FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Easy Writer (Delxue): Interactive Software for
ESL Students
Frequently Asked Questions about Easy Writer and Easy Writer Deluxe: Interactive Software for ESL/EFL Students and the Grammar HELP! Student Handbook
1. Is this suitable
for classroomwork or for individualized work in the computer lab?
2.What
level student will
find Easy Writer and the Grammar HELP! Student Handbook helpful?
3. I teach native speakers
of English. Can people whose first language is English use the
software and the book, too?
4. Who wrote the essays
that are included in the software?
5. Tell me about the "Write
Your Own Story" option. Can students enter their own essays?
I would like to know if the computer will correct their essays.
6. What is in the
Teachers' and Students' Resource package?
What is the Checklist of Stories and the Concordance
of Errors? What type of supplementary and support material is available?
How can I use the Grammar
HELP! Student Handbook
to complement our use of the software?
7. I understand
that this software is influenced by "Fluency
First." What is
"Fluency First"?
8. How much time can a
student spend working on this at one sitting?
9.Easy Writer seems very
challenging. I like this, but do the students ever become frustrated
in this process?
10. Is there
tracking available?
11. What
pre- or post-assessment capabilities in
Easy Writer?
12. I teach in Canada.
What attention is paid to the differences between American English,
British English, and Canadian English in the software and the handbook?
13.
What's next?
1. Is this suitable for classroom work or for individualized work in the computer lab?
We recommend advanced beginner
through high intermediate. Learners should have some ability to
read and get meaning from what they've read. The software is designed
to be flexible and versatile, and to work excellently in both teaching
environments. Teachers like how it provides structured follow-up
after classroom group work and how it allows students who need to do
catch-up to work on their skills. Students also enjoy using it
as a stand-alone package for individualized work when a lab aide and
tutor are present as well as when they are not. Many use it at
home.
Each grammar unit begins with an "Introduction to...(name
of that grammar unit)" component, full of interactive explanations
and exercises. Each unit also contains a "Grammar Book"
component, in which a user or teacher can link directly to grammar pages
that teach specific points. Or the user can go directly to essay
menu. Now it is easier than ever to use Easy Writer in
the classroom, or to prepare them for individualized work in the computer
lab.
The Grammar HELP! Student Handbook makes it even easier
to work individually or in the classroom.
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2.What level student will find Easy Writer helpful?
The readings range from
over 100 words to over 500 words. They range from 4th grade reading
level to college-reading level. Each reading is color-coded
(red, black, blue)
to indicate the difficulty level so that the student can work at his
level, and progress from there. Students from low intermediate
to advanced should benefit greatly from Easy Writer. The
new audio feature makes Easy Writer accessible to those who have stronger
listening skills than reading skills.
(Readings were rated according
to Flesch-Kincaid Reading Level and Flesch Reading Ease Level and then
additionally rated according to the level of challenge that learners
of English would experience in editing the given reading, with consideration
given to grammar, vocabulary and rhetorical style.)
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3. I teach English to native speakers of English. Can people whose first language is English use this too?
Absolutely! Many native speakers also need to improve their skills with punctuation, passive voice, reported (indirect) speech, conditional sentence, certain verb forms, correct use of plural nouns, and more. In fact, a number of the essays in this software were written by native speakers who were taking remedial writing classes and even Freshman English classes! So while Easy Writer was developed primarily for ESL learners, there is something here for everybody, because there is something here from everybody!
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4. Who wrote these essays? For the audio versions, who recorded these essays?
My students at several City
University of New York campuses wrote them as classroom writing assignments.
They are happy that you are using their writing because they're happy
to be helping other ESL students like themselves. The essays included
were chosen for two reasons. First, each essay included was stimulating!
Secondly, each one demonstrated a particular recurring problem with
grammar, punctuation, spelling, or sentence structure.
The essays were recorded by professional actors and actresses.
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5. Tell me about the "Write Your Own Story" option. Can students enter their own essays? Will the computer correct their essays?
Yes, a student can enter
his own essay. We recommend, however, using the "Write Your
Own Story" feature after the student has done the activities with
the essays and Grammar
Help!
pages of the software.
Will the
computer correct your students' essays? We performed
a casual study. We submitted thousands of sentences that had relatively
good syntax but that also had a significant grammar error (subject-verb
agreement, singular nouns instead of plural, etc.) to a major grammar
editing software program. The computer consistently identified
no more than 35% of the errors. This means that even under
the best of circumstances (relatively good sentence structure) over,
65% of a student's grammar errors are going through! When we submitted
sentences that specifically had problems with parallel structure and
run-on sentences, the computer was picking up almost none of
the errors. And yet these are the most annoying errors to teachers
and to those reading cover letters in the hopes of getting a job and
are automatic red flags to those in the position of hiring.
The goal of Easy Writer is for the student to become a more
successful and a more independent writer. In the end, his
strengths with English will be his passport to good jobs and to academic
success.
Working his way through the various four levels
and the many grammar categories helps him to do this. It helps
him to develop better intuition about English, to relate the rules of
grammar to real language, to take his time when writing, to review what
he has written, and more. He uses the "Grammar Reference"
as a resource. By using Easy Writer, he will become a more independent
and successful writer, and will be in a better position to advance in
the career and academic path he aspires to.
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6. What is the Teachers' and Students' Resource Package? What is the Checklist of Stories and the Concordance of Errors? How can I use the Grammar HELP! Student Handbook to complement our use of Easy Writer software?
The Teachers' Resource package
contains very helpful aids for classroom situations and individualized
instruction. It includes the
Checklist of Stories to
help you determine which grammar units and which stories to have your
students do next; and to keep track of what the students have done.
It also includes the
Concordance of Errors
to help you when you want your students to work on locate specific grammar
points, such as "past perfect tense" or "going to
vs. gonna"". The Concordance will indicate exactly
where you can locate essays in the CD-ROM that work on the target grammar
point. And our new
Grammar
Help!
Student Handbook is just what
every teacher and student needs to make the learning experience complete;
click on the above link to learn more about how to make this a powerful
learning package.
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7. I understand that this software is influenced by "Fluency First ". What is "Fluency First"?
In the "Fluency First" approach, the grammar taught comes out of the nature of the errors that the student is producing. In Easy Writer, when the student sees or produces an error, he can ask for a grammatical explanation, and the computer will give him one. It's like having a teacher right there!
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8. How much time can a student spend working on this at one sitting?
Students can use this for any length of time from 1/2 hour to 2 hours. Students become highly involved and lose track of time. I used to have to remind my students to take a break after one hour, or to log off after two! The activities are also structured such that they can be used successfully for short periods of time, in situations where classes are short. The listening activities add additional opportunities for involvement.
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9. Easy Writer seems very challenging. I like this, but do the students become frustrated in this process?
Students love the process
and they love challenge, because it is not threatening! As one
student said, "Don't worry! I'm going to get it!"
June Van Slooten, Instructor, wrote, "I was
especially pleased to note that all of the students refused to click
on the correct answer function. Instead, they persisted
until they found all of the errors on the page. When they checked
their work, the program noted how many answers they had located and
how many more they still needed to find. This particular challenge
led the students to thinking on a much deeper level than they might
have applied if we were correcting sentences as a group in a book."
Another instructor wrote, "(t)he ability to show all the answers
and to do the exercises again provides a way to relieve that frustration;
it also provides repetition so crucial in reinforcing the lesson."
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10. Can I keep a record or log of my students' work? Is tracking available?
Learners are able to initiate a record-keeping log every time they work with Easy Writer. The user can view and/or print the log while working with Easy Writer and/or before logging off; this can help him decide what to work on next or what to do the next session. Teachers who want to know what their students have spent working in the computer lab are now able to do so.
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11. What assessment is available within Easy Writer?
The goal of Easy Writer is for the student to become a more successful writer. In general, we do not want the user to feel pressured in the learning situation, a feeling which assessment often produces. However, we realize that many ESL and learning programs require such assessment. As such, the soon to be released diagnostic will provide the assessment that some teachers and ESL programs desire and require.
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12. I teach in Canada and we want our students to use Canadian English spelling. What attention is paid to the differences between American English, British English, and Canadian English?
The essays were written
by students in American colleges and therefore the spelling and grammar
within these essays reflects American English. Nonetheless, by
popular demand, Easy Writer software now
accepts responses that use British and Canadian spelling. And
the Grammar
HELP! Student
Handbook has one
entire chapter devoted entirely to British and Canadian spelling and
grammar. Easy Writer may be one of the only software programs to accept
responses in both spelling traditions. So, whether you or your
students are in America, in Canada learning Canadian spelling, or in
the United Kingdom or overseas learning British English spelling and
grammar, everybody will be able to enjoy and benefit from the many lessons
and interactive exercises that are contained in our learning package.
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13. What's next?
Every year we add a component to our Easy Writer package that will enhance the learning experience and learner involvement. After our audio Deluxe version, we added the Bridge to Grammar to help students to use the book and the software together. We are currently adding the complete "Grammar HELP! Student Handbook" grammar lessons online. Check our eslhelpdesk.com to access these pages. When we have completed this task, we will be publishing an e-book under a new name. Stay tuned for more information.
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