The skill areas addressed in this module deal specifically with vocabulary work. The learner in this module tests their knowledge of academic based vocabulary, and tries to guess the meaning of challenging, yet popular vocabulary words in a multiple choice drill and practice/quiz format. The target language used is specifically English, although there are also popular Latin, French, and other European language phrases present in this bank of vocabulary words. There is no scoring involved in this program, a wrong answer simply gets you a "try again" screen, and when you get the right answer, it gives you the definition and etymology of the particular vocabulary word or phrase. There are no technical requirements other than use of a web browser in this module. There are many links to outside vocabulary and dictionary resources, such as quizzes, games, thesaurus resources, and grammatical resources. There is very little multimedia involved in this module. The only images are those of ads on the side of the page, and no other graphics or animations to speak of. This could be used in a one-computer projected image format, but it is probably best served by a single user.
Recommended Uses:
Assign for independent study
Identify Major Learning Goals:
Vocabulary development
Target Student Population:
ESL/EFL learners
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:
Intermediate and above English
Content Quality
Rating:
Strengths:
The key purpose of this module is to expand one's word knowledge by surfing the Internet. This site helps students learn new words, and possible crossword answers through its drill and practice format. There are many words in the word bank, and the website claims to add a new word to the bank each week. The words are organized in the word bank alphabetically. The external links all deal with the English language, grammar skills, vocabulary skill building, and writing.
Concerns:
There is no other form of application for these new vocabulary words other than to guess their meaning in a multiple choice format.
Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool
Rating:
Strengths:
These materials are presented as independent learning activities. Teachers might use these words to create vocabulary lessons or activities, but there are no other activities present for the teachers to use within the module, other than the external links and resources provided. These materials could be integrated into language and culture learning activities, especially if you were looking into the roots of European and Romance languages and word origin. You could also learn about the culture in which some of these words were created. The learning goals are easy to identify in that you are to learn the meaning of the new vocabulary word through a multiple choice quiz format. That is the only learning goal of this activity. The instructor would have to be quite creative to create learning assignments from the word bank provided, unless they strictly used the site itself as an assignment or used the words in the word bank as part of the assignment.
Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty
Rating:
Strengths:
This site is very simply designed, and is very easy to navigate. There are few graphics and no animations to hinder the navigation ability for this site. The general layout and user interface elements are very consistent and visually distinct for the user. It would be very difficult for the user to get lost or trapped within this website. The module does provide a "nice try" response when you get a wrong answer,
and a blue definition/etymology screen when you get the correct answer. There is very little documentation and technical support needed to run this site, and students would be able to use it very easily. It is a very simple drill and practice format that the students would easily identify with, and be able to use very independently.
Creative Commons:
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