Site title:        English Channel

URL:               http://www.hio.ft.hanze.nl/thar/

 

System requirements: 
Sound card necessary? YES NO Plug-in software required? YES NO

Site Author:     Arnoud Thuss

Subject Area(s) : 
Reading Vocabulary Grammar Listening Speaking All language areas Culture History Other content area (Business English)

Target Audience   
Intensive English students university students adults all ages K-12 ESL learners
Is the target audience specified or implied ? (Click inside the appropriate box.)

2.   Summary: Provide a brief overview of the site and what it has to offer.

This site offers free practice material for ESL students and course material for both teachers and students.  It is intended for students of intermediate and upper intermediate level and is particularly useful to learners and teachers of Business English. The material covers all aspects of language.

3.   Contents:

a. State the educational objectives of the site.

The site is making an effort to develop students’ ability to communicate successfully in a business context.  More specifically, to practice reading comprehension and improve vocabulary, to practice writing and particularly business documents, to practice speaking and communicating in a professional environment, to develop listening skills and to teach grammar.  Generally, the site seems to have clearly educational objectives. However, as it is discussed in the following pages, it also    provides links to other commercial sites.

  b.      Describe in detail the organization/structure of the site (major branches and their function).

Since it is not a very big site, its structure is quite simple, neat and straightforward. The Home Page is simple and looks quite professional. There is a series of icons at the top of the page, each representing the various branches of the site.  These are: Global        Update, Reading, Writing, Speaking, Listening, Idioms, Grammar, ESL Links and Copyright. Under these icons there is the logo of the site, which shows its title on the background of the English flag, and underneath there is a paragraph containing a brief overview of the site, and a notification that the site is under heavy construction.  Then there is a picture of a lab with teacher and students, and then a notice reminding us to check out the ESL Hint of the week and the News of the day, the links of which are displayed underneath. Unfortunately, however, these links have no content.

 

On clicking on the Global icon we are led to a single page containing the same series of links as an index, an impressive title box and a small paragraph giving information about the page.

The Global Update is a collection of articles and assignments (see below) The articles are from magazines, newspapers and other sources. There is a five-column table of contents. The first column has the titles of the various topics of the articles. There are 11 articles presently. The second column has the language level (intermediate/upper intermediate), the third describes the skills practiced in each lesson (reading, writing, listening, speaking), the fourth has the special areas which the articles deal with (politics, information technology, industry, management etc.), and the fifth one contains key words representing the various skill areas that students are trained in (application, presentation, letter, CV etc.).  In the third column there are listening activities indicated by the real player logo. It is possible for the real player to be downloaded from this page.

By clicking on the topic, we are led to the text page. It has the same links to the other pages, the same title box and part of the previous table, which reminds us of the level, skills, area and the key words related to the subject. The rest of the page contains a text with a few graphics (pictures relevant to the subject), but the design is not particularly attractive as it is placed on a plain, white or gray background. There is usually a footnote stating the source from which the text was taken. All the lessons follow the same linear pattern with the activities following one after the other.

In some of the reading texts there are links to other sites, some of which unfortunately do not work. The ones that do work lead to private sites of companies or industries or public organizations.

In the assignments part there are interlinks leading to the other pages of the site, particularly to the writing and speaking sections, where one can find information and instructions on how to deal with a particular assignment such as a demonstration, a memo or an application. There is no feedback to the exercises.

 

The other branches of the site have the same plain appearance but different structure and content from the Global Update.   All of them are linked with each other and the Global Update. The Reading, Writing, and Speaking sections contain theory and activities and they follow the same pattern. For example, on the first page there is a picture and a quotation relevant to the subject and the author’s name. Then there is a list of links with various sub subjects leading to other subdivisions whose content is discussed and practiced in the following pages.

 

In the listening section again the real player can be downloaded.

There are five links available leading to pages with listening activities. All of them, however, deal with the same subject: complaining

 

The idioms section is rather poor. It contains only two links offering material about telephoning and complaining, which are not linked to any audio material.

However there is a notification that more subjects will be added. There are no activities here.

 

The grammar section provides a four-column table of contents.  The first column has the grammar point, the second column has the word “Recap”, implying recapitulation, and the fourth has exercises. By clicking on theory we are led to a page with links titled according to the grammar points they contain. Each link leads to different parts of the page. Each page has an exercise section, which is linked, to the recapitulation section. The exercise column contains numbers each of which is a link leading to one single exercise.

 

The next branch of the site offers two links, one for ESL students, containing pages with subjects of general interest (politics, travel, news, etc) and one for teachers, which, surprisingly leads to the site we are discussing.

 

c.  Describe in detail the content/type of activities that the site offers.  For large sites with a complex branching structure, focus on one branch and its content/type of activities.  Include as much information about the various pages and links as possible. Support any assertions with examples from the website. Give examples of what the site does/does not do. Include a discussion of the site’s interaction with the student and its online Help resources. Discuss the type of feedback given to the student.)

We might say that the site contains three types of material: texts followed by exercises, theory about language skills followed by tasks, and grammar theory followed by exercises.

 

The first branch of the site, the Global Update contains texts on various topics. Below, I describe two of them:

1.      Korea. There is a subtitle: Squid, remorse and unpop music. The article is from the Economist, October 10, 1998. It deals with politics, specifically with the efforts of the Korean and Japanese governments, the old enemies, to get along better. As it is clear, the article touches political issues concerning two previously enemy countries, something that, in my opinion should be avoided in the classroom, and second, it may not be of general interest.  Also, apart from the fact that it is outdated it contains links, obviously leading to Korean and Japanese newspapers, something completely useless to students other than Korean and Japanese, since they cannot read them. There is a good number of exercises that follow. They are: summarizing the main points (orally), reading comprehension (True-False) and Vocabulary (matching),  a  role-play activity (a business interview), and writing activities (writing a newspaper article based on the previews interview and the article from the Economist and changing a text style from informal to formal).

2.      The Starr Report (on US President Bill Clinton), Washington:9 September, 1998).

Before the article is presented there are pre-reading activities: listening and discussion. After the reading there are comprehension questions: multiple choice, matching paragraphs to sentences containing the main ideas. Then there are Vocabulary activities: matching words with their descriptions, giving the definitions of certain words. The writing activities focus on summarizing (another text is provided related to the same topic), and writing a professional letter as a reply to one.

Other topics are:

3.      Jobs: waiter/Actor

4.      Jobs: Helpdesk/Employee. Source: http: www.taps.com (unavailable link)

5.       Home Security Systems. Source: First Alert Security Systems (company site)

6.      Less Salt without Loss of Taste. Source: Food and Drug Administration, The Nutrition Society (link)

7.      Reaping the rewards of Sleep. Source: Time, April 5, 1999

8.      Star War for the Empire. Source: New York Daily News, March 28, 1999

9.      CD Players. Source: Sapphires Sound & Light-London (link unavailable)

10.  AT & T. Source: AT & Press Release

11.  Don’t break the chain (an Internet page)

 

Types of activities in this section of the site:

There are many good activities, encouraging students to use all language skills. For example, some texts have pre-reading activities such as listening to an audio fragment and discussing it or answering questions. For reading comprehension there are multiple- choice questions, answering wh-questions, matching paragraphs with main ideas, summarizing paragraphs, True/False questions.

 

For vocabulary practice there are matching words with definitions exercises, giving the definitions of chosen words, re-writing a paragraph and replacing certain words with their synonyms, finding words in the text which have certain meanings, explaining words and expressions with student’s own words, paying special attention to certain phrases (for example phrases expressing different degrees of requirement).

 

The most frequently used speaking activities are: Pre-reading discussions based on listening or answering questions, oral summarization of paragraphs, discussing opinions and attitudes, positive and negative aspects of various subjects, comparing versions of scripts to decide upon the best one, reporting to class after reading. The most communicative speaking activity is the role-playing. Students are asked to read some information and put themselves in certain situations and then they start a conversation. For example, they may have a job interview, exchange information, present a product or conduct a meeting.  There are pair-work activities as well as group-work.

 

There is also a good number of writing activities: Filling in forms such as Curriculum Vitae, filling gaps in business documents, mainly letters, e-mails or memos, writing and replying to letters, summarizing, continuing uncompleted texts, writing brochures, descriptions etc.

Sometimes students are encouraged to search the Internet in order to find information and use it for a writing activity. Only, very often the links provided are unavailable.  Another drawback is that there is no feedback of any kind to the exercises.  Something good is that students are provided with forms, which they can print and fill in.

 

The content of the Reading, Writing and Speaking Sections is, as I have already mentioned, theoretical, offering definitions of terms, for example “skimming and scanning” descriptions of the layout and samples of documents and tips about their use and application.

 

The Reading section contains the following subjects: 1) Skimming and Scanning

2) Non-Verbal signals, 3) Structure of texts, 4) Structure of Paragraph, 5) Punctuation, 6) Author’s viewpoint, 7) Reader’s anticipation: Predetermining the meaning of words, 8) Summarization

 

The Writing section is broader and contains:

A) The essay, thesis, report, subdivided into: 1) The essay, thesis, report compared, 2) Planning, 3) Gathering Material, 4) Structuring Material, 5) Writing Paragraph, 6) Special Paragraph: Introduction, Conclusion, 7) Style and Register, 8) The title

B) Formal letters,

C) The Curriculum Vitae,

D) Memos, subdivided into 1) Purpose, 2) Layout, 3) Structure, 4) Style, 5) Example.

E) Minutes (This is not a link since it has no content)

F) Punctuation (with subdivisions on all punctuation marks)

G) Bibliography and References

 

 There are always exercises following. Some of the types of the writing activities are:

·        Distinguishing types of documents

·        Determining the type of document required in particular cases

·        Practicing on selection and discarding of ideas according to their relevance to the document.

·        Identifying errors in written documents and improving them

·        Rewriting texts with different style (e.g. personal/impersonal, formal/informal)

·        Making titles to paragraphs

 

  The Speaking Section has:

A)    Introduction to Pronunciation,

B)     Presentations,

C)    Telephoning

D)    Tour

E)     Reception

F)     Small Talk

G)    Meetings

H)    Complaints

I)       Discussions

The six last subjects do not offer any material so they are not links.

 

In the Speaking Section there is an Introduction to Pronunciation. This Chapter is a basic linguistics lesson, focusing on phonetics and pronunciation.  There are graphs of the oral cavity, tables with descriptions of sounds and audio files focusing on stress, minimal pairs etc. There are activities asking students to listen and identify sounds, compare sounds to their own way of pronouncing etc. The sound files indicated by the real player logo, are British English.

 

The Listening Section is not theoretical. It contains activities, which, however, focus only on one function: complaining. After doing the series of texts and exercises (five parts), students are expected to know the basics of dealing with complaints in correspondence and by telephone, be able to ask polite questions, understand questions, enquire after the customer’s satisfaction, ask for clarifications, fill in forms etc.

As we see, this listening section provides a lot of useful activities. However, they do not focus only on listening.  The listening exercises are integrated in writing and reading exercises but there are chapters (4,5), which do not have any listening material at all, which I find rather confusing.

 Types of the listening activities used are:

·        Identifying degree of dissatisfaction

·        Completing tables

·        Underlying words mentioned in an audio text

·        Listening to telephone conversations and answering wh-questions

·        Filling in blanks in documents

·        Concentrating on special phrases and translating them

·        Identifying differences between versions of conversations

·        Listening and reconstructing the text in writing

 

The three remaining sections of the site are rather disappointing. First of all the idioms section is nothing but a collection of phrases (not necessarily idiomatic) , placed under categories according to different situations  (telephoning and complaining),  and subdivided according to different functions: For example “How can I help you?” or “I’d like to speak to …” or “I wish to register a complaint”. This section would be more useful if it provided practice, for example through audio and written dialogues and tasks

 

The Grammar section has very little to offer.  The table of contents includes 18 grammar points but provides theoretical material for only half of them and exercises for only two of them. This section seems to be under heavy construction and is very incomplete. The good thing is, however, that the exercises, which are already offered, are updated, being web type exercises in colored background and with feedback.  The material provided focuses on tenses while many other grammatical points are going to be added. The types of exercises used are:

·        Matching items by dragging them from the right to the left

·        Identifying words and typing in boxes

·        Identifying grammatical terms (multiple choice)

·        Matching words with grammatical terms and typing them in boxes

·        Choosing correct answers to questions (multiple choice)

·        Typing the correct form of verbs

 Feedback is given stating whether the answer is correct or not, and the score. If the answer is wrong it says: “sorry! Try again”.  There is a box showing the correct answers if we click on it.

  4.  Site Evaluation

a.  Describe your thoughts about the site. In your discussion, address the following questions.  Does the site achieve its educational objectives? Is it motivating? Is it easy to use (for the student/teacher)? Is it attractive? Does the site provide meaningful experiences?  Is it culturally biased? (Explain what kinds of assumptions are made about the learner's familiarity with specific aspects of a particular culture.)

b.  Discuss the sites advantages/disadvantages. Discuss errors/problems/frustrations you encountered. Discuss theoretical and pedagogical strengths/weaknesses/limitations/concerns. Evaluate the site’s overall usefulness for the intended audience.

 

Although the site presents a number of problems and drawbacks,  I think it is worth visiting and using it because the advantages it offers to the users outnumber its limitations.  Besides, taking into consideration the fact that the site is under heavy construction justifies some of its weaknesses and allows scope for improvement.

Before I come to a conclusion I would like to discuss its most characteristic features, its positive and negative aspects as broadly as I can.

 

Something that makes the surfer cautious from the beginning is the fact that the author of the site does not make himself easily available.  There is no information about him or the history of the site and one has to search the copyright section to find his e-mail address. Nowhere else in the site is there any possibility of interaction with him and he does not ask for feedback.

 

The visitor to the site certainly will not be impressed by its design.  The front page has a moderate, professional appearance but the majority of its pages are colorless and unattractive, just black characters laid on a plain, white, and in the best case, gray background. There are few graphics, only some pictures, relevant to the subject of the text. Of course, given that the site is intended for adult students and professional people, nobody would expect a very fancy appearance but, I think, even adults and professionals can be attracted and more motivated by beautifully presented material.

 

Something even worse, which creates a bad impression and even frustration to the users is the fact that many of the outside links provided in the texts do not work, as well as some of the audio texts, which are not available. The same problem appears in the Grammar section which, being under construction contains too many empty links to its pages.  In my opinion, this section should not have put into the web site before its completion. Unavailable pages show lack of professionalism and professionalism is the most important principle for business people.

 

In the Global Update section, all articles are quite outdated (1998).  In fact, the site looks as if it has been neglected and hasn’t been renewed for years. (According to the author, it was last edited on 01-10-00).

 

I think that the Idioms section has an unsuccessful title.  As I mentioned above, what it provides is not idioms but a collection of phrases expressing different functions. But still, it needs to be completed with practice material in order to be really useful to the users.

 

Another disadvantage of the site is lack of exercise feedback, which is very important for adult students since they usually want to study at home.

To round up with the negatives of this site, I could say that its pages resemble the pages of a book. All the material found in it can be found in a book or, to be honest, in books, except for the audio texts.

 

Despite the above drawbacks, I would recommend the site to teachers and students of Business English for the following reasons:

 

It is easy to use, simple and straightforward and it does not create false expectations as many sites do. Its structure in general helps navigation and there are interlinks joining the different sections. It does not require complicated technology, except for real player, which is downloadable from within the site.

 

Enough information about the site and its different branches is provided to the surfers so that they do not waste time. On the first page there is a brief preview describing its content, and identifying the audience and the proficiency levels. It also warns that the site is under heavy construction. There are also annotations for each particular branch.

 

All the texts contain authentic material from newspapers, magazines and web sides whose name is usually mentioned, something that secures credibility.

 

There is plenty of practice material, suitable for Business English students and teachers, about special areas such as speaking on the telephone, giving presentations, writing memos and letters, CVs etc…

 

The texts are followed by a big variety of communicative activities, both receptive and productive. There are pre-reading activities such as discussions or listening to audio fragments which activate the students’ background knowledge, and post-reading activities such as answering , summarizing, reporting etc. Through the role-play activities students are exposed to real life situations in which they are prompted to use their own recourses of language and the new vocabulary, which has already been practiced.

 

Students are encouraged to work individually, in pairs and in groups, which create communications between them and make the lesson less teacher-centered.

In some cases students are encouraged to use the Internet for finding information in order to use it in their assignments.

 

To complete their assignments successfully, students are helped by links within the site, leading to the other sections, where they can find useful, detailed instructions about how to write, for example, a letter, an essay, a summary etc. They are also given samples of documents and forms, which can be printed out and filled in, in the classroom. These help pages are written in easy language and contain additional exercises. This availability of immediate help is one of the basic reasons that make this site superior than a course book. Besides, help is given, not only in one skill, but all skills, while books usually cover one particular subject.

 

The audio texts arte particularly useful, as they are made by native speakers and contain material for professional needs.

 

Apart from a text, which touches political issues about the previously bad relationship between two countries, which I would avoid if I taught ESL students, the site does not contain any subject that could be considered as imposing cultural bias.

 

I would like to add that I did not notice any intention, on behalf of the site, of persuading or selling something. Admittedly, there are a few links to outside private sites owned by companies, one advertising job finding and the other a particular product, but this can be justified since both sites are directly related to the business context and particularly to the subject discussed in the text and the special skill area practiced. Therefore, I believe that the site has clearly educational objectives, which, I think, are covered to a quite satisfactory degree.

 

For all the above reasons, I’ll use this site selectively because I hope it will contribute to my teaching.