Encourage Autonomy through Tubequizard

Tubequizard is a great tool for intensive listening practice through videos. It has a bank of ready made quizzes on pronunciation practice, grammar, vocabulary in contexts and many more. All quizzes are based on YouTube videos of movies, songs, political speeches and a lot more. Not only that,  learners' language proficiency level (i.e. A2, B1, C1 etc.) can be chosen before you think of the type of practice (i.e. vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar for listeners, grammar in context etc. ) and categories (i.e. business, entertainment, film & animation, information technology etc. ) you want them to practice.

Tubequizard promises autonomous learning in a very creative and interesting way. Student can engage in self-practice through this site and internalize grammar, vocabulary or pronunciation on their own by decoding.  Students  usually go through  the process of trial and error  when involved in autonomous learning and the activity design in Tubequizard essentially supports this process. They get to see their scores after competing the tasks which is a great way for them to feel motivated and inspired to increase their proficiency further.

A quiz on Tubequizard

Every task has clear instructions for students to navigate through the site. The video keeps on repeating that exact segment when students put the cursor on the relevant gap. In this way language learners can never complain about the pace or complexity of the video clip or language being used. They can always go back and listen to it until they get the answer correct. They can pause the video anytime they want and restfully play through it without any pressure of timing.

Watch this  YouTube video which describes the basic functionality of Tubequizard search

Teachers can always share the link of specific tubequizard tasks on VLE platforms i.e. Google Classroom, Moodle or social media such as Facebook, Twitter, email or similar other media. This tool is suitable for enthusiastic learners, specifically intermediate and upper-intermediate ones who might be aware of their current language abilities and intend to hone and enrich his/her English pronunciation skills and grammar or vocabulary repertoire independently.

Usefulness of Tubequizard in Bangladeshi Teaching Context

• Teachers can advice students of any levels to practice their pronunciation skills, gsrammar and vocabulary autonomously through Tubequizard. It can be a part of their homework, if they like.
• This could be a great resource for visual learners too.
• Listening skills are not always practiced in Bangladeshi educational contexts. But Tubequizard can be a useful resource for group and individual practice in classrooms.
• Since a great number of ready-made quizzes  are available on Tubequizard, it will save teachers' time.
• Students can complete tasks anywhere anytime using their smartphones, tablets or computers. 
• Students can get a wider exposure to authentic language use through these audio-visual materials available on Tubequizard.
• A great tool for self-directed learning.

Drawbacks

• Teachers can edit the available quizzes but cannot create a new one. Also, the options to edit any quiz is quite limited.
• There isn't any other variety/accent available besides the ones of the US and the UK. Therefore, some Bangladeshi learners may find it hard to follow and practice listening at the first place. We all know there are many other English pronunciation varieties available and US and UK variants are no longer considered as the standard ones everywhere. So there should have been video collections from different other contexts of the world. That would have made it more popular among all learners.

Nonetheless, Tubequizard is a helpful resource for students to take charge of their own development and proficiency. The videos are very much up to date and engaging, thereby students can always feel there is always something more on this site than just practicing grammar or listening! I would suggest my students to visit this site for their language development. In fact, I have already shared it on my Facebook account and found some good responses from my undergraduate students.

Courtesy: www.tubequizard.com, YouTube.com