Free online interactive c-test generator

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C-tests are a reliable, accurate method for assessing learners’ language proficiency at any level. I’ve decided to create a simplified version of my C-Test generator MILA (multimedia interactive learning application) and to make it publicly accessible so that learners everywhere can use it to help them with their reading, anywhere at any time.

What is a c-test?

The C-test was developed in the 1980s at the Universität Duisburg-Essen in Germany – based on theories of language redundancy relating to Gestalt theory. The Simtest, a computerised adaptive test of foreign language ability designed and developed at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) in Catalonia, Spain, uses c-tests extensively. Esmat Babaii and Hasan Ansary published a research paper at Shiraz University in Tehran on an objective evaluation of the c-test.

What does the free online c-test app do?

Learners can find any piece of electronic text that they can copy (Ctrl + c) and paste (Ctrl + v) into the C-Test generator text window. It then generates an interactive c-test that they can complete online in order to test themselves or the suitability of a text for extensive or intensive reading.

What doesn’t it do?

Unlike the fully functioning licensed version for learning management systems, the simplified version doesn’t send or record any user data, e.g. name, course, time taken, number of attempts, the source text used, or number of words completed. Also, you cannot download the C-Test generator app and use it elsewhere: It only works on this website. If you want to license the fully functioning version of the C-Test MILA, you can find out more about what it does here and how to license it here.

How to set the language proficiency level

The selected text used to generate the test determines the proficiency level. For example, if a learner is at B1 (CEFR) / Intermediate, they should select a text that is at that level. There are a variety of ways of determining the reading proficiency of texts, all with their specific uses and pros and cons, which are beyond the scope of this article. See this Wikipedia.org page for more details.

Conversely, it’s also a quick and easy way for learners to check if a text is at a suitable reading proficiency level for them. They can copy a sample paragraph of text, generate a c-test, and see if they can complete enough words on it. For example, if they score 95% or higher the text is suitable for Extensive Reading and anywhere below that will be suitable for intensive reading. A score below 50% will more than likely mean that the text is unsuitable for that learner.

Something that you may notice is that learners often score quite differently on texts that are supposedly at the same level of reading proficiency. This is usually because most learners acquire language “unevenly” and have strengths and weaknesses in particular topic areas. Typically, learners tend to score quite low on topics that are not interesting to them or that they’ve had little prior exposure to. You can experience this phenomenon for yourself by finding a text on a highly specialised topic in your native language that you know very little about.

The C-Test generator app

If the generated c-test is too long to fit in the app, click on the full screen button on the top left.

Are you using an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch for your blog project?

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If you’re considering running blog projects as part of your curriculum or even as a pilot project, here’s a quick article that outlines a particularly awkward pitfall with potentially disastrous consequences if you’re not prepared for it. If you expect that any of your learners or teachers may want to use their iOS devices (iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch) to create multimedia content for their projects, read on…

The problem

Learners and teachers on blog projects usually use their own cameras, MP3/4 recorders, and phones to create multimedia content, otherwise known as Bring Your Own Device (BYOD). While most mobile devices (e.g. Android and Blackberry phones and tablets, MP3/4 players, digital cameras, and video cameras) function normally without issue, I’ve encountered some problems when learners have tried to use iOS devices; iPhones, iPads, and iPods to create content for their blog posts. The main issues are:

The Safari web browser doesn’t allow users to upload files: Users cannot upload images, graphics, photos, audio, video, or animations to embed in their blog posts.
Each iOS device can only exchange files with one specific computer via iTunes. Installing iTunes on another computer and attempting to “synchronise” with it will result in deleting all the media files on the device.
It isn’t possible to remove the flash memory cards from iOS devices and use a card reader transfer the media files that way.

In short, iOS devices do not support the normal methods that you would expect for uploading and sharing media. This came a great disappointment to learners who only had only brought iOS devices with them to their summer school.

“There’s an app for that”

Fortunately, the developers at WordPress.org have created a helpful solution to this problem. If teachers or learners have iPhones, iPads, or iPod Touches, before they attempt to create any media for their blogs, please ensure that they have installed the free WordPress for iOS app from iTunes, and that they can successfully connect and use the app to create blog posts.

Not suitable for longer form composing

Blogging involves a lot of writing, rewriting, editing, copying and pasting, embedding links and citing references, and lot of rapid switching between windows and applications. iOS devices are primarily designed for consuming media from iTunes and they can be useful for posting quick, short Facebook and Twitter updates. But for longer form writing, i.e. creative and/or expressive writing, not having a physical keyboard, and not being able to do the things we normally take for granted that require a keyboard and/or a mouse makes composing articles tedious and time consuming. You may find that learners write shorter articles with less care taken over content, composition and structure, and less revision and editing. It would probably be more convenient and productive for learners to simply use the WordPress for iOS app to create a short blog article with all their media files embedded and then, once they’re in the blog’s media library, login with a PC or Mac to do the actual composing, reviewing and revising, and editing.

Relevant links

How well do you know the International Phonetic Alphabet?

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I’ve just created some new MILAs Learning Content Cartridges (LCCs) focused on the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and I cordially invite you to try them out and see how well you know the British English subset of the IPA. If you’re from north America or have little experience with British English pronunciation, the vowel sounds should be a particular challenge and it may give you some insights into how learners experience using the IPA.

By the way, if you’re a British English speaker and would like to challenge your abilities with north American pronunciation, you could try Dr. Ron Thomson‘s free online phonemic awareness training system, English Accent Coach. I tried it and my knowledge and awareness of Canadian vowels was terrible!

Which MILAs have you used?

For your entertainment and interest, I’ve deployed three examples of different MILAs. Each one loads a different LCC to generate IPA focused learning interactions which have British English audio recordings and phonetic transcriptions of single words. All the vocabulary used is what we would normally expect learners at around level CEFR B1 (Intermediate) and above to have acquired reasonably well. The combinations are as follows:

Listen and select MILA + Short vowels LCC

Listen and repeat MILA + Diphthongs LCC

Look and describe MILA + Non-paired voiced consonants LCC

What are Learning Content Cartridges?

Learning Content Cartridges contain learning interaction data, in the form of SMIL XML files (a W3C standard format for education and multimedia presentations) and media, in the form of images and MP3 audio files, and are loaded into MILAs to generate learning interactions. Learning Content Cartridges are open format, so they can easily be edited and adapted, and are interchangeable with different applications that can read them, in this case MILAs.

Where can I try them out?

Live demos of all the MILAs shown on this site are available to try out. Click on the matbury.com logo below to go to the MILAs demo course on Matt’s R&D Moodle. Login as a guest and scroll down to section #9 Phonetic Chart:

“Unshuffled” option now available on MILAs

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I’ve added a new option to some of my Multimedia Interactive Learning Applications (MILAs). Teachers, curriculum developers and course content developers can now set MILAs to generate learning activities in sequential order, in other words, unshuffled.

Why generate unshuffled learning activities?

By default, MILAs shuffle the order that items appear in to make them less predictable and ensure that learners don’t rely on non-linguistic cues to find the correct responses, i.e. the answers and distractors are rarely in the same positions or order twice and so learners’ only option is to look and/or listen for linguistic cues. In the same way, it’s usually a good idea to shuffle a deck of cards regularly in a card game to make the order of the cards less predictable and the game more interesting.

However, in some instances it can be beneficial to learners if we present learning activities in sequential order. This allows a several possibilities I have thought of and probably many more that I haven’t. For example, if English as a Second, Foreign or International Language learners are acquiring language for daily routines, it would be more helpful to learners if they are presented in sequence at first, thereby preserving the narrative nature of the language and enabling learners to make sense of it (understand it) more easily, therefore making language acquisition more probable.

Another example would be using story telling/narratives to help convey meaning by presenting background and contextual story lines to teach salient points about more abstract concepts, ideas and theories. A narrative could convey background information and context, the HOWs and the WHYs and the process of discovery that the scientist or thinker went through before they arrived at their “eureka” moment; Otherwise known as a case study.

Yet another possible use would be to present incorrect or incomplete narratives based around some idea, topic or event as an introductory stimulus for a broader narrative inquiry based project. Learners would then have to discover what is wrong or missing and construct their own correct or complete narratives. Freer, more expansive narrative inquiry tasks could then follow.

…or it may be something as simple as matching pictures to the lines of a song.

I think (speculatively) such techniques can help learning to be more interesting, engaging and enjoyable for learners.

Which MILAs does this apply to?

The following MILAs now have the unshuffled option:

How do I use the unshuffled option?

The default setting is shuffled so updating your copy of these MILAs will have no effect on existing learning interactions. Simply by passing in the “shuffle = false” parameter sets any learning interaction to generate the activities in the order in which they appear in the Learning Content Cartridge SMIL XML file. In Moodle, it works like this:

Edit or create a new instance of the SWF Activity Module
Select the MILA and Learning Content Cartridge in the usual way and set any other parameters as necessary
In the FlashVars Learning Interaction Data section put: Name: shuffle Value: false
Save and preview
That’s it!

Demo

Live demos of all the MILAs shown on this site are available to try out. Click on the matbury.com logo to go to the MILAs demo course on Matt’s R&D Moodle. Look for the SWF Activity Module instances called Numbers 0 to 120, unshuffled:

And finally

I’d be very interested to hear of any other possible uses of unshuffled MILA learning interactions. What could you use them for?

OU releases new web privacy awareness game

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The UK’s Open University has launched a free online gamified learning interaction to help users learn about web privacy. Web privacy and surveillance are serious and overly ignored issues in education and elearning which I’ve highlighted in a previous article here.

The OU’s page says: “Have you ever thought about what your personal information might be worth?

Privacy refers to how we maintain our personal boundaries by choosing what personal information we share with others. This game is designed to highlight how privacy and consent work online.

Players make decisions about which information they reveal, who they reveal it to and why. For example, you may decide to trade some information for gifts when shopping on a website; or you may decide to keep other information secret when posting on a social networking site.“

Play the game here.