The Virtual Writing Tutor is a 100% free grammar checker with advance artificial intelligence enabled tools to help you become a better writer.

You have probably heard about inflation being a problem for our economy. But what is inflation?

Inflation refers to the general increase in the prices of goods and services in an economy over time. In other words, it is the decrease in the purchasing power of a currency over time. This means that a fixed amount of money can buy fewer goods and services as time goes on.

There are several factors that can contribute to inflation, including an increase in demand for goods and services, a decrease in the supply of goods and services, an increase in the cost of production, or an increase in the amount of money in circulation.

Inflation can have both positive and negative effects on an economy. On the one hand, moderate inflation can stimulate economic growth by encouraging investment and spending. On the other hand, high inflation can lead to a decrease in consumer purchasing power, which can slow economic growth and lead to higher unemployment.

Central banks typically try to keep inflation under control by adjusting interest rates, manipulating the money supply, and implementing other monetary policies. By doing so, they can promote economic stability and help to prevent runaway inflation.

Inflation glossary

Inflation

The general increase in the prices of goods and services in an economy over time.

Consumer Price Index (CPI)

A measure of inflation that tracks the change in prices of a basket of goods and services commonly consumed by households.

Deflation

The opposite of inflation, it refers to a decrease in the general price level of goods and services in an economy.

Hyperinflation

A situation where the rate of inflation is extremely high, usually above 50% per month.

Cost-push inflation

Inflation that is caused by an increase in the cost of production, leading to an increase in the price of goods and services.

Demand-pull inflation

Inflation that is caused by an increase in demand for goods and services, leading to an increase in the price level.

Monetary policy

The actions taken by a central bank to regulate the money supply and interest rates in an economy to achieve its policy objectives, including managing inflation.

Quantitative easing

A monetary policy tool used by central banks to stimulate economic growth by increasing the money supply and lowering interest rates.

Phillips curve

A graphical representation of the inverse relationship between unemployment and inflation in an economy.

Stagflation

A situation where there is both high inflation and high unemployment in an economy.

Dialogue about inflation

Person A: Have you noticed how the prices of goods and services seem to be increasing every month?

Person B: Yeah, it’s crazy. I went to the grocery store last week and couldn’t believe how much more I had to pay for my usual items.

Person A: That’s inflation for you. It’s been on the rise lately.

Person B: What exactly is inflation?

Person A: Inflation refers to the general increase in the prices of goods and services in an economy over time. This means that the purchasing power of your money decreases, and you can buy less with the same amount of money.

Person B: Ah, I see. So why does inflation happen?

Person A: There are several factors that can contribute to inflation, such as an increase in demand for goods and services, a decrease in the supply of goods and services, an increase in the cost of production, or an increase in the amount of money in circulation.

Person B: That makes sense. So what can be done to control inflation?

Person A: Central banks typically try to control inflation by adjusting interest rates, manipulating the money supply, and implementing other monetary policies. By doing so, they can promote economic stability and help to prevent runaway inflation.

Person B: Got it. It’s interesting to learn about these things. Thanks for explaining it to me!

Person A: No problem, always happy to help.

How does raising interest rates control inflation?

Raising interest rates is one of the ways that central banks can control inflation. When a central bank raises interest rates, it increases the cost of borrowing money for consumers and businesses. This can lead to a decrease in spending and investment, which can then decrease the demand for goods and services.

As the demand for goods and services decreases, prices can also decrease or at least slow down their increase. This, in turn, can lead to a decrease in inflation. By making borrowing more expensive, central banks can reduce the amount of money in circulation, which can help to prevent runaway inflation.

Additionally, higher interest rates can also attract foreign investors to a country, which can increase the demand for its currency. This can strengthen the currency and make imported goods cheaper, thus reducing the inflationary pressures caused by the increase in the prices of imported goods.

Overall, raising interest rates is a powerful tool that central banks can use to control inflation and promote economic stability. However, it can also lead to a decrease in economic growth and higher unemployment, so central banks must carefully balance the risks and benefits of such a decision.

What do rising interest rates mean?

What are interest rates?

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The Virtual Writing Tutor is a 100% free grammar checker with advance artificial intelligence enabled tools to help you become a better writer.

We have added a new feature to VirtualWritingTutor.com. The Virtual Writing Tutor is an essay checking artificial tutoring service, a one-on-one robotic teacher that helps you find your errors and correct them. But sometimes, you simply want to know, “How would a native speaker you say it?” That’s what the improve writing button does. It; rephrases the sentences you write into standard English.

Improve your writing with one click

Here’s an example. Put the sentence that you want to improve into the text area. Click “Improve writing.”

After you click “Improve writing,” and the Virtual Writing Tutor essay checker will rephrase your sentence into correct English.

Reformulation to improve writing

Researchers have reported on teachers’ use of text reformulation as a corrective feedback technique for decades (Thornbury, 1997). As an error correction method, it is an additional way of help students develop their writing skills. Here’s how.

Step 1: correct surface errors

Ask students to use the Virtual Writing Tutor to find their errors. Students should then use the feedback to correct their errors as much as they can.

Step 2: improve writing

After correcting errors, get the Virtual Writing Tutor to reformulate your original text by clicking on “Improve writing.” It will reformulate your text while preserving the original message and content, which will be “suitable for targeting concerns beyond word and sentence level” (Coyle, Mora, & Becerra, 2020, p. 1).

Step 3: compare

Students should then look at their original text, their corrected text, and their reformulated text and compare them. Reflecting on the corrections and reformulation will help writers think about how to write the same ideas in a more standard way, raising awareness of standard English and raising the final draft to the next level of proficiency.

Limitations

The system checks only 100 words at a time. Why? This “improve writing” and rephrasing service requires a lot of computing power and is consequently very expensive to run on a free website. The Virtual Writing Tutor is committed to providing free service to users everywhere in the world. For that reason, we must either charge monthly fees or place limits on usage.

Perhaps, one day, we will have to offer a free service and pro subscription service. Until that day, everything we offer to students and teachers is free.

Other new features

There are other ways the Virtual Writing Tutor can help you improve writing.

1. Make sure to try other features, too. Do you ever wonder “What’s my English level?” The Virtual Writing Tutor can check your English CEFR level. Write a text and check your level.
2. If you are a teacher and you are looking for email writing practice for students, get your students to send each other emails after they have practiced with automatically scored email scoring system.
3. You can even get pronunciation help with our free pronunciation checker.

We have more features and tools in the works. Stay tuned.

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The Virtual Writing Tutor is a 100% free grammar checker with advance artificial intelligence enabled tools to help you become a better writer.

If you want to know your English proficiency level, look no further. The VirtualWritingTutor.com can help with the “Check Level” button on the first page of the VWT. We all know what people mean by English level, right?
Beginner, intermediate, advanced, native-like are all words used to describe how skillful a person is at speaking a language. In Europe, levels are described using 6 codes. Beginners are either A1 (low beginner) or A2 (high beginner). Intermediates are either B1 (low intermediate) or B2 (high intermediate). Advanced users of English are either C1 (low advanced) or C2 (high advanced). there is nothing higher than C2, a university educated native-like user of English.

In Quebec, we offer courses to low beginners (001), high beginners (100), low intermediates (101), high intermediates (102), and advanced learners (103) who may be native speakers or native-like in their proficiency. In Britain, English proficiency is often described using the 9-band scale used by IELTS test examiners. TOEFL is another proficiency test offered by the Educational Testing Service in New Jersey, USA.

Level 1 = A1/001 = IELTS 2.0-3.0
Level 2 = A2/100 = IELTS 3.5 = TOEFL <30
Level 3 = B1/101 = IELTS 4.0-5.0 = TOEFL 31-45
Level 4 = B2/102 = IELTS 5.5-6.5 = TOEFL 46-93
Level 5 = C1/103 = IELTS 7.0-8.0 = TOEFL 94-114
Level 6 = C2 = IELTS 8.5-9.0 = TOEFL 115-120

An expert teacher can evaluate a student’s English proficiency level very quickly. Clues in the student’s writing allow the teacher to make inferences about the student’s language development and to suggest the best course for a student. What clues do teachers look for?

1. The level of the vocabulary
2. The density of errors
3. The types of errors

Are your students all in the correct level? Use your expert judgement to spot the students who are in a course that is too basic or too advanced for them. Or, copy-paste the text into the VirtualWritingTutor.com and click “Check Level.”

How to check your English proficiency level

Go to VirtualWritingTutor.com. Enter a text. Click “Level Check..”

Your feedback appear less than a second later. Look for your recommended level in the icon to the left of the graph. The graph shows your the components of the system’s analysis of your text.

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The Virtual Writing Tutor is a 100% free grammar checker with advance artificial intelligence enabled tools to help you become a better writer.

Do you teach email writing? Give your students the practice and the feedback they need to develop this useful writing skill. Emails follow a predictable pattern, with a salutation, a paragraph explaining the email’s purpose, the main content of the email, a call to action, a paragraph indicating that a reply is expected, a close, and finally a signature.

8 email writing topics

The Virtual Writing Tutor can evaluate emails on these 8 writing topics in seconds and for free:

1. Introduction to a new pen pal
2. My neighbourhood
3. Technology in my life
4. My family
5. Food
6. Exercise
7. Memorable day
8. Memorable trip

I selected these topics to promote caring and sharing with my high beginner textbook Actively Engaged Together. Originally, I asked students to use the pen pal exchange on the Virtual Writing Tutor. (How can I create a pen pal exchange?)

However, teachers using Labodanglais.com wanted to evaluate the pen pal email messages automatically and report the score to the Labo grade book, so I added these tests for Labo users.

Finding the email evaluations on the VWT

You can find all 8 topics by clicking on “Essay Tests” on the navigation menu of the Virtual Writing Tutor. Alternatively, click here for the direct link to the automated email evaluations.

Clicking on “Actively Engaged Together” will take you to a the list of evaluations. Click on one of the buttons.

8 buttons

Start button

A page will show with a start button explaining that there is a timer.

Text area and instructions

After clicking on the start button, you will see the instructions in an accordion section and the text area.

Email score and feedback

Feedback is presented in accordion sections with a score. Click on an accordion section to make it expand and show detailed actionable feedback.

Test email with this text

Would you like to test the system and let me know what you think? You can test the first topic with this sample email text:

Dear Pen Pal,
I’m writing to you today to introduce myself. I am hoping you will agree to be my pen pal.
My name is Nick. I have 18 years old. I am live at Montreal. I working at IGA as a grocery clerk. Every day, I am stocking the shelves and sometimes I bag groceries. I study Human Science. To relax, I play video games and watch movies. In the summer, I ride my bike and play soccer in the park with my friends. In the winter, I skate and go cross country skiing.
I would love to learn about your interests and hobbies. What do you do in your free time?
I hope you will agree to be my pen pal. I can’t wait to read your reply.
Sincerely,
Nick

The post Automatically Scored Emails appeared first on Virtual Writing Tutor Blog.

The Virtual Writing Tutor is a 100% free grammar checker with advance artificial intelligence enabled tools to help you become a better writer.

Have you ever tried using flashcards to learn new vocabulary? Learning vocabulary is an essential component of language learning. Without a large vocabulary, it is difficult for English Second Language (ESL) learners to express themselves effectively. Once ESL learners have mastered the grammar of English, the main difference between them and native speakers is the size of their vocabulary. Therefore, the most important task for language learners to acquire a larger vocabulary.

If vocabulary is so important, it makes sense to make learning vocabulary a priority in the ESL classroom. But how do people pick up new words? Most new vocabulary is learned by guessing the meaning of words from the context in which they appear. English-speaking children learn vocabulary just by talking with adults, asking questions, watching movies, and by reading English books. But this method of vocabulary acquisition is very inefficient and takes many hours just to learn even a few new words. Young adults with less time on their hands want a much faster method. Luckily, there is one.

Flashcards

Memorizing new vocabulary using flashcards is a fast, social, fun, and efficient strategy for learning new vocabulary in your second language. A study conducted with pre-university students learning English found that the students who used flashcards performed significantly better that the students who learned vocabulary using traditional classroom methods (Komachali & Khodareza, 2012). Many studies have found the same positive result with students learning history, chemistry, mathematics, music, economics, foreign languages, and English as a second language.
What’s a flashcard?

A flashcard is a piece of paper or cardboard with a clue on one side and a target vocabulary item on the other. Usually, multiple flashcards are shuffled together in a deck of cards, selected one at a time. One person (the teacher) shows or reads the clue, and learners try to guess the target vocabulary item. If no one can guess the answer, the teacher gives the answer before selecting the next card.

A variation of the flashcard idea is to have both the clue and the answer on the same side of the card. The advantage of this configuration is that the clue can be kept secret until read aloud during a card game that is played in small groups to promote interactive oral practice and listening skills. Students take turns selecting a card from the deck and reading the clue aloud. The first person to guess the answer correctly then keeps the card. The person with the most cards at the end is declared the winner. Used as a card game, flashcards become more social and competitive, which adds excitement to the classroom dynamic.

Flashcards are effective but uncommon in classrooms

Considering the evidence in their favour, why aren’t flashcards used more frequently in the classroom? Flashcards take time to create. Teachers under time pressure to get through the curriculum don’t want to devote many hours of class time to the creation of flashcards and to playing boisterous card games. Making the cards is therefore left to each student to do as a personal study strategy.

Whether your teachers use flashcards in the classroom or not, accelerate your learning by creating your own flashcards to master the vocabulary of the course. A large vocabulary will make you indistinguishable from an native speaker in your ability to communicate in the target language.

Create glossaries and flashcard games fast

The Virtual Writing Tutor has a glossary creator to help you generate multimedia glossaries, online matching quizzes, and card games very quickly.

Instant flashcards from a glossary

After you have made a glossary, make flashcards is super easy. Simply click “card game” and the system generates a series of flashcards that you can print to PDF or to your printer.

How to find difficult words in your text

If you are not sure what words to include in your glossary, try the Virtual Writing Tutor’s check vocabulary button on the main page to find words by frequency distribution.

Feedback on more common to less common vocabulary

Simply enter a text in the text area. Then, click “Check Vocabulary.” The system will compare your text with internal word lists that people find helpful. Use the words the system finds to create flashcards and enhance your vocabulary.

Feedback on academic vocabulary

Scroll down for the academic vocabulary arranged by frequency distribution. More common words are listed before less common words. Do you know the difference between academic and conversational vocabulary. Use these academic words to create flashcards and enhance your vocabulary.

Cliches and power words

Keep scrolling to see overused words and cliche phrases. When expressions are overused, they lose their power. In contrast, the Virtual Writing Tutor can find power words that produce an emotional impact on readers. Use these power words to create flashcards and enhance your vocabulary.

Field of study analysis

At the bottom of the feedback, the Virtual Writing Tutor will find words related to three fields of study. These words are particularly useful for students preparing for work in a particular field or preparing for further studies. Use these field-related words to create flashcards and enhance your vocabulary.

Reference

Komachali, M. E., & Khodareza, M. (2012). The effect of using vocabulary flash cards on Iranian pre-university students’ vocabulary knowledge. International Education Studies. https://doi.org/10.5539/ies.v5n3p134

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The Virtual Writing Tutor is a 100% free grammar checker with advance artificial intelligence enabled tools to help you become a better writer.

There is so much to learn about Teaching English as Second Language. Scholarship means maintenance. Get your Master’s in Applied Linguistic from Concordia University. I did, and it has made all the difference.

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The Virtual Writing Tutor is a 100% free grammar checker with advance artificial intelligence enabled tools to help you become a better writer.

I sent CEGEP ESL teachers across Quebec red pens inscribed with the words “Don’t use this pen.” Why? I want teachers to try Labodanglais.com. It’s a Moodle-based website with companion courses for the Actively Engaged Series. Labo is packed with features, and it can score students’ writing assignments automatically in just seconds. Send me a message if you would like to try it with your students.

Good pedagogy

Learning a second language takes a lot of practice. But students don’t get enough meaningful repetitions for new words and grammar to stick. Writing two essays per semester might be enough for teachers, but it isn’t enough for students.

Teachers could give more writing and speaking assignments, but we are often reluctant to assign more practice because of the impact summative writing tasks have on our workload. We make compromises and stick with them. For example, fill-in-the-blank exercises are great for helping students master fill-in-the-blank tests, but language skills demonstrated on discrete item tests don’t transfer well to complex meaningful communication tasks. They are, however, easy to grade and easy to standardize.

The pedagogical solution that I have been working on for the past 10 years is to automate corrective feedback on writing. In principle, it is reasonable to believe that if we can put the focus on grammar, punctuation, and word choice during the creation of meaningful messages, students will master the grammar and master communication simultaneously. Teachers usually agree with me but are reluctant to add extra writing assignment corrections to their workload.

However, if we can program a machine to give frequent, instant, accurate, consistent, explicit feedback that students value, we can ditch most fill-in-the-blank exercises and quizzes in favor of tasks involving the exchange of meaningful messages. That’s the pedagogical problem I have been trying to address with the Virtual Writing Tutor grammar checker and essay checker.

The Quebec Ministry of Education objectives are clear: grammatical accuracy must be demonstrated through the production of meaningful messages. Final grammar tests are out. Communicative production tasks that elicit target grammar are in. Clearly, automated writing evaluation can help us more fully implement a competency-based approach after decades of compromise.

The Virtual Writing Tutor works well and keeps improving, but weaker students sometimes get overwhelmed when you ask them to use multiple websites. They ask, “Why can’t we have everything in one place?” Good question.

Labodanglais.com instead of a red pen

Enter Labodanglais.com, a Moodle-based website for college ESL. Last summer, I created a Virtual Writing Tutor plugin for Moodle called FastAssignment. It corrects and scores student writing, reporting grades to the Moodle gradebook. With FastAssignment, Labodanglais.com is able to give students more form-focused, meaningful writing assignments that count than any other college ESL learning management system.

How good is Labodanglais.com’s automated evaluation system?

It’s better than a red pen for three reasons.

1. Labo’s automated writing evaluation is fast. Waiting two seconds for feedback is better than waiting two weeks. That’s obvious.
2. Labo is tireless. Feedback on multiple drafts of an essay is better than feedback on just one.
3. Labo is explicit. Labo explains the problem in full sentences and with detailed suggestions for improvement. Check out the samples of the feedback for 101, 102, and 103.

How bad is Labodanglais, you ask?

It’s not perfect. There is one thing it doesn’t do well. It cannot detect nonsense. The topic sentence “Fish should drive electric cars to reduce CO2 emissions” will score as well as “Canadians should drive electric cars to reduce CO2 emissions.” What to do? Ask students to share their writing with their classmates for a coherence check. Perfection is not the enemy of the good.

Despite imperfections, Labo is better than good. Instant feedback makes revision enjoyable. Students get into a ludic loop, writing and revising for higher and higher scores. Their effort is rewarded, so they put more effort in. They often remark how helpful the system is.

Students’ comments

Here are a few uncorrected comments from a colleague’s students last week about the “describe yourself to a new pen pal” task. I’ve since added exceptions to the spell checker for uppercase names with accents and hyphens. Unexpected spellings of proper names in French (people, towns, businesses) can trigger false alarms.

1. The feedback that I got regarding the grammar and ponctuation mistakes were really helpful. Even the feedback about paragraph structuring was really useful. I think that it`s an intersting system and it is useful for us students.
2. It is a good correction tool. It helped me with my writing task and even made me understand my errors. Although it`s a great tool, the only issue I had was with my name. I think it`s a great correction tool and the feedback was great!
3. I really liked that I was given exemples of what my text should look like. I don’t have negative comments.
4. It’s an interesting tool. The only problem, that is known by you, is the fact that the program doesn’t know proper names. However, this is a problem with all such programs.
5. -nice subject to get started – i used the autocorrect it was pretty accurate
6. My hometown’s name was seen as an error. So was my name, at first, but it got fixed. Also, the goal of paragraph 3 was not clear to me until my text was graded.
7. This task was quite easy. The feeback seemed to work well.
8. I thought it was an interesting activity to get us to talk about ourselves. The correction was helpful.
9. It was a fun concept which I had never tried before.

Teacher’s comments

Here are two comments from teachers at two CEGEPs who used the automated writing evaluation system on Labodanglais.com and the 100% free VirtualWritingTutor.com (VWT) instead of a red pen.

1. I have used Actively Engaged in Persuasion this semester. The students absolutely love the book and the automated writing evaluation system. They have improved A LOT. They will have their final essay tomorrow. Since they are so used to writing essays now, they are not even stressed about it. They are 100% confident. This is amazing. Thanks a lot Nick!
2. I used the automated writing evaluation system with my 101 and 102 students this semester and loved it. I saw a huge improvement in the students essay writing. Not only did the VWT give a solid framework and essay examples, it also provided them tons of feedback so they could revise and improve their writing. This seemed to have built up the students self confidence and they enjoyed it. I will be marking their final argument essay (on my own) but honestly I think the VWT does a better job! Thanks, Nicholas for creating such a complete pedagogical tool. It has saved me time and frustration and improved students writing skills. It’d say that is a win-win!

Want to try Labodanglais with your current course?   Send me a message. Want samples of the Actively Engaged Series of ESL textbooks? I’ll send you some if you teach college ESL in Quebec and send me a message. Not interested? Enjoy your ironic red pen.

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The Virtual Writing Tutor is a 100% free grammar checker with advance artificial intelligence enabled tools to help you become a better writer.

Students learn much more when they teach each other than when the teacher does all of the teaching (Hattie, 2009). Students teaching each other is called reciprocal teaching, and it has the second biggest effect on student achievement of all the classroom processes, accelerating learning by 37%—almost as big as formative evaluation.

Reciprocal teaching involves asking students to predict difficulties, ask questions, summarize, and clarify readings in their textbooks for other students in their group. By teaching others, the reciprocal teacher has to think carefully about what is important and what will seem difficult for the other students to learn. Looking good and avoiding looking bad can motivate students to do a good job.

Why is it so effective?

Everybody wants to look good in front of peers and avoid looking bad. That’s why reciprocal teaching works so well. It is not because students are better teachers than trained professionals. Rather, students who have been given the task to teach their classmates will make extra efforts to master the material they are required to teach because they want to earn the esteem of their classmates and avoid opprobrium that comes with looking unprepared. In this way, the reciprocal teacher is likely to learn the material more completely than he or she would otherwise. In other words, reciprocal teaching promotes mastery goals rather than performance goals.

The reciprocal teacher benefits, and the other students in the group do as well as or better on reading quizzes than they would if their classroom teacher taught the lesson. Students of the reciprocal teacher might even be more inclined to participate and ask questions when learning from peers. It stands to reason that it is much easier to ask a question to a classmate in a small group than it is to ask a teacher in from of a class of 30 or more classmates.

Select a topic

There are multiple topics to chose from. Each member of a group of five students should choose a topic. They are all equally easy and interesting. Make sure each student in the group chooses a different topic.

Each of the topics below are linked to a reading and a card game.

1. Internet censorship
2. Animal rights
3. Abortion
4. Feminism
5. Body image

Want more card games and board games for the classroom?

Teaching a lesson

When it is your turn, teach your lesson to your students. Play the card game, summarize the article, and share resources. Remember that your goal is the success of your students. By the end of the lesson, they must have mastered the vocabulary, be able to pass the reading test, and be able to write an essay on your topic. Ask them to evaluate your lesson at the end.

If it is your turn to lead a group discussion, follow these steps.

Step 1: play the vocabulary card game

Each reading comes with a glossary and a card game. Make sure that you have cut up the cards beforehand. Shuffle the deck. Pick up a card and read a definition. Give point to the first member of your group to answer with the term correctly. Keep track of the points. If nobody can guess correctly, tell everybody the answer and return the card to the deck. Once all the cards have been played, announce the winner.

Step 2: review the reading and lead a discussion by asking 4 clear questions

Make sure that you have read the text you intend to teach before your begin. Outline the key points and any vocabulary or expressions you think you group might have difficulty with. Pay special attention to the controversy, identifying arguments for and against. Invite the others to give their opinions and ideas by asking 4 open ended questions. The questions should aim to get the other group members to discuss, for example, the background to the controversy, the arguments for and against, and the future of the controversy.

Step 3: share sources

Make sure you have found at least two English language websites that would make useful sources while writing an argument essay. Identify the key points and how you think they could be used in constructing an argument essay with supporting arguments and counterarguments. End your lesson by asking your students to write a draft of an essay and bring it next week to share.

After the lesson

Self-assess: Reflect on your performance. What did you do well? What could you have done better? Report your self-assessment to your teacher.

CEGEP ESL courses with reciprocal teaching

If you teach college ESL in Quebec, you may want to try one of these textbooks and online companion Moodle courses. One attractive feature of the Actively Engaged Series is that it includes reciprocal teaching lessons to accelerate learning. Getting students to teach each other is a gamechanger, allowing teachers to become the guide on the side instead of a sage on a stage. Find out more here.

Reference

Hattie, J. A. C. (2009). Visible learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. London, UK: Routledge.

The post ESL Strategies: Reciprocal Teaching appeared first on Virtual Writing Tutor Blog.

The Virtual Writing Tutor is a 100% free grammar checker with advance artificial intelligence enabled tools to help you become a better writer.

Imagine two students. One student took the practice test before taking the test that counts. The other student skipped the practice test. Which student do you think will do better on the final test? The answer is pretty obvious. The student who did the practice test will score higher. You should always do practice tests to maximize your scores.

Practice tests—also known as formative evaluations—are the most effective method that teachers can use to help students maximize their summative evaluation scores—the scores that count. Students who do formative evaluations outperform students who don’t 76% of the time, and doing formative evaluations accelerates learning by 45% (Hattie, 2009). So, why don’t teachers and students do more formative evaluations?

Double the work

There’s a problem with having a formative evaluation before every summative evaluation. It can double a teacher’s correction load. Instead of having one test or essay to correct, with formative evaluations, the teacher has two. Understandably, teachers tend to minimize the number of optional activities that add to their workload. However, with the advent of automated evaluation, teachers can provide students with an unlimited number of formative evaluations without having to give up their weekends. Problem solved? Not exactly.

Students don’t want to double their workload unnecessarily either. They sometimes ask, “Does it count? Because if it doesn’t count, I won’t do it.” That’s their choice. But for students at risk of failing, doing a formative evaluation may mean the difference between passing and repeating the entire course the next semester.

Ironically, the students who would benefit the most from formative evaluations are often the most reluctant to do them. They think, “I don’t want to do twice the work. One evaluation is already a lot of effort. I can reduce my workload by skipping the formative test and doing just the summative test.” Later in the semester they exclaim, “Oops! I failed. I should have done the formative!” You see the problem. Inept students don’t know what they don’t know. Ineptitude makes them unable to accurately predict their scores.

What if we could let students decide if an evaluation is formative or summative? In that way, those students that need another chance can get it, and those that don’t can avoid spending time on tests that don’t count.

Mastery model scoring

The solution is to use a mastery model. Mastery model scoring involves dropping a student’s lowest scores so only the best scores count. In effect, this model turns low scoring evaluations into formative evaluations. Successes are remembered, and failures are forgotten. The idea has been around since the 1970s, but it has been difficult to implement because of all of the extra corrections and record keeping it entails for the teacher.

Now with the advent of automated essay scoring using online evaluation websites, teachers can offer students the opportunity to write two essays scored automatically, of which only the best one counts. The benefits are threefold. The students who need a second chance can get it, the students who are satisfied with their first score can skip the second evaluation to focus on other priorities, and those who score lower on the second evaluation can use their first score instead.

Using the mastery model gives students more control over their scores while enjoying the benefits of the accelerated learning that formative evaluation provides. For students who want to excel, formative evaluation just may be their ticket to fame and fortune.

CEGEP ESL courses with formative evaluation

If you teach college ESL in Quebec, you may want to try one of these textbooks and online companion Moodle courses. Send an email to bokomarupublications@gmail.com and ask for your free evaluation copy. Please, mention the levels you teach.

Reference

Hattie, J. A. C. (2009). Visible learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. London, UK: Routledge.

The post ESL Strategies: Formative Evaluation appeared first on Virtual Writing Tutor Blog.

The Virtual Writing Tutor is a 100% free grammar checker with advance artificial intelligence enabled tools to help you become a better writer.

Imagine you were just hired at a company on the same day as another graduate from your college. Suppose that one of you were a fast learner and the other were a slow learner. Fast-forward 10 years. Which one of you would have the better salary and the better job? Which one of you would have the better house, car, and lifestyle? Obviously, it would be the faster learner.

Knowing how to learn quickly is a skill that can provide an enduring advantage in your life long after you have forgotten everything else you studied at school. Here’s one way you can become a faster learner.

The effect of goals on learning

Setting a goal and making a firm commitment to it are the most important steps a student can take to maximize his or her performance on an evaluation (Hattie, 2009). Educational research reveals that a simple and effective goal setting exercise accelerated students’ learning by 75%. That’s huge. Imagine that you were driving on the highway at 100 kilometers per hour and someone overtook you at 175 km/hr. That’s the difference goals have on learning. But what is the best way to set goals for yourself at school?

Goal setting exercise: predict your next score

In class, your teacher can ask each student to predict his or her score on the next evaluation and announce the prediction to the group. All the students have to do during this exercise is to predict their scores and say them aloud so that the rest of the class can hear. Students should then do what they believe will be necessary to make that prediction become a reality.

These two steps (a thoughtful prediction and its public declaration) equate to setting a performance goal and making a firm commitment to it. Two hundred and nine research studies investigated the effect of this exercise with 79 433 students (Hattie, 2009, p. 44). This is a very robust and reliable finding. In short, it works.

What could go wrong?

Actually, three things could go wrong for you. The first is that you might not have enough time to study for the test or work on the assignment in order to achieve the score you predicted. To avoid this problem, you must make the public prediction well in advance of the test day or due date.

The second problem is that you might predict a score that’s significantly lower or higher than you actually receive. The solution is to spend some time after an evaluation reflecting on how you prepared for the test or assignment and how to make better predictions.

The third problem is that you might get into the habit of predicting low scores instead of pushing yourself to excel. Remember that the real goal of education is to become a faster learner and a more effective communicator. Setting a low goal is almost as bad as setting no goal.

The important takeaway from the educational research into goal setting in the classroom and its acceleration of learning is this: the most important contribution to the success of students comes from the students themselves.

Formative evaluations

Students don’t always know what they need to do to get the score they want. It’s not necessarily a lack of commitment so much as a question of efficiency. Students often have a good idea of the score they want and the time they are willing to devote their studies, but they are not always sure where to put their efforts to get there fast. Frustration with a slow rate of progress can weaken anyone’s commitment to a performance goal. That’s where formative evaluation can help. Read the next article in this series to learn about how formative evaluations accelerate learning.

In the meantime, try the Virtual Writing Tutor’s grammar checker and automated essay scoring system to see how the formative feedback and formative evaluations can be automated in English Second Language courses.

CEGEP ESL courses with goal setting activities

If you teach college ESL in Quebec, you may want to try one of these textbooks and online companion Moodle courses. Actively Engaged Together (for 100A, green cover) and Actively Engaged in Persuasion (for 102A, yellow cover) integrate goal setting activities into each lesson to accelerate learning.

Send an email to bokomarupublications@gmail.com and ask for your free evaluation copy. Please, mention the levels you teach.

Reference

Hattie, J. A. C. (2009). Visible learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. London, UK: Routledge.

The post ESL Strategies: Set Goals appeared first on Virtual Writing Tutor Blog.

The Virtual Writing Tutor is a 100% free grammar checker with advance artificial intelligence enabled tools to help you become a better writer.

College English Second Language teachers in Quebec teach almost every level of English. Why? Because people in Quebec, Canada have different abilities in English. Some people grow up speaking English with their parents and go on to study at an English university. We call them educated anglophones. For other people, English is a completely foreign language that they do use or not understand at all. We call them absolute beginners. Everyone else falls between these two extremes.

Europe recognizes three general categories of English proficiency: A, B, and C. We often refer to these three levels of English ability as beginner (A0, A1, A2), intermediate (B1, B2), and advanced (C1, C2), and we distinguish between low and high ability.

Below, you will find a simple overview of the various levels we teach at college and how they relate to European categories. Each level has a course code starting with 604 in parentheses. In the Quebec Ministry of Education course objectives, 604 refers to English as a Second Language. The course numbers are linked to the government objectives for each course.

A0 Absolute Beginners

Learners at this proficiency level have no ability in English. Absolute beginners need to learn ABCs, and basic phrases. ESL courses for absolute beginners are not offered by colleges in Quebec. You might find a night course for this level at a Continuing Education Department.

A1 Low Beginners (604-000)

Learners at this proficiency level have very basic English ability to interact using simple words and common phrases. Low beginners can introduce themselves and ask basic questions about name, address, and about what someone knows or has. Colleges in Quebec offer a non-credit course for students at this level if they didn’t pass high school English in the French system. We often refer to this level as Mise-à-Niveau.

A2 High Beginners (604-100)

Learners at this proficiency level have basic English ability to interact using frequently used expressions with immediate relevance. Despite errors, false starts and hesitation, high beginners can exchange basic personal information, ask about family, prices and locations of things. Colleges in Quebec offer a credit course for students at this level for students who have a lot of difficulty or anxiety communicating in English.

B1 Low Intermediates (604-101)

Learners at this proficiency level have some fluency in common situations with many errors. Low intermediate learners can communicate in most situations while traveling and can write and speak about topics of personal interest. Despite errors and hesitation, they can describe events in the past, their hopes and ambitions, and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans. Most students in Quebec graduate high school at this level.

B2 High Intermediates (604-102)

Learners at this proficiency level have fluency with some errors in most situations. High intermediates can communicate complex ideas about concrete and abstract topics without much difficulty. At this level, learners can have few errors with their verb forms but can self-correct.

C1 Low advanced (604-103)

Learners at this proficiency level have spontaneous fluency with nuance. Low advanced learners can understand implicit meaning in long, demanding texts, and can produce well-structured, detailed texts on complex subjects. Despite punctuation errors, grammar is error-free.

C2 High advanced

Language users at this proficiency level have complete mastery of English. These educated university-level English speakers can summarize arguments and stories fluently and precisely, differentiating fine shades of meaning. The CEGEP system does not offer courses for this level.

Course books for CEGEP ESL

Each of these levels has its own course book and online component. If you teach CEGEP ESL and are interested in learning more about the award-winning books from Bokomaru Publications, send an email to bokomarupublications@gmail.com and ask for your free evaluation copy.

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The Virtual Writing Tutor is a 100% free grammar checker with advance artificial intelligence enabled tools to help you become a better writer.

Many students are worried about their pronunciation accuracy and go into their oral exams woefully unprepared. The little preparation they do leaves them feeling very worried about their current ability or overconfident. In either case, the student does not perform at his or her best. If teachers could provide students with individual coaching before a speaking task, the student could gain real speaking confidence in his or her answer and pronunciation.

Timely formative feedback has a positive effect on learning for those who can get it. Sadly, teachers are not always available when you need them.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could get some oral practice and feedback before you stepped into the examination room?

If you worry about your grammar and pronunciation during oral proficiency tests, the Virtual Writing Tutor’s IELTS speaking page can help.

Oral exam worries?

• Worried about silent letters in English words?
• Concerned about getting enough oral practice? Need conversation partner?
• Worried about the examiner not understanding what you say because of a lack of pronunciation accuracy?

These are real concerns that students have. The Virtual Writing Tutor can help. Consider these benefits of using the speaking task pronunciation checker for oral confidence.

Pronunciation checker benefits

Here are the three benefits you will receive by using the Virtual Writing Tutor’s speaking task training system:

1. Get feedback on your grammar and word choice when you compose your answers to common oral exam questions.
2. Learn how to pronounce your answer correctly with text-to-speech.
3. Get detailed feedback on your pronunciation accuracy so that you can correct your pronunciation errors.

Steps to follow

Click the button below to open the pronunciation checker in a new tab and get started. Read the step-by-step instructions below to increase your speaking confidence fast.

We made the system to be intuitive to use. You won’t need much training if you are willing to explore. If using the system is less than obvious, don’t worry. Here are the steps to follow after you have selected a topic. Look at the numbered diagram below to see where to go.

1. Click on a question to reveal the hidden features.
2. Compose your answer — Do not skip this step!
3. Next, click on the speaker icon to hear your answer pronounced.
4. Click “Check Grammar” to get feedback on any grammar errors.
5. Afterwards, click “Record” and read your answer aloud.
6. Click “Stop” and “Evaluate” to receive an analysis of your pronunciation accuracy.
7. Review the phonemes in red a yellow below. These colours indicate pronunciation errors.

Track your pronunciation progress

Before you get strated, the system requires you to sign in. Why? So that it can store your feedback and progress. You will be able to work through each of the questions on the list until you have mastered the grammar and pronunciation of every answer.

Cost to use

Finally, we should mention cost. The pronunciation scoring system is FREE for you to use. We have not placed any limits on access yet. Share it with your friends, students, or teachers. We want your success.

The unlimited access and zero cost are two ways we try to make the Virtual Writing Tutor the most helpful website on the internet for English language learners.

Tell your friends.

The post Gain Confidence during Oral Exams with this Pronunciation Checker appeared first on Virtual Writing Tutor Blog.

The Virtual Writing Tutor is a 100% free grammar checker with advance artificial intelligence enabled tools to help you become a better writer.

Visit the Virtual Writing Tutor to create a free oral chatbot dialogue that you can publish anywhere online. It’s free to use and publish anywhere. Use the chatbot to practice your English second language speaking skills in a fun and interactive way.

This is a great activity to add a speaking practice component to a pen pal exchange project or to prepare for video pal conversations on WorldChat.live. If you want to create a text-only interactive chatbox, click here. For a field-related career summary chatbot creator, click here.

To create your own oral practice chatbot, give your dialogue a name. Click “New Dialogue.”

You can 1) change the title and click “Save,” or 2) select a pre-made list of questions on common topics or compose your own questions.

Once you have chosen your topic, click “Import” to insert the pre-made list of questions into your dialogue.

After you have imported your list of questions, answer them one-by-one. Check your grammar to eliminate your errors.

Publish your chatbot dialogue. Click “Publish / HTML.”

You can publish your chatbot dialogue in 3 ways. Publish your dialogue to the Virtual Writing Tutor. Share your chat bot with your classmates with a link. You can also embed your dialogue (text only — no robot) using HTML or embed it with using and iframe for desktop/laptop users. Make sure that the space the page is big enough. If it is too small, the iframe will show the mobile version which does not support speech recognition.

After publishing your dialogue, use your microphone to practice asking questions. Listen to the robot reply with the answers you have written. watch this short demonstration

If you ask an incorrect question the chatbot lets you know. If you ask a question that the chatbot can answer, the chatbot replies using text-to-speech. Use the chatbots you or your students create to provide student-generated speaking practice online

You can add ungrammatical versions of common questions to get the chatbot to provide feedback on grammar errors.

Create your own free oral practice chatbot dialogue on the Virtual Writing Tutor today. It’s free. It’s fun. It’s creative.

The post Chatbot Dialogue Creator for Oral Practice appeared first on Virtual Writing Tutor Blog.

The Virtual Writing Tutor is a 100% free grammar checker with advance artificial intelligence enabled tools to help you become a better writer.

If you are a teacher who has developed original materials for your students, did you know that 1) you own your copyright and 2) you can start monetizing your materials tomorrow?

In this blog post I will explain how Labodanglais.com can help you supplement your income.

Have your read my other posts about jumping into Moodle or to self-publish or perish? Start here and read those later.

What is Labodanglais?

Labodanglais.com goes by its other name EnglishLab.ca. Whatever you call it, this website is a modified Moodle website that can help you monetize your English course.

How?

Even if you are at the beginning of your self-publishing journey, you can supplement your original content with content I have developed already to create a well-developed course that responds to your students’ needs.

What’s so special about Labodanglais?

There are features of Labo that make it superior to other options: the registration key system, automated essay scoring, a library of available content, ESL plugins, a powerful server, coaching.

Registration key system

A registration key is a unique code that works as a proof of payment.

Labodanglais.com’s special registration key system allows you to offer your students access to your Moodle course for a grace period (usually 2-3 weeks). After the grace period, those students must use a unique registration key as proof of payment.

The registration key can be printed inside a book or on a card. Alternatively, students can buy a registration key online using PayPal.

Automated essay scoring

Perhaps, you have tried the automated essay scoring system on the VirtualWritingTutor.com. On Labo, it is a integrated into an assignment and reports scores to the grade book.

You can install this automated essay scoring Moodle plugin on your Moodle server. FastAssignment is free to install. However, you will need to pay for each API call to the VWT. It’s not expensive, but Labodanglais.com gives you unlimited access to this amazing time saving feature. Students love it and so do teachers.

A library of content

I have been self-publishing for about 10 years, so I have a huge amount of content at different levels that I can share. Here is a picture of the library of materials that I have developed and that you can draw upon to supplement your course.

ESL plugins

Moodle websites can be different from each other. College systems tend to be very general, and they might not be able to offer ESL specific activities like dictation and automated pronunciation scoring. Labo can.

A powerful server

Have you ever noticed how much traffic congestion there is on public roads and how little there is on your own driveway. A dedicated private server can offer availability and processing speed that cannot be matched by underpowered and overused college systems.

Coaching

I can help you solve your pedagogical and technological problems quickly. There is nothing like a supportive colleague who knows the system so well that days of head-scratching are eliminated so you can get back to what you love most: teaching.

Can I keep the copyright?

I have a basic rule. You own your copyright. I own mine. When you decided to take your publishing project to a different platform, you take what belongs to you and I keep what’s mine. That seems fair.

Ready?

It’s time to make a decision. Do you want to monetize your ESL course or not? Contact me.

Let me know how much you will bring to the table and how much you want from me, and we can decide on the split.

The post How to monetize your ESL lessons fast appeared first on Virtual Writing Tutor Blog.

The Virtual Writing Tutor is a 100% free grammar checker with advance artificial intelligence enabled tools to help you become a better writer.

What is the best grammar checker for students? Virtual Writing Tutor. But, anyone can say such big words about themselves and be mediocre, or even worse.

So, let me change your mind.

VWT was created for students like you. To meet your needs. And to relive the pain of writing errors in your academic life.

A lot of work was done for it to be useful to you (it was developed for 8 years). Now your student life is easier. Using VWT allows you to have more free time and use it for fun.

Counts Your Words, Checks Your Grammar, Reviews The Punctuation

These are the basics that every grammar checker should cover. Even if you wrote in a hurry or just need one last check up on your text, a good grammar tool always comes in handy. You may now think that VWT is not so special, but let me give you more information.

Imagine this your teacher gives a certain number of sentences to be written by you, what will you do? Will you count every single sentence? Of course not. This is boring and unproductive.

You’ll search for a way to get this done faster. And the solution? Well, VWT is here to do the work for you. It counts your words, sentences, and paragraphs. Impressive, huh?!

Your text is scanned and then, the errors are written in red so you don’t waste time searching for them. VWT gives you detailed feedback on the type of mistake committed and clear advice on how to correct them.

Play Games and Upgrade Your Grammar Skills

Who said playing is only for kids?! Well, that’s a lie. Playing is one of the most effective ways to learn new rules and concepts. Learn grammar the easy way. Therfore, let me share three games for you to try right now:

The Random Error: generates a sentence (you choose the level of hardness) and explains clearly the mistakes that occurred. The game is perfect for studying English grammar by yourself. You can add your sentences to learn directly from your text.

Glossary Card Game: Improve your vocabulary by memorizing words and their correct spelling. Try the game if you want to get better at writing, communicating, and even public speaking.

Matching Rebuttal Glossary Definitions: This is a matching game where you have to choose the right sentence for each word given on the left side. It’s a must for students who would like to memorize word definitions fast and with low energy spending.

Get Your Essay Scored In 2 Seconds (Up To 4 Types of Essays)

Picture this, you’ve just finished your essay and are going to hand it to your teacher. But, you know that it takes time until your grade is revealed.

Anxiety starts to arise from the deepest part of your heart. You don’t know if you did well and get stressed. You start to have sleepless nights. Everything just falls out of place.

But, how can you avoid this? Easy.

Get your essay scored in 2 seconds. And I mean 2 SECONDS. Not weeks, not days. S E C O N D S. So, how do you get it?

Simple. All you have to do is to copy & paste your text.

Then choose your essay type. Click “Check”.

Ta-da! You have your essay automatically scored. It took only 2 seconds.

Get Detailed And Clear Feedback (One That You Actually Understand)

So what have you got now?

Well, you’ve got some basic statistics, like the number of words, sentences, questions, etc. But this is not all.

Virtual Writing Tutor provides you with an analysis of your entire essay structure and content for every single paragraph. Likewise, it checks your vocabulary, language accuracy, and grammar. After that, VWT gives you feedback on all of the errors.

Therefore, you can understand the feedback and use it to improve your essay. These are not just some words written on the edge of your paper. The feedback is comprehensive. You can make sense of it.

And by the way. If you need the inspiration to get your essay started, check the examples. Just click the “Example for Score Essay” button, choose the type you need, and here you go. As simple as that.

Above all, you get to print your feedback if questions occur with your teacher. Or if you want it on paper. And don’t worry, you’ll not lose your progress. In other words, VWT saves it in your account history (for members only).

p.s. Membership is 100% Free.

Learn To Write An Essay From 0 To Perfection

If you have no idea how to start your essay, VWT comes to rescue you. The “Essay outliner” tool provides you with a practical guideline for 3 types of essays: opinion essay, prioritized list, and the argument essay.

How does it work? First, choose the essay type for which you need guidance. After that, you’ll get a list of questions, ordered logically. And your third and last step is to answer them. As simple as that.

Our advice, don’t overthink, just write everything that comes to mind. In the end, you’ll get your draft. This way you’ll be done with your essay in meantime.

Polish Up Your Text With The Right Words

Research says vocabulary is one of the keys to a student’s success in academic life and even impacts his/her future income level.

Therefore, developing and using professional vocabulary is crucial for your success. That’s why you need to check the glossaries our VWT provides for you.

Improve your essay by using words from the 66 argumentation terms or the 15 rebuttal terms (you decide). If you get a grade raise, don’t blame us for your success, you’ve done it all by yourself.

Get Instant Access To The Glossary Of Any Book or Create Your Own

Students need to write essays on a lot of topics, most of them from books. But how can you write one when you don’t understand the entire book?! Some were written 30 years ago, or 100 years ago.

But no matter the time, words still need explanation. Will you go to check every single one on Google? What if I said that you can have all the unknown words explain in one single place?

Well, it’s true. Right now VWT has 565 examples of glossaries on topics from “The Life of Elise’s Cat” to “Weather Glossary”.

Go and check the glossaries. Click on the “Glossary Creator” tool from the top bar “Writing Tools” list. Go to the “Examples” button and find the one you need. See, you got rid of the headache of unknown words in literally seconds.

You can create your glossary and help other students like you. For guidance, see the tutorial on how to create yours.

Ask For Help and Feedback From Real People

If you are worried that your teacher, will not grade your work as the AES (Automated Essay Scoring) tool did, don’t. If you have any occurring questions you may be afraid to ask your teacher. Don’t.

Why? Because you’ve got the VWT Forum. Teachers, professionals, and other students like you, are there to help.

So if you have a question, don’t be afraid to ask. If you have doubts about your essay or grammar, post it in the forum. You’ll get instant support and advice.

Become An Expert On IELTS

Ever thought that getting your IELTS is hard?! Well, it is. But we’ve got a short and compact guide for you on IELTS. Because we want you to have everything figured out and never fear the unknown.

We even got you materials to practice for IELTS test online (the writing part). Here you get to test yourself on about 100+ automatically scored tests with instant feedback. And you can choose to see a “Model answer” to get a better understanding of the task.

And that’s not all. You have direct access to 240 IELTS essay writing topics. Pick one to start and practice, practice, practice.

What Do You Want To Be When You Get Older? (Read The Career Summary)

VWT provides you with a tool named “Career Summary Chatbot”. There you get to read all about the 220 career descriptions by clicking on the “Examples” button.

So if you are not sure what career to pursue, go ahead and check the Career Summary Chatbot right now. You’ll for sure get some amazing ideas to start on with. And if you wish, share your experience with other people by creating your career summary.

The Best Part: You Get All The Benefits For 100% Free

This article sounds like it’s selling something. And it does not feel right when people sell to you, doesn’t it?!

But here is the thing. I’m honest with you. Use VWT for 100% FREE. No freemium, premium, or hidden proposals. Only free content, free tools, and free advice. That’s it.

I mean, the membership is free. What other grammar checker gives you a bunch of benefits for free? You’d be a fool not to use VWT to get your student life upgraded. And you’d be an egoistic fool if you don’t share this with your friends and classmates. 

So don’t be foolish. Sign up and share this blog post with your friends. Do it now, or never.

Let’s Sum Up. What Benefits Do You Get From Using Virtual Writing Tutor?

1. Your words are counted, your grammar checked, your punctuation reviewed.
2. Improve your grammar skills by playing games (The Random Error, Glossary Card Game, Matching Rebuttal Glossary Definitions).
3. Your essay is scored in 2 seconds (4 types of essays).
4. Get detailed feedback that you understand.
5. You’ll learn to write an essay from scratch (even if you don’t know what an introduction is).
6. The opportunity to polish up your academic writing (use the rebuttal and argumentation terms).
7. Instant access to glossaries of 574 books and texts (and you can add your own).
8. Find students like you, teachers, and learners of English. You’ll also get support and help in the Forum section of VWT.
9. Practice for IELTS writing part online and see what the top 240 essay topics are.
10. Read everything about every career in the world and choose yours. Get the confusion the uncertainty out of your life.
11. All of this is Free.

Become a member now. Sign up and share this post with your friends and classmates.

The post 10 Reasons VWT Is The Best Grammar Checker For Students appeared first on Virtual Writing Tutor Blog.

The Virtual Writing Tutor is a 100% free grammar checker with advance artificial intelligence enabled tools to help you become a better writer.

If you are like me, when things get repetitive you start to think, “This is tedious. I need a robot to do this form me.” You are the same, right?

Well, this semester, things got repetitive. Very repetitive.

My students have been sending me about 50 emails a week and just as many text messages. (Bing! There’s one now to interrupt this paragraph!) I don’t keep office hours. I just answer student questions as they come in as best as I can.

Perhaps, like me, you have noticed that many emails are about the same few issues. I try to address them preemptively on my Moodle course and during my Zoom lessons, but when a student is in distress and doesn’t know the answer, the question still warrants repeating in messages and emails, or so it seems.

During those moments while cursing my oversized thumbs and undersized telephone keyboard, you might hear me mutter, “I need a robot to do this for me.”

Chatbot Creator

Lucky for me, my development team heard me muttering and got to work on developing a chatbot creator. The system is free. You can find the

Example Chatbot

The post Free Chatbot Creator appeared first on Virtual Writing Tutor Blog.

The Virtual Writing Tutor is a 100% free grammar checker with advance artificial intelligence enabled tools to help you become a better writer.

You can use the phrase “leading cause” to help establish the importance of your topic in the introduction of your argument essay. What does “leading cause” mean? It is the primary thing that makes an event happen, and it is usually used to talk about the main cause of a bad event.

If you would like to increase your automated evaluation score of your introduction to your argument essay on fast food tax, internet censorship, animal rights, abortion, body image, climate change, or immigration, you may want to see how “leading cause” is used in articles about these topics.

Essay writers, see my article on 30 kickass ways to start an essay.

Fast Food Tax

According to studies, the consumption of fast food has increased over the past four decades at an alarming rate. This increased calorie intake is a leading cause of obesity in the USA.

https://omecare.co/resources/blog/fast-food-and-obesity-the-cause-and-effect-relationship/

Internet Censorship

The work of broadcasters like Radio Free Europe were presumed to have been a leading cause of the collapse of the Soviet Union.

https://www.wired.com/2010/12/st-essay-totalitarians/

Notice in this next example, provided for contrast, how reasons motivate an action but do not cause an event.

Governments block internet content for three main reasons: to maintain political stability, protect national security, and impose traditional social values.

https://exclusive.multibriefs.com/content/infographic-the-real-reasons-behind-internet-censorship-around-the-world

Abortion

Some 68,000 women die of unsafe abortion annually, making it one of the leading causes of maternal mortality (13%).

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2709326/

Animal Rights

Animal agriculture is the leading cause of species extinction, ocean dead zones, water pollution, and habitat destruction. 

https://www.cowspiracy.com/facts

Feminism

Globally, HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death among women of reproductive age.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2938904/

MacKinnon sees the eroticization of women’s subordinate status as the leading cause of women’s inequality.

https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1266&context=uclf

Body Image

In fact, anorexia nervosa is the leading cause of death for females ages 15 to 24.

https://www.projectknow.com/eating-disorders/and-social-media/

Climate Change

By burning fossil fuels and changing how we use the land, human activity has quickly become the leading cause of changes to our climate.

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/climate-change/causes-of-climate-change

Electricity generation is the main cause of carbon pollution in Australia as 73% of our electricity comes from burning coal and 13% from burning gas.

https://www.wwf.org.au/what-we-do/climate/causes-of-global-warming#gs.mic8sv

The post How can I use “leading cause” in a sentence? appeared first on Virtual Writing Tutor Blog.

The Virtual Writing Tutor is a 100% free grammar checker with advance artificial intelligence enabled tools to help you become a better writer.

Everybody is a storyteller. And to be one requires almost nothing. You can start your storytelling journey right here. 

If you’re a human being who wants to make the best of their work, this guide is for you. Hope you enjoy it and take some good ideas for yourself.

The Groundwork

Will it be easy? No. Is it worth it? Yes. However, there is no story without writing and trying. And if you thought you’d improvise, think again. 

The most important part of storytelling is writing the story. How are you going to tell it if you’re not prepared? That’s almost impossible. Unless you are a storytelling master. If so, why are you even here? 

Oh, you’re still here? Awesome. Let’s start then.

Pick A Name

Well, not a pet name, but your story topic. To do so, use the “everything on paper” technique. For example, if you’re a teacher, write down the subject of your class. However if you’re not, choose the topic that’s relevant for you. 

As an example, a class topic could be “why is grammar important”. What you should do now is write down the ideas that come into your head.

Maybe you remember some real-life examples. Or some historical events prove the point of the topic. And instead of putting pressure on yourself, try brainstorming some ideas. In case you didn’t already know, you can get a grammar check with the VWT.

Funny, Educational, or Life-Changing?

Depending on your audience, the narrative changes. Think about the people, are they always positive, serious, or conservative? Based on your experience with them, choose the tone of your story. 

Comedy narrative is easy to make up. It works for a warm-up before a serious subject. Yet, educational stories give the right mood for learning. So, choose the tone wisely.

Draft You Way Up To The Story

Now that you have everything figured out, write your story. Don’t worry about writer’s block, everyone experiences it. To make it easy, follow the guide on how to write a story. 

No one gets it right from the start. So don’t be afraid, write everything that comes to mind. As you write more, you’ll realize that there is a thing called editing. In other words, the draft part is for the ideas, not for the masterpiece.

A quick tip: Use online google docs to never lose your progress.

Mastering Storytelling

To master a skill you should practice. Practicing requires following some basic steps or guidelines, so here is the one for mastering storytelling.

Why Is Your Story Important?

A good story grabs your attention. A great story explains why it’s important for to listen to it. Because every story has a goal. And you only need one single idea that teaches something or, makes the story humorous.

You could say “You’ll never guess what happened the other day.” or ask a “crazy” question like “Why do cats always fall on their feet?”.

Then continue with your story. 

For now, you have their attention. But remember to choose the hook properly. Make it relevant to your story and don’t use cliches like “very interesting” or “the best in the world”.

Emotion Is The Key

Scientists say speaking about emotions makes us feel them. When you tell the story, the listeners experience the same feelings as the character. Therefore, in your narrative try to focus on smell, touch, and emotions. 

Describe every little detail of your sensations and feelings. You could say “I felt my heart pounding like it was going to break my chest.” Even the storyteller experiences feelings while he tells the narrative. 

Our brain releases oxytocin so we connect with the storyteller. Appeal to our six basic emotions: anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise. 

These are the strongest feelings we experience. That’s why we like drama. And a good storyteller knows how to use facts properly.

Avoid Spoilers

If you know the ending, will you listen? No. Because spoilers tend to make things boring. Don’t say “I knew it was a prank.” or “In the end, I got the job.”. Skip the spoiler part, unless it’s the ending you’re telling.

Start chronologically, but avoid ancient times. Tell only the facts without which the story will not make any sense.

The Unexpected

There is no story without drama. And there is no drama without the turn of events. Give a detail that changes the whole thing. To make it faster, give a full answer to the next question:

“What changed the situation upside down?”

Guess what happened next?

Details are everything, but there is a limit. Don’t put everything on the table, instead, let the listeners do the 2+2 calculus. I know you know the answer. Still, leave some things up to the imagination. 

Your audience wants to finish the story by themselves, so leave someplace for them. One of the ways is to keep the conclusion to the last.

Avoid comments like “At that point, I never knew we were cousins.” because this disturbs the attention. And you don’t want to lose your listeners’ attention.

More Emotions

Got some tension? Describe it. Talk about everything. Describe the main character, his feelings and the cause of his actions.

More emotions mean more drama, more drama, the better the story. So put everything in line, and then, the unexpected turn, again. Or some more details about the turning point.

More emotions make your narrative memorizing and even more entertaining. Our brain loves drama. We experience the story as if we lived it ourselves.

Here Comes The Magic (Solution)

In storytelling you have one goal, to deliver the idea right. And the idea is usually the conclusion, or let’s face it, the solution.

You could make it feel like magic. Or even better, surprisingly easy, leaving your audience thinking “What? This is so easy. Why didn’t he do that earlier?”.

The End

There are many ways to end a story. But here is one of them. Ask a question. 

As a result, you get space for personal conclusions and, if you’re a teacher, give yourself a great start for the class.

Ask For Feedback

Feedback helps you progress. And what better way to receive it if not by asking? Maybe being telepathic. But hey, we’re humans here. And hence, improving requires work, hard and smart work. So ask for feedback.

Edit & Adapt 

Every story has an audience. Therefore, it’s important to adapt the story to your new audience. Ask yourself, “Who are my listeners? Should I make the story funny or keep it educational?” 

Meanwhile, there will be times when you could skip this step. But don’t forget to go over your story before telling it. You never know what genius idea you could add to the story.

Trial And Error

Practice. Practice. And practice. Don’t give up after your first storytelling. Because talent is only 1% of success, everything else is work. You’ll never know if you’re trying.

Change things up, experiment with your storytelling. Remember, you’re the narrator here, and the style of the story is up to you, and only you. 

However there are a dozen storytelling techniques. Try them. But don’t forget to add some extra spices of your own, because it’s your story and your guidelines.

To summarise:

The Groundwork:

1. Pick a relevant topic.
2. Choose a style (comedy, educational, the journey, tragedy, etc.)
3. Write the story (follow the How to write a story guide).

The storytelling part:

1. Edit the story and make it relevant to your audience.
2. Start with why and grab their attention.
3. Add emotions and describe them. You are the actor here.
4. Take things in order.
5. What changed the whole story? (Here comes the drama.)
6. Give only the 2+2 part, leave the calculus to your listeners.
7. Add more emotions, stretch the tension rope.
8. What was the “magic” solution?
9. Finish the story.

The key to victory:

1. Ask for feedback.
2. Edit & adapt your story to the audience.
3. Practice, and then practice again. Go through trial and error a million times.

The post 15 Steps To Master The Art of Storytelling appeared first on Virtual Writing Tutor Blog.

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English is one of the most common international languages, and many people note that it’s easy to learn. However, everything depends on your goals. If you’re an ESL student and you need to write academic papers, the learning process will certainly be much more difficult than when learning basic phrases as a traveler. Nevertheless, millions of people from all over the world successfully learn English and use it all the time in their studies or jobs.

Many companies welcome diversity in their writing teams so there are many ESL writers who create content for English-speaking audiences on a regular basis. All ESL writers, however, quickly realize that their materials might need good editing. Everyone can make grammar errors or forget to put an extra comma. ESL writers, however, may deal with other problems, as well. For instance, they may write awkward phrases that are not used by native speakers.

If you want your writing to resonate with an English-speaking audience, you should learn not only the rules of grammar and spelling but also the way native speakers build phrases and choose words depending on the context and writing style. Of course, you will need to dedicate a lot of time to learning before you start to write like a native speaker, but it’s a possible task. Here are some tips that will help you.

1. Learn the rules

Obviously, you should be perfectly familiar with the rules of English writing. Even native English speakers learn these rules to write correctly. At the same time, you may have noticed that writers may break the rules from time to time. You may forget about certain rules when using certain writing styles. However, you won’t be able to understand when you can do it until you learn these rules perfectly. As a bilingual writer, you should know the rules even better than an average American, and then you will know how to break them.

2. Set clear goals

You should also understand why you need English, in the first place. It’s almost impossible to become a writer who would be equally great at writing blog posts, academic papers, poetry, and prose. We recommend that you set clear goals from the very beginning. This way, you’ll be able to focus on the right style and vocabulary, without wasting your time on things that you won’t actually need in the future. Depending on your objectives, you may also read different sources.

3. Use immersion

Many people who learn foreign languages agree that immersion is one of the fastest and most effective ways to learn a language. Immersion means that you have to switch to the target language completely. You need to not only write but also talk, think, and read in English only. Of course, not all ESL writers can move to an English-speaking country. Anyone, however, can immerse themselves in English to a certain extent.

For example, you can switch interfaces on all your devices to English. You can use Google in English and watch movies in English. Obviously, you should also read as much as possible. You can also find a part-time job where you will need to speak English all the time. Besides, you can hire an English tutor. Surround yourself with English, and make sure to choose content relevant to your writing goals.

4. Practice every day

This may come as a no-brainer, but you won’t learn to write like a native speaker if you don’t actually write… a lot. The more you practice, the better your skills. It’s also important to set realistic goals. We recommend that you write short essays, articles, or blog posts related to your target niche.

If writing lengthy texts is too difficult for you, don’t force yourself to do it because you will simply get exhausted. The main idea behind the everyday practice is to get used to the writing process. If English is a foreign language for you, you should get used to the grammar so that you won’t waste your time on endless editing.

5. Read more

Reading and writing are two interconnected skills. Although proficiency in reading won’t necessarily make you a great writer, you won’t be able to learn to write well if you don’t see examples of good writing.

“Reading sources from your target niche will enable you to learn not only different sentence structures and writing approaches but also useful information on the subject that you can use in your work later,” adds Laura Blakney, a language school owner, teacher and Academic Director at LiveLingua.

If you’re a student, you can read educational materials on the subjects that you study. If you want to be a content writer, you might want to focus on blogs and articles related to your niche. Reading will also help you familiarize yourself with different writing styles so that you can choose your own style.

6. Ask for feedback

It’s difficult to objectively evaluate a piece of writing when you’re the one who wrote it. When writing, you get immersed in the process. You perfectly know your text from the author’s perspective so distancing yourself and reflecting on it becomes extremely difficult.

To ensure continuous growth, you should evaluate your progress objectively, and feedback from others will help you better understand what you should focus on. If you know native English speakers, let them read your materials. You can also hire a tutor or editor to get feedback from them.

7. Be patient

If you want to write like a native English speaker, you should understand that pushing your skill to this level will take some time. Don’t rush your studies. You don’t want to get exhausted so choose a comfortable pace of learning and don’t get frustrated if you don’t get great results immediately.

Wrapping Up

Many people need to write in English, and not all of them are native English speakers. ESL writers face many challenges trying to polish their writing and to make it no different from that of native speakers. We hope that our tips will help you improve your writing, focusing on the right aspects so that you can get closer to achieving your writing goals.

About the author

Rhonda Martinez is an English teacher, educator and founder of LegitWritingServices, a review site and educational blog that helps college students learn and succeed academically. She is passionate about teaching, writing and penning down her thoughts on topics related to education.

The post 7 Secrets to Write Like a Native English Speaker appeared first on Virtual Writing Tutor Blog.

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Get your argument essay score in 2 seconds

Simple click on this link to the Virtual Writing Tutor grammar check website. Compose your argument essay and click “Score Essay,” select “Argument essay,” and click “Check. Use the score and feedback to help you revise and maximize your score when submit your essay to your teacher.

The Argument Essay Structure

The structure of the argument essay is below. Master it and you will do well in academia.

Paragraph 1: introduction

• Opening: Begin the essay with a provocative, thought-provoking question. You could begin, for example, with “Did you know that…?”
• Context: Establish the importance of the topic. Use phrases like these: a vital factor in, the leading cause of, widely considered to be, set to become, undergoing a revolution, is responsible for.
• Thesis: Include a debatable thesis about one of these areas of controversy: abortion, climate change, animal rights, body image, feminism, immigration, internet censorship.

Paragraph 2: first supporting argument

• Topic sentence: Begin the paragraph with a topic sentence that summarizes the main idea of the paragraph and includes the first of the two topics in your thesis sentence.

• Argue: Refer to facts, statistics, logic, what is reasonable, what follows from the evidence, and conclusions one can draw.
• Evidence: Give evidence from your reading and research using these types of words: according to, to quote from, tells us that, shows us that, referring to, argues that, stated, wrote, argued, discussed, expressed the concern that, as written. Use these quotation marks: “…”
• Cite sources: Properly cite quoted text using the person’s family name in parentheses (Einstein).
• Support: Give examples to support your claims using words and phrases such as these: for example, for instance, suppose that, take the case of, that is, to be exact, to explain, to illustrate, to put another way, to show what I mean.

Paragraph 3: second supporting argument 

• Topic sentence: Begin the paragraph with a topic sentence that summarizes the main idea of the paragraph and includes the second of the two topics in your thesis sentence.

• Argue: Refer to facts, statistics, logic, what is reasonable, what follows from the evidence, and conclusions you can draw.
• Evidence: Give evidence from your reading and research using these types of words: according to, to quote from, tells us that, shows us that, referring to, argues that, stated, wrote, argued, discussed, expressed the concern that, as written. Use these quotation marks: “…”
• Cite sources: Properly cite quoted text using the person’s family name in parentheses (Einstein).
• Support: Give examples to support your claims using words and phrases such as these: for example, for instance, suppose that, take the case of, that is, to be exact, to explain, to illustrate, to put another way, to show what I mean.

Paragraph 4: counterargument 

• Topic sentence: Summarize an opposing view with words like these: some people claim, some believe, others believe, some people object to, try to refute, discount, reject, it is often argued that, the opposing side will claim

• Concede: Show which parts of the counterargument have merit with words like these:  concede that, granted, indeed, it is true that, while it is true that, naturally, to be sure, admittedly, one cannot deny that
• Refute: Refute the counterargument using words like these: nonetheless, nevertheless, regardless, whereas, although, and yet, in contrast, by contrast, despite, there is countervailing evidence, that said, however

Paragraph 5: conclusion 

• Reformulation of the thesis: Restate the thesis in different words from the introduction.
• Build cohesion: Use expressions such as To sum up, To conclude, In closing, or For these reasons.
• Recommendation: Make a recommendation. Use one expression such as suggest, encourage, recommend, propose, what needs to be done.
• Prediction: Make a prediction. What will happen if the reader follows your recommendation? Use one expression such as should, ought to, will, or going to, predict, we can expect, I foresee, or it is likely that. 

Works Cited section

• Heading: Identify this section of your essay with the heading, “Works Cited”
• List: Include at least 3 sources properly formatted, each on its own line.

Learn how you can get order an interactive college-level course in persuasion for your students here.

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