1) What does the application attempt to teach?
This website is constructed specifically for the purpose of assisting both teachers and learners in English Language teaching and learning process. The website is focusing on the 4 areas or skills in English Language which are reading, writing, speaking and listening. In addition, this website also offers wide range of language knowledge that can be acquired by the language learners such as grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and idioms. If you are looking for an ESL website that will help you be better in read, say and listen for any English Language sentences or phrases, this is it. The main focus of this website is so that the learners of English Language will be familiar with the resources and environment of English, especially for the people who learn English as a second, third or as the foreign language. One of the advantages of this website it can be utilize by English Language teachers, instructors and learners from all over the world as it suits the needs and style of English Language users which are either at the beginner, intermediate and advanced level. Despite being in the country either inner, outer or even the expanding circle of English Language, all people get to learn and be better in English Language.
For English teachers, this website offers a lot of materials that assist them in delivering the knowledge and subject matter in the classroom. English Language teachers, regardless of whether they are practicum, novice or even the senior teachers does not have to feel worry about they should prepare and deliver in the classroom as this website offers a lot of lesson plans, exercises and ideas that can be utilized for their teaching process. As an example, in assisting the teachers in teaching reading comprehension, this website offers variety of reading passage that covers various kinds of topics and issues. Another example is, if a teacher wants to do listening activity in his or her class, they can have various resources from the websites to be utilized in the classroom such as videos, podcast and listening tests. All the resources are available ranging from low-beginning, high beginning, low-intermediate, and high-intermediate as well as for the advance level.
2) What sorts of things is the application user expected to do with regards to the learning content?
This question is closely related with the practicality issue of this website’s content. This website can be regarded as a website that is user-friendly as it is easy to use, access and explore all the resources and applications offered. This website caters the needs and style of every learner and teachers of English Language regardless of their English Language proficiency and computer literacy. The learner and user of this website can access and use the resources available in order to learn and be better in English Language.
One of things that a learner can do through this website is learning to pronounce word with the correct pronunciation. This can be done in the listening and speaking section of this website as learners get to imitate native speakers speaking with the correct usage of grammar and pronunciation and apply it in their daily life. Learners also can do various exercises offered in the website in order to sharpen their skill and knowledge in English Language. As an example, vocabulary and grammar exercises. For the teachers who visit this website, they can take many lesson plans and any other resources offered in the website as guidance in their teaching process.
3) What sorts of computer skills is the application users expected to have in order to operate/access/use the application?
The most basic skills that the user or visitors need to have in order to be able to surf this website is their ability to use mouse and keyboard of a computer. This can be regarded as having basic computer skills in general. Users are also expected to have browsing skill in order for them to be able to surf and access the website. The instruction is very clear and the user must only be able to click what they want to learn according to the correct sections, category and level of materials that they want to access.
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 classmate, or in self study?
I still remember when I was first introduced to integrating technology in the language class when I was brought for the first time by my English Language to the laboratory when I was in Form 1. My English teacher puts in an interactive English course ware CD on learning grammar. We were very eager to participate and involved ourselves in the activity afterward as we were attracted with the application. As my school is in the rural area, my teacher however did not get to show us any websites as during that time, the internet connection in my village is quite bad.
The very first time I am using this website is when I need to do my first micro-teaching during part 4 as a complement for my Methodology in Teaching Listening and Speaking (MTLS). I’m very amazed with this website as it has a lot of resources for me as future English Language teacher and this website also has been really helpful as this is the first time I’m doing my lesson plan as well as micro-teaching.
During my practicum period, I have been able to integrate some technology in my teaching process. The school that I have been sent to, SM SEAFIELD has provided us with a lot of resources such as course ware CD and also great internet connection that has helps me in my teaching whenever I brought my students to the laboratory. The lesson went quite well and the students were very focus and actively participating during the class.
5) Can you pinpoint any theories of language learning and/or teaching theories underlying the application?
It is an undeniable fact that an educational website; in our context, ESL website is constructed based on various learning theories and philosophies. For this website, one of the learning theories and philosophies that it is based on is Integrative Language Learning Theory. Materials and resources in this website allow the learners to experience learning a language via internet but still in an interesting learning environment as more than one skill are integrated in some of the activity offered in the website.
Another learning theory that this website is based on is Audio-Bilingualism. An audio-lingual lesson usually begins with a dialogue which contains the grammar and vocabulary to be focused on in the lesson. The students mimic the dialogue and eventually memorize it. This can be seen in the listening section of this website where a passage will be played and the user can either memorize the sentences, complete the sentences if there is any missing words and also listening while focusing on certain language aspects such as vocabulary and grammar included in the passage.
Another learning theory that I find relevant with this website is behaviorist theory. Behaviorist theory can be simplified as learning by imitation. This means people learn language or imitating native speakers of the language and try to speak like the native speakers. This includes correct usage of grammar and pronunciation. In this website, especially in the speaking section, user of this website can imitate the how native speakers speak and how they use the language through playing various passages and resources offered in the section.
6) How well is the constructivist theory of learning applied to the chosen website?
It is being said that constructivist learning theory is like the theme or the mainframe of all other learning theories and educational reform. This theory states that knowledge is gained through learning by doing knowledge is constructed through meaningful learning.
What makes this website relevant with the constructivist theory is that it offers a lot of resources and exercises that provide opportunities for the users to experiment their talent by doing all the exercises for the sake of their language learning. There are many hands-on activities and so many activities are considered as “learning-by-doing”.
Constructivist (social constructivist theory) also states that it is important to consider the background and culture of the learners throughout the learning process. Because of this website is accessible for the people from different background throughout the world, the resources is being organized in a fair manner in order to cater the needs and suits the style of every learner or user of this websites.
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?
Taylor (1980) proposed that computer assisted language learning is a wonderful stimulus for second language learning. It is reminded that it is only a stimuli and an assistant of a teacher, not the teacher itself. In my opinion, with various characteristic and quality such as noble intention and proper implementation, human being is more qualify to be a teacher than computer.
No matter how advanced our world is the teacher’s role as source of information and knowledge is still needed. In addition, unlike humans, computers cannot understand and feel the feelings, moods and emotions of the learners. Using computer is only applicable when it is time for the learners to do their self-study and it is only relevant with the concept of student-centered style of teaching. The only advantage of using computers to learn is learners will be able to evaluate and enhance their academic performance and also build their self-reflection strategies.
The other point to show that human makes a better teacher than computer is that human teacher can provide immediate response and feedback to the students anytime the students needed it. In addition, unlike computer, human teachers will provide subjective response that suit the student’s condition and emotion.
8) Would you like to use the application yourself in the future?
Yes, I would like to use this application/website in the future due to some reason and unique features of this website. This website provides positive impacts and also inculcates positive reinforcement throughout the learning process. The features and resources provided in this website drive the learning outcomes which are learning a language to be achieved.
I would highly recommend this website to be used by my friends to be used in the future. One of the reasons why I will be using this website is its accessibility and availability. In order to be able to use/access this website, you just need to have a personal computer and an internet connection, and the website is accessible at any time. Another reason is its affordability. In addition to accessible at any time, this website is also can be access or use for free. Users or learners can download any file or exercises without having to pay any money to the website constructor. All the resources and exercises in the website are also suitable for the students from various proficiency levels ranging from beginner, intermediate and also advanced learner.
Suggestion/ Recommendations
This website should be promoted to various people throughout the world who loves learning a language as this website is a very good assistance in the language learning process. I really love all the materials from this website as they are relevant, suitable for every learner and always being updated. However, this website should improve it’s user interface in order to make it look more attractive and will attract more learner/visitor.
References:
1) Brown, H.D (2000). Teaching by principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy. New York: Longman
2) WWW.Wikipedia.com/learning theories
3) WWW. learning-theories.com/categories/constructivist-theories
