CALL Website Evaluation

This is the link to the CALL website that I have chosen to evaluate.

http://www.kizphonics.com/

1. The website attempts to teach kids on phonics, alphabets and short sentences. The website focuses on word building through phonics like the sound 'ai' 'oi' 'a' and others. For example, kids will lean words which associate with the 'ai' sound like; 'bye', 'buy', 'lie', 'guy' and others. With such content, kids will lean all kinds of words with similar sounds but with different meanings. In fact, they will learn according to the stages from single consonant/vowel sounds to diphthong and so on. With word building, they will also lean to build short sentences. Kids are able to learn to identify consonant blends, digraphs, single consonants/vowels and etc. Since SBA uses this approach, kids will find it easier to learn to read and write and it acts as a preparation course before these kids move on to primary schools. 

The exercises included are very interactive as it is in the form of instructional games. The games are called Short Sentence Monkey whereby each games tested on the phonics; 'o', 'a', 'i' and others. Kids will only need to drag and drop the words given in the spaces provided to make a complete, correct sentence. This also tested the kids' listening ability as they have to listen in order to choose the correct words. The feedback is immediate as in the game, if the answer is correct and the animated monkey will jump in joy and gets a banana. When they get the correct answer, they could proceed to the next question. If the answer is wrong, the animated monkey will cry and the words that have chosen will return to its original place. There are various levels of the game for various levels of proficiency. For beginner, only a single-sound words are tested in the game. As the proficiency level increases, the kids can move to diphthong-sound words game. The difficulty level are also differentiated by the kids level; pre-school, kindergarten, 1st grade and 2nd grade.

In fact, the website does not just attempted to teach phonics by words, but it also teaches phonics through interactive story books. Kids learn to pronounce the words by reading as well as listening to the story. The website is not only targeted to kids, but also to teachers. The website provides lesson plans and materials to teach young children. This is also useful for parents as they can download this apps on their iPhone/iPad to teach their children. The website is use friendly as the activities are broken down for every level, making it easier to choose the content. For example; Pre-school phonics (3-4 years old), Kindergarten phonics L1 (4-6 years old) and others. There are specific courseware and activities for each level. 

2. The website requires new user to sign up and becomes a member. However, it is not a free membership since there are numerous membership plans offered. For a 1 year access (single user), it costs 56 dollars, for 6 months access (2-10 users) it costs 39 dollars, for 1 year access (2-10 users), it costs 79 dollars and for 1 year access (7-11 users), it costs 99 dollars. However, if one is interested in applying for membership plus with all inclusive had copies, he/she will have to sign up for another account with different fees altogether. Even without signing up, users can still browse through the free games, videos and activities provided for samples. If users like what are being offered, they can purchase the membership.

3. Yes it does. While browsing through the website, I can't help but reminisce back to the times when I was in primary school. The listening activity was quite similar to the ones I experienced in primary school. However, the only difference was; I was taught according to the alphabets whereas in this site, kids learn by phonics. Self-learning was possible with the invention of this site whereas we had to listen to the teachers back then. Looking at the worksheet, it reminds me during my teaching practicum whereby the scheme of work provided also included the teaching of consonant and vowel sounds. I used worksheets which are quite similar from islcollective.com. The worksheet contained words of similar sounds and students will only need to detect the ones which are not. This, however is similar to the worksheet provided in this site. Even when teaching my daughter, the stories included in the interactive story books are somehow similar to the ones I read to her. This probably because the SBA system required for language to be first taught using phonics. I should show some of these stories to her. This website helps kids to learn various things without involving a lot of people (teachers, parents, tutors, siblings and others).They can actually learn by themselves!

4. Yes, a lot actually. The interactive story book is one of them. The book looks like a normal book however, each page consist of a video. Kids learn to read-along by playing the video. I guess that is something that we cannot find in a textbook/workbook. Another item is the sentence games. As explained in question number 1, this game gives immediate feedback and does not allow kids to proceed if they do not amend their answers. A workbook may consist of similar exercise but there is no immediate feedback and a child might as well proceed without checking on the answers. There is less likelihood that kids need to type the answers as they are only required to drag and drop their answers in the space provided, whereas in a workbook, they have to write down the answers. Other videos included help in enhancing kids understanding on phonics and that is not something one can found in a textbook.

5. Phonics is proposed by the Behaviorist (John Reyhner, 2008). It is a component in behaviorism. Phonics is learning a language by focusing on the sounds of words. Back in 1995, Phonics is believed to be a better approach in teaching language rather than the whole language approach. It is said to employ a 'bottom up' approach whereby students have to 'decode' the meaning of the text. This is somehow different from the whole language approach whereby it employs the 'top down' system and allows kids to construct their own understanding of the text using their prior knowledge. The whole language approach is somehow the traditional method that we employs last time. I am a product of this approach and only recently phonics dominate the system. A table of which shows the differences between the two is provided below:

Learning Theories Compared

Behaviorism (Official Theory1)	Constructivism (Classic Theory)
Teacher-Centered Direct Instruction	Student-Centered Instruction
Transmission (Paulo Freire'sBanking Model)	Experiential Interactive
Phonics Emphasis	Whole Language Emphasis
Sound & Skills Emphasis	Meaning Emphasis

Another related theory is on interactive learning whereby kids have the chance to participate actively in the lesson rather than listening actively to the teacher. According to Stephen Saylor (year not stated), one of the resource for interactive learning is through internet resources. Kids will have the chance to respond to the lesson by playing educational games, which is one of the content in the website. Interactive learning is somehow proposed by the constructivism theory, thus for our modern era, it is more of combination of both; behaviorism and constructivism. As long as it is beneficial for our education world, I guess there is no issue in combining all the theories together.

6. Yes, the website promotes language learning. Kids will learn vocabularies through phonics. With this, they will learn to build meaning through the words. With the exercise included, they could practice their knowledge on vocabularies to complete the task. In fact, with no knowledge of the words, they cannot choose the correct answers as they would not know how the words are spelled or even sounded like. It also strengthens kids' listening ability through the exercise and the interactive learning.

7. Yes, I would like to use this site in the future. Since it complements the SBA framework, I would definitely use phonics to teach young children (even my own). The layout is appealing and the content is children-friendly. I would not mind paying a bit for something educational. The exercise is according to the level of proficiency and we still have the freedom to practice ZPD if the kids are very smart which means, by skipping several levels at once. The pronunciation is precise and kids will have a great time reading-along.

Bibliography

Reyhner, J. (2008, December 13). The Reading Wars. Retrieved March 20, 2014, from The Reading Wars: http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/

Saylor, S. (n.d.). Interactive Learning. Retrieved March 20, 2014, from eHow: http://www.ehow.com/