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There are many excellent collections of links from a variety of sources. As a starting point, see the list of links,
headed Useful Web links, in the ICT4LT Resource Centre. See also:

Graham Davies's Favourite Websites: An annotated set of over 500 language-related websites.

iLoveLanguages: Acomprehensive guide to language-related Web sites. Tyler Chambers (né Jones) is a
great gatherer of information about foreign languages.

6. Evaluating websites
This section addresses the key issues that need to be considered when evaluating a website. See also:

Section 3.8, Module 1.4, headed Evaluating CALL software

Section 3.3, Module 2.2, headed Evaluating multimedia software
The ICT4LT CALL Software and Website Evaluation Forms

Contents of this section

6.1 Authorship
6.2 Aims and target audience
6.3 Revision date
6.4 Contact name and address
6.5 Ease and speed of access
6.6 Ease of navigation
6.7 Is the site finished?
6.8 Do you need plug-ins?
6.9 Is the content what you expected?
6.10 Copyright
6.11 Audio materials
6.12 Video materials
6.13 Interactive exercises and feedback
6.14 Recording one's own voice

The Internet is totally unregulated and whilst this means that there are huge amounts of good materials, it also
means that materials of poor and dubious quality also appear on websites. Before using materials with students,
it is important to determine certain facts about the site. For example:

6.1 Authorship
Who created the site? What is their background? What credentials do they have? For example, you locate what
appears to be a great website, but on closer examination you find it's been created by a 14-year-old schoolboy as
a Web design project. We list the names of the original members of the ICT4LT project team, together with their
affiliations on the ICT4LT homepage, and at the beginning of each module we provide information on its
authors. Remember that anyone can publish anything on the Web and that, unlike books and articles in printed
format, Web materials are less likely to be subjected to editorial scrutiny. Accuracy cannot always be
guaranteed. You can find out who owns a site by using the Whois Lookup facility.

6.2 Aims and target audience

Who is the site aimed at? The site may sound like it's aimed at schoolchildren but on closer examination it may
prove to be suitable only for adult learners. We provide details under the heading Aims of the ICT4LT website
on the ICT4LT homepage.

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6.3 Revision date

When were the contents written and how regularly is the site updated? Look for evidence of the most recent
update. At the bottom of each page of this site we provide details of its revision date.

6.4 Contact name and address

Is there a contact name or contact address at the site? We use a Feedback Form. If you find a mistake, wish to
make a comment, or ask a question you can use the form to contact us. Our Feedback Form helps cut down spam
as it makes our email address less obvious to spambots, i.e. programs designed to collect email addresses from
the Internet in order to build mailing lists for sending spam. All email sent to us is filtered rigorously.

6.5 Ease and speed of access

Is the site easy to access and quick to download? Is the server on which the site is located up to the job of
delivering its content at any time? Some servers slow down when lots of people are trying to access the site at
peak times, e.g. between 9am and 5pm. Some servers shut down at weekends and during holiday periods.

6.6 Ease of navigation

The site may be huge and labyrinthine and you get hopelessly lost trying to navigate it.

6.7 Is the site finished?

The contents page looks impressive, but most of the site is "under construction" and a lot of internal links don't
work.

6.8 Do you need plug-ins?

A plug-in is an extra piece of software that a Web browser needs to run certain elements of a Web page, e.g.
animated sequences and audio or video clips. You will find that when you click on an icon that signifies the
availability of streaming audio or video material, your browser will link with a plug-in. If the plug-in is not
already installed on your computer then you will be able to download it free of charge. Web pages incorporating
multimedia often need plug-ins such as Flash Player, QuickTime, Shockwave Player or RealPlayer.

If you have problems running animated sequences or video clips check that the relevant plug-in has been
downloaded and installed on the computer that you are using.

6.9 Is the content what you expected?

You find a site that appears to contain French legal texts, but when you access it it turns out to be full of
pornographic pictures. Does this sound far-fetched? No, this actually happened to us when we did one of our
regular checks on links that we list at the ICT4LT site. The site's name had been transferred from an institution
that provided information on French law to a pornography business. See Graham Davies's Dodgy Links Web
page.

6.10 Copyright

You must check where you stand regarding copyright on materials contained at the site. Most sites contain a
Terms of Use link at the bottom of their homepage - which you should always check before downloading and
reproducing their materials. See Section 7.2, headed Copyright issues. See also our own Copyright notice and
our General guidelines on copyright.
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6.11 Audio materials

If audio materials are offered, are they of adequate quality? Can you play audio materials easily? Do you need a
plug-in to play audio materials? See Section 3.5, Module 2.3, headed Audio and video.

6.12 Video materials

If video materials are offered, are they of adequate quality? Can you play video materials easily? Do you need a
plug-in to play video materials? See Section 3.5, Module 2.3, headed Audio and video.

6.13 Interactive exercises and feedback

If interactive exercises are offered, do they do the job better than paper-based exercises? Consider especially
the kind of feedback that they incorporate. Feedback should go beyond the standard "Well done!" and "Sorry,
wrong!" types of messages. Feedback should mimic a good teacher offering helpful advice and encouragement.
See:

Section 7.2 , Module 1.1, headed Feedback.

Section 1.2, Module 1.4, headed Interactivity.
Section 8, Module 2.5, How to factor feedback into your authoring.

6.14. Recording one's own voice

All language learners, especially in the early stages of learning a language, need to know what they sound like.
If interactive exercises are offered, do they allow the learner to record and play back his/her own voice? This is
not an unreasonable request, as teachers and learners have been making use of listen / respond / playback
facilities ever since the advent of the tape recorder. Most multimedia CD-ROMs offer the possibility of
recording one's own voice and some incorporate Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR). Very few websites
offer this facility and when they do it doesn't work very well. For further information on ASR see:

Section 3.4.7, Module 2.2, headed CD-ROMs incorporating Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR).
Section 4, Module 3.5, headed Speech technologies.

7. Using the Web with language learners

Contents of this section

7.1 General advice

7.2 Copyright issues
7.3 Further ideas and links
7.4 Webquests and scavenger hunts

7.1 General advice

There are several ways in which the Web can assist with teaching languages:

The Web contains vast amounts of authentic materials consisting of texts, pictures, and audio and video
recordings. Authentic materials can easily be downloaded from the Web and converted into activities and
resources for word-processed handouts, for PowerPoint presentations, for offline use with a browser, etc -
but beware of copyright issues (see Section 7.2 below). When searching for authentic materials look
especially at the websites maintained by newspapers, magazines, radio stations and TV stations.

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