#3: Blog Entry

1. Why do you think evaluation of CALL courseware, websites, materials etc important?
2. How do you think Hot Potatoes JCloze may help your students learn English?

1. Why do I think evaluation of CALL coursewares, websites, materials important? Well, for the most obvious reason; I think we need to evaluate whether those sites or materials are bidirectional and individualized in terms of learning function. Sometimes, there are sites which offer only tutorial rather than other interactive functions. There are also some coursewares which does not serve multifunction tasks.

We need to understand that those materials are tools for language learning. Thus, a tool needs to be assessed whether it serves the function or not. By means, we need to look at the material's student-centredness level, how much does the material facilitate teaching and also its objectives and designs.On top of all, I think it is important for language teachers to evaluate the materials to check for their appropriateness+efficiency.

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2. How do you think Hot Potatoes JCloze may help your students learn English? It is all about the skills. Hot Potatoes help learners to develop learning skills through drills practice. JCloze is a good tool to create drills without burdening the students and also the teachers. It saves time, space and energy. It helps learners to learn the target language better through authentic learning.

JCloze also helps students to learn English better because it stimulates students' interest to learn. Therefore, it is a wise tool to motivate students to learn rather than the traditional method.

Using JCloze to create exercises helps students to learn the language authentically. They have to engage with the critical thinking process to solve the problems (filling in answers). In a way, JCloze Hot Potatoes is a dynamic tool for teaching and learning English. Obviously, it helps learners to learn better. In addition, it can be fun as learners might perceive the activity as fun and also competitive! ;p