Task 1: ESL Website Evaluation

The website that is being evaluated: Learn English Today

Question 1

What does the website attempt to “teach”? Are exercises included in the website? What are the types of exercise included? Are there immediate feedbacks? Are there different levels of difficulty for different proficiency levels? 

Basically, this website is focusing on teaching English grammar, whereby all sorts of grammar notes and exercises are stacked into it. On the other hand, there are also vocabularies, idioms and proverbs included in this particular website. 

Exercise are included in the website, in which almost at the bottom of each note, there is a hyperlink whereby the visitors just have to click in order to retrieve it. The exercises are roughly categorized into 2, which are online and printable exercise. By giving both types of practices, it would be beneficial for the learners and also the educator, whereby the learners may utilize the questions and answer it online whereby immediate feedback will be given. Moreover, the educators can print out the questions to be used in the lesson. The feedback is provided instantly, like "CORRECT!", "TRY AGAIN!" and so on. In addition, the percentage of the correct answers are also equipped, to help the visitors to know their achievement for the time being. 

The choice of exercises

The multiple-choice exercise

The feedback that was given once answered correctly :)

There are none exercise that are based on the varied levels of difficulty for different proficiency levels. Hence, it is less favorable since the medley of proficiency levels could not be fully gratified.   

Question 2

What are the learners/visitors required to do with regards to learning the content of the website? 

In order to learn or explore the content of the website, the visitors just need to choose which category that they long to learn, either grammar, vocabulary, idioms or proverbs.  It does not necessitate any subscription or registration for access, which gives a huge opportunity for the visitors to guilelessly wield the content of the website. Following, in order to learn the content of the website,the visitors need to read the notes given in order to comprehend or to get better understanding of the topic (that perhaps has been learned somewhere else). Hence, to bulk up the knowledge, the learners can do some exercises provided at the end of each note. 

Question 3

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

In term of content, the website truly reminds me of the activities that I did in the classroom, with my English teacher. My adored teacher usually initiated the lesson by asking us questions. Some could be in the form of pop quiz, analogous to the ones that are in the website. Moreover, we were required to write our idioms and paste it on the classroom wall weekly. Hence, idioms were a part of the English lesson, and so does the website, that also includes the variety of idiom and proverbs.

The list of idioms

On the other hand, technically, using the website as the medium is not an orthodox way of my learning because I learned English through chalk and talk method and via the students’ presentation or performance, hence hardly using any website as the tool. Thus, the methodology is unalike, but I would say, quite fascinating due to the easy-access and students-friendly whereby the learners just have to click at the particular topic that they are keen of, without poring over each page, like a book.

Question 4

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

The answer for this question could be both yes and no. Yes, because there are some topics that are not included in the textbook/workbook, such as the business English terms and some idioms. Moreover, the abundant exercises in the website is unrivaled by the traditional textbook/workbook that usually provides exercises or practices at the end of the topic or the chapter, which are not so many. Moreover, the immediate feedback given by the website could not be obtained via textbook/workbook. In order to get the feedback, the students need to wait for the teacher, or perhaps by turning to the end of the book, which takes quite a time.

Besides, the ‘no’ answer is derived through the reasoning based on the subject matter. Most of the topics encompassed are the topics that could be found in the textbook/workbook.

Question 5

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

There are some theories of language and learning and teaching underlying this application.

The first one is Deductive Theory. As this website provides the information, mostly in the point-form, visitors would have to read over the material first, that might contain the rules of the language, preceding the exercise. Hence, that brings the deductive theory, whereby rules are introduced before the examples are given.

The rules are explained

Following, the next theory is Cognitive Theory. Since the knowledge materials presented are similar to the previous information that most probably learned through the classroom session, the visitors are aware of the gen gained. Therefore, they would be restructuring the input and output and blend them in together, as a newfangled renewed knowledge.

Moreover, Extrinsic Motivation is also provided via this application. As mentioned beforehand, right after the students answer the questions in the exercise segment, the feedback pops out. For example, if the answer given is correct, the “Correct! J” statement will show up. Hence, indirectly, this will motivate the visitor to do more exercise and get the correct answer again and again.

Correct answer!

Question 6

An important criterion for evaluating a CALL program, task or activity is the potential for language learning. Does the website fulfill this criterion? If yes, how so? 

This website does have the high potential of language learning, whereby the notes given are not too worldly, which uncluttered the easy way for the visitors to read and comprehend them. Plus, the numerous exercises could strengthen up the visitors’ grasp for each topic. Hence, as one of the visitors, I reckon that this website certainly assists language learning. However, if I were to provide the percentage, I would rate it as 79%. This website could be more enjoyable and pleasurable if more colours are added up to it. Make it gaudier and provide more graphics or pictures in order to make it more astonishing and that can also aid the visitors to understand the rule or explanation better.

Question 7

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

Yes, I would like to use the application myself in my future work. I can embedded technology into the teaching and learning, by conducting the lesson (perhaps) in the computer lab and ask the students to explore the website themselves, with my by their side, as the facilitator or the guidance. Furthermore, the simplicity of the notes is eye-catchy and this would bridge up the weaker students’ gap as they might be in the lower proficiency level. In addition, it could be used by not only weak students but also all kinds of proficiency. Moreover, the assortment of exercises could also be utilized because the students would not be bored as there are many kinds of exercises such as Multiple Choice Questions, fill in the blanks, construct the sentence and so on.

Apart from directly utilizing the application, in a computer lab, I would like to use the exercises, in which there are printable versions of them provided. Therefore, if the school that I would be in does not have the sufficient facility, or I want to endeavor the lesson in the classroom, the exercises could still be handy. Towards the end, it is the teacher’s creativity and ingenuity and the collaboration with the students that would lead the lesson towards success.

First in-class Assignment

1. Please introduce yourself.

Assalamualaikum and hi. My name is Nur Liyana bt. Abd. Ghafar. Since the name 'Liyana' is rising up to be in the mainstream, people prefer to add another lexicon to follow the 'Liyana'. Therefore, my nickname is Liyana G.


2. Please introduce yourself.

I would fancy to rate myself as a computer savvy.


3. What computer software and hardware knowledge do you have?

The Microsoft Office family; Word, Power Point, Excel, etc
and I could name some hardware. 


4. Have you experienced learning via the computer (online, using courseware, etc)?

Being one of the thousands of UiTM students, learning via the computer (online courses, using courseware, websites, etc) is a must. Therefore, i would admit that i have undergone such learning, and in fact, I am learning it NOW, and Insya Allah more in the future.


5. Did you try to incorporate technology in your some of your lessons during your practicum? Was it a success or a failure? If you did not what was/were the reason(s)?

I wanted to try to use it, but due to the facility lacking, whereby the computer lab at that particular school is quite weary, it was not so promising to do so. Moreover, the computer lab is located extremely far from the classroom and it would take so much time to get the students moving from the classroom to the location.

However, the least that I can did was trying to bring my own computer and conduct a lesson by using songs or audio that were downloaded from the internet. Indeed, the student really liked it because it was indifferent to the learning session that they used to be in. Moreover, it encouraged the students to be more proactive by singing it along and dancing to it. I could say, it was a success. :)


6. What is your opinion on the use of computer/technology in language teaching?

Nowadays, computer acts as the hearts of the human beings. Hence, it becomes the necessity for the young generations to get hold of it  Since the students are mostly 'technology-geek', the teachers
should be a step advanced than them, in order to catch their attention. Moreover, incorporating technology in language teaching would be a great idea since the technology is globally needed and utilized. But on the other hand, the face-to-face learning is still crucial as the language learning requires lots and lots of practice and in-real life communication.  

7. What are your expectations from this course?

I'm expecting it to uplift my computer skills, and at the same time find  the joy in incorporating technology in language teaching. 

8. What is the topic chosen for your Academic Exercise? Why have you chosen the topic? Who is your supervisor?  How do you plan to complete your AE so that it follows the designated processes (chapter by chapter) and can be submitted on time?

My topic chosen is 'Stereotyped Gender-based Language Use: A Study Case'. I have chosen this topic because I like to know whether the researched production suit the actual happenings, especially on the TESL students. My supervisor is the charismatic Mr. Azmi. I plan to complete it by having a time frame whereby I should have completed a certain new thing, every new week. Therefore, by having that self check-list, I would make sure that Insya Allah I can finish things up within the designated time.