Website URL: http://www.english-online.org.uk/backindex.html
1. What does the application attempt to "teach"?The website I decided to evaluate is appropriately named ‘English for Everybody’ due to the wide variety of proficiency and difficulty levels it offers. The website primary aim supposedly is the teaching of grammar. We can conclude this because most of the tutorials and flash games offered here revolve around grammar rules, syntax and vocabularies. However, the site also offers video and audio tutorials intended to teach listening and speaking. The site however lacks in it’s variety of topics and subject matter that would appeal to the general audience. One is expected to be versed in the English culture to fully utilize the programs, for example, one flash game centred on teaching vocabulary uses English food as its topic. This is hardly appealing to someone who couldn’t tell a scone from a truffle.
2. What sort of thing is the application user expected to do with regards to learning the content?The website promotes a form of self-directed learning approach providing the user with a plethora of contents and resources, and giving them the freedom to pick and choose the order in which to proceed. On its homepage the site offers a selection of proficiency levels ranging from ‘young learners’ to ‘advance’ and users are recommended to select the level most appropriate for them. Selecting these levels will take the user to a tutorial page for their selected level. Here the user may either choose to watch a series of tutorial videos, listen to dialogues or answer a series of exercises related to the specified language component. Back on the homepage, the site also provides practices for English language exams such as IELTS (International English Language Testing System) and TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language). The site provides a wide variety of resources to learn English, with no precise instructions on how to proceed, users are expected to be able to learn independently.
3. What sorts of computer skills is the application users expected to have in order to operate/access/use the application?The website uses a very simple build, demanding no more than the most basic computer skills of pointing and clicking from its users. Most of the flash games require the user to click on the correct answer, while the crossword puzzle game requires the ability to type. To fully appreciate the video and audio tutorials, the user must have a working sound system and the reading section also has the option to use podcast if the user knows how to. To navigate through the site, one need only to click on the html clearly provided.
Overall, the site is designed for simplicity and does not demand anymore computer skills than what is necessary from the user.
4. While you are “playing”/”accessing”/”assessing” the application, does it remind you of anything you do in the classroom, or with a teacher, or with a fellow classmate, or in self-study?Parts of the website certainly reminded me of what I have once used in the classroom to teach English to intermediate form 1 students, the crossword puzzle games. In my opinion, crossword puzzles can be seen as one of the simplest pen and paper game you can orchestrate in a classroom of any proficiency level to teach vocabulary. It is certainly a step up from the very bland ‘fill in the blank’ exercises students are used too. Another part which brings back memories is in the reading section of the site. One of the reading materials provided is Bram Stoker’s Dracula, I once used a summarized/rephrased/simplified version of this book for a reading comprehension exercise in my class.
5. Can you pinpoint some theories of language learning and/or teaching underlying the application?The website reminds me of Caleb Gattegno’s Silent Way that believed that “learners should develop independence, autonomy and responsibility.” Brown (2000). This can be seen on the website whereby the resources, exercises and tutorials are all provided for the user and the user is allowed to proceed at their own pace. The flash games and video tutorials also portray this whereby “Learner responses to commands, questions and visual cues,”.
6. How well is the constructivist theory of learning applied to the chosen website?Pioneers of constructivism Dewey and Vygotsky believed that learning exists in a social context to a certain extent. This theory is applied in the website where by most its activities, tutorials and quizzes tries to present topics with real world context. Vygotsky said that “the process of engagement with the adult enabled them to refine their thinking or their performance to make it more effective,” Atherton (2005). This is quite clearly applied in the website as it is not to be used by itself but rather as a form of exercise to reinforce the schemata the learners gain from their interaction with an adult teacher.
7. In 1980s and early 1990s, there was a major debate on ‘whether the computer was “master” of or “slave” to the learning process (Higgins and Johns, 1984). In relation to your evaluation – was the computer a replacement for teachers, or merely an obedient servant to students?In my opinion, the computer a tool of learning rather than the absolute master/slave dichotomy. The computer is no more a tool than a simple calculator. Teachers may use computers as a resource to further enhance their teaching, while students in turn may use them to enhance learning. Take the ‘English for Everybody’ website for example, it provides a variety of resources for the students to use to enhance their learning, but without an actual human teacher to properly point the way, students would be lost and confused. Is it currently impossible to fully learn a language by only relying on the computer without the input from a human teacher. However, the computer does aid both parties in what they do. Teachers may use computers to help them locate teaching materials, while students may use computers to find exercises and activities to practice their knowledge.
8. Would you like to use the application yourself in your future work?I certainly would like to use the website in my future work to a certain degree. At a glance, the website may not seem very appealing due to its very simple design, but the content it provides more than makes up for it. If I were to teach in schools in the future, I do see myself, taking the explanations from the tutorials and turning them into classroom instructions. Also the language games on the site can be rather entertaining if you were to overlook its simplicity. These games although done in flash, can be reproduced in the physical realm with little effort. Other than that I would also use the site for self-study purposes, as it provides a sample test questions of English language exams such as IELTS (International English Language Testing System) and CAE (Cambridge Advance English) should I ever require to take these tests in the future.
9. Suggestions/Recommendations.The website has its perks for being simple, however this may also be its biggest flaw. Most users that stumble upon the site may not think much of it at a glance due to its uninteresting look. It also would not appeal very much to children and young learners because it looks very boring. Therefore, I recommend that they make the make site look more professional and attractive. It would be a shame for all those contents to be missed if users simply skip the site because the site did not look very appealing to them.
REFERENCE1. Brown, H. D. (2000). Principles of Language Learning and Teaching (4th ed). Longman, Inc.
2. Brown, H. D. (2001). Teaching by Principles (2nd ed). Longman, Inc.
I know that February was so last month but i've been meaning write this out anyway. Here's a story about love that never bloomed, it's short so sit tight and read.
