What is a wordle?
Created by Jonathan Feinberg, an IBM programmer, (http://mrfeinberg.com/) purely as a decorative amusement (he had no pedagogic or linguistic motive). He has offered it as a free facility for people to create graphics from text that they upload. The graphics you create are then yours to do with as you wish. The interesting features for language teachers are that
1. more frequent words are increased in size
2. common words (the, and, of etc.) are excluded by default but can be included
3. individual words can be excluded with a simple right click
4. the ‘Randomize’ feature creates new versions of a particular text instantly, making it easy to make a number of different Wordles for a text
5. The layout can be customised for maximum readability (eg all text horizontal)
6. There is no limit on size or style of the text – it is a quick, easy way to make short texts and word lists look funky, or to explore the phraseology of a longer text such as a political speech.
How to use Wordle:
1. Go to http://www.wordle.net
2. Click on “Create.”
3. Type or paste in text into the empty box.
4. Click “Go.” Your finished Wordle will appear in the box.
5. You may click on font, layout, and/or color near the top of the Wordle to change those things.
6. Click on “Print” to print it out. Click OK if you get a message about printing.
Here is a video that summarizes those steps which are for creating a wordle:
For further questions, you can follow this link:
AIMS OF WORDLE:
1. The aim of the Wordle is to make the students curious about the content of a text so that they will read it with more concentration when it is handed out.
2. You can use the Wordle to pre-teach important vocabulary from the text
3. It is also a way to activate the students’ existing vocabulary and knowledge on the topic
ASPECTS/ISSUES IN USING WORDLE THAT MIGHT BE CAUSE FOR CONCERN:
- Teacher should not save it as 'anonymous' in order to find it easily later on.
- Teacher should be aware that this program does not consider basic words such as articles.
- It is more beneficial to them if they prefer black on the white color, then it becomes easier to print it out. So they have a more legible image for their student.
Sources:
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/al/staff/harrison_t/wordles-copy/handout/
http://www.wordle.net/faq
http://www.prhsmediacenter.com/uploads/5/0/2/0/5020653/how_to_use_wordle.pdf
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