Abstract
Using Word Clouds in Grammar Production
In the last two decades, technological developments have transformed expectations of the societies and communities including education. Using technology in education in general and in language teaching in particular has proved to have lots of benefits to both students and teachers. This study aimed at examining the effectiveness of a data visualisation technology –word cloud- in grammar production as well as EFL learners’ perceptions towards using this technology in grammar production activities. 38 intermediate levels high school students participated in the study. The participants were divided into two groups as the experiment as the experiment and the control. Three sets of worksheets and an open ended questionnaire were used for data collection. The independent sample t-test revealed no statistical difference between the two groups. However, descriptive statistics showed that the experiment group performed slightly better than the control. This was attributed to the scaffolding, noticing and elaborating effect of the word clouds. Overall, the participants stated that word cloud activities were useful and fun. It was concluded that word cloud may be a practical alternative in teaching grammar.
Keywords
Grammar, word cloud, grammar production, using technology, ICT