Suitable to the title of the webpage, it tries to “teach” about grammar and writing. It goes through one level to another; from words and sentence level to paragraph level and finally essay and research paper level. In one level, students or visitors can choose the grammar components that they want to work with. Among the components are, Adjectives, Preposition, Verbs and etc. Other than that, learners can also test their English or what they have learned by taking the test and quizzes provided. From my opinion, the webpage is not so suitable for children in secondary school let alone the primary school. It is because the webpage is too “lengthy”. Meaning wise, it is full of texts and notes and less pictures. In addition, the terms used are not suitable for school students. The terms used such as ‘Periodic Sentences’ and ‘parallel Form’ is too “gigantic” or too complex for school students. Lastly, as the target of the webpage is to improve writing skills and grammar other skills are neglected. For the sake of developing speaking skills, there is no space for interaction thus learners will never experience “authentic engagement in an activity” (Lier 1996). However, despite of all the weaknesses, this webpage is suitable for the adult learners such as college students because the page also gives note on how to write essay and research paper, not all webpage “teach” on how to write these two.
In terms of the learning content, learners will be given complete notes after choosing and clicking on components that they want to work with. For example, if the learners decide on working on adjective at the words and sentence level then the complete note will be given to them. All of the types of adjectives and everything related to it will be written on the page. If the learner wants to tests their understanding on the components chosen, they will only have to scroll down to the bottom page of the note and click on the link under the ‘Quiz’ icon. Easy breezy, that icon will lead user to the next page where the quiz is located. They can get the answer after they have done by clicking on the “Grammar’s List” or “Grammar Version”. The button for the answer is not the same for each categories but the placement of it is the same. The consistency of the placement of icon made it easy for users to comprehend on how to use the website. A small weakness after users have finished the quiz is that they don’t get the evaluation in terms of numeral percentage. They just get the answer for the quiz but not the percentage.
3. What sorts of computer skills is the application users expected to have in order to operate/access/use the application?
First and foremost, users need to know the basic computer skills such as clicking and typing. It is vital for them to know these two skills as this site requires user to use both of the skills in order for it to operate. For example, they need to choose one category among others and click on the chosen one. In relation to clicking, users need to know which icon to click and the ‘click-able’ texts (i.e. hyperlink texts) so that will not get confused or panic. Then, if they want to answer the questions on the quizzes, they are required to type the words or sentences which related to the question in the space provided. In addition to it, users also need to know how to download certain things from this website. In this site, users are able to download explanatory notes (e.g. business letter, resume, meeting agenda and etc.) and PowerPoint presentations. In order to download the explanatory notes, users must be equipped with Acrobat Reader hence, the basic knowledge on how to use Acrobat Reader are also required. If they do not have Acrobat Reader, they can always download it from the website in the space provided by the site.
4. While you are “playing”/”accessing”/”assessing” the application, does it remind you of anything you do in a classroom, or with teacher, or with a fellow classmates, or in self study.
The answer for this question is a ‘Yes’ and ‘No’. Well, it depends on the context. It is a ‘Yes’ in one side because the site uses grammar terms which I never heard before. Just like when I was in my primary school, when I changed school, the teacher from the new school used terms for each grammatical item such as Verbs, Preposition, and etc. I’ve never heard of these terms before (even though they were so simple) and they got me so confused that I got low mark for my monthly test. The terms were too ‘huge’ for me to take. In addition, as I grew up, I remember being given tasks right after I have finished learning one particular grammatical item. It’s just like what we have from this website; they gave detailed notes and at the bottom of the page, the quiz for that topic is also provided. It is a big ‘No’ for me because, somehow, my teacher never gave us one whole note on one particular topic. The notes on the same topic will be given gradually over the secondary school years. It got harder and complex from year to year. In addition to the ‘No’, my previous English teacher never associated grammar with literary texts. Here in this website, a paragraph from D.H. Lawrence short story called “The Horse Dealer’s Daughter” is used as a quiz to the adjectives.
5. Can you pinpoint some theories of language learning and/or teaching underlying the application?
When I first opened the website and look at the notes given, it reminds me on the Deductive Approach. Deductive Approach is where the teacher usually tells out straightforward the topic that they will learn on that day. Then the teacher will prepare the notes or write on the whiteboard and elaborate it afterwards. After the teacher has done giving the note, then he or she will gives out exercises or do an activity as a means of practice. In a simple term, Deductive Approach is when teacher go from the basic to the specific side of learning. It is very traditional and teacher centered (in classroom context). However, if it’s outside of the classroom context, the humanistic approach by Carl Rogers is simply a good point to describe this application. Carl Rogers proposed Roger’s Approach in Education. It emphasizes on the “natural desire” of everyone to learn. It starts from there and if the learner wants to maintain it, they need to be empowered and to have control over the learning process. By all means, the users of this application need to follow the lesson. They have to take control over their own learning process. They have to be determine so that they will be able to follow the lesson. The third theory underlying the application is on Piaget’s Developmental Theory. It starts as simple as reading notes from the page. They will try to make sense of the notes (I assume that the users are among adult because, as I mentioned earlier in question 1, this application is not suitable for school students). The process of making sense is what Piaget called as assimilation. After they have tried to understand then they will test their understanding by doing the quiz provided. When they check their answer, they will realize that not all of the answers are right. From this point, they will change their understanding according to the answer that they get from the quiz. And this is called accommodating. It happens when you change your understanding towards the previous learned things. One of the other key ideas in Piaget’s theory which is applied to the application is the classification. As we all know, grammar is made up of classification. From the application, we can see that all subcomponents of grammar are included there. It includes words and sentence level (all types of grammar subcomponents such as interjections) to paragraph level (for example sentence and tenses).
6. How well is constructivist theory of learning applied to the chosen website?
The constructivist theory was generally attributed by Jean Piaget. According to constructivist theory, or more specifically social constructivist (by Vygotsky in 1978), learning is an active process where learner should discover facts, principles and concepts by themselves. It stresses on the significance of encouraging guesswork and intuitive thinking by the learner. This part of the constructivist theory is well applied to the website. It is due to the nature of doing the quiz. In order to do the quiz, users have to guess the answer for the questions provided. However, on the other side, users are merely guessing because the note has already been provided. Thus all the rules, facts, concepts, and principles have being read before they do the quiz. However, it’ll be a good application if the users jump down straight to the quiz because that is when the intuitive thinking will work best. So the theory is not very well applied to the website. Other than that, social constructivist theory emphasize on the learning collaboratively. As far as I can see, all of the notes and quizzes are meant for only one person to work on. To add to it, constructivist theory also proposed that instructors are facilitator. Meaning wise, teacher only helps the learners in a small proportion only. In this website, users do not have instructors to facilitate them. In a small conclusion, constructivist theory is not very well applied to this website.
7. In 1980 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?
It is impossible that computer to be a replacement for a teacher. Even the best human-think-alike-programmed robot sent to the deepest part of the ocean failed the task that it was programmed to do. Computer cannot replace teachers because they cannot think. Human made them and they do as they are programmed to do. They look genius because of human. They also act ‘geniusly’ because of human. Hence, to think them as a replacement for teacher is impossible. Computer also cannot be the obedient servant for the student. It is because, whenever students make mistakes a computer will make correct it. Take the Microsoft Office Word, for example, whenever we type wrongly, the software will correct the spelling. From my point of view, computer is better off as a tool of teaching and learning. Computer can make learning more interesting because we can do so many activities when we incorporated computer with classroom activities. Furthermore, computer can increase student’s attention towards the learning. When things get exciting, most students will pay attention and want to take part. So the classroom participation is high. When they enjoy the activity and do it with their friend, the learning will be meaningful to them. So with all the positive effects that computer can bring, it is concluded that it is more suitable to be a tool, not a replacement and not a servant.
8. Would you like to use the application yourself in your future work?
My answer will be 50/50. ‘Yes’, I will use the webpage in the future but ‘No’ I will not take all of the things given from the website. If I’m about to teach an adult, I might be able to use the website as a reference in preparing teaching material. However I have to simplify the language a little bit. Well, it depends on the learner’s proficiency. Like I state above, it is a ‘No’ because I will not take all of the things provided by the website. I might take just a little note or several exercises from website. I might also use the sample resume or business letter if I’m in the field. Insyallah.
Suggestion/Recommendation
As for this website I would like to suggest to add some more graphic or pictures to make it look less ‘serious’. Even adult learner need to see a beautiful decorated webpage in order to gain their attention and interest. Next, I would like to suggest the webpage to include some videos related to the topic that they presented. I believe that there are a lot of visual learners and audio learners who want to improve their writing skill and grammar also. My other suggestion would be to include speaking and listening skills as well. Don’t get me wrong, I like this website because it is very useful in improving our writing and reading skills but I think this usefulness should be expanded to other skills as well.
Reference:
H. Douglas Brown (Second Edition, 2001): Teaching by Principles; An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructivism_(learning_theory)
http://www.teflcertificatecourses.com/tefl-articles/tesol-inductive-deductive-approaches.php
8.6/10
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