Task 1: Digital ESL Material Evaluation

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/

1. What does the website or MOOC or app or tool attempt to "teach"? Are exercises or activities included in the website? What are types of exercise or activities included? Are there different levels of difficulty for different proficiency levels? 

       The ESL website that I have chosen for this task is http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/. BBC English is a part of the BBC World Service devoted solely to English language teaching. This particular website attempts to teach full range of English courses such as Grammar, Vocabulary, Reading, Pronunciation, Learning English through Drama, Business English and Learning English in Your Language (which offers explanation  in Thai, Mandarin and Hindi) that cater to students of different proficiency levels such as lower-intermediate, intermediate, upper-intermediate and advanced. Not only that, it also offers useful tips towards English teachers on how to teach students on a certain topics effectively. 

      As soon as learners open the website, they will be greeted with a lot fun activities and tasks. For example, if the learner scroll down to the Grammar section, they are able to test their Grammar knowledge. Most of the activities are the in the form of quiz ,puzzles and interactive games. The courses are designed to suit students of different proficiency levels such as basic, lower-intermediate, intermediate, upper-intermediate and advanced. Activities offered are different and are designed accordingly to suit learners' level.  There are 20 different units with the average of 15 sessions per unit. The 'session' refers to the topic and with each session, learners will learn new words with flashcards, watch and discuss videos about everyday life, discuss how to solve problems, learn some useful everyday phrases and play games to practice what they have learnt. 



2. What are the learners/visitors required to do with regards to learning the content of the website or MOOC or apps? 

     The learners may opt to sign up to the website in order to get notification for new activities. Otherwise, they can simply enter the website and choose their courses. If he/she is new to the website, it is recommended to choose the lower-intermediate course and it should give a head-start  of how the website works. In each session there is a brief description of what the learners should expect and each session starts with a video. Learners will be introduced to different presenters that will guide them throughout the unit. After watching the video, learners are required to do the activities provided. Learners can check their scores and progress at the 'view score breakdown' button. 

    If learners want to learn something specific such as Grammar, they can go to the homepage and click on the Grammar option. There are also different levels of difficulties that students can choose from. To test learners' grammar knowledge, they can go back to the homepage and scroll down the Grammar section. In this section, learners can play the "Grammar Gameshow". The learner will watch a video first, hosted by a presenter named Will and he will explain on a Grammar topic such as "Continuous tenses". After watching the video, the learner is then required to do the "Grammar Gameshow Quiz". It is a very fun and interactive way to test learners' Grammar knowledge and at the same time do a simple recap each time they got the answers wrong as the explanation will be given as well. Apart from that, there are also abundant of tips that students can explore on the homepage such as Grammar and Vocabulary tips. It is just on click away for the learners. 

The Grammar Gameshow 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/course/tgg/unit-1/session-2

    For more advanced learners, such as University students, there is a section dedicated entirely on Shakespeare entitled "Shakespeare Speaks". Learners can choose this course from the courses button at the homepage. This interesting course discusses on the idioms and the diction used in most of Shakespeare's prominent works such as The Tempest, Hamlet and Macbeth. It is a 20-part series about life, time and language of William Shakespeare. It is also available as an animated series which learners can find very interesting and it has a supporting interacting website, downloadable materials, podcasts and rich social media experience. 

Shakespeare Speaks

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/course/shakespeare/unit-1

3. Does the website or MOOC or app or tools present learners with something that cannot be done in a face-to-face classroom? If yes, how so?

    Yes, definitely. This website gives learners abilities to work on their own pace without any time limit and they can have fun trying out the quizzes on their own. It is not something that they can do in a traditional classroom. Learners will also get immediate feedback and they can monitor their own progress through the 'view score breakdown button' in the website. Apart from that, learners can always go back to the website and try doing it again until he/she manage to get it all correct. There are also so many fun themes in the website such as 'useful dating language' in the Vocabulary section. In a face-to-face classroom, this might not be suitable and some senior teachers prefer to stick to the themes in textbook that are quite cliche, hence the lesson will be less engaging. In this website there are many current themes that can attract learners. When the lesson is engaging, the probability for students to remember it will increase and they can have an added bonus of fun while doing it. 

Useful Dating Language

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/course/experiment/unit-1/session-22

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

     The most obvious theory I can think of is Task Based Learning (TBL). Basically, this theory refers to task being the main core of language teaching. In other words, learners learn better by doing. In this website there is activity and quiz for every section. Brown (2007),  said that tasks must have a strong relation to the real-life activities which give meaning to learners. Most of the activities in this website requires a problem solving skill such as "How to Get Out of Sticky Situation" in the Vocabulary section. Learners will do the exercise and at the same time will find it meaningful as in can be applied to real-life situation. TBL aims to both enable learners to acquire new linguistic knowledge and to proceduralize their existing knowledge. 

    The second theory is from John Piaget's constructionist theories of education which is the student-centered learning. Piaget explained that children construct knowledge cognitively through new experience and interaction. Learning through this website is considered as a student-centered learning as learner has the autonomy to control his/her learning. In other words, it is called 'Personalized Learning' where learner's interest and culture are being taken into consideration in the education. Again, the website uses a very contemporary and up-to-date issues and themes that will fit learners' needs. It also enables learners to track, guide and have a stake in the process of their education.

5. An important criterion for evaluating a CALL program, task or activity is the potential for language learning  (i.e will student learn something?) Does the website or MOOC or app fulfill this criterion? If yes, how so? If no, why? 

    Personally, I do believe that this website fulfills the criterion as a CALL program. The reason I choose to evaluate this website in the first place is because I myself have used this website before during my practicum. It never fails me and the content is comprehensive. The explanation for each section is lucid, understandable and it caters to everyone. In short, this website is for everyone who wants to learn English; students from different proficiency levels and also teachers. Students will definitely learn not just something, but a lot of things from this website that are useful and meaningful. The tagline of the website is "Inspiring Language Learning since 1943", therefore I am confident that the people behind the website know what they are doing and will only put quality contents to benefit learners. It has a 4.8 ratings from people across the world and it has been proven to help many ESL and EFL speakers. 

6. Would you like to use the application yourself in your future work? 

   A big yes. I already imagine myself utilizing every section in this website if I ever become an English teacher in the future. It is the perfect website for language learning and I love how user-friendly it is. The content is free and every material is downloadable and it is definitely useful when it comes to practicing and refreshing my own English skill as well. As a teacher in the eyes of students, you need to basically know everything about English to answer their questions. This website will provide me just enough explanation. I will also download the videos and adapt it in my future classroom.

   However, in the future, if  I get lucky and were placed to work at a school that has complete facilities, I will ask my students to open this website through their PC or any device and create a student-centered learning environment. I will also do a research on the effectiveness of this research as well so others can see what they can implement in their classrooms. This website for me is the perfect tool to create Blended Learning which refers to e-learning that combines traditional classroom methods and independent study, to create a new, hybrid teaching methodology (Stewart, 2018). It represents a fundamental change in the way teachers and students approach the learning experience.

  

References:

Stewart, S. M. (2018). What is blended learning. Blended Learning. Retrieved from https://www.mindflash.com/elearning/what-is-blended-learning.

Written by: Yasmin Suraya Bt Mohd Saffuan
Student ID: 2015217996