Select level of difficulty needed for progressive vocab building

Submitted 10 years ago
Lynn S.
Lynn S.
Dean of Student Life
The Montclair Kimberley Academy
Montclair NJ, US
My Rating
Pedagogy
Supports

My Take

Word Wit is very simple in its approach to learning to distinguish between frequently confused pairs of words, ranging from very basic (than/then) to more nuanced (notorious/infamous). The application is very user friendly. "Spin" the wheel and you are presented with a pair of words.

Read the definitions and sample quotations, and then go for "mastery" by completing a series of fill-in-the-blank sentences using the two words.

The greatest limitation with this app is the lack of ability to choose a specific level of difficulty. A student might be presented with a/an as a word pair, immediately followed on the next spin with disassemble/dissemble. It is difficult to imagine a student who would need practice with both of these pairs.

How I Use It

Word Wit can be used as a way for individual students to learn and study words and their "evil twins," as the app calls them.

The review and practice format is especially well suited to homework. It could be especially valuable in ESL classrooms.

Because the app has search and save features, it is possible for students to build an appropriately challenging list of words and then use the definitions and "mastery" exercises to learn them.

These words would have to be chosen one at a time from the saved list, however. A useful improvement for this app would be the ability to create a study list and then have the words randomly presented for mastery.

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