My Words is a user-friendly learning program. From installing it on to my computer to actual using it, it only took me less than 10 minutes. Besides, the short tutorial available on the website gives me a quick review on how I can make full use of the programme.
With the browser toolbar, users can click the buttons on the bar to add words to the personalized word list, and they can check new words by highlighting them on any website they are looking at. To learners of English, I find My Words can enhance learners’ learning experience, vocabulary learning in particular. Learners of English, most often the case, they will encounter new words while they are surfing the English websites. My Words saves up their time on checking dictionary since users can add words to the own lists with definition of the words, it also provides them a vast storage of words that enhances learning. From the trying out on this programme, I quite like the way that I can have my own word lists stored and that I can retrieve on when necessary. As learner of English, I find it vocabulary learning is one of the things that means a great deal to me. From my word list, it also includes word combinations so that I can know from the possible context of using different words. This is useful to learners of English.
However, I find it quite confusing using the translation support provided by My Words. I highlighted some of the lines while I was reading a piece of news on yahoo7. The Chinese translation turned out to be an inaccurate translation of Chinese. If users learnt the translation without checking the proper usage of the words, this would definitely affect their learning. It happens to many Chinese learners of English.
Besides, I find The visuwords, supported by My Words a bit complicated to understand. The visuwords, in a sense, helps learners since it shows the parts of speech, synonyms and etc. of the words. All that is crucial to vocabulary learning. However, the use of many different colours of arrows, shapes make learning way complex than expected.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Session 7: Multimedia: Reflection on Liou's paper (1994)
Liou’s paper (1994) discusses the development of a project of English as a foreign language (EFL) interactive videodisc (IVD) courseware which aims at assisting the training in EFL skills. The article includes description of how the project was completed in discussing design considerations, objective setting, instructional design, implementation; how the IVD courseware can be linked to language classrooms, and how courseware evaluation should be planned accordingly. The writer concludes with a discussion of the implications and useful recommendations for those who are willing to undergo such an enterprise.
Liou suggests the benefits of IVD to language teaching as it provides verbal, non verbal visual support like gestures and facial expressions which I cannot agree more.
The writer addresses that IVD should accommodate media based objectives, solid instructional design, such as good lesson plans while taking language learning theories and pedagogy into account and aims to lead to successful courseware as well as to gain in learning.
I agree on the idea of incorporating IVD courseware in classrooms because it allows individual students’ learning as flexibly as they can. Students can get on their learning through the IVD courseware so that they can learn at their own pace without interfering with or being bothered by others. Unlike average in-class, IVD gives students certain kinds of freedom, plus exploiting students’ different abilities to learning. Through IVD, they can actually learn communicating but not simply learn the language.
This is something not easily be seen in most classrooms in Hong Kong. As an English learner, I learnt English as a language, but not learn to communicate in the language. Schools mostly pay attention to the content of English as a subject, but neglect the importance to incorporate the idea of teaching to communicate in the language. I suppose this paper does give me some insights about the real kind of teaching I would like to bring in classrooms.
Liou suggests the benefits of IVD to language teaching as it provides verbal, non verbal visual support like gestures and facial expressions which I cannot agree more.
The writer addresses that IVD should accommodate media based objectives, solid instructional design, such as good lesson plans while taking language learning theories and pedagogy into account and aims to lead to successful courseware as well as to gain in learning.
I agree on the idea of incorporating IVD courseware in classrooms because it allows individual students’ learning as flexibly as they can. Students can get on their learning through the IVD courseware so that they can learn at their own pace without interfering with or being bothered by others. Unlike average in-class, IVD gives students certain kinds of freedom, plus exploiting students’ different abilities to learning. Through IVD, they can actually learn communicating but not simply learn the language.
This is something not easily be seen in most classrooms in Hong Kong. As an English learner, I learnt English as a language, but not learn to communicate in the language. Schools mostly pay attention to the content of English as a subject, but neglect the importance to incorporate the idea of teaching to communicate in the language. I suppose this paper does give me some insights about the real kind of teaching I would like to bring in classrooms.
Session 6: Evaluation: Reflection on Hubbard's paper (1988)
Hubbard’s paper (1988) discusses a very different approach to CALL courseware evaluation, unlike checklists form or questionnaire form of courseware evaluation available in textbooks, in the form of a flexible framework from which teachers can develop their own evaluation courseware for CALL procedures from which consists of three major sections of the framework: operational description, teacher fit, and learner fit. The paper also addresses the use of the framework to evaluate courseware as a closure to the discussion.
This framework is not as complex as it may seem but I must agree that Hubbard does give a thorough discussion of the framework. In a sense, this framework, as Hubbard explains clearly, offers teachers with great freedom and control of creating their own way of evaluation to fit in their own classrooms. It allows teachers using the package as a leading tool to tailormake a scheme that fosters effective teaching. How considerate to teachers. Thus there is no way of pressuring teachers that CALL courseware evaluation is misleading or limiting what teachers can do. But giving teachers more exploration.
This framework is not as complex as it may seem but I must agree that Hubbard does give a thorough discussion of the framework. In a sense, this framework, as Hubbard explains clearly, offers teachers with great freedom and control of creating their own way of evaluation to fit in their own classrooms. It allows teachers using the package as a leading tool to tailormake a scheme that fosters effective teaching. How considerate to teachers. Thus there is no way of pressuring teachers that CALL courseware evaluation is misleading or limiting what teachers can do. But giving teachers more exploration.
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