Task 2 – ESL Website Evaluation
URL :
http://www.learn-english-today.com/‘Learn English Today’ website gives free lesson on vocabulary, idioms, proverbs and business English, plus exercises and word games, for English learners of all levels. This website gives exposure and help especially to second language learner (SLL) to learn the language in a different schematic knowledge as the website is guaranteed to be updated by native speakers daily as everyday, new idioms will be provided in the website.
1. What does the application attempt to ‘teach’?
This program attempts to teach the students especially second language learners on certain aspects of English which is incomprehensible. This is due to the fact that most second language learner do not have the same schemata like native speakers, therefore, this website is giving an exposure on how to comprehend certain English expressions, for instance, idioms and proverbs. There’s a specific site in this website which the students can learn the meaning and examples of idioms and proverbs to be used in any situation (
http://www.learn-english-today.com/idioms/idioms_proverbs.html and
http://www.learn-english-today.com/Proverbs/proverbs_A-K.html ). Other than that, the adult learners would find this website acts as a helping hand in terms of preparing themselves in facing job interviews and writing good business letters. This interesting site is also embedded in this website which is something different than most English teaching website. Undeniably, second language adult learners would find this site, (
http://www.learn-english-today.com/business-english/business-letters.html) helpful.
2. What sorts of things is the application user expected to do with regards to learning the content?
In this website, the users would be expected to learn the maximum of seven major subtopics of English language. In ‘English Grammar Lessons and Exercises’ subtopic, the user is taught the rules of English grammar and then be tested in the next column of exercises based on which type of grammar item, the user is focusing on at that moment. For example, if one is interested in learning simple present tense or gerunds, he or she can view the explanation column which is conveniently next to the grammar items’ exercises. The link can be viewed here,
http://www.learn-english-today.com/lessons/lesson_contents/present_simple_exercise.html. Another interesting subtopic is ‘Resouces’ which offers a lot of other interesting links such as for more advanced learner, a list of English radio stations, newspapers and podcasts in native speakers’ countries such as Britain and America are available for more beneficial exposure. This can viewed in this link,
http://www.learn-english-today.com/resources.htm . The users who have short attention span and still in the intermediate level can also learn the language interactively in this link which is also provided under ‘Resources’ link,
http://www.englishryan.com/list.php?tid=1 . If one is tired or feeling restless for learning other contents, this website also offers some uplifting quotations, word games and jokes everyday to keep the users entertained and at the same time learning the language unconsciously. Brilliantly, this statement fits the saying, ‘To kill two birds with one stone’.
3. What sorts of computer skills is the application users expected to have in order to operate/access/use the location?
The users do not need to have wide extension of computing skills in order to operate this website. Conveniently, this website already set up the linkage to other sites which would offer its users easy accessibility. Most of the linkages in this website works but sometimes some sites are not loading in properly and takes time perhaps, because of tons of animations and other multimedia usage such as loading media player for listening section. Furthermore, the users can use their basic skill of typing the answers for exercises provided in the ‘English Grammar Lessons and Exercises’ subtopic. Another skill needed by the user is downloading both, media and written document in external or internal disk as one might want to study the content at different time. The user should also know how to print some writing documents especially grammar exercise as this website has already provided the printable version of exercises for the user’s ease.
4. While you are “playing”/ “accessing”/ “accessing”/ “assessing” the application, does it remind you of anything you do in a classroom, or with a teacher, or with a fellow classmate, or in self-study?
There are definitely two points which I can relate while using this website. Firstly, in ‘wordgames’ section, I have to match the idiomatic expressions to their meanings correctly through matching exercises which resembles identically to the matching exercise which I’ve already learnt making it recently through ‘Hot potatoes’ program. While in the grammar exercises section, I’ve also learnt in the CALL class to make gap-filling exercises which is used in this application too. Secondly, I’ve also learnt the way to download some multimedia and written document through self-study a long time ago which makes this application is such an ease to access especially in downloading audio and video files such as news, podcasts language file, radio and televison files. These two points make this website gives the feeling of ease and familiarity to me.
5. Can you pinpoint some theories of language learning and/or teaching underlying the application?
There are three language learning theories which I can relate to this application. First and foremost, the theory of ‘Grammar Translation Method’ or GTM is used in this website especially in the grammar section. This is seen as the users are expected to learn the rules of the grammatical items first before one can embark to the exercise section. The ‘bottom-up’ learning skill is visible in this theory as the user need to learn from the elaborated explanation of grammar rules from the beginning. This theory does apply perfectly if the users are beginners or intermediate level of SLL but it can be the opposite for advanced native speakers who already aware of the grammatical rules. Focusing on the view of second language learner (SLL), this website does give elaborated explanation to help the students to understand better the rules first before doing the exercises. The second theory is ‘Content-Based Instruction’ or CBI. CBI can be seen in this application through stacks of content in different aspects of English. For instance, this website gives a lot of information on vocabulary, proverbs and idioms which might be burdensome to some users especially with limited animations and attention grabbing features in this application. However, only intrinsically motivated language learners would find this overloading information website appealing to their eyes. This is because this website is designed using the essence of CBI which exploits the learner’s highly driven motivation in learning the language for its content and excluding other visionary aspects such as enigmatic animation which is obviously lacking in this website. The third theory is ‘Audiolingual Method’ which can be seen in this application. The usage of audiolingual materials such as podcasts files and news for listening section gives away the idea of learning the language through mimicry of native speakers’ pronunciation. In this listening section, the learner is not given any grammatical rules but more focused on linguistic competence as pronunciations and exposure of native speakers’ schematic knowledge. This method can be seen in ‘Resouces’ section for listening and podcasts section,
http://www.learn-english-today.com/resources.htm .
6. How well is the constructivist theory of learning applied to the choosen website(s)
The constructivist theory is not fully applied in this website. According to Spivey (1997), constructivist scholarship can focus on ‘individuals engaged in social practices,………on a collaborative group,[or] on a global community’ which means that this theory promotes one’s knowledge is gained in relation to other people involvement or interaction. This view doesn’t apply in this website as there’s no online forum or any types of discussion board to discuss any confusing aspects of the language. It focuses more into one way language dispersing device instead of a two-way communication tool. It also doesn’t apply in the aspect of relating prior knowledge to the present knowledge in order to get full understanding of the language. This can be seen for advanced SLL who already learned the grammatical rules and can relate or understand the meaning of sentence more clearly in the examples given in the grammar section. However, beginners of SLL would find it hard to relate their prior knowledge or schemata in understanding most idiomatic expressions which can be viewed here for examples,
http://www.learn-english-today.com/idioms/idiom-categories/descriptions-people.htm . In SLL perspective, this theory doesn’t really applied as most schemata is not present unlike the native speaker users who can easily find this website and its content more familiar and understandable. Nevertheless, this theory can be seen being applied in listening section in which the users will be exposed repeatedly to the whole authentic native speakers’ situation until the SLL can make meaning out of the saying and actions after understand the whole picture.
7. In 1980s and early 1990s, there was major debate on ‘whether the computer was “master” of or “slave” to the learning process (Higgins and John,1984). In relation, to your evaluation- was the computer a replacement for teachers, or merely, an obedient servant of the students?
In my evaluation of the website, I find that computer carries both roles and interchangeable depending on the situations. For instance, I would find computer is a replacement of a teacher when it can explains better and use more simplistic words for my understanding especially in learning grammatical rules. I’ve spent my high-school years without knowing the rules of some grammar items as my teacher doesn’t explain them to me which I later, resorted to internet websites that acts like my virtual grammar teacher. In another way, I can also see the computer as an obedient servant as it helps me with typo-errors and save a lot of my time by searching information in a nick of time without hassling myself searching them through books or dictionary. Some of the computer’s functions are meant to put student’s life to ease particularly, when the students are expert in using the functions. In my own view, computer can be our slave when we have ample information about it and exploit it to the fullest. However, it can be our teacher, if we don’t have enough knowledge and look at it as a superior being who can fit to that role.
8. Would you like to use the application yourself in your future work? Yes/No:Give reasons.
Yes, I would like to use this application in the future. The first reason is the content of this application is indeed very clear and understandable especially in grammar section. The elaboration of the some grammar items might be an eye-sore for some people as it’s quite lengthy but the explanations is clear and simple which is rare to find especially in native speaker sites like this. The language used is simple and yet clear make it a great website to learn more about English. In addition, I can also equipped myself with proper and eloquent job interview guidance and writing formal/business letter for my future undertakings. This website doesn’t focus merely on the language aspects but also brings the reality in suing the language in outside world, for instance, giving exposure of writing good resume, letter and so on. See this link for example, (
http://www.learn-english-today.com/business-english/business-letters.html). I find that the site’s idea of giving new idiom everyday is refreshing. I can add up my knowledge in idiomatic expressions without a burden of learning the whole idioms in one jam-packed page but instead learn it day per day. I find it less eyes-straining and enjoyable. This is a clever way of keeping the users to revisit the site, it will be like a routine or language addiction for the users. Another feature of the site which I found rather enjoyable would be jokes in ‘Fun’ section, sometimes learning English can also be fun if we learn it through jokes, comic strips and so on. Perhaps, aft5er a large dose of rigid language learning, we can always drop in ‘Fun’ section for stress-reliever. I find the jokes entertaining and yet educational as it educate us on the native speaker’s schemata. See this link for example of joke,
http://www.gcfl.net/index.php9. Suggestions/Recommendations.
There are two recommendations which I would like to post after the evaluation. Firstly, I would really like to suggest that the site’s developer create more animations to make the site more vibrant or livelier than the current one. I find this site very informative but some people might find this site boring and will get easily demotivated to learn English as the interface of the website is undeniably somber. Therefore, perhaps in exercises section, the developer can include some pictures instead of leaving them stale with typical questions and answers sheet. Secondly, I would like to suggest adding more sites in the ‘Resources’ section which have more learning the language through latest English songs, television programs and updated radio station to keep the users especially young learners to anticipate learning English.
