflect the condition of women in the society by the time
women suffrage movement took place. For example, a play written by G.B Shaw
entitled, “Major Barbara” and a novel
by E. M. Forster namely, “A Room with a
View”.
In addition, this subject also reflects the importance of
war poets in contributing the stories behind the wars (World War I, World War
II, Cold War, etc.) through the war poets’ masterpieces. These poets are such
as; Wilfred Owen, Sigfried Sassoon, Isaac Rosenberg and others. Throughout
their poems, students are able to learn how wars destructed the institution of
nations. We also realized that human beings should be living in peace and
harmony as war is not the solution to any problem that we faced.
