The website which I choose to review is the Learn English website. My review here will be based on these 8 questions:
#1: What does the application attempt to 'teach'?
The Learn English website is powered by the LEO Network, United Kingdom. In general, it is a free website designed to encourage English Language learners to practice their basic language skills. Apart from that, this site also functions to provide choices and teaching ideas for language teachers. In other words, this website put its emphasis on English Language forms and functions, specifically for non-native speakers. The functions stated before are based on the introductory part from the website itself:
"Since 1999 Learn English has served up a wealth of resources to help people around the world learn English free online. From dictation and pronunciation files, sections on the basics of English, spelling, grammar and other activities such as games, tests and quizzes. In addition there is an extensive vocabulary section which uses pictures and sound and sections on British culture, customs and traditions. The teacher's section is my attempt to share some of my experience and also provides advice on how to use this site to enrich your lessons along with lesson plans and handouts."
#2: What sorts of things is the application user expected to do with regards on learning the content?
The learners are expected to learn basic language skills by reading the explanations given by the moderator. Explanations include basic definitions of certain language forms. Here is one of the examples taken from the website:
Prior to the definitions provided, learners are expected to assess their understanding by participating in quizzes and games related to the topics studied previously. For example, if one manages to read about parts of a house (vocabulary), they may take a quiz which looks like this:
This is another example of quiz that tests learners' understanding about simple conversations:
Detailed explanations are also included; concerning on examples of usage and common mistakes made when using particular language forms:
On the other hand, a special section is allocated for language teachers to obtain printed resources, articles and teaching ideas to enrich their language teaching skills:
Moreover, additional materials are also added for the viewers to read for leisure. This requires an advanced level of English proficiency:
#3: What sorts of computer skills are the application users expected to have in order to operate/access/use the application?
When I tried to surf the website, the first thing I felt contented with was its user-friendly nature. When I say it is 'user-friendly', I prefer to view that term from two different perspectives.
- For school students: Nothing much is required from the users; if a student is new in learning how to use computers, this might be the right choice. They just have to type and click in attempts to read explanations, to answer test questions, or even to listen to pronunciation of certain words. It is easy for them to check their answers just by following the instructions given (which are short and simple), or by clicking on the buttons provided (e.g. Check, Submit, or Hint). Therefore, it is just sufficient if a student (or an adult computer beginner) has the capability to turn on and off the computer, connecting the computer to the net, searching for the website and also, plugging in an earphone to the computer to do listening activities.
- For adult learners: Apart from the basic computer skills, it is encouraged for adult learners to participate in online discussions and forums provided by the moderator. Apart from that, the speakers can also sign up in the Second Life software to interact among each other. This is believed as effective in sharpening their English commands in an interactive way. For teachers, they are given opportunities to search for teaching resources and lesson plans just by clicking on the links provided.
#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?
Personally, too much rote learning had taken place during my school days, for which the structure of the language was taught one by one as different parts, as if they did not interrelated with each other. As being mentioned by Brown (2001), rote learning is a process when an individual "...is taking in isolated bits and pieces of information that are not connected with one's existing cognitive structures. This condition has given the learners little chance of creating long term retention."
Talking about long term retention, I believe that learners can memorize things they study much better if they are given situations and problems to be solved related to the subject matter. Here in this website I find that less opportunity is served for learners to really practice the language aspects they are learning. Much similar to the traditional way of learning in a classroom, learners are expected to read and do exercises. The difference is the learning process occurs electronically. So much of drilling activities are presented; making it hard for the learners to practice the language naturally.Their language improvements are measured solely by looking at this aspect. Despite of the presence of other media (forums, Second Life etc.), those media are not suitable for all levels of learners.
#5: Can you pinpoint some theories of language learning and/or teaching underlying the application?
I decide to direct my scope of discussion based on what has been mentioned by Yule (2006):
"A distinction is sometimes made between learning in a 'foreign language' and a 'second language' setting. The first concerns on learning a language that is not generally spoken in the surrounding community, while the latter focuses on learning a language that is spoken in the surrounding community. In either case, they are simply trying to learn another language, so the expression 'second language learning' is used more generally to describe both situations."
Learning second language (L2) is indeed different from learning the language acquired by the learners since they are born. Yule (2006) further claims that there are two factors that ensure effective learning of L2. The factors include "the optimum age and also the maturation of cognitive skills that allows a more effective analysis of the regular features of the L2 being learned." In relation to the website chosen, we cannot really predict the age and language maturity of the learners who visit and use this website; however we need to bear in mind that these learners do not learn the language the same way as they learn their L1. Cognitive process has occurred in the learners' minds to monitor their background knowledge obtained from L1 to help them adapt to the new input about L2. That is why, perhaps, most of L2 learners prefer to learn the basic rules of the language at the very beginning rather than to start using it incidentally as what they did with their L1.
The moderator puts on central attention to the language rules via the activities presented. Conscious awareness about language rules are encouraged so that learners are able to give and obtain the 'right' messages in the target language without being negatively interfered by their L1. However, I believe that this approach is more suitable to adult learners because "...an intensive study of grammar and vocabulary is valuable for understanding important cultural texts" (Lightbown and Spada, 2006). This may be related to the nature of work of adult learners. Message accuracy is an important aspect to get their work done successfully. In contrast, students at school learn L2 for the purpose of attaining both fluency and accuracy. When the focus is channeled to drilling activities, students may feel inhibited to take chance in using the language for communication. Being good to know all about the forms and functions does not guarantee a student a good language learner. L2 learners, especially the younger ones, need to be exposed to communicative way of learning.
#6: How well is the Constructivist Theory of learning applied to the chosen website(s)?
It is admirable for us to first revise the body concept of the Constructivist Theory before we go any further. Upon seeking the meaning of truth, constructivists value it so far as it be in contact with actual, provable events occur in the world. In other words, mankind seek for truth by interacting with the environment. In the context of learning, human beings improve their knowledge capacity by engaging themselves in different situations. When they are able to adjust and adapt the existing information stored in their minds with ever changing situations, they can be considered to undergo the process of learning. As this process continues, learners improve their knowledge.
Based on this idea, I find that this website moderator has more or less attempted in connecting the learners to practice English among each other; therefore, promotes experiential learning. They are given chances and avenues to express themselves and be confident in communicating in the language without downgrading other learners. Among the applications available in this network are English sessions, conversational practice on Skype, and the most interesting to me, adventures in Second Life. Learners are welcomed to get themselves participate in an ESL forum, thus to speak among each other with support and guidance from the moderator. No pressure is applied as they can leave the forum if they wish to. Moreover, immediate feedback and responses are obtained through this kind of practice. Furthermore, the moderator even assures the learners that they can get chances to talk with native speakers! How nice for them to have the feelings of communicating with 'real speakers' without being afraid of making mistakes. From here, it is salient that contextualized learning has taken place, though it does not encompass the main content of the website itself. Learners benefit from real situations and take charge of their own learning. How this happens? Thanks to technology, language learning has becoming more personal.
Well, the benefits may come along with its negative circumstances. Despite of the exciting elements presented in the aforementioned techniques, learners need to be careful not to reveal their personal information, or to bring up issues which may despise others. Perhaps that is why the applications are not advisable for school students as they are considered immature Net users. Things can go awry if the administrator could not manage to control different thoughts of thousands of audiences. Yes, it is rather an ethical issue to be pondered upon.
#7: In 1980s and early 1990s, ther 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?
Our worthy lecturers always tell us in class that an effective teacher is a teacher who manages to 'touch' the students' hearts. To think about this logically (and rather literally), computers too manage to touch many of people's hearts. I believe that it is not too much for me to pronounce it that way; just look around and you will see computers everywhere, replacing humans to do daily work. Go and ask any of us questions like 'will you live a day without your phone?' or 'will you never log in to your Facebook account just for a day?', you will simply know the answer. What I am trying to stress here is that either the computers a master or a slave, it depends on how the users perceive and accept these gadgets into the process of learning.
Somehow, it seems true that teacher's role has been continuously replaced by computers. This is due to interesting features served by computers in such a way that those encourage students to process information visually, in which I presume that this helps them to store information into their memory much easily. Consider the usual situation that occurs in a normal classroom - teacher gives explanation about certain language aspects, students listen, ask questions and try to complete the tasks given by the teacher in relation to the subject matter. Moreover, if we put our second thoughts about this issue, what is actually the point of attending class and learning with a teacher when we can get access to the same (or even more comprehensive) information anywhere at any time? Learners can even store the intended information (let say, grammatical rules) in their computers as long as they want. Moreover, if they need to thoroughly improve their knowledge in certain language skills, they can just repeat doing the same tasks online without having to be controlled by anybody, in this case, the teachers. Learners have the full autonomy to put on the direction of their learning process as they are not being tied to any authority. This is way too different from the school setting, where the teacher teaches students English based on the designated syllabus endorsed by the Ministry. Less room for self improvement as the success of these language learners are measured majorly by comparing their examination and oral tests results to certain degrees of language proficiency levels.
This brings me to another question that concerns on the key concept of communication. A communication process can be regarded complete if there are three basic elements: the sender, the receiver, and lastly, the intended message. Nevertheless, to have these three elements does not guarantee the success of the process. We learn language to be able to communicate with other speakers. In ESL context, we learn English to be able to communicate with other individuals to fit in to specific, functional purposes. Coming back to the issue of either computers a 'master' or a 'slave' to the learning process, can anyone guarantee that they will be able to communicate in English just solely by participating or engaging themselves in online language learning? Definitely, the answer would be no. Communication is more than just sending and retrieving intended messages. It involves non-verbal messages that cannot be provided by technology. We need to bear in mind that computers are tools created by humans. How could computers replace the warmth, body language, eye contact and even gestures during the process of communicating? Language learning, when it is conducted online, it will not be able to detect or analyze different types of language styles of individuals living in different contexts. Since the applications have been programmed, they can simply reject or claim particular linguistic aspects (for example, pronunciation and writing styles) as erroneous. This makes the role of teachers as students' facilitator in learning hard to be replaced.
#8: Would you like to use the application yourself in your future work?
Upon assessing the content of this website, I may use some of the contents for my students to enrich their linguistic knowledge, particularly in vocabulary and pronunciations. However, I think I will use the contents presented in this website only as a follow-up activity. This website is perhaps effective for students or adult learners who wish to revise their knowledge about the language; though, the contents are not attractive and comprehensive enough to cater to different needs of learners. Apart from that, I think I may use this website for my personal reference in order to improve my teaching practice.
Suggestions/Recommendations
I did ask my 14-year-old sister to 'play' with this website; she claimed that the contents of this website were 'too dry' to be used as the main material for a particular English lesson. Based on the reason, I think that other factors such as visual and audio effects are still important as they have their special role in enhancing students' motivation in language learning. My sister also said that the explanations and instructions given were too long and some words could not be understood. Perhaps the moderator can put on synonyms to particular words that they might find difficult to L2 learners.
Apart from that, I would like to suggest that the moderator may think about integrating an inductive rather than a deductive approach of 'teaching' the language. As an example, the moderator can put on a little bit of an excerpt of an online newspaper. From that, several aspects of language, let say, passive voice and past tense, are highlighted. from this excerpt, a brief explanation can be given about the use of passive structures in reported speech or anything else that is related to it. Instead of requesting the learners to answer questions or taking part in MCQ-type of quizzes, they can actually 'create' a their own newspaper excerpt by integrating the knowledge learned before. Techniques such as drag and drop and matching can be used to make this activity more interesting. Therefore, meaningful learning can take place.
References:
Brown, H.D. (2001). Teaching by principles: an interactive approach to
language pedagogy (2nd ed). New York: Pearson Education.
Lightbown, P.M. & Spada, N. (2006). How languages are learned.
New York: Oxford University Press.
Yule, G. (2006). The study of language. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Special thanks to:
Noorshila Amani Rosli
