Software Evaluation: Rosetta Stone Arabic Level One

Software Evaluation
ESL 5073-Spring 2010
Rosetta Stone Arabic Level One

I. General Description: Rosetta Stone for Arabic Level One

www.rosettastone.com

Includes Levels one, two, and three

Age range: 12-adult

Activities include interactive word matching to pictures, memorizing vocabulary, working on pronunciation, becoming familiar with alphabet, and memorizing phrases.
II. Evaluation: The speed of the program is fairly fast and fluid, unless you run into a kink where you are not sure what to do; then it is difficult to proceed. The reliability of the operation of the program was very high. I had no problems with reliability. Screen management was very good, except for one instance when I was unsure how to work the program and I could not continue. I had to navigate to the bottom of the screen and skip ahead to continue. Exploitation of computer potential was very good. The program uses photos and sound very well. They will move the photos so that you cannot remember which photo you have used, making guessing more difficult. Speech recognition worked very well. I think with Arabic program they are more forgiving with your pronunciation than with Spanish making it easier to move ahead. Either that or my Arabic pronunciation is better than my Spanish!

III. Activities (Procedure): I believe the activities could be considered Communicative. The whole idea of the drills is to build on what you have heard in earlier slides to answer the current slide. You build on what you have heard before and also use intuition to try and figure out what is being said now. I feel this program is very intuitive, and if you don’t try too hard, just going with the flow you will learn better. Vocabulary and pictures are being presented to you and also words and phrases in the Arabic alphabet. It would be impossible to know exactly what is being said or written. But the information does build on itself.

IV. Teacher Fit: I believe that Rosetta Stone for Arabic Level one would work well in conjunction with a structured class. It could be used during lab time, and supplement lab activities for listening and speaking. The Communicative nature of the program would work well in a classroom environment, and the teacher could build on the methods used in the program. For example, the fact that the material builds on itself in the program in order to understand vocabulary could be used as a method in the classroom: the teacher could use the same method in her teaching.

V. Learner Fit (Design): The Linguistic level of the program is high. I believe using the program in conjunction with a formal class would be helpful. Response handling went fairly smoothly except for one activity where I was unsure of what to do and had trouble moving forward. Adapting to learner differences could be a problem as even level one seemed fairly advanced. I think students with very structured learning styles may have difficulty with Rosetta Stone Arabic level one because of the intuitive nature of the program. The learning strategy of the program is definitely visual/graphic and sound oriented.

VI. In my opinion, the program could be very helpful in learning Arabic, but as a supplement to a class. I intend to use this program in the future to learn Arabic and Spanish. I would recommend Rosetta Stone to other people.

K-12 students and Technology

The Three Questions Podcast from YouTube

The Three Questions Video Podcast and Glogster

My Reading Presentation

Reading Prompt Twelve

Reading Prompt #12
Our Final Reading Prompt!

*Ockey, G. J. (2009). Developments and Challenges in the Use of
Computer-Based Testing for Assessing Second Language Ability.
Modern Language Journal, 93(Focus Issue), 836-847.
*Cummins, P. W. & Davesne, C. L. (2009). Using Electronic Portfolios
for Second Language Assessment. Modern Language Journal, 93(Focus
Issue), 848-867.

Ockey argues that Computer based testing has failed to realize its anticipated potential. Describe and discuss on his reasons for his view, and tell why you either agree or disagree with him.

Cummins & Davesne offer an alternative to CBT with electronic portfolios. Comment on some of the ideas from this article that you'd be interested in trying out in your own classroom.

One of the problems with Computer based testing is the fact that people can take the test, such as the GRE, and then post the questions and answers for others to see. This invalidates the test. One solution would be to widen the bank of questions for the test, making it more difficult to cheat. But then the question of whether or not everyone is really getting the same test comes into question. I think that computer based testing has its problems, but I think with some trial and error they can be worked out.

I would be interested in using eportfolios in my classroom. They sort of remind me of a blog with more self analysis of ones languauge ability. I think eportfolios are a good tool for the language classroom. They help students see their progress throughout the semester.

Inspiration for our Video Podcast "The Three Questions"