Task 1 - ESL Website Evaluation

"Quia" (pronounced as key-ah) is a website that contains games and activities. This website does not only include activities and games for English, but also other subjects like mathematics, science, history and many more. Quia is an abbreviation for Quintessential Instructional Archive. It allows teachers to create their own activities and exercises as well as quizzes for the students to access and do on this website.

1. What does the application attempt to 'teach'?

The activities in this website covers two linguistic skills; reading and writing. There are no activities concerning the other two skills; listening and peaking. However, there are activities that teaches the students grammar, idioms, figure of speech, vocabulary and spelling, parts of speech, types of sentences and even poetry and literary devices.

Other than that, computers have become an important tool nowadays. It is used for almost everything. By using this website, it teaches the students to use this technology at an early age and meaningfully. In congruence to that, the website teaches the students to become autonomous learners. The activities on the website are always available to the students and encourages them to explore all the different games.

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

There are two ways to access the activities in this website. One way is to register as a student and the other is by using the 30-day trial.

This website requires the user to register either as a teacher or student. As a teacher, this website enables you to monitor your students activities by providing a Classroom Management Tool. The teacher must first register an online class and the students will register as students and enroll in the class.This system will help keep track of the quizzes that the teacher has given the students, and the schedule of the quiz as well as the students' progress. There are two enrollment methods available; the Instructor Enrollment and the Student Self-enrollment. Depending on the capability of the students, the teacher can choose to let the students register themselves or do it for them.

After having completed the procedure the students will be able to "play games, take quizzes and view results".

The activities in this website are made out of games and quizzes. The students are expected to learn the skills mentioned above by playing the fun and interactive games. There are so many types of games and activities to choose from like quiz, matching, flashcard, concentration, word search, battleship and so on. The students themselves may choose any kind of activity that best suit or interest them. They can play the games as many times as they want until they fully understand the game. After the students have finished playing the games, they can proceed to the quizzes and test their understanding. An interesting feature available in some of the games in a two-player mode. The student can play the games while competing with a fellow classmate and reflect one another's progress.

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

First of all, the user is required to know how to use user interface. The user must be familiar with opening a folder on the desktop using the mouse, word processing software and also the internet.

The games in this website only requires the use of the mouse and the keyboard. The user must be familiar with clicking on icons and links and even select buttons to be able to play the game. Typing is also an essential skill the user needs to possess in order to type in letters into spaces provided. Other than that, the user must know the basic functionality of a browser. They must know how to navigate in and out of websites by navigating through links. The games uses flash, therefore the user must be able to identify if the plug-in is unavailable or not. If not, the user also must know where and how to install the required software.

4. While you are "playing"/"accessing"/"assessing" the application, does it remind you of anything you in a classroom, or with a teacher, or with a fellow classmate, or in self-study?

Yes but only when I was in the US. My school back then fully utilized courseware in the process of teaching and learning. When it came to subjects like mathematics, the teacher would usually teach the basic concepts, then we have to complete exercises using the courseware where our scores were recorded. From there, the teachers will check where the students' face problems and will personally assist the students in that particular area. I've never gotten a chance to use any of this kind of applications after I came back from the US. I never had the exposure to websites like this. I wish I had though. I find the games in this website really fun even at the age that I am today.

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

This website mostly involve games and activities. The learning process is depended on the students themselves. This is the Constructivist Approach. The students will learn by playing the games and activities. They are able to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes as they play. The constructivist approach relies on the learner's prior knowledge. The learners will keep adding to their prior knowledge and construct new knowle

Krashen's Input Hypothesis can also be applied with this application. Even though this websites is not specifically set up for such a method, the teacher can accomplish the "i+1" with the learners. The teacher has access to the students' grades and is able to identify their level of ability. Through this information, i+1 can be applied. There are games for users of all levels of ability, from the 1st grade to adults. The teacher will be able to increase the level of difficulty every time the student inproves.

Most of the activities in this website use the drilling method. There are many variations of activities. Students can do many different activities on a single grammatical item and each one can be done ever so many times. This falls under the behaviorism theory.

6. How well in the constructivist theory of learning is applied to the chosen application?

The constructivism argues that knowledge in constructed or generated through experience. This theory also emphasizes on prior knowledge. A learner will construct new knowledge by building on knowledge learned in the past. (Orlich, Harder, Callahan, Trevisan, & Brown, 2007)

By using Quia, in a lot of ways, the learner is applying the constructivist theory. The activities in this websites are not all drills and exercise. The games encourage constructivism. There is no direct instruction from the application. The games requires the users to learn through the experience of playing. The games in this website allows the users to make mistakes. By allowing this, the students are given room to learn from past mistakes.

7. In the 1980s and the early 1990s, there was a major debate on 'whether computers was "master" of or "slave" to the learning process (Higgins & Johns, 1984). In relation to your evaluation - was the computer a replacement for teachers, or merely an obedient slave for students?

I do not believe that computers will ever fully replace teachers. In language teaching, student teacher interaction in crucial. As human beings, we have the ability to judge and evaluate. Computers can only evaluate a students ability through marks and his progress in quizzes. Computers are unable to make judgments about the students personality. There are many contributing factors that make have some effect in the a student learns language. Teachers are able to connect with the students on a personal basis and understand the students in ways that computers can never comprehend.

A computers is not really an obedient slave. It is programmed to respond to certain commands in a specific way. Looking back on the role of a computer, it was created to help get certain jobs done much easier and more efficiently. Take word processing for instance, it is programmed to make typing much more tidy and quick. The software also includes programs like grammar error detection and spell check. It assists in areas that if were to be done manually, would take more time. Computers play a role in assisting. Therefore, it assists in facilitating learning the learning process by responding to the students when they make mistakes. A computer is not a slave but an assistant in the learning process.

8. Would you like to use the application yourself in your future work?
Yes? Give reasons:
No? Give reasons:

Yes. The games in this website are for students of all levels. Exposing Malaysian students to this style of language learning would be a drastic change from the traditional method of language teaching. I would very like the students to be autonomous in language learning. This website would definitely be an encouragement for the students to take control of their learning. The games provided are graphically attractive as well as fun.

Suggestions and recommendations

The games in this website are mostly flash files. The games are animated and quite attractive. However, there are no pictures. I think pictures would definitely help the users especially in learning new vocabulary. Other than that, some sound effects would also make the games more interesting as it responds to the students actions and choices in the games.

The games that are available do no cover the listening and speaking skills. Language learners need exposure to genuine language. Learning these skills will require context. Language always more effective when it is taught in context and real life situations because it is more meaningful.