Redefining how we work with words

Learning English
The Guardian Weekly
Friday March 27th 2009

Jamie Keddie

A crop of new websites offer some intriguing and engaging ways for learners and teachers to work with words. Jamie Keddie takes a look at the sites that are redefining the way we can teach vocabulary.

Imagine a dictionary with definitions accompanied by video clips of users talking about what the words mean to them. This is the idea behind Wordia.com, a project that combines conventional dictionary definitions with meanings created by users and explained in short videos.

Although sparse at the moment, its video content is increasing. Some of it comes from celebrity speakers, such as the British illustrator Quentin Blake, who gives a much more personal definition of “illustration” than the lexicographers.

Other contributors include the user Sab, who shares a mnemonic way of ­remembering how to spell “because” (“Big Elephants Can’t Always Use Small Entrances because of their size”); and user Davyboy who demonstrates the word “power” from the top of a castle, with a villainous laugh.

According to Wordia’s co-founder Ed Baker, the site is not just rewriting the dictionary. “We’re asking members of the public to redefine it. Through the medium of video, we have the potential to export all the additional dynamic layers of meaning that conventional dictionaries have never been able to deal with.”

For language teachers and learners, Wordia offers engaging opportunities for group work, such as creating and uploading clips that illustrate ­favourite words or new vocabulary.

Perhaps the most appealing aspect of Wordia is its simplicity. The same could be said about the more established Wordie.org, a site that allows users to create, share and comment on lists of words and phrases.

According to its creator John ­McGrath, the site was built more or less as a joke before taking on a life of its own. Community members often describe themselves as logophiles (word lovers) or nerds. Wordie is home to 200,000 “unique” definitions, such as “coolth”, which we are told is the opposite of warmth. Word lists include personal compilations such as “words I overuse when public speaking” or “swear words I’ve invented”.

But the facility to create personalised structured word lists online also means that Wordie is a tool for learners. In class, different students could be in charge of different word lists which are added to as and when new vocabulary arrives. One of my lists is of two-syllable ­adjectives that end in –y. It contains words such as bossy, nosy, cheesy, sweaty, silly, holy, creepy, pretty, and it was created after one of my students had admitted to being confused by the plethora of similar such words.

Wordie also allows users to comment on their own lists or those of other people. For a list of easily mispronounced words, for example, students could share tips on how to remember specific sounds (the “ea” in breakfast is pronounced like the “e” in bed – breakfast in bed).

Both Wordia and Wordie allow learners to engage with language in their own way. This combination of creativity and personalisation is well demonstrated by Wordle.net.

Wordle is an online tool that is used to create word clouds – randomised visual representations of all the words contained within a selected text. The more frequently a word is used in the source text, the larger it will appear in the word cloud.Wordle gives users the ability ­to ­decide whether or not to include common words, such as articles and prepositions, in the cloud. The resulting images can be printed or incorporated into other documents and used as the basis for classroom activities.

Although never intended as an educational tool, the site has become steadily more popular with teachers and learners. The word cloud can be used as a warm-up before reading or listening. Students can be asked to ­predict the genre or subject of the source text by looking at a word cloud created from it. Does the word cloud suggest a newspaper article, song lyric, joke, poem or dialogue? This ­approach has the advantage of activating key vocabulary. For productive language skills, word clouds can be used to ­reactivate short texts that students have already seen before ­going on to reconstruct them.

Sites such as these remind us of the potential of the internet as both a teaching resource and as a means of equipping learners with tools necessary for their autonomous development. In a time when we are bombarded with the latest things, it is always good to remember that it’s not the technology that matters, it’s what you do with it that counts.

Jamie Keddie is a teacher and writer. His website, teflclips.com, which supports teachers who are using video sharing websites, is one of the winners of the British Council’s ­2009 Eltons awards for innovation in ELT.