WEBSITE EVALUATION

1. What does the website attempt to ‘teach’? are exercises included in the website? What are the types of exercises included? Are there immediate feedbacks? Are there different levels of difficulty for different proficiency levels?

‘engVid' is an educational site that can be accessed easily by all English learners around the world. It provides free English videos lesson taught by native speakers which makes the learning more effective. This website attempts to teach various types of subject areas of English such as grammar, pronunciation, slang, speaking, vocabulary and writing. It is famously known among ESL speakers due to its overflowing content. It has everything that a learner needs to learn to master the language. I find this website to be very informative and helpful as these teachers will scaffold and provide steady support to let the learner comprehend the topic successfully. Moreover, learner's understanding towards the topic will be tested through the quiz. Usually it has 10 objective questions for learners to answer and learners will receive an immediate feedback afterwards. The answer for each question will appear and learners can learn from the errors that they make. This website also caters to all types of learners as it offers videos for beginner, intermediate and advanced. I believe it supports learner-centered strategy that addresses the varied needs of students.

2.      What are the learners/visitor required to do with regards to learning the content of the website?

The advantage of this site is learners can have free access to all materials without having trouble to register or pay to use it. Furthermore, it is user-friendly because learners can simply use the website even though it is their first time browsing through the site. Next, it has a pleasant look which attracts more learners to discover the site. In order for learners to use this site in a rewarding way, first, learners need to identify what the topic that they want to study and wish to discover or learners will end up browse through the site for hours and gain nothing.  Second, learners need to identify their proficiency level whether they belong to beginner, intermediate or advanced group. This is to ensure that they are in the right group as we want their language to be well-developed.  Since different learners have different learning styles, this website allows learners to pick a teacher that they feel comfortable learning with. Learners can be motivated by having their favourite teacher teaching them hence this is a bonus for having the chance to pick any teacher from the list.

3.      While you are going through the website, does it remind you of anything you do in a classroom, or with a teacher, or with a fellow classmate, or in self-study?

This website reminds me of the lesson which I had experienced during Phonetics class with Mr. Fazyudi. He played a video of a native speaker explaining on the sounds of English pronunciation. I believe that video helped us gain more understanding as it provides us with authentic examples on how the real native speakers using the language.

4.    Does the website present learners with something that cannot be done in a textbook/workbook? If yes, how so.

Yes, I agree that the content in the website is something that you can find in the textbook but the approaches that the teachers are using are more interactive. Teacher starts the lesson by posting a question that gets students thinking and slowly introduce them to the topic. Every minute of video lesson is meaningful and packed with overloaded input. Learning through videos, of course, will be far more efficient than learning in a classroom because in real classroom, usually weaker students are being left out while strong ones will be paid attention to. That condition will hinder students from developing further in language field. However, in this site, learners of all levels receive equal chance to learn which gives students a safe feeling and reduce their anxiety to learn. If the learners prove that they are incapable of understanding the lesson during the first time hearing, learners can review the video repeatedly and pause whenever they want. It emphasizes on flexible learning which enables learners to learn at their own pace and at their own time. 

5.  Can you pinpoint some theories of language learning and/or teaching underlying the application?

According to Jean Piaget, Constructivism is a view that learning is an active, constructive process. People actively construct or create their own understanding then the new information is linked to their schemata.  When learners listen to the video, the process of acquiring knowledge is active and learners will construct meaning based on personal experiences and their environment. Furthermore, when the teacher starts to explain further about the topic, students' schemata will activate and prepare them to predict the content which help them to understand better. 

Other than that, this site has proven the use of 'Interactive learning' which is the combination between the use of technology and virtual communication. It is a video-based learning which emphasizes on learning deductively as teachers explain on the grammar rules then only they give examples. This is more of a teacher-centered learning.

Moreover, 'Audiolingual Method(ALM)' is highlighted as teachers model the pronunciation and learners are expected to do drilling on their own in order to remember the right sound.

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?

Yes, this website has the potential for language learning as it reflects the teaching and learning aspects of language which hone students' language skills. By using this website, it will be easier for students to understand native speakers as they are exposed to the target language and the speed at which the native speaker usually talks. The videos watching will help students to practice both listening and speaking. Learners are also exposed to the slang and colloquial expressions used by the native speakers which learners do not learn in usual classroom. Thus, learning using this website can help students gain the content knowledge and this knowledge extends to cultural issues.

7. Would you like to use the application yourself in your future work?
Yes? Give reasons:

No? Give reasons:

Yes. I will definitely use this website in future as I find this website to be very useful to future educators and students. Truthfully, I have been using this website since I was back in high school until now. To add, I watched the videos most during practicum as I wanted to enhance my teaching skills and knowledge of subject matter. This websites serves wide range of valuable content and assessments for different level of proficiency of students. Teacher also can gain benefit from this website as it offers variety teaching styles and techniques which can contribute to effective teaching environment in classroom. In addition, living in the era of technology advancement, students are more attracted to learning using technology than chalk-and-talk kind of approach. Additionally, this site also allows learners to leave comments under the video which give them the opportunity to ask and clarify doubts about the topic.

The website link : http://www.engvid.com/

About myself

1.      I am Wan Noor Azlini binti Wan Mohd Azlan. I am 23 years old. I was born in Kajang, Selangor and has been raised by my parents in Balakong, Selangor.

2.      I would say that I am an internet savvy because I always equip myself with updated knowledge in Information&Communication Technologies(ICT). I frequently help my mom who is a teacher with her works. On top of that, having a dad who is an expert in computer has given me the best access to information about technology. Besides that, this field has been developed through years of exposure during school and at home. Hence, I don't find it troubling to deal with the latest technology. 

3.      I am good with some editing softwares like Windows Movie Maker and Sony Vegas Pro in which I usually use to produce impressive and high quality videos. Additionally, I am capable of utilizing the common applications such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft PowerPoint. During my free time, I do write in blogs and I engage in interacting in the social medias through Twitter and Facebook. Furthermore, I usually post pictures on Instagram and Tumblr. 

4.      Yes. I have been exposed to teaching using websites since I was in my secondary school. I still remember that the school has instructed us to complete Score-A exercises using computers in the computer lab. Apart from that, teachers also had been integrating technology and internet for their lessons in classroom. For example, my history teacher had taught us history of 'Bukit Kepong' by showing movies and notes from the internet. 

5.      Since students nowadays are familiar with technology, I did incorporate technology in some of my lessons during practicum. For example, students were given a task to write an e-mail to their favorite leader.  I also tried to find videos on the related topic in order to make the lesson as interesting as possible. Students seemed to enjoy the lesson compared to traditional way of teaching in classroom. In my opinion, it is a success for integrating technology to the students in this era. 

6.      My opinion on the use of technology in language teaching is students are more focused and willing to participate when it is an interactive lesson. Teachers also can be more creative in creating lesson plans which they can incorporate technology such as showing videos and doing movie review. Thus students can easily comprehend the topic taught by the teacher. 

7.      My expectation from this course is I am able to expand my knowledge in this field as we are given the task to create our own ESL websites and courseware. 

8.      My research's title is "Pronunciation: The pattern of errors among different native tongue background of lower secondary students in SMK Seksyen 9, Shah Alam". I find having the correct pronunciation is a necessity for bilingual learners thus I would like to unravel the topic much deeper. Without the command of good pronunciation, it can lead to misunderstanding in communicating with others. My supervisor is Mr. Suthagar and he has been very helpful with the momentum of my AE. I believe that this AE can be finished in the near future with continuous motivation and determination.