Evaluating Web sites

1. http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com

Goals The aim of this web site is to help

English learners to understand certain
grammar rules easily.
Presentation It starts by presenting the grammar
structure that is going to be described.
First, a brief explanation of the grammar
structure is presented with some examples.
Next, 4 exercises are offered to practice the
grammar structure, all with different aims
(e.g. practicing the order of the words,
writing the correct verb tense, identifying
exceptions, etc.)
At this point I consider the presentation
acceptable for students´ needs.
Nevertheless, I guess it is not that catchy
and some students would probably have a
hard time while trying to focus on it.
Contrary to this, I do believe that the fact
that it has a very short description of the
grammar structure is a good point to
consider. It is important to point out that
there should be a background of the topic
(or an extended explanation given
previously) since they web page is just for
clarifying doubts and practicing.
Appropriateness Explanation of the grammar structure as
well as instructions and exercises are very
easy to understand. I believe students
would not have any trouble while using this
web page.
Outcomes By using this web page students would
reinforce the grammar seen previously and
they would practice it considering different
aspects.
Evaluation I find the feedback provided in this web
page appropriate since it allows the
student to see what he/she got wrong but
without tell him/her the reason. Some
students may find this very frustrating.
 Nevertheless, I consider it as something
favorable for students due to the fact that
it would push them to go beyond their
preceding knowledge of the topic and this
would lead to a deeper research and better
comprehension.
Notes I believe this web page is very appealing for
those students who still have some doubts
about a topic or for teacher to reinforce a
grammar structure that seems to be
confusing for students.

2. http://www.real-english.com/reo/3/3-1a.htm

Goals The aim of this web page (which

belongs to the web site: real-
english.com) is to help beginner
students to notice the differences in
pronunciation among the letters of the
alphabet.
Presentation At the beginning it presents a video of a girl
that it is repeating some letters and at the
same time those letters are shown in the
video. This is something that could be very
appealing for students and also it may be a
catchy introduction. Later, we can see the
exercise in which students listen to a letter
and they have to type it.
Appropriateness I found the instructions appropriate for the
level and the exercise seems to be suitable
as well. Nevertheless, I dislike the part in
which, after having typed each letter
required in the exercise, students have to
record themselves pronouncing the letters.
One of the reasons why I do not like this is
because digital immigrants may probably
find it very hard to perform and some
students may have troubles to get the
appropriate software in order to be able to
record themselves.
Outcomes By using this web page students would be
able to identify easily the different sounds
of some of the most confusing letters of
 the alphabet.
Evaluation There are some things that I agree and
some others that I disagree with this web
page in the way it gives feedback to the
learner when he/she makes a mistake.
Once students have finished typing all
letters they heard, they click on the button
check and they would see the ones that
they got wrong (without telling the
students the answer), something that I
consider very appropriate. On the other
hand, students have also the chance to
click on the button clue that they find next
to each icon of audio (where they click to
hear the letters of the alphabet) and the
web page provides them with a clue. The
problem with the clue is that they do not
help to the students to notice their
mistakes through listening but rather they
let the student know what letter is the one
they are looking for by providing them with
the number (position) of the letter in the
alphabet. E.g. 1 for A, 2 for B, 3 for C, etc. If
students have problems identifying some
of the letters in the alphabet, that kind of
feedback wouldn´t help them to improve in
their pronunciation.
Notes Besides what it has been mentioned
previously, I found the web page appealing
for those students who still confuse the
pronunciation of some letters.

3. http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/grammar/pres_pro.htm

Goals The aim of this web site is to provide

teachers and students with a wide
explanation of a particular grammar
tense as well as exercises to practice
it.
Presentation The presentation seems to be very
complete. At the beginning it gives the
different sections you can explore, e.g.
-Summary
 -Use
-Signal words
-Form of affirmative, negative sentences
and questions
-Spelling
-Special verbs
-Diagram
-Long forms and short forms
-Present Progressive - Complex Test 1
Complex Test 2
-Exercises - Present Progressive

Each section focuses on one particular area

that students may find difficult or can get
confused.
Probably the only problem that students
can find then using this web page is that
they can feel overwhelmed for the amount
of information this web site has.
Appropriateness I consider the language used, the
organization as well as the instructions are
appropriate for level of the students.
Outcomes By using this web site students would be
able to fully understand the grammar
structure and the purpose of using it.
Students can even go through the web site,
explore it and learn the grammar structure
without the necessity of having a teacher.
Evaluation The type of feedback that the web site
provides seems to be complete since it
marks the answer you got wrong and after
that it gives you a list of exercises that can
help you to practice in the area you are
having problems with. On the other hand,
one of the things that I dislike about the
way it offers feedback is that it gives the
right answers next to the mistake the
student made. By doing this, the student is
not going through the process of analyzing,
realizing and understanding what his/her
mistakes are and how to correct them. In
addition this web page did not identify
spelling mistakes, so in case you wrote the
 sentence correctly (regarding grammar) but
you misspelled a word, you would get the
answer incorrect.
Notes This web site is very useful for those who
like widely explanations and lots of
examples.

4. http://www.english-at-home.com/grammar/linking-words/

Goals The aim of this web page is to help

students realized about the amount of
linking words that exists and the
different uses they have.
Presentation At the beginning of the web page you find
the purpose of the connectors that are
going to be presented, e.g. Adding
information, and then a list of connectors
that match that category is presented.
Next, examples showing the use of these
connectors are mentioned.
Appropriateness I consider this web page very useful in the
sense that it gives a huge list of connectors
that students can use and they do not often
know. Nevertheless, students would
probably need to do more research since
the meaning of some connectors within
each category can be confusing as well as
the appropriate way to place them within a
sentence.
Outcomes With this web page students would realize
the existence of many words in English that
can help them to express the same ideas.
Evaluation Since this web page did not have exercises
to practice, there isn´t feedback either.
Notes I would strongly recommend adding
exercises to this web page. It would be
much more complete.