ESL Website Evaluation

1.       What does the website attempt to “teach”? Are exercises included in the website? What are the types of exercise included? Are there immediate feedbacks? Are there different levels of difficulty for different proficiency levels?

     

The website is basically attempting to teach English generally. However, I have chosen to narrow down my evaluation to look at the component of grammar learning for ESL learners. This website is quite interesting and well organized. It is created to teach the learners on how to use the grammar, know the forms and functions, know the learning strategies, use the exercises and even use some tips to teach grammar. These components are expected to help the learner to improve their grammatical skills and use the knowledge in other occasions. The website covers many aspects of grammar learning including the part of the speech, the forms and the usage of them all. Not just that, it shows that there is comprehensive language learning as grammar is taught separately and the instructions are quite clear for every lessons. Fortunately too, the components of the grammar are taught with explanations and examples. So, the learners can learn and comprehend easily.

          The website does provide exercises regarding to the lessons. But unfortunately, the exercises are in the form of immediate questions from the lessons’ videos. However, on the bright side, the other forms of exercise that is quizzes are provided. The quizzes are in the form of normal online exercises that only require HTML. The worksheet-like quizzes can be answered within ample time for learners to think and they will get immediate feedback. For example, the answer should be checked just by clicking at the “answer” box. The questions are multiple-choice questions so; the learners will know his or her answer straight away. The website does also provide different level of difficulty that suits up to different proficiency level. However, it links to other website for ESL learning that is “a4esl.org” as the website didn’t generate its own questions.

2.         What are the learners/visitors required to do with regards to learning the content of the website?

      The website is very easy to access by any normal internet users. It does not require any subscription fee or registration account for access. It is free and the benefits give a fair share of its lesson. They just have to enter the website’s address or URL link then they will be taken to the site immediately. It has a very friendly interface, neatly arranged categories and components and also easy to handle. The wordings are clear but the advertisements at the sides of the site are a bit distracting. But if the learners just ignore them, then it would not be a problem at all. On the other hand, the website uses calming colours of white and blue as the theme so it has a soothing vibe there. Not just that, the arrangements are so neat and organized so the learners can easily use the website without getting lost to what they have to click in order to use it. The explanations of the lesson are quite clear and not too lengthy. The examples are on point and can be easily understood by all of the level as I go through many of them.Bottom of Form

3.          While you are going through the website, does it remind you of anything you do in classroom, or with a teacher, or with a fellow classmate, or in self-study?

     As I go through the website, I found out that it reminds me of things I have learnt in my English class. Since it involves component of grammar, I remember how I have learnt many things from the same language learning class. This is especially through some of the videos of how to pronounce the English words and the grammatical rules. Although I didn’t always learn the grammar through the websites all the time, but there are certainly some of them which I know I had used before. It doesn’t matter whether in my own classroom at school, with fellow classmates in lectures and during self-study, I still think that this kind of learning is very beneficial and I sometimes use them to help with my language learning especially with my grammar.

4.          Does the website present learners with something that cannot be done in a textbook/workbook? If yes, how so.

     I do agree that this website partially presents the learners with something that cannot be done in a textbook or workbook. This is because online exercises can give out immediate feedback which no books could do the same. Apart from that, the website uses direct links to videos of pronunciation and animated grammar lessons. Books have CD ROM but learners rarely used them, as media and ICT is not a preferable method of teaching grammar at school. But despite the existent of abundance of grammar learning websites around the world, I still think that nothing is comparable to books and exercises that can be used physically. It is the most popular traditional method or teaching grammar and it benefits both teachers and learners.

     But on the other side of it, the online learning website like this one does give different feel towards learning grammar. For example, this website is quite organized, interesting and easy to access. It does make a lesson more interesting and time-saving lessons as the learners don’t have to move from one place to another just to learn. It can also maximize and develop the skills of using ICT in daily life in order to learn new lessons.

5.          Can you pinpoint some theories of language learning and/or teaching underlying the application?

     I think the website has utilized some theories that are quite useful in learning language and grammar in general. It uses the theory of behaviorism, which the learners or visitors can achieve through the process of drilling. Such exercises that this website provides, can somehow lead to rote learning. This is some of the examples of how repetition of exercises can prepare the learners to be engaged with the familiar format of grammatical rules. Moreover, I think this website uses a theory of direct method where it portrays real-life objects and other visual materials as the aids, teaching grammar by using an inductive approach and focus on question-answer patterns like the multiple-choice questions in the quizzes. Not just that, the learners are given immediate questions to be responded, as they need to think and relate with the lessons that they have learnt in the website. Sadly, some of the exercises that I have gone through are not authentic enough for the students to relate in their real life situations especially for Malaysian visitors.

6.         An important criterion for evaluating a CALL program, task or activity is the potential for language language learning. Does the website fulfill this criterion? If yes, how so?

     Yes, this website has some potential for language learning. But I believe that this potential can be expanded if the website can add more interesting features that can make learning more meaningful. Moreover, the public can easily access this website, so using it is not a problem at all. It also provides clear explanation and brief examples. The exercises provided are also related to the lesson and the quizzes are categorized according to the level of proficiency, which will make it easier to be done by the learners.

7.         Would you like to use the application yourself in your future work?

Yes? Give reasons:

No? Give reasons:

     Yes, I would like to use the application myself in the future. Although it is not as complicated and impactful like some other websites do, but why not? I could always edit and adapt the content in order to adjust to my needs in teaching my future students. This website is as simple as it can be and easy to be handle. I would probably recommend my students to use this as one of their practices in learning ESL.

My First blogpost!!!

1.       Hi there beautiful readers (if I have one)! My name is Fifiyatul Najwa binti Fouzi and I come from Kemaman, Terengganu. I was born on 13 January 1992 and have been living my life in the east coast until now (except I am studying in Shah Alam now). Currently, I am in my last semester for my final year in UiTM.
2.       I am a novice techno-person as I am currently pacing my life towards understanding technology more. I do have a few gadgets but I am no match to people who keep updating their devices.
3.       Computer software that I know is the ones built-in the computer like Microsoft Office, photo editor etc. meanwhile hardware are more physical like motherboard, hard drives, discs and thumb drives.
4.       Yes, I have experienced many learning process via computer ever since I was a school students up until now.
5.       Yes, I did incorporate technology in some of my lesson during practicum. It was a failure in my side because they were not amused by the videos that I had shown. But fortunately, they liked the sounds it made. I think this is all because they are more advanced in terms of technology and I am behind them a bit. They know even more than I do especially when it comes to surfing the internet.
6.       My opinion on the use of computer/technology in language teaching is that i think technology has somehow made it better in terms of reaching the students via things they like-which is the internet and on the other hand, make it easier for both parties to have meaningful learning and teaching session.
7.       My expectations from this course are; getting to know more methods in using ICT to teach in ESL classroom, improving myself in the related knowledge and eventually applying those in my future classroom teaching.
8.       I choose vocabulary as my topic and I got the idea from my observation on today’s arising problem at school that is insufficient vocabulary in students. I also plan to complete the AE by meeting up with my supervisor frequently, collecting data as soon as possible and completing the work in time.

See you later. Thank you. =)