Software/Website Title:English 4 IT
Website URL: http://www.english4it.com/
Grade/Age Level: High School - University students
Language & Content:
English 4 IT is designed to complement a series of books on English for Information and Technology (IT), that can be found by clicking the Bookstore button. It is intended to be used individually by students attending ESP reading class, particularly that of English for IT. Students may use this website to prepare themselves before class or to reinforce their vocabulary and reading skills after class. However, other users, those who do not attending the class and do not have the course book may also use the website for self-study. The latter type of users will only obtained less benefits from the website compared to former ones because the second type of users do not have partners or group to discuss the reading passages and the comprehension questions that follow.
This website contains of 21 reading topics and each topic is divided into four activities: Reading Activity, Multiple Choice, Fill in the Blanks, and Listening Comprehension. Basically the last three activities are designed mainly for vocabulary building. The website has external documents related to creating a class for teachers and enroll in a class for students. That is the only external document that the website has.
The website is interesting for the target audience probably because it provides various topics (although not many) and vocabulary specifically related to IT and each word in the dictionary has audio version, example of usage in a sentence, and short explanation related to prat of speech.
I think the website is useful for building user's vocabulary, specifically related to IT. The activities are focused on vocabulary exercises through linking technical vocabulary in the reading passage to the dictionary, providing multiple choice exercises related to the definition of IT-related words or phrases, fill in the blanks with again word or phrases for a given definition, and listening exercises which is actually word or phrase dictation.
Besides practices, the website provides assessment and feedback. In each activity, except reading, there will direct feedback to verify whether a user's answer is right or wrong. There is also an option of "I don't know" in each exercise. If a user click this option, it will direct the user to the explanation on the word or phrase, which is part of the dictionary. At the end of an exercise there will be report on how many right answers that a user has made.
I found that the website is easy to use because basically it only has 4 sections related to core content. The layout is simple and clear. It is also easy to navigate from one part to another. As I mentioned earlier, the strength of the website is in providing different kinds of vocabulary exercises. It is good for students of vocational schools or freshmen, whose majors are related to IT, who want to build their technology-related vocabulary. It will be much better for the website to add the number of topics and reading passages and provide more reading comprehension exercises for users.
5 comments:
This is a great resource. Many of my students understand these concepts in their native language, but oftentimes do not know the English IT vocab. I think this will be very helpful for helping students learn how to effectively use technology in English as well as they do in their native language, especially as students use more media based systems in classes designed for new digital literacies.
I think this is a great resource too. I agree with Michael that it would be helpful for students who know the terms in their L1 but might not in English.
The ESP nature of the website is also helpful. Many times a vocabulary website just has basic, non-academic vocabulary like colors and feelings. We need more websites like these that focus on a specific field to help learning English for academic purposes.
This is an interesting resource especially for our younger students who are so interested in technology - like breathing for them! I think students are more likely to use a website on their own time than to pick up a paper-based workbook to do review or practice. Also, I like the idea of the “I don’t know” option
I checked out the site you posted, and I saw that you can register for a free account. Do you know if that gives full access?
Thanks for sharing this resource with us!
Hi all,
Thanks for the comments. I used some of the books offered in this Website, but I've just visited this Website this week :)
Denise, yes I registered for a free account too. I also like that "I don't know" part, particularly the greeting :"You didn't know the answer .... so you need to learn!"
This does sound like an excellent resource for students to learn English IT language usage and comprehension. It sounds as if it basically limited to this area. The pronunciation part is especially valuable. I noted it can also be used by learners not specifically enrolled in the class, but, as you pointed out, it is more difficult without a group to work with. I think it is always hard to learn a language on your own even with excellent software.
Even though this program is for students above the grade level I teach I enjoyed learning about an informative program.
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