Abstract
There is an amazing proliferation of ESL online materials ready to be utilized by learners and instructors. Sadly, users are commonly overwhelmed by the immense volume and therefore must critically evaluate the ones which are useful for them. This study reports on ESL pre-service teachers’ evaluation of various ESL web-based resources for language learning and teaching in a Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) course. 39 subjects participated in this study. Quantitative data was obtained from Son (2005) Language Learning Website Review Form which students completed, while video reviews and feedback forms produced by the students yielded qualitative data. 18 ESL resources were evaluated based on 15 evaluation criteria. Findings show that in overall, most ESL resources were deemed useful for language teaching and learning. However, four evaluation criteria were frequently cited with low rating such as authority, feedback, multimedia and communication. 17 from 18 ESL resources received high rating from the students. Video reviews validated data from students’ evaluation forms. Findings further reinforce the need for teachers and students to critically evaluate resources for their language learning and teaching.
Highlights
The proliferation of ESL online resources has been observed since the Internet boom in 1990s
Thematic content analysis was used for qualitative data to capture the emergent themes from the video reviews and the qualitative feedback form
This study evaluated eighteen ESL web resources based on Son (2005) Language Learning Website Review Form, video reviews and a feedback form
Summary
The proliferation of ESL online resources has been observed since the Internet boom in 1990s. A search using Google on 11th March, 2021 alone yielded more than 96 million hits related to online ESL resources, and more than 112,000 hits on Google Scholar This implies that there is a growing interest and demand in such resources as more and more online ESL resources are made available to interested users. Such resources are made as part of scholarly research and this proves how integral and essential these resources have become in education, especially in the ESL context. These online ESL resources range from educational portals, online writing labs, online dictionaries, discussion boards, online forums and many more. This has further elevated the status of Internet as a powerful resource in supporting education or information retrieval especially for ESL teachers and students
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