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 Ratings
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| Reviewed: |
Apr 30, 2004 by World Languages Editorial Board |
| Overview: |
The main purposes of this module are to teach learners of Chinese the proper
stroke order of some representative characters, to practice new vocabulary and
generate these new words in pinyin and in characters (depending on the given
exercise), and to fill in blanks with characters based on comprehension of audio
files. The tutorials and exercises are based on the textbook Integrated Chinese
for second-year students. Those for the first-year students are not available
as of the review date.
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| Learning Goals: |
To better master the material in the second-year textbook Integrated Chinese
with character-stroke-order tutorials, fill-in-the-blank vocabulary and usage
exercises, along with listening comprehension exercises. The latter two types of
exercises require generating pinyin and/or characters at various junctures.
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| Target Student Population: |
Students at the second-year levels, particularly those using the second-year
textbook Integrated Chinese.
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| Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills: |
Knowledge of the Chinese pinyin romanization, including tones, along with an
understanding of characters and sentence structure at the second-year level.
Also knowledge of inputting Chinese characters with NJStar Communicator.
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| Type of Material: |
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| Recommended Uses: |
For class and especially homework assignments.
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| Technical Requirements: |
Word 2000, or a more recent version, plus Internet Explorer at a version that is
5.0 at a minimum.
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| Strengths: |
The tutorial section corresponds to each of the 19 chapters of the textbook. The
characters selected for stroke-order tutoring in each chapter is are
high-frequency characters and relatively difficult to write. In the
fill-in-the-blank exercises, the program contains a system to give students
immediate feedback: a green smiling face appears next to a student?s correct
answer, while a red frowning face appears next to an incorrect answer. The
exercises are difficult enough to be challenging but not so hard as to be
intimidating. Students can also view answers for the exercises by clicking on
the ?Answers? button.
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| Concerns: |
The website does not yet include any first-year exercises or tutorials, so the
words ?Elementary and? should be deleted from the website?s title for the sake
of truth in advertising. The stroke-order tutorials can be more effective by
showing each stroke individually rather than several strokes grouped together.
There should be clearer instruction on listening to audio files and viewing and
inputting characters. Depending on the connection speed, some audio files may
take a considerable amount of time to open. There are also errors in mixing
simplified and traditional characters. Additionally, the system only accepts
traditional characters.
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Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool |
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| Strengths: |
Students can receive immediate reinforcement and feedback in the exercises at
any point by clicking on ?Submit??even if there is only a single exercise
completed at that point. Also, students are urged to actively respond to the
exercises by typing out characters, for the most part, and pinyin romanization,
for at least part of the time. The exercises do appear to reinforce key
vocabulary and phrases in the textbook?s chapters.
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| Concerns: |
It is suggested that, in addition to phrases the exercises require students to
generate sentences. This would be a more effective way for them to practice
sentence structures and grammar. Furthermore, the exercises would be more useful
if the answers in the pop-up windows included English translations and/or
explanations.
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Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty |
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| Strengths: |
The overall design of the website is attractive, and the questions seem lively
enough to hold student interest. There are some directions provided, and both
the tutorials and most of the exercises are engaging. All 19 chapters are placed
on the main page for easy access. Since characters can be input through either
NJStar or Microsoft IME, a great many students and faculty will have the
requisite software needed for doing the exercises. The links are consistent and
easy to follow in each chapter.
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| Concerns: |
More directions for listening to audio clips and viewing and inputting
characters would improve the usability of this module. Pop-up windows do not
always work. Each page, or at least the first page of each section, should have
a link back to the main page. It is frustrating to keep clicking the ?Back?
button to return to the main page in order to choose another chapter from the
table of contents. Finally, the English texts are difficult to read in that
spaces between words are not distinctively displayed. This can be easily
remedied by using a different font/type of print.
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| Other Issues and Comments: |
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