1. ESL Learning Websites Evaluation
Yang Linwei
School of Foreign Languages, Yantai University

2. 1. Research background
2. Research design
3. Findings and discussions
4. Further exploration
5. Conclusion

3. 1. Research background
1.1 The boom of the Internet
Since the early 1990s, the Internet has been booming at a tremendous rate and receiving an overwhelming response worldwide.
The Internet is now becoming one of the primary media of literacy and communication practices, opening up multiple communication channels for interpersonal communication, group discussion and information sharing (Shetzer & Warschauer, 2000: ).

4. 1.2 The incorporation of Websites in EFL/ESL Learning
1. Research background
1.2 The incorporation of Websites in EFL/ESL Learning
Teachers’s experience about incorporating websites into EFL/ESL teaching
Learners’ English learning experience on websites
36.5%
31.7%
27%
4.8%
very often
often
sometimes
seldom
33.33%
9.17%
10.83%
46.67%

5. 1. Research background
1.3 The rationale for evaluating carefully whatever the learners find on the Internet.
 Virtually anyone can become an information provider to the world.
 On the Internet files can easily be copied or falsified
 Many websites are self-published or published without information of the author.
 The evaluation of ESL websites will enable teachers to determine which sites deserve to be recommended to their students, and which sites can be used for a specific teaching purpose.
Part II

6.  What are the possible criteria of evaluating ESL learning websites?
2. Research design
2.1 Research questions
 What are the possible criteria of evaluating ESL learning websites?
 How can a learner or teacher evaluate the ESL learning websites and materials?
 What are the practical techniques of evaluating ESL learning websites?
 How can a teacher guide his or her students to choose good ESL websites and learning materials?

7. 1) Background information
2. Research design
2.2 Survey
An electronic questionnaire to ESL teachers and CALL developers is carried out on SurveyMonkey.COM during September 1, 2006 to May 10, The respondents to this questionnaire are English teachers from different universities such as Indonesia University of Education, California State University, Michigan State University, Stanford University, UESTC, Guangxi University of Technology, etc. The survey, by way of a questionnaire, covers the following three parts:
1) Background information
2) Experience with ESL websites
3) Perception of the ESL websites evaluation
URL of the electronic questionnaire:

8. 2. Research design
2.3 Questionnaire I Background Information

9. 2. Research design
II Experience with ESL websites

10. 2. Research design
III. Perception of ESL websites evaluation

11. 2. Research design 2.4 Purpose
To find out how teachers of English use English learning websites and how they evaluate the online information and English learning websites.
Part III

12. 3. Findings and discussions
3.1 Subjects
Gender
39.68%
60.32%
Male
Female

13. 3. Findings and discussions
3.1 Subjects
College or universities
Arizona Western College
Azad university
California State University, Sacramento
Canada College
Southwest Unicersity for Nationalities
Coastline Community College
English Center for International Women
Indonesia University of education
Michigan State University
San Jose State University
Yantai University
Stanford University
Trevecca Nazarene University
Essex University
Guangxi Univeristy of Technology

14. 3. Findings and discussions
3.2 Teachers’ experience with ESL websites

15. 3. Findings and discussions
3.3 Criteria for ESL learning website evaluation
An ESL learning website should be evaluated in terms of its usability by a wider audience.
A good ESL learning website is that it must be easy and friendly to use.
The authenticity of the language materials and the adaptability of the activities should be evaluated and checked.
A good ESL website should provide a highly interactive and collaborative learning environment, which may enable the learners to discover the meaning capacity of language by taking part in real communication.
The last evaluation criterion is to check whether an ESL website has integrity and professionalism.

16. 3. Findings and discussions
3.4 Techniques to apply to ESL website evaluation
The URL of a website
the domain name:.gov, .cn, .edu, .org, .com
a personal name following a tilde (~), a percent sign (%), or the words “users” or “members”
truncating back the URL
Indicators of quality of ESL websites’ contents
the quality of them can be first proven through the authority of the website.
check whether the audio or video materials and the language activities are with the authentic nature
many well-developed websites offer links to other websites on the same or relevant topic

17. 3. Findings and discussions
3.4 Techniques to apply to ESL website evaluation
Reputation of the site
Google.com
Alexa.com
Part IV

18. 4. Further exploration
The author divides the respondents into two groups by the “country” variable and makes a Chi-Square test for their perception of ESL websites evaluation. both Chinese and foreign teachers agree to the statement “The material is authentic.” But they hold different ideas about the usability and interactivity. The Chinese teachers prefer a website with more fancy elements and pay few attention to computer mediated communication. Reasons for this phenomena could probably be related to teaching pedagogy and exploded further.
Part V

19. 5. Conclusion
This study is expected to stimulate further studies on the conception and approaches in the evaluation of ESL/EFL learning websites. ESL/EFL teachers can guide their students to find the reliable and well-designed websites and materials based on the findings of this study. Even they can design and develop their own ones in order to enrich their teaching process. It is hoped that the findings of this study are beneficial both for ESL/EFL teachers and for language learners.

20. Thank You!