Learning English by taking multiple choice tests?

[Molly]

[Stew.t.]

Hi

And whose responsibility in the learning process is this down to?

Should a random clicker not be more honest, come on please.
If any learner of anything can not take it on board to be sincere and hard working, then they should take up watching paint dry.
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Please meet Stewart Tunncilff

[Torsten]

I totally agree with you, Stew. A person investing the time, effort and money to find out site does have a great motivation to improve their English. Otherwise, why would they register on the forum, take the tests and asks questions?

The problem for most of our users is that once they arrive at our site, they find it difficult to identify their place to start. So far, we haven't created a system that guides our users and learners through all the materials available on our site. We can do that on the forum but here our possibilities are rather limited because we can guide only those users who a) register on the forum b) post a question c) read the answer to their question and d) respond to the instructions. For the vast majority of our users it is very difficult complete all the steps described above.

Then there is the category of learners who are very proficient and using the Internet, email and the forum. Yet, even for those students it is difficult to comprehend what exactly they need to do in order to improve their English. For example, they are not aware of the fact, that we have thousands of multiple-choice questions on our site each of which is directly linked to the forum. A couple of days ago Swati registered on our forum and introduced himself. I suggested he complete one our tests which he did immediately. He came back reporting his test result. After that we repeated this process several times. Now, Swati obviously was not aware of the fact that there thousands of tests on our site. He also did not know that at any given moment he can see which tests he has already completed, which answers he got wrong, how much time he spent on the tests, etc. All this information is now available through the Progress Report.

Another example is Calla. She registered on the forum, took a couple of tests and then asked why our system remember which tests she has already taken etc. Mind you, this kid is just 16 and so quick on the uptake!

So the 'learning progress report' is far from perfect but it is so much better than not having any information about your learning activities. We know that the current version of the progress report has to be improved over the next couple of months. For example, last night we removed a native speaker from the Top 100 Learners list because the list is just what its name says. We'll also ad the possibility to switch off the progress report for those users who don't want to show it.
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Yankee]

Hi Torsten

I think there will be many ESL learners who will be very interested in being able to see what they've done and how they've done on the tests. Have you also thought about possibly having something such as a "Learner of the Month"?
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Amy
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ESL teacher, and native speaker of American English

[Torsten]

Yes Amy,

That's a very good idea. For starters, there will be a "Learner of the Week" and later a "Learner of the Month" as you suggested. In addition, there will be a number of other features to help our learners monitor their learning progress and keep track of their learning activities.

Also, all this information might be useful for our native speakers who answer questions, share their experiences and give support and assistance like you.

Regards,
Torsten
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Yankee]

[Torsten]

Hi Amy,

You are right about the time spent on the tests and yes, we can exclude this element from the top 100 list while leaving it at in the individual reports. As for the learner's native language, that's another excellent suggestion and I'll ask Slava how and when we can add this feature to the tool.
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary