Website name : Interesting Things for ESL/EFL Students (Fun English Study)
Webmaster : Charles I. Kelly & Lawrence E. Kelly
Website URL : http://www.manythings.org/
Subject Area : English as a Second Language
Targeted user : ESL Learners
(Beginners, Intermediate, Advanced Learners)
1) What does the application attempt to "teach"?
The application attempts to teach basic English language to learners who are learning English as-a-second-language (ESL learners) as well as learners who learn English as-a-foreign-language (hereafter EFL learners). The application also covers vast areas of core skills in learning the language such as grammar and vocabulary, communication skills in which not just focusing on listening and speaking but it also provides exercises on listening and reading skills and also writing exercises. Besides that, this site also provides the learners to freely play language games and at the same time be able to navigate themselves through quizzes in order to test the level of their proficiency in utilizing the language proficiently. As a matter of fact, this site provides videos and most surprisingly, features like "learn a song podcast" in which learners will be able to learn to sing songs that native speakers know and basically, it suits for the "beginner" learners. Moreover, the website also offers selected MP3 files for ESL/EFL learners and it has been designed specifically for Japanese students when English is a foreign language for them.
2) What sorts of things is the application user expected to do with regards to learning the content?
The targeted users, ranging from beginners up to advanced levels are expected to apply all skills required in the learning process as in listening, speaking, reading and writing. In this case, everyone can browse through the net regardless of age. In fact, they can utilize this site as a medium of instruction in learning English language. Learners are also expected to listen and watch videos related to subject matters and most of the exercises are theme-based as well as skill level-based. Furthermore, this site provides opportunities to the learners to freely choose the activities that they want to do and most of the activities are all in parallel with their knowledge based and their schemata. Thus, learners will fell more enthusiastic in learning the language and increase their motivation at the same time.
Besides that, while learners are listening and watching to videos displayed on this site, they are asked to repeat the sentences which they have heard before. In this way, they can also improve their way of pronouncing words, their listening skills and enhance their verbal skills at one time. As a matter of fact, ESL videos are being updated every day and this will enhance learners' knowledge to a selection of variety of videos that have been displayed through this website.
In addition, this site provides other alternatives for users to learn the language and not merely focusing on the basic skills as I have mentioned in the above statement. Learners will be able to play hangman, crossword puzzles, tongue twisters, poems and other sorts of things that somehow enable them to be proficient enough in a long run and not just in a short while.
3) What sorts of computer skills is the application users expected to have in order to operate /access/ use the application?
Learners are not much expected to have in-depth knowledge of computer skills when they are using this site. I would say this site is user-friendly as users are expected to only have basic knowledge about the internet connection and yet they will be able to browse through the net. Once they are in this site, they only have to click on the exercises that they are interested to try and do it. The only thing that they must consider is to have FLASH software as most of the exercises in this site require it in order to be operated well. Learners should know on how to download Java application and this is easy because they only have to click on the link that has been bolded and underlined with blue colour. As a matter of fact, it does not consume much time in order to download the application and learners can start doing the exercises straight away once it has been downloaded.
Learners are not much expected to have in-depth knowledge of computer skills when they are using this site. I would say this site is user-friendly as users are expected to only have basic knowledge about the internet connection and yet they will be able to browse through the net. Once they are in this site, they only have to click on the exercises that they are interested to try and do it. The only thing that they must consider is to have FLASH software as most of the exercises in this site require it in order to be operated well. Learners should know on how to download Java application and this is easy because they only have to click on the link that has been bolded and underlined with blue colour. As a matter of fact, it does not consume much time in order to download the application and learners can start doing the exercises straight away once it has been downloaded.
4) While you are “playing”/ “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?
Yes, somehow the application reminds me of how nowadays, it is easy to learn anything through the use of technology in our lives. Once upon a time but not so long time ago, I have this kind of stereotype thinking as I often convinced myself that technology somehow will ruined my teaching styles as the failure of internet connection and the possibilities of certain wires to be mixed up and my lesson will be wasted just like that. Somehow, I realized that there will always lots of privileges that I can assume it is worthwhile to conduct such activities among students and the most important thing is that they LOVE it!!!!. I managed to show them videos from a poem written by Robert Frost "The Road Not taken" and asked them to interpret what lies behind the videos and believe it or not, students nowadays are more OUTRAGEOUS than those days as they will come out with various thoughts that somehow relevant to the subject matter and up to that extent, technology ROCKS!! Hahaha. In fact, they also love to play hangman as this will encourage their thinking skills as well as their participation in class.
Perhaps, maybe another reason that keeps me away from thinking about technology is that I seldom being exposed with learning the language by using computers as most of my teachers did not apply the facilities in my school and it was quite sad when I think of it sometimes. They are more towards the traditional ways of teaching by using chalk and talk.
Alhamdulillah, I manage to use all the facilities provided when I entered Uitm and speaking of the practicality of the websites, I am strongly feel that it is not just for the benefit for the students but it may also benefit the teachers as well. As teachers nowadays are not like those days, the “extra” burden that they have to carry are far more challenging and yet with the help of technology, most teachers can prepare tons of exercises without putting so much stress on it and it is also less time-consuming. As for ESL students, tons of websites that can be explored and most of them are very interactive as they students will feel more motivated to learn.
5) Can you pinpoint some theories of language learning and/or teaching underlying the application?
After I have done some analyses, here are some of the theories which I think might be relevant and support the use of this website.
(i) Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory According to Robert J. Sternberg’s (1986,2004,2006) triarchic theory of intelligence, intelligence comes in three forms which are analytical, creative and practical. What makes it relevant with this site is that, ESL learners will be able to analyze and at the same time evaluate their level of performances through drilling exercises provided in the website. As a matter of fact, they will also be creative in guessing and writing the answer for the writing exercises based on the clues given. Furthermore, ESL learners will eventually acquire or store information, to retain and retrieve information, and to transfer information by doing exercises through videos and songs.
(ii) As stated in Brown (2000), Skinner believes that the learning process is far strengthened by the reinforcement the learners receive and this covers the roles of behaviourism in language learning. It is believed that this website consists the use of reinforcement as in praises such as "Right!", "Well Done!" whenever learners are able to get the correct answers. Besides, ESL learners will also be given time in order to enhance their capability in answering the questions provided in this site. Through this reinforcement, students will become more motivated and less stress as these exercises will lead them to become more competent in answering the questions.
(iii) According to Patsy M. Lightbrown and Nina Spada in their book, "How Languages are learned", they have stated that the conditions for language learning are often very different. As stated by Noam Chomsky in his ideas of Critical Period Hypothesis, animals in which including humans, are genetically programmed to acquire certain kinds of knowledge and skills at specific times in life and they might not be able to acquire the language if it is "beyond" the critical period. Having discussed about this website, learners who are beginners are often being emphasized and guided through simple exercises first and most of the exercises are given large emphasis on the pictures so that the learners will be able to acquire simple sentence structure first then only they will move one step ahead to more challenging exercises.
(iv) Krashen's Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis centralized the two distinct forms of terms in which (a) learning the language can be acquired through the exposed to samples of the second language without conscious attention to language form and (b) language can be learned through conscious attention to form and rule learning. This website agrees with the second aspect of language learning as ESL learners will become "autonomous learners" in which they will conduct the exercises on their own and become independent in checking and evaluating the answers as well. Thus, this will enhance their capability in learning the language effectively.
6) How well is the constructivist theory of learning applied to the chosen website(s)?
In general, social constructivist theory emphasizes the social context of learning and that knowledge is mutually built and constructed (Horowitz & others, 2005; Rust, O'Donovan, & Price, 2005). As what Vygotsky, a social constructivist emphasize that teachers should create more opportunities for students to learn by co-constructing knowledge along with the teacher and with peers(Budrova & Leong, 2001, 2007; Hyson, Copple & Jones,2006). Having discussed about this website, this theory is quite relevant with the use of various aids such as videos, audios as well as visual aids that can somehow act as a "facilitator" in facilitating students to be able to do exercises and enhance their capability in learning the language. Through argument in which humans generate knowledge and meaning from their experiences enable learners to become autonomous learners as they will decide based on their own thoughts and needs.
In terms of the social interaction between students themselves, perhaps this is clearly enough to say that this website does not provide social interaction space as they will only cater for their own learning.
In contrast, Piaget's cognitive constructivist theory emphasizes on the students that have to construct knowledge through transforming, organizing and reorganizing previous knowledge and information (Santrock, 2006). Thus, by assuming the process of assimilation and accommodation, learners will be able to adapt with the existing knowledge that they have and accommodate it with the new information that have been updated in this site.
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?
Personally, I would say that computer is not a "master" nor a "slave" to the learning process and it can never be replaced with teacher-student relationship which covers human relationship specifically. It is true that computers can provide immediate feedback but choices of answers have already been programmed in it and it students can never argue about certain things that might not make sense. Students are not robot as in they don't have feelings and every students may differ from one to another. Thus, the roles of HUMAN TEACHER is important in a sense of praising the students as compared to the computers which only serve "words" that have been programmed such as "Well Done!" "Great!" instead of "Oh, It's ok, maybe you can try harder next time".
Besides that, when it comes to second language learning, computers are not be able to teach the exact way of acquiring the four skills in which reading, writing, listening and writing as what HUMAN TEACHERS do. Perhaps, computers can only facilitates the students in order to answer the questions based on the exercises provided on certain websites. The authenticity might be lesser than HUMAN TEACHERS as they have been experienced with the subject matter as well as there will be tons of views and additional information that students can adopt and adapt with. In fact, communication is the main concerned when it comes to language learning and this is not just about the formulas that students have to memorize onto but this is LANGUAGE!! Yet the students have to practice and it will be best to practice with more than one person.
On the other hand, I am not going to say that computers are merely a "servant" for students. The term servant perhaps should be replaced with "facilitator". Somehow, there are good sides of using the computers in learning the language. For instance, if a student wants to learn how to speak like native speaker, sometimes, HUMAN TEACHER is not be able to pronounce words as if native speakers and with the help of computers.
8) Would you like to use the application yourself in your future work?
Well, Yes. I would fully utilize this application whenever I am involved with my working life in future time, InsyaAllah. Although there are several weaknesses that I can find in this website, somehow, the content is simple and easy to be applied for ESL learners who wish to enhance and polish more about their skills in learning the language. In fact, it is not only for my own preferences but I will ensure that my students will use this application and perhaps, I can create exercises and ask my students to come out with their own and maybe they can refer this site as some part of their references, who knows?.
Apart from that, I would use this kind of application and considering more about time and it would be lesser than usual as compared to the use of papers. Furthermore, I may adopt and adapt these exercises and relate it with the society context in which it is more appropriate and authentic as the learners are quite familiar with it.
9) Suggestions/Recommendations.
There are a few suggestions that I would like to add on and They are in terms of :
- Application Content
Besides that, there are no specific level for each exercises except for the beginners ESL learners only and perhaps, this should be improved by organizing these exercises according to the level of difficulty so that the learners will be identify their strength in acquiring the language whether they are proficient enough or not.
I would personally think that, it is good to emphasize on other culture by integrating some of the information from that particular country but it may be very best if it is a blending of information that cover most of the Asian countries as well and perhaps, the ESL learners will not only acquire "language" generally but also they will master their general knowledge more specifically by application of the language learning itself.
- Application Appearance
The use of pictures or appropriate graphics may encourage learners more to know more about the website, Apart from that, the choices of songs can be varied as time passes by. Maybe the songs chosen can be taken from the real artists but it should be appropriate with the subject matters as well as the themes and values that somehow should be instilled in every students' heart. For instance, a song by Michael Jackson, "Heal The World" can be applied under the theme environment and students will fill in the blanks and complete the whole lyrics after they have heard the song. Maybe it works as most of the learners are already familiar with the song!!
REFERENCES
1. Brown, H.D (2000). Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. New York: Longman.
2. Santrock, J.W. (2006). Educational Psychology: Classroom Update: Preparing for Praxis and Practice. United States: Mc Graw Hill.
3. Patsy M.Lightbown/Nina Spada..3rd edition,Oxford..2006
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructivism_%28learning_theory%29
5. http://viking.coe.uh.edu/~ichen/ebook/et-it/social.htm
9.1/10
ReplyDeleteAlhamdulillah, Thank YOU Sir for the marks!!! (",)
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