AN EVALUATION REVIEW OF THE BBC LEARNING ENGLISH WEBSITE

Edited by: Emad A. Hawaig

MA in Applied Linguistics & TESOL/MA in TESOL

Leicester University

Date: 3 Nov., 2013

Title: BBC Learning English

Author: The BBC Word Services

URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/

Purpose of resource: English Language learning

Targeted Audience: EFL learners & teachers resource

Type of resource: Website

Key stage/age group: Learners of all levels

Adequate support material: Multimedia (audio, video, texts, etc.)

Category: Tutorial, information source and professional development

Abstract

The BBC Learning English website aims at supporting learners via self-learning of English as a

foreign or second language. My purpose here is to evaluate how effective and adaptable the

website is for the purpose it adopts. I will try to implement in my evaluation of the BBC

Learning English a checklist of factors: focusing on the structure/design; the appropriateness of

the content: teacher fit/learner fit; the authenticity; the professionalism; presentation and

currency of materials; and accessibility for teachers and learners. My comparative evaluation

findings recommend the BBC Learning English for a specific class of learners as well as

educators considering the high level of instructional material served by the website.

Introduction

The Internet has long been scrutinized as to its benefit in supporting language acquisition. It

provides a broad range of communicative learning through CALL tools, such as the E-mails,

wikis, blogs, Skype, etc.; which invoke profound opportunities for language teachers and

learners. All these courseware tools are provided via language learning websites which are

established mainly to help educators and students develop a communicative fluency in English

as well as different languages. Therefore, there was a need to evaluate these many learning

websites based on, among others, authenticity and appropriacy. McDonough and Shaw (1993)

in their materials evaluation model, examine criteria in two integrated stages: the external and

the internal stages. The criteria were proposed to evaluate the language teaching materials as

‘comprehensive as possible for the majority of ELT situations on worldwide basis.’ (p.

66). On the other hand, three approaches of evaluation were proposed by Levy and Stockwell,

(1997): Checklists, methodological approach, SLA-based approach. Hubbard (1988) adapted the

approach, design, and procedure introduced by Richards and Rodgers (1982) into key elements

of evaluation: teacher fit, learner fit, and operational description, respectively. Hubbard’s

evaluation framework (1988) can be outlined as follows: Technical preview – technical

specifications and requirements. Operational description – how the application operates

(presentation, navigation, design). Teacher fit – methodological approach (compatibility with

syllabus, teaching style, feedback). Learner fit – how well content, skills, language level

correspond the learners’ needs. Implementation – time needed to implement, train users, costs

involved. Appropriateness – based on degree of learner and teacher fit. On the other hand,

According to Chapelle, the evaluation criteria should include: (a) Language learning potential;

(b) Learner fit; (c) Meaning focus; (d) Authenticity; (e) Positive impact; (f) Practicality (Chapelle,

2001).

Purpose and Audience

The purpose of the BBC Learning English is to provide support to learners and teachers through

self-learning of English as an EFL, with concentration on development of the English four skills:

listening, speaking, reading and writing. Thus the program makes available downloadable

learning materials for practice. The website also provides teachers with rich pedagogical

resources. It provides comprehensive materials for intermediate to advanced ESL learners from

the BBC World Service. Uses simplified news stories to present English in context.

Audience

The BBC Learning English is most appropriated for intermediate to advanced ESL learners.

Interface & Design

The interface is clear and intuitive. The design of the BBC website is noticeable from the first

impression to convey a professional sense that the site is serious in its goal of supporting the

user seeking authorized instructional material over the Internet. The front page convinces the

learner of its usefulness, clarity, ease-of-use, efficiency and openness; and it raises the visitor’s

expectations of the high quality of the website.

The web page layout is moderately constructed in harmonious unflashy colours that do not

distract the user. The main topic exist at the top under the heading BBC LEARNING. At the left

side of the main web page is a menu including an easy navigational guide leading to each topic

for the respective learning material.

An observer of the BBC website will be attracted by its professional presentation, which I

believe can bring motivation and enthusiasm to the visitor to browse its relevant content. In

addition, the different colours and images, and graphics introduced in the site come to a high

appeal to the visitor, whether a learner or a teacher who seeks to have the various learning

services integrated in his or her classroom. The interface impacts the attitude of a learner or

teacher. It is clearly presented in well-organized headings and subheadings on the side of the

webpage, and thus interpreting the accessibility to the learning sources. The font size is a little

smaller than I expect; it is clearly easy to read, however. The use of color is well distributed over

the webpage. The title appears in white color with a shady purple background. Each webpage

introduces learning topic in both text and audio clips. A user can easily read, listen to, or watch

downloadable video, audio or text in pdf extension for current or later usage.

The point of grammar is elicited throughout the lesson. The learner can also post comments

and raise questions, which will be responded to.

Content

“BBC LEARNING ENGLISH”, the web page is so clearly titled that the visitor can know exactly

what the page content will display. The title text is presented in reliable and contextually

related words. There is a title for each secondary page so that the learner should not get

confused and can easily identify where he or she exists so far. The content is elaborately

categorized into subdivisions on the left side of the page from where the visitor can easily

navigate and reach the learning material that meets his or her needs. In addition, the web page

not only hosts a variety of meaningful sources of English language learning, but it also gives

access to news, sport, Radio, TV and research.

The most information is organized by sections: for example, general and business English,

grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation, talking sport, quizzes, the flatmates, community, for

teachers, etc. The authority of the website can be validated through the “About us” page that

identifies the author of the content. Each section of the BBC Learning English website has

specific purpose. For example, the News English board provides language vocabulary definitions

from authentic BBC news reports. Also, business English can be taught through the Business

English board where users can develop their listening and speaking skills based on various

business-centered situations. Users can also exercise language through a variety of subsections,

including the English at Work, 6 Minute English, Express English, and Talk about English. Users

are provided with exercises such as multiple choice and open-ended questions. The Grammar

and Vocabulary section provides grammar points through various subsections, including

Today’s Phrase, words in the News, The English we Speak, and The Teacher. Furthermore,

English pronunciation and grammar explanations are also provided in this section.

Furthermore, there are communicative and discussion boards available as well under the main

title Community, where a visitor can chat and text with the BBC Learning team via

communicative Internet tools such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube; and can post comments

to the staff on their blogs, in the board Meet Our Team. In the Community section, users are

able to share their thoughts and ideas with others around the world by participating in the

message board, the Student Blog, and the Teacher Blog. A visitor can keep in touch with other

participants around the world through posting a comment on their blogs.

There are several more sections: like the Quizzes section with many types of quizzes on

language vocabulary; the Exam Skills, a branch of the Quizzes section, offering tips on how to do

well in exams; the Flatmates section where users can listen to conversations between real or

animated characters; the For Teacher section where teachers can access authentic information

about a range of topics See below.

Also, an excellent section in BBC LEARNING ENGLISH is downloads existing both on the left side

of the webpage and at the bottom. These two icons allow the user to access a handful of audio

and pdf files. It requires to install the Adobe Reader software. The user is clearly instructed “not

copy, reproduce, edit, adapt, alter, republish, post, broadcast, transmit, make available to the

public, or otherwise use audio, video or other material downloaded from BBC Learning English

in any way except for your own personal or educational non-commercial use”, according to the

publishing policy of the site. These instructional materials are granted for free without any

charge on the teacher or learner, unlike many other educational websites which are established

on commercial basis.

The possibility to download a range of learning media both audio and scripts/transcripts.

Navigability

Moreover, each section has a navigational system. Every individual page is only accessible by a

single clickable URL; a user can navigate through a topic with a simple click to access the

information that is displayed in audio, video and word illustrations.

The user can reach and enter many webpages through the original site. Navigation on the BBC

website can be rather confusing with the existence of peripheral sections along with large

attractive pictures in the middle of the webpage. By a soft click on a picture or topic related

icons the user is taken to greater content of his or her concern. At the first glance, I myself

thought that the main content is accessible by clicking on a picture icon that navigates me to

relevant information out of the main page I was viewing in the beginning. Another drawback in

the BBC LEARNING website is the main toolbar at the top of the page. See below.

The top navigation toolbar leading to other topics than languages

These icons navigates the user to different BBC websites specialized on various irrelevant

topics. So, the user should be aware of this fact and needs to focus his or her search on the

section of concern.

The flexible navigation is very user friendly. The user can find the information by an effortless

click. Graphics are loaded quickly and links are functioning. It is operated in various languages

which are clearly displayed at the bottom of the webpage.

Strengths and weaknesses of the resource

A user can recognize by reading the title the clear purpose of the site being for learning English.

So the purpose becomes clear within a glimpse without reading much. However, in my point of

view, the BBC Learning English does not address a specific stage of language learners. It fits

more those who have at least the foundations of English as an EFL or ESL; those who hold

comparative fluency but rather need to develop and improve their mastery of the language.

The high level of vocabulary and situations presented in the website does not at all suit the

struggling or beginners. In the meanwhile, one of the main strengths of the BBC website is the

many irrelevant websites appearing on the original homepage. The learner needn’t leave the

site to access and benefit from the boards news, Radio, TV, and weather in enriching his or her

language practice with current events.

One more restriction of the BBC Learning English is the Contract Page. It does not contain any

real addresses, phone numbers (toll free), other than a plain feedback/contact mechanism such

as editing comments.

I believe that if there were no straightforward contract information, the reader or viewer would

definitely doubt the seriousness of communication with the authors. But perhaps this is

because it is a charity website where services are offered for free, so that user should not

expect spontaneous contact with the staff.

Privilege over other resources

Further to the easy-to-understand-and-navigate layout of BBC website, it is worth mentioning

that it has a considerable privilege over other language learning resources; that is, it provides

the both learner and the teacher with free-of-charge prosperous material for learning

purposes.

Conclusion

Thus, the BBC Learning English is a good site in terms of providing learners with objective

information for educational purposes. The website assists both the teacher and the learner in

finding relevant instructional materials so that they should be learner fit and teacher fit. The

learner can easily navigate the various websites to choose the relevant topic. There is also a

possibility for the learner to post their comments and to seek responses from the BBC

team/staff members. However, the site lacks authentic spoken interactions among users in

terms of the limited opportunities of communication. Also, the videos and audios are rather

restricted to ready-tailored situations; there are few videos that users can watch. Finally, users

cannot directly contact the BBC staff, an issue that restricts the live communication for learners

of EFL/ESL who seek to communicate with English language speakers.

Reference

The BBC Learning English (web site). http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/

CALICO Review [web site]. www.calico.org/CALICO_Review

Levy, M., & Stockwell, G. (in press). CALL dimensions: Options and issues in computer assisted

language learning. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Hubbard, P. (1988). An integrated framework for CALL courseware evaluation. CALICO Journal,

6 (2), 51-72. Also available online at http://calico.org/journalarticles. Html

Chapelle, C. (2001). Computer applications in second language acquisition: Foundations for

teaching, testing, and research. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Mc Donough, J. and Shaw, C. (1993). Materials and method in ELT, Oxford: Blackwell

Publishers Ltd.