ESL WEBSITE EVALUATION

Website Name: Literature for Secondary Schools
Website Address: http://www.literature.com.my
Website Publisher: Just English Sdn. Bhd.
Grade/ Form: All Secondary levels (Form 1- Form 5)
Subject Area: Literature component


Q1. What does the application attempt to “teach”?

This website acts as an online resource to guide both teachers and students, not only to prepare for PMR and SPM, but also provides a broad-based approach to understand literature. This application gives students the opportunity to practice and develop specific reading comprehension and writing skills. Plus, they get to develop their grammar skills especially in the areas of adjectives, spelling and vocabulary through the interactive games provided. Basically, the objective is to enhance active learning and promote itself as a reliable and instructional ICT tool for classroom teaching.

Q2. What sorts of things is the application user expected to do with regards to learning the content?

Since the application is very user-friendly, students can actually download audio files (from ‘Extra resources’) and PDF worksheets on their own where they can use the diagrams, explanations and glossary segments to understand the literary text better and develop their language. The website also requires learners to apply higher order thinking skills so that learners are critical as well as creative.

Q3. What sorts of computer skills is the application users expected to have in order to operate/ access/ use the application?

There are TWO actually. The first is Information Processing, whereby students have to read the questions from the PDF worksheets, understand the questions and try to come up with the correct responses for each of them. The other one would be Management skills, whereby the Flash based interactive activities provide a challenge by setting a time limit for every game, to motivate students to manage their time efficiently while attempting to give all the correct answers.

Q4. 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?

Yes, the PDF worksheets are similar to what secondary students have to complete using the traditional paper-and-pen in the classroom. In addition, I remember the Literature Component reference books that we had to buy during the school years. I have to say the information provided (e.g. synopsis, summary, theme, language, moral values, etc.) for each short story or short poem is at par with the content of most of the reference books you purchase nowadays, except that this is free :)

Q5. Can you pinpoint some theories of language learning and/or teaching underlying the application?

The application poses both cognitive and constructivist theories of language approaches. In a way, this website facilitates teaching and learning to take pace in meaningful and contextualized settings, enhance reinforcement, and motivate learners to be goal-oriented.

Additionally, multiple intelligences theory of learning is also applied in this application. The ones I’ve pinpointed are verbal/ linguistic intelligences (using their auditory and visual mode of perception to think in words and appreciate the complex meanings in the poems), visual/spatial intelligence (using their active imagination to imagine themselves as the characters and manipulate letters to make a word (e.g Word Search and Crossword puzzles, Hangman games), and interpersonal intelligence (learners use the application where they can interact with their peers as well as the teacher because it encourages communicative learning whereby they help each other to solve some of the problems found in the worksheets and flash games.

Q6. How well is the constructivist theory of learning applied to the chosen website?

Teachers become the facilitators when the students are doing the activities online (interactive games). Besides this, students are the active independent thinkers instead of being passive receivers of information and they also become personally involved when using this website because it allows them to learn skills in the context in which they need to be used. For example, students learn to develop their vocabulary when they are trying to think of a word that matches a description like, “Find the similar meaning of the word ‘trodden’” (taken from the Hangman game of the ‘The Road Not Taken’).


Q7. In the 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?

Based on my evaluation, neither. I’d consider the computer to be more of an ‘assistant’ to enhance learners’ knowledge. Bear in mind, that we are moving forward in the era of technology whether we like it or not and therefore it is important for teachers nowadays to start implementing the use of computers in the learning environment, even though they are teaching the most basic computer skills like word processing. New skills matter in the new economy, including ICT. These skills will be an advantage to students in their future careers. As researched and concluded by Towndrow (n.d.), although CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning) is still searching to find its place in the study environment, it is perceived as being of benefit by the low-ability students by providing practice in grammar and vocabulary.

Q8. Would you like to use the application yourself in your future work? Yes OR No? Give reasons for your answer.

Yes, because I think it’s professionally created. What makes this website different from other ESL websites that I’ve explored is how organized it is. The contents are placed at the right-hand side of the web page and you can select whichever link you want to go to conveniently unlike other websites where you have to click on either the ‘Back’ or ‘Forward’ navigation buttons to go to other links, which can sometimes be a hassle because you can get lost searching for the page that you want to go back to.

They also allow schools around Malaysia and even Higher Institutions (view homepage of the website) to register on to their website. The Flash games are interactive, although one would have to download the latest Adobe Flash player or other similar software in order to gain access to all the games provided. Nonetheless, they capture students’ attention in the right way and motivate students to really try and understand the component taught to them. I actually used a few of the PDF worksheets for class assignments while I was doing my practical and they proved to be helpful during in-class discussion because the students had to work together to search for the answers to the questions which increased cooperative learning in my classroom.

The games and questions are not too easy nor is it too challenging. They are just suitable for secondary school students. The application also encourages critical thinking. E.g. flash games like hangman and matching correct adjectives for literature characters. It is interactive in a way that it allows users (parents, teachers, and students and others) to give feedback so that the publisher/ creators can modify any improvements needed on their website. Two-way communication is always good. Plus, it provides extra resources and links to other web pages where you can download audio files (e-book) of the literature component, which is convenient.

• Suggestions/Recommendations:

I suggest that the web publishers don’t limit user members to teachers only, but allow wide access to everyone in general. The reason is because the answer sheets to the PDF literature question sheets can only be acquired if you are logged in or signed up as a teacher.

It’s almost as good as a teaching courseware except that it only focuses on the literature component. During my practicum, I had the opportunity to use a teaching courseware which I found very educational and suitable for class lessons. The courseware included a short video of the story, “The Drover’s Wife” and my students had found it very entertaining. Perhaps this particular website could also create short videos on the short stories or just include colorful pictures with audio back-up to go with the storyline. This could prove to be effective for those who are visual learners.

Some of the flash games, like the crossword puzzles, don’t provide the answers after a user has finished playing. If there were any mistakes, the game would only put a ‘X’ next to the number that the user had answered wrongly but would not give the correct answer to the question.

Also, I wish that the flash games/ activities included some kind of compliment every time a user succeeds in completing the activity given. Or maybe even keep a record of the top scorers so that students would feel motivated to try and play the games repeatedly so that they could beat the highest score. As a student, I know I would feel both intrinsically and extrinsically motivated to play the games over and over again myself because it makes learning fun :)