Project
Description|
Description
|
1) Create a Korean English learner database based on learner and task variables
2) Provide online grammar lessons and exercises based on the analysis of the learner data
3) Provide useful internet resources related to English grammar and writing
1) Learner variables
Age/ Gender/ Education/ Length and way of English learning & study/ Cultural exposure/ Overall and English writing proficiency level
2) Task variables
Aim of writing/ Topic/ Timing /Reference Tool/ Setting
At the beginning of the project, I planned to get writing samples from the respondents and some feedback about my site. That's why I put writing task information as well as learner information in the survey. However, it has turned out that I got only two writing samples from the respondents and just one of the respondents turning in their writing gave me the address I could use to contact him for the feedback.
I assumed that one of the reasons why I didn't get many writing samples was that they might feel uncomfortable to give me their writings because most of them were my friends. They, instead, provided me their feedback about only the site design. Below is the summary of their responses.
1) Good
Simple and easy navigation
No broken links
Interesting topic to other international students as well as Korean students
Wonderful and comfortable color selection
Incomplete lessons
Difficult to read borderless description of the links
3) Suggestions
More animation image
More specified grammar items
Some more instructions or advice on the macro level of writing
Proofreading necessary
Limitations of the present project & Suggestions for future projects
1) Incomplete lessons?
I think that complete sets of lessons and quizzes are very essential for the project in order for the respondents to feel that their writing samples would be an important source for the analysis. I need to complete the lessons and quizzes as soon as possible and will revise them based on the data analysis.
2) Not many writing samples from the respondents?
I don't think that the 'give and take' system didn't work well in this project. I thought if I had given them free consult on their writing and good grammar lessons, many of my respondents would have submitted their writing samples. It may be due to the incomplete lessons I presented in the project or unsatisfactory feedback on the sample writing.
In addition, I may contact some of the ESL service course instructors to incorporate my project to their class. Then, the students of the ESL courses may be able to turn in their writing assignments to the instructor via my website.
I think it's a good idea to make the Korean language version of the project website to get more data from Korean learners in Korea. They may feel difficult or reluctant to access this page due to their language barrier.
3) Manage the database?
I feel a lot of technical challenges during this project. Especially about management of the learner data I gathered. For more systematic analysis and management of the learner data, I need to do some research about error tagging systems in the text files, computer assisted language error analysis programs and basic database structures.
5) Only Korean?
As I mentioned in the project description, there are a lot of ways to use learner database in ESL/EFL research field. If I get data from other languages such as Chinese or Japanese, I can compare the error patterns of certain language items between languages.
Technology Used in the project
Web Editor: Frontpage, Dreamweaver 3.0
Image: Photoshop 5.0 Flash 3.0
Programming language: HTML, Javascript
Copyright by Jinhee Choo since 11/2002