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The Original Real English interactive
Review by: Rebecca Muroni, University of Hull, October 2000 Author/Developer: The Marzio School and Ipse Communication System requirements: Pentium 120 MHz or better 16Mb RAM; Windows 3.x, 95 or 98; Hi-colour graphics card; CD-ROM drive 2x or faster; 12Mb available hard disk; Sound card, microphone, headphones or speakers Price: 4990 FF per videocassette + workbook set The aim of Real English was to provide a means of introducing students of English at a beginners level to a wider range of linguistic utterances than course books might offer, in order that they are better prepared for actually spending time in English-speaking countries. It is not claiming to be anything more revolutionary than this, and there can be no doubt that in those terms it succeeds. It is currently only designed for students in France, Germany or Spain, since installation instructions and grammatical information and translations are given in those languages. There is no option to have these in English. There are 12 units, which mostly follow the same format. Students are presented with varied responses to a question (the question itself may also vary) in the form of authentic video clips, and given the opportunity to break them down into phrases, listen again, repeat and record themselves, and then compare the sound of the original with their recording. The clips are authentic inasmuch as the people interviewed are not actors and the most natural (but comprehensible) responses were selected for the production of the CD. Whether students are actually able to improve their pronunciation in this way is debatable, since this would be dependent on their ability not only to recognise where the difference lies, but also to rectify the problem. There is no feedback at this point, so it is left entirely to the students’ judgement. There then follows a series of exercises, checking comprehension and sound recognition, in which students can choose either to click on the correct answer or to say it into the microphone. The problem with this is that the computer does not always recognise the correct response even from a native speaker using all the required specifications. Since this is one of its unique selling points it is a rather crucial failing. The vocabulary explanations are simply translations into French, German or Spanish, depending on which version you select, but the grammar notes are also in English and are quite helpful. The word order exercises require students to understand the grammar explanations and then drag and drop words into the correct spaces. They may not be very revolutionary, but they are certainly effective. The final exercise requires students to type in the missing words themselves, so provides a final test of their comprehension of the grammar explanations. The repeated format in each unit, together with very simple graphics, makes navigation very straightforward, and whilst students are encouraged to progress in a linear fashion through the content, reviewing and previewing are extremely simple. The option of being able to start where they last left off when starting up the program on subsequent occasions makes record-keeping unnecessary. DrawbacksThere are currently just the two CDs with six units on each, and since the language focused on fails to get beyond the verb 'be', it will probably require a large number of subsequent CDs to cover a wide range of levels. I found some of the feedback mildly patronising. For example, if you fail to get the answer right the first time but then succeed the second time, a gentle voice tells you: “Now you understand.” When you get it right the first time the response is certainly varied, but phrases like “Kawabunga, Dude!” can be a little off-putting. ConclusionFor a French, German or Spanish student who has plenty of self-study time to support a taught course, and has a good discriminative ear, this could be a useful tool. I would recommend it to private language schools in France, Germany and Spain as a self-access resource, but unfortunately that would be the extent of the market. Rebecca Muroni October 2000 |
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