Languageacademy.utm.my



REVIEWED BY SUMITHA MALAR VASUUNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA 1.0 PRODUCT AT A GLANCEProduct:AARDVARK’S ENGLISH FORUMWebsite: Type:Learn English online with the help of this free website from the British Council with games, stories, listening activities and grammar exercises. Languages of website:English Languages for learning and teaching:EnglishLevel:Self-study lesson content, beginning and intermediate levels open to all levels of proficiency and ages Activities :Online exercises and quizzes,?Grammar Quizzes,?Homonyms, Idioms, Phrasal Verbs & Slang, Scrambled Words?and Vocabulary Quizzes?Media Format:Online Operating Systems :Windows Price :Free, simply sign up 1.1 GENERAL DESCRIPTION Aardvark’s English Forum?attempts to “teach” English and can be considered as a resource centre for teachers and students of English as a Second Language classes. This is because the website provides a lot of interactive English language exercises, online dictionaries and online reference books. In addition, this website also functions as a centre for discussion for ESL students and teachers. This is because Aardvark’s English Forum also provides “message board” for both teachers and students. 1.2 EVALUATIONTechnological FeaturesThis website is free for everyone, visitors or learners do not have to register anything, no chargeand fee needed. Users can use their PC or MAC via an internet connection, and the speed ofwebsite operation depends on the capacity of the CPU of the computer and the speed of theinternet connection. There were no delays when the program was running and it never crashedwhile being used. The websites works with Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and InternetExplorer. The website is easy to explore and use. It is very user friendly too.For this particular website, users are expected to browse through the links provided in the forum to find the suitable resources. This website requires minimal skills in browsing through a website because it generally uses “basic” features of a website and the links which connect the main page to the content is easy to reach. 1.3ACTIVITIES 1.3.1 LanguageLearning LevelThe most useful part of this page is the exercise content where users can do the exercises featured in the “Exercises” section. In this section, users can choose the level of the questions.Scores and answers are given straight away after completing the exercise. Other than that, related notes are also included, which provide more help in students to learn and discover their weaknesses. Another useful feature in this “Exercise” section is the link to Cambridge dictionary. Users can use this link in this section anytime if there are any words in the exercise they don’t understand.1.3.2 Graphic, Prompts, Sound, EffectsHowever, the graphics used in this website probably help students and teachers to understand the content while making it intriguing for learners. There are prompts at the bottom of the screen to indicate the steps the user should take to solve the questions. Positive reinforcements are given through praise and by awarding points. Negative comments are given in much positive way such as “this is not very bad mark you can try again”. Besides positive reinforcement this website also provides notes for questions that students failed to answer correctly. This can be very helpful to students to identify their mistakes and make quick corrections.1.3.3 Skill TestedAll the exercises focused on the acquisition of English Language. There are different aspects of language tested -spelling, grammar, writing, vocabulary and even questions on general knowledge. Students can choose the level of difficulty they could answer according to their ability. Users are also provided with a printout version which they can do on their own time. Moreover this website linked to the world’s most comprehensive collection of online learning resources, which gives learners and teachers a wide source of learning experiences.1.4 Teachers Fit (Approach)The primary objective of this website is to assist students acquiring and mastering the language in a fun way. This program is designed to develop basic language skills. Teachers and students were mainly focused when they developed this website therefore it is very useful for these both parties. There are many links in this site for teacher to easily navigate and get information from around. For each exercise there are few levels that teachers and students can choose according to their suitability. Teachers mainly should aware of students’ level before choosing activity for them. According to Carrier (1990) teachers should first consider the level of the activity to fit their students' language level. Moreover the language used in this website is appropriate and suitable for the learners’ proficiency. This website does not require any specific computer skills from teachers or students to be able to operate access or use the application. Basically, it is a simple and basic interactive website application which only requires minimal skills from its users. Anybody with the basic knowledge and skills of browsing the internet will be able to benefit from the website. In short, the users only need to click the link provided in the website.There are a few learning theories that could be associated with the website, one of them is the Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence Theory. Howard Gardner proposed seven multiple intelligence, learning through this website will help students to develop two of the multiple intelligence (Linguistic Intelligence and Logical-Mathematical Intelligence). Linguistic Intelligence is the most significant area of development since the whole website is based on language-learning content. Students need to have the required level of knowledge and understanding of English language before they can successfully gain the benefits from the website. This is because, in order for them to browse through the content of the website by clicking on the links, they need to understand what does the word on the link means. The activity of clicking on links and solving the problems of finding out which link brings them to which content brings them to the development of the next intelligence which is the Logical-Mathematical Intelligence. Logical-Mathematical Intelligence involves students’ ability to solve mathematical or scientific problems, though the problem solving in this website is not so scientific or mathematical, it is the best students can get from it since this is a language-learning based website.Another theory that could be associated with the website is the Social Constructivism Theory. This is because principles of constructivism support the use of computers in second language learning classrooms. Aadvark’s English Forum provides a context for collaboration and social interaction in which learners will construct the knowledge of the target language by being engaged in meaningful activities provided.One of the best points about the way this website is designed is that most of the skills are integrated, which means that in some activities, all four skills are present. It is important to have integrated skills as using the language requires an understanding of the workings of all four skills (Richards and Rodgers, 2001).1.5 Learners Fit (Design)The website was designed to help learners learn in more interesting and fun ways rather than the normal traditional classroom. It helps the learners to acquire and understand the rules in English in more relax ways and unconsciously since they learn it by doing exercises and games. Students learn without realizing that they are learning (Schultz, 1988). It is easier for the learners because the developer of the website breaks the exercises and activities according to the level – beginner, intermediate and advanced.This program is built more for learners and more into independent learning. That is why it is learner centered and learner controlled (Benson, 2001; Wenden, 2002). Learners are free to select the exercises and games that they like to do, and they can try it as many times as they like.They also can monitor which questions they wrong and what are the correct answers and if the answer is wrong students will be provided with notes so they could understand the mistake they have done.1.6 SummaryAadvark’s English Forum?is a very good website for English language learning. I would definitely take this website as an option to be added to the lists of my teaching aids. This is because this website can provide good resources for both teachers and students. There are a lot of things which can be done by using this website as a teaching aid and it can help students to familiarize themselves with the resources from the internet. I think that this website can be a good teaching aid for teachers and excellent studying material for students. However, the usage of this website as a studying material by students still needs guide from teachers because I think it was not specifically designed for students’ self-access. It lacks the interactivity for it to be fully functioning, self-accessed studying material.There are few things I will recommend the developers of this website such as firstly to add more differences between the students and teachers section. Currently, there is not much difference between the sections for teachers and students, and students might be lost when browsing through the sections. The exercise section can be further improved by giving immediate feedback after students answer each question. The result which came up after the exercise is done can be improved by providing more details such as the time students took when answering the questions and the number of wrong attempts in getting the right answer. This can provide teachers and students the chance to find out where their weaknesses more specifically and they can work harder on it.1.7 Scaled Rating(1 low-5 high)Implementation Possibilities4Pedagogical Features4Use of Computer Capabilities5Ease of Use3Overall Evaluation3.5Value for Money4.5REFERENCESBenson, P. (2001). Teaching and researching autonomy in language learning. London:Longman.Carrier, M. (1990). Take 5: Games and Activities for the Language Learner, UK: np. Pp 6-11.Richards, J. C. & Rodgers, T. S. (2001). Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Schultz, M. & Fisher, A. (1988). Interacting in the Language Classroom. Games for All Reasons. Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.Wenden, A. (2002). Learner development in language learning. Applied Linguistics, 23, 32-55.APPENDIX URL of website / Web page: to askDoes the site contain what you expected, e.g. as indicated in its title or URL?Yes Who created the site?AARDVARK’S ENGLISH FORUMWhat are the credentials of the author(s) of the site?Who is the site aimed at? Is it, for example, aimed at adults, native speakers, older students of a language, young learners?This website was designed mainly for students and teachers. any pronunciation activities so its suitable Students from different age group could benefit from this website. Since this website does not have for native and non native learners.When was the site created?2012When was the site last updated?2014Is there a contact name or contact address at the site?Is the site easy to access and quick to download?Yes. Some lag in loading video clips, as they are all in high definitionIs the server on which the site is located up to the job of delivering its content at any time? For example, does access slow down at peak times?Yes, it is very easy to access at almost all times, but depending on the users internet connection. How easy is it to navigate the site? Can you easily get back to the site homepage?It is very easy as every page is given appropriate headings and by clicking on the Home logo (on top of the left side ) the users can back to the home page easily. Does the site contain useful links to other sites?Yes If the site contains links to other sites, do they work and do they contain what you expected?yesIf the site contains links to other sites, are they valuable additions or potential distractions?Very useful links. Help learners to explore more.Does the site contain an appropriate mix of text, images, sound and video?Yes (text and images)How useful is the site for the provision of materials for offline computer-based or paper-based tasks?It being very helpful for the allows teachers and for the students to print the original How easy is it to turn the site contents into useful offline activities? For example, you may wish to download a whole page or selected parts of it for offline use.Some activities could be used as offline activitiesHow easy is it to differentiate the contents of the site for younger or older learners and for learners of different abilities?There are label for the difficulties of the exercises. Do you need plug-ins to access certain features of the site, e.g. in order to view certain documents or to play audio and video sequences?No Is there a copyright or “terms of use” message at the site, indicating clearly any restrictions on the way in which you may use the materials it contains?Yes ................
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