MUHAMMAD AMALUDDIN BIN AMRAN
1)
What does the
website attempt to teach? Are exercises included? Type of exercises? Immediate
feedback? Are there different levels of difficulty for different proficiency
level?
There are many things that the website
tries to ‘teach’ the users when it comes to English language such as writing,
grammar, vocabulary, reading, listening, speaking, idioms, phrasal verbs and
figure of speech. Just like any other good ESL websites, this website also
provide useful exercises for the users to answer. Although this website does
not provide different levels of difficulty for different proficiency, it gives
the users detailed explanations and examples on the various aspects of English
language. Upon answering the exercises, users can click on the lesson of the
grammar or the vocabulary in order to enhance their understanding on the
questions. The type of exercises given from the website is mostly ‘filling in
the blank space’. In my opinion, this is
a good form of task to be done because in order to fill in the blank, users
have to synthesize and evaluate their answer and not just randomly choose the
best answer. When users have submitted
their answers, they can get the immediate feedback from the website when the
click ‘check answers’ at the bottom of the page. Not only that, the website
provides the necessary lesson for the users to read upon at the bottom of the
page for every different type of exercises; English tenses, grammar lessons,
speaking lessons, etc.
2)
What are the
learners required to do with regards to learning the content of the website?
Learners could choose their own subject
matter that they want to learn, whether it is grammar, speaking or listening.
In order to answer the exercises provided, learners/users are advised to first,
read on the lessons on the subject beforehand. For this website, users does not
have to sign up or log in if they want to answer the questions. It means that
this website is user friendly but may be a bit hard for the users to keep track
of their own work.
3)
While you are
going through the website, does it remind you of anything you do in a
classroom/ teacher/ fellow classmate/ self-study?
Yes it does remind me of the things that
my teachers taught me back in school, which is a bit boring. This is because,
this website lacks in interesting images and interactive method. Though the
website is rich in its content, I would still be disinterested because of the
boring layout and approaches. Nonetheless, this website would come in handy if I
were to know its existence back when I was learning grammar in my Asasi years
because it has many different exercises and easy to comprehend lessons.
4)
Does the website
present learners with something that cannot be done in a textbook/ workbook? If
yes, how so.
For
me, the type of exercises given in the website is somewhat similar with what
the students have gone through in their textbook or workbook. This is because,
in the website, users are only asked to fill in the blank space and they will
get the immediate marks based on their answers. In my opinion, the only thing
that is quite different from the exercises in the website and the workbook
given by the teachers are the feedbacks. This is because, when students have
finished doing their homework, teachers might need more time to check and
evaluate their students’ homework. This period of time might make the students
forget the things that they have been learning. In short, yes, the website does
present learners with something that can be found in textbook/workbook but the
time of feedback can be different.
5)
Can you give
theories of language learning/teaching underlying the application?
The
theory that is used in this website falls under the cognitive theory. Where the
users are the ones who are responsible to generate their own sets of answers
for every questions. They need to learn through all the lessons in order to
answer the questions, meaning that they need to analyse and gain insight for
correct answer. Also, users need to transform their understanding of the lesson
and ask themselves why they put the answer. The questions in the website
definitely promote a long-term learning through their own understanding of the
subject matter and the examples given, not just a simple memorizing that is
gain through drilling.
6)
An important
criterion for evaluating a CALL program, task or activity is the potential for
language learning. Does the website fulfil this criterion? If yes, how so?
Just
like any good website, this ESL website also gives students some potential in
learning various aspects of English language however I think this website might
be lacking in many areas such as the zero graphics and videos. Students,
nowadays they are exposed with various kinds of technology such as facebooks,
tumblrs, instagrams. The kind of social network that gives them a sense of
interest. Thus, when they are expected to do homework in an ESL website, they
would imagine themselves immersing in something that is interactive and fun
such as videos and pictures. However, this website does not cater to their
level of interest, making them have no motivation and thus easily lose interest
in finishing the exercise.
7)
Would you like
to use the application yourself in your future work? Yes/No? Give reason.
In the future, I
think I would use this particular website as my reference for my own tasks to
be given to my students. This is because, this website has many in depth yet
simple explanations in different aspects of English language such as the
grammar, the speaking and listening and writing. However, although the content
of the website is very rich, due to the fact that the layout is a bit boring, I
think I would find a more interesting and intriguing ESL websites for my
students to do. Nonetheless, I think this particular website is suitable for
the older students because they might think that colourful layouts and videos
as a criteria that is not that important in comparison with the younger
students.
