Polish Students on HLT Magazine - a Concise Study

Aleksander Sienkiewicz, Michal Kowalewski

Aleksander Sienkiewicz and Michal Kowalewski have been students of the University of Gdansk, Institute of Pedagogy. By the time this issue is released they may have graduated and defended their M.A. theses.
E-mail: a.t.sienkiewicz@gmail.com

"The Internet Project", supervised by H. Kryszewska, MA, The University of Gdansk, Poland, aimed at collecting Polish students' opinions on various ELT websites. Of 22 participants of the project, 12 reviewed http://hltmag.co.uk as their website of choice.

The general reception of the website was positive, however none of the students showed full satisfaction with it. Vast majority of the students evidenced clear structuring and straightforward layout of the website, as well as wide archive accessibility and unlimited download availability (although it has also been noticed that the site offers enhanced contents for subscribers). The main fields of superiority of HLTmag over other websites reviewed have therefore been 1) uncomplicated search engine, and 2) no-charge access to the materials.

Most students proved to be content focused, as in many cases their reviews were focused mainly on listing the contents features of the website, instead of critical evaluation thereof. Quite a significant percentage of the students slao showed their preoccupation with the practical value of the contents. Whilst a large number of the students found the materials provided useful and valuable, a considerable part of the surveyed regarded the site to be more advantageous in terms of theoretical contents than its practical value. This might suggest that while the theoretical input is not underestimated, students browsing the website tend to search for instant and easy-to-apply solutions first. The "DIY-ish" propensity was equally visible in case of other websites reviewed throughout the project. On the other hand, some students outlined the website’s additional features, such as teacher forums, student forums etc., providing much practical assistance when needed.

Small, yet noticeable group of the surveyed appreciated the multicultural input of the website, pointing out different nationalities of the contributing authors. Equally noticeable number of students focused on book reviews and previews provided by the site, which leads to a conclusion that this feature is considerably important as perceived by the website visitors.

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