JALTCALL 2008
Nagoya, Japan
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Abstract
While Japan is considered to be a homogenous society, incoming university students, especially non-English majors, may have quite diverse English and computer skills. A focus on basic English at a specific vocabulary level may help to unite lower-level students. Research shows that 80% of typical English usage is within a 2,000 vocabulary level. While intrinsic motivation may be ideal for retention of target vocabulary, the realities of students' academic and social lives often necessitate the use of vocabulary quizzes to impart extrinsic motivation. Learning management systems (LMS) provide a unified location for students and teachers to disseminate and digest course content, submit and evaluate work, and assess progress in courses. This presentation will examine some of the issues to consider when assessing students' vocabulary learning using the LMS moodle. Specific areas to be presented include creating quizzes offline using the GIFT format; uploading GIFT files; formatting and naming images; organizing questions within the quiz module; randomizing questions; administering the first quiz; and addressing grading issues.