How to exploit Quizlet in EFL teaching

Using Quizlet.com

The website ‘Quizlet’ has become one of my favorite technology resources to use with students. Especially in the area of studying vocabulary, this website has proven to be a great addition to our classroom. Quizlet’s custom flashcard collections allow you as the instructor to create and deliver content to your students electronically. The resources you can set up for students are very valuable, and provide opportunities in multiple applications to study terms and processes. Students can also use the free site to create their own sets of cards or games to study. Teachers can create cards with just text, or text and pictures – helpful for identification or recognition.

Using images can also be a way for teachers to increase student comprehension by challenging them to identify and explain or connect ideas using the flashcard concept. Adding the name under the picture could also be a variation where students recognize the contribution, and connect to the photo/name.

I have used this website for all the subjects I teach to help provide instruction and support for vocabulary. The website and its tools are designed to be non-subject specific, and are student and teacher friendly. The archives in this section display what I have used the site for, and how this technology can enhance student learning.

1.  Interactive Flashcard Sets – Teachers and students can create sets of cards quickly and easily. They can then use the interactive ‘click to flip’ feature to present, review and study.
2.  Review Games – Based on any created set, Quizlet provides the user with games to play while studying. A variety of challenging games create differentiated delivery of vocabulary.
3. iPhone/iPod Touch App – For those students who are fortunate enough to have an iPhone or an iPod touch, Quizlet provides an app that students can add to study their cards ‘on-the-go’. Students can then access and download all the sets that you or they create right to their iPhone.
4. Printable Cards – Traditionalists will be excited to know that using the same website and card sets, teachers and students can create printable sets of cards to study from. If teachers are interested in creating quick and easy sets of cards for “I have, who has…” for example, this website can be very useful. Users can pre-configure printables with text and terms on one side, or text on one side and definitions on the other.
5. Picture Cards – Any of sets that you create can also have pictures. Art teachers, language teachers especially can use this feature. As with text based printable cards, picture cards can also be printed front to back.
6.  Summary Sheets – Sometimes it is handy to have a complete list of terms and definitions for your sets of vocabulary. If teachers or students want to make use of a simple list, the summary sheet is the way to go. From the same set of cards, you are able to print the list of terms and definitions. The list will print on as many pages as necessary.

Quizlet.com has become a great resource for me to use in my classes. For each of the courses that I teach, there is appropriate vocabulary. To make sure that the students are learning the proper terminology, and that they are engaged in the study of vocabulary, using technology is a good choice. Traditional methods of vocabulary study converted to digital and on-line applications will give students another level of enrichment in their learning. It will provide them with a tool that creates more lively, interactive, and enriching experience with course vocabulary.