Voxopop.com Evaluation

Purpose/Brief Description
Interactive site. This site allows users to post spoken messages to an audio discussion thread, rather than a text-based discussion board. After the user configures his microphone for the voxopop application, he is ready to log into a talkgroup and record his comments.

Talkgroups are arranged around specific topics. Each has a moderator to guide the ongoing conversation and, when necessary, restrict or remove inappropriate/inflammatory remarks. Literally hundreds of talkgroups have been created, with several devoted to language instruction and practice. Like a text-based discussion board, the audio messages are saved and listed in a chronological thread so that users can play the sequence to see how a given discussion has developed.

Learner Fit
This site is an excellent fit for all levels of ELLs: students can communicate asynchronously with each other and with instructors regarding class assignments or topics of interest. Each student can listen to other’s posts to compare linguistic output and note areas for improvement.

The site meets some of the Conditions for Optimal Language Learning Environments, as listed in Figure 1-2. The student interacts with an authentic audience, albeit asynchronously, as he/she plays back the responses from an instructor and other students. The student is exposed to varied and creative language from the other users’ posts. Also the students have the opportunity to interact and negotiate meaning through the give-and-take nature of the discussion thread. The stress level is fairly low because of the asynchronous nature of the communication: students can take extra time to compose and record (and re-record, if necessary) their posts. Learner autonomy in this application is near absolute: the student decides when and to what degree he/she will engage in the discussion.

Teacher Fit
This site is an excellent fit for teachers. By its nature, the site reinforces instruction in the listening and speaking modalities. Several ESL instructors and institutions have already created talkgroups, including
Jason's TOEFL Speaking Mentor, UCI Extension Accent Reduction, and My TOEFL Practice. Each talkgroup has a different focus, some concentrate on a specific linguistic goal, such as accent reduction. Others are concerned with practicing for specific standardized tests, such as the TOEFL, which most ELLs will have to take eventually. Still other groups are devoted to discussions of best practices and teaching tips for ESL instructors.

How Can It Be Used?
An instructor can create a talkgroup, centered on the linguistic goal(s) he/she wants to accomplish, then have students join the group and respond to assignments. In one group whose thread I listened to, students were instructed to read a text passage and then record a response in which they described the gist of the passage and answered a few specific questions about the passage. The instructor would then check in periodically and leave his feedback on each student’s post.

In another talkgroup, the instructor uses the discussion thread to have just one student practice the proper usage of verb tenses, Thus, if the instructor has the time, he/she can just as easily concentrate on the problems of a single student as he/she can manage a thread containing an entire class.

Likes/Dislikes
Likes:
The interface is intuitive and easy to use. It is very easy to set up and start a new talkgroup and invite people to join. The display and playback of discussion threads is also easy. I especially like the automatic sequential playback of each post in a thread. The site is well organized visually and extremely easy to navigate and search.

Dislikes:
Due to differences in recording levels, microphone placement, and general microphone design, the volume levels and overall sound quality of individual audio posts vary widely. I found myself constantly adjusting the volume of my desktop speakers. This is mitigated somewhat if you listen to playback through earphones. Nevertheless, perhaps at some point in the not too distant future, the volume levels of the posts could be processed to play back at uniform loudness.

Forvo.com Evaluation

Purpose/Brief Description
Interactive site. This site allows users to listen to pronunciations of words as recorded by native speakers of a given language. Thus, learners of any language can go to the site, type in the word in question, and find an audio file that gives the correct pronunciation. The speed and ease with which this can be accomplished can help ELLs learn proper pronunciation and avoid possible embarrassment.

Learner Fit
This site is an excellent fit for all levels of ELLs: regardless of proficiency level, all ELLs will encounter words whose pronunciation is unknown. When this happens, a mouse click and a few keystrokes will yield a standard pronunciation by a native speaker.

The site meets some of the Conditions for Optimal Language Learning Environments, as listed in Figure 1-2. The student interacts with an authentic audience, albeit asynchronously, as he/she listens to the native pronunciation of the word in question. Learner autonomy in this application is absolute: the student gets accurate feedback as fast as he/she can navigate to forvo.com.

Teacher Fit
This site, by design, is an instant reference. As such, its content does not lend itself to structured, linear lessons.

How Can It Be Used?
Most importantly, the site is used to verify pronunciation of words as students encounter them in spoken or written form. In practical terms, the impetus to verify would probably come more often when the word is encountered in written form, i.e, the spelling of the word is evident but the sounds of its syllables are not. Conceivably, a student could hear an word, pronounced correctly or not, make an attempt to transcribe it, then check that spelling in forvo. Additionally, forvo offers a “Listen and Learn” page. This page contains a list of randomly generated words whose pronunciations can be played back. However, these words are not limited to English.

Likes/Dislikes
Likes:
The type-click-play sequence to get the proper pronunciation is intuitive and fun. Also, the search capabilities and the categories list allow the user to quickly find individual words and groups of related words, respectively.

Dislikes:
The “Listen and Learn” page would be even more useful if it could be generated in a single language. Also, the majority of English pronunciations are in British English. A larger number of American English pronunciations may be useful.

bookr.com Evaluation

Purpose/Brief Description
Interactive site. This site allows users to create online photo-illustrated books, using images downloaded from the user's site on flickr. Each image occupies a single page and the user can add a text description.

Learner Fit
This site is an excellent fit for lower levels of ELLs: the design of bookr books relies more heavily on the image than the text. Virtually every student today has a collection of photos, saved either online or on some sort of personal/local device. These photos, if not already resident on flickr, can easily be transferred there. Each person's collection of photos already tells a story...bookr lets them add text and places the selected pictures.

The site also meets several of the Conditions for Optimal Language Learning Environments, as listed in Figure 1-2. The concept and design of the site encourages the students to produce varied and creative language, another condition for optimal language learning. (The minimalist nature of the picture book format, when in the hands of a user who is passionate about the stories behind the images, can be a very powerful communicative tool.) Also, the asynchronous nature of the communication – the user can spend as much time as he/she wants to create their bookr book – helps to create a workable and balanced stress level. Learner autonomy in this application is near absolute, just pick your image and place your text.

Teacher Fit
This site is a good, though not excellent, fit for teachers. The teacher can monitor the creation of successive editions of a book, if necessary. By design, there are no special purpose teacher-oriented tools or features...just the bookr interface.

How Can It Be Used?
The picture book creation process lends itself especially to vocabulary building and basic composition.
The visual/textual connection, for learners of any language, is a proven and powerful tool. Moreover, students can build their own personalized books and not have to rely on other publications, printed or online. The process of creating the books, by its very nature, promotes inductive learning and learner autonomy.

Likes/Dislikes
Likes:
The minimalist approach of pictures/text/story has universal appeal. Moreover, the student has a built-in motivation to tell the story...the student would not have taken the photos or chosen other images unless they were meaningful in some way.

Dislikes:
The site lacks a direct text/category search interface. Instead, a word cloud is generated from the most popular categories and displayed on the main page. Thus, the user is limited to only those categories contained in the word cloud.

Epals Evaluation

Purpose/Brief Description
Interactive site. This site offers a sheltered and monitored email environment in which students, teachers, parents, and school administrators can create messages and collaborate on class projects. The epals company controls and verifies access to the system to keep potential online predators out. The result is a safe and robust forum for educational development.

Learner Fit
This site is a good fit for all levels of ELLs: the depth and complexity of the messages and projects can grow in sophistication as a student's English proficiency improves. Also, it fits into the defacto default communication mode of the digital age: email/text communication.

The site also meets several of the Conditions for Optimal Language Learning Environments, as listed in Figure 1-2. Under the guidance of an instructor, students have the opportunity to collaborate on assigned projects, during which they would have to interact and negotiate meaning. On student forums , learners can communicate directly with one another, again interacting and negotiating meaning.

The design of the site encourages the students to produce varied and creative language, another condition for optimal language learning. The asynchronous nature of the communication also helps to create a workable and balanced stress level and supports a fair level of learner autonomy.

Teacher Fit
This site is an excellent fit for teachers. They can get an idea of how other instructors have used the site by browsing the Project tab, which contains links to the current projects and canned projects from National Geographic. They can also follow projects currently underway and talk about the nuts-and-bolts of project creation and monitoring in the Project Forum.


How Can It Be Used?
The real strength in ESL teaching lies in the site's collaborative nature and its protected environment. A user can search the site for ideas and post messages to which like-minded teachers or students can respond. This clearinghouse approach makes such connections easier and faster.

Likes/Dislikes
Likes:
The site supports not only teachers and student but families as well. I saw several posts from families looking for epals for their children...to share cultural and historical information, for example. Also, the partnering with National Geographic is especially powerful. Though the power of the Internet and epals, students can now actually connect with the persons and places that a project/article is talking about.

Dislikes:
The only dislike I have (which is a really a personal preference) is the presence of some animated gifs advertising epal services, products, or links to other sites. I tend to prefer a generally static web page.

Listen-and-Write.com Evaluation

Purpose/Brief Description
Interactive site. This site allows users to listen to audio excerpts and then transcribe those excerpts. The audio selections are taken from newscasts, sourced from various news organizations. Users can play back the selections in three different modes, full, quick, and blank. The full mode requires the user to type every letter of every word; the quick mode needs only the first letter of each word and then provides the remainder; and the blank mode inserts blank spaces for random words, which the user has to fill in with the correct letters. Various languages and proficiency levels are supported.

Learner Fit
This site is a good fit for upper levels of ELLs: due to the relative complexity and rapid rate of speech in most newscasts, practice on this site would benefit upper intermediate and advanced ELLs. Beginner and low to mid-intermediate level learners would become quickly overwhelmed.

The site meets some of the Conditions for Optimal Language Learning Environments, as listed in Figure 1-2. The student is exposed to varied and creative language used in the various newscasts.
Because students control playback – and can repeat an audio as many times as they want – the level of stress or anxiety should be fairly low. Learner autonomy in this application is pretty much complete: the student can play back and type at the speed that is comfortable.

Teacher Fit
This site is only a fair fit for teachers. The site lacks any specific controls or features for instructors…I cannot find a control that allows teachers to observe the performance of students as they listen and transcribe. Thus, for teacher participation, the site would have to be used in class, with the instructor watching as the student transcribes. This would work but would also raise the affective filter and increase student anxiety and cut into learner autonomy. Alternatively, the student could log into the site and allow the teacher to view his performance history on a given audio. Either way, the teacher would have to rely on the student to gain access.

How Can It Be Used?
By its nature, the site lends itself to the teaching of the listening and writing modalities. As such, it would be a great tool for teaching vocabulary/spelling and syntax, as well as pronunciation. Different parts of the brain are activated with the dual activities of listening and writing. The learning is reinforced by the natural rate of speech and the fact that the user can always halt and repeat playback.
For example, a teacher could devise a lesson or lessons around specialized vocabulary from the subject in the audio. Exercises on pronunciation are also a natural extension of the listening/writing process.

Likes/Dislikes
Likes:
The audio excerpts are from current news, so there is a natural motivation, on the part of most students, to listen closely for both language learning and information. Also, several different proficiency levels are supported, making it easier for a student to find a shorter, less complex passage that, many times, is read more slowly.

Dislikes:
Given the nature of professionally produced newscasts, most excerpts are in the uppermost proficiency levels. Perhaps some excerpts could be re-recorded at a slower pace with simplified vocabulary (and identified as modified for lower level ELLs) to increase the number available to those levels.

Tokbox.com Evaluation

Purpose/Brief Description
Interactive videoconferencing site. This site allows users to connect with each other using webcams and microphones on their PCs. After users establish connections with toxbox servers, they can see and hear each other in real-time video chats.

Learner Fit
This site is an excellent fit for all levels of ELLs: students can video chat with each other or they can have their teacher join in the conference and conduct a class – in real time, online. The video chat also maintains the non-verbal cues that accompany spoken communication.

The site meets several of the Conditions for Optimal Language Learning Environments, as listed in Figure 1-2. The design of the site, even in the free version, allows up to 20 simultaneous users to join a conference. Each student’s video feed is displayed in a window for all other participants to view. At a glance, a user can see an entire class’s reaction to what is being discussed or taught. The video chat atmosphere definitely encourages the students to produce varied and creative language, another condition for optimal language learning.

Nevertheless, the synchronous nature of the communication – to participate fully the user must respond quickly and comprehensibly – may create a fairly high level of stress and anxiety. Learner autonomy in this application can be limited by the pace of discourse and the degree of control imposed by an instructor.

Teacher Fit
This site is an excellent fit for teachers. The video chat can function as a virtual classroom, freeing the participants from the physical confines of the bricks-and-mortar classroom. The teacher can intentionally schedule and design classes for toxbox chats or can turn to the service when a class session has to be canceled due to bad weather, etc.

How Can It Be Used?
By its nature, the site lends itself to the teaching of the listening and speaking modalities. As such, pronunciation exercises, chain drills, and other spoken content would be easy to accomplish. Due to the design of the site, exercises would have to be designed for the whole group…there is no way for a pair or smaller group of students to break away, independently converse, and then return to the whole group. A student could also give a “mini-broadcast” of an assignment, with the other members of the group serving as the audience.

Likes/Dislikes
Likes:
The simplicity and versatility of the interface make the site very easy to use. Also, users do not have to download client software on their individual PCs. The program runs on the toxbox servers. Each user is essentially setting up and using an audio/video connection with those servers. The 20-person limit on the free version can accommodate most ESL classes.

Dislikes:
Depending on system traffic, there may be a slight lag in video and audio performance. This can be a little disconcerting. During extremely high traffic periods, the lag may render the system unusable. This, however, happens rarely.

Woices.com Evaluation

Purpose/Brief Description
Interactive site. This site allows users to create audio commentaries, called “echoes,” keyed to a particular geographic location. A collection of echoes in a location is called a “walk.” These echoes can be created by anyone who has a connection to the location. The connection could range from a passing interest in the location to a lifelong resident. Other users can log into the site and search for any echoes or walks in a given location.

Learner Fit
In certain contexts, this site could be a good fit for all levels of ELLs: if a resident of the location creates an echo, this becomes an authentic record, complete with any local accents or other linguistic peculiarities; if a visitor from a student’s native country creates an echo in English, that becomes a record that can be used for comparison of pronunciation and syntax.

The site meets some of the Conditions for Optimal Language Learning Environments, as listed in Figure 1-2. The student is exposed to varied and creative language used in the various echoes. In turn, students can use these entries as templates or starting points for their own echoes. Because students control when and to what extent they create echoes, the level of stress or anxiety should be comfortable. Learner autonomy in this application is pretty much complete: the student can simply browse and listen or, if so motivated, create his/her own echoes or respond to existing echoes.

Teacher Fit
In certain contexts, this site could be good fit for teachers. The site lacks any specific controls or features for instructors. Because the creators of the echoes are commenting, for the most part, on some aspect of the location, additional instruction related to geography, history, or culture could easily be woven into lessons.

How Can It Be Used?
By its nature, the site lends itself to the teaching of the listening and speaking modalities. For example, a teacher could devise a lesson or lessons around creating a walk regarding a specific landmark or building in a city or commenting on an existing walk. After students enter their echoes, the teacher could assess for any number of criteria: vocabulary, syntax, verb tense, etc. Additionally, the teacher could create related echoes that nudge the students in a different direction in their responses.

Likes/Dislikes
Likes:
The design of the interface makes the site very easy to use. Users can browse a map that shows the locations with echoes or walks or they can browse a directory categorized by world region and country. Moreover, students can also download individual echoes as standalone mp3 files for playback in Windows Media Player or portable devices. Users can also form groups and communities based on common interests.

Dislikes:
Given the open nature of the site, a user can easily post an echo that has content inappropriate for an educational setting. A listener can flag an echo as inappropriate but there is no formal oversight or moderation. For this reason, an instructor would have to closely monitor for any echoes originating from outside a class-related group and report them accordingly.