Peer Review

The Linguistic Funland

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: Nov 10, 2017 by English

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:: The Linguistic Funland is a webpage that is trying to combine different websites useful for English language learner and teacher. It comprises the web page search engine, site map, job opportunities in TESL, book search engine, penpals search engine, Perl CGI scripts part, FAQ and Neteach-L Cool Sites. For teachers, this cite contains links to materials and activities, articles and research, professional organizations, and job information. As the website states, "you will be able to look at resources for use in class, study programs for yourself and for ESL students, job opportunities, and projects created by students."
Type of Material:: Collection
Recommended Uses:: Instructors should use this site to search for information on employment, education, professional development, and student activities.
Technical Requirements:: The page appears well on Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Opera. I used I.E 7.0.
Identify Major Learning Goals:: After using the material of the Linguistic Funland the teachers: • Will know where and how to find information about job opportunities in TESL; • Will know where and how to find penpals for their students and teach their students to do that; • Will be able to find different language learning materials’ sites. The learners: • Will know where and how to find penpals • Will be able to find different language learning materials’ sites. Instructors be find links to resources for use in class, study programs for ESL students, job opportunities, and projects created by students.
Target Student Population:: ESL instructors K-12 and college level College students training to teach ESL students.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:: ESL teaching interest or experience Basic knowledge of using the internet

Content Quality

Rating:
Strengths:: A wide variety of materials Provides opportunities for instructors seeking interaction within teaching community Provides a page explaining the best way to use the website
Concerns:: • The idea of the webpage is not very clear or understandable. • Some resources are out-dated (from 1996) • Some links are broken • The content of some web pages has been replaced or deleted • Some grammar links take to commercials/ads pages • Some links take to priced resources Quality varies • A lot of “noise” on the front page • Bookstore search does not function • FAQ is under construction or refreshment

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:
Strengths:: Lots of categories through which users can search
Concerns:: • The material uploaded is poorly systematized and too broadly defined • Long lists of links open one after the other which makes navigating very complicating and finding necessary resources difficult • The material (the Linguistic Funland) does not support any sort of learning activity • Navigation of the page is not very good, it takes longer to understand what the point is and where necessary things could be found.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:
Strengths:: Multiple ways of searching (via dropdown menu or website map) Large collection of materials
Concerns:: • It is difficult to find things on the front page • Most of the resources that could be useful for the teacher are “hidden” in the site map which makes it difficult to find Website is cluttered and simplistic in appearance, uses lots of banners that make it difficult to differentiate between the website and the ads on the site.

Other Issues and Comments:: The idea to support a TESL teacher is good but the web page is not very user-friendly. It takes a lot of time and effort to keep the link collection like that up-dated.
Creative Commons: