Reviewed by Federica Maggioni

Target group of learners

This website is suitable for ESL/EFL students with basic computer and print literacy. One of its main advantages lies in the fact that its
content can be adapted for different age groups and proficiency levels.

Review
Quizlet is a freely accessible site providing basic frameworks (i.e. study tools) to be filled by users with their own information. As an
open resource, the quality of the shared flashcard sets heavily depends on the accuracy of the members input. It is therefore
recommended that teachers and students assess the value and relevance of the study materials that they intend to use.

If users cannot find appropriate sets, they can create new cards or edit existing ones with self-selected pictures, words and definitions.
A free membership gives access to a limited bank of images whilst the Quizlet Teacher upgrade ($24.99/year) offers the opportunity to
upload private photos, as well as create unlimited classes, view class progress and use voice recording.
By encouraging learners to deliberately review and recycle vocabulary through the use of word cards, Quizlet favours a behaviourist and
explicit teaching approach, which can help students memorise and internalise newly learned terms (Loucky 2010, p. 238; Nation 2011, p.
533; Stanley 2013, p. 39). Moreover, the provision of six different study modes (i.e. Flashcards, Learn, Speller, Test, Scatter and Space
Race) fosters engagement, boosts motivation and caters for a variety of learning preferences.

Quizlet is an intuitive, user friendly, and uncluttered website with a simple layout and high functionality. Customer support is available
through the Help Centre page, which provides links to FAQs, a Contact Feedback Form and the administrators email addresses. Users
feedback is highly valued and direct contact with educators and students is pursued through on-line as well as face-to-face interaction.

Quizlet was developed in 2005 by Andrew Sutherland, who back then was attending his second year of high school and was looking for a
digital tool that could help him succeed in his French class. Over the past 10 years, the Quizlet team has significantly grown and has
continuously welcomed new educational enthusiasts and ICT experts.

The website is kept up-to-date and its usability has been recently extended to mobile devices with Android and iOS supported
applications. Quizlet interfaces bear no obvious biases or corporate interferences.

Besides the arguable linguistic accuracy of its content, another drawback of Quizlet lies in the fact that it does not allow for
contextualised learning of words at the sentence or text level. Nevertheless, both site and app fulfill their purpose of providing learners
with an array of engaging opportunities to extend their vocabulary and gain automaticity.

Lesson idea
To encourage students active participation in identifying and selecting topic specific words, I would adapt Stanleys Digital camera
scavenger hunt (2013, p. 41) as follows: Students in small groups are asked to find images relative to a theme (e.g. geographical natural
or man-made features, local flora or fauna, animal habitats). Depending on the age of the learners, the availability of a reliable Internet
connection, the quantity and type of digital devices available to students and the nature of the target vocabulary, the photos can be either
researched online or taken with a camera. When the groups are ready to share their findings with the rest of the class, they are assisted in
describing the photos and finding a suitable definition. Flashcard sets featuring selected photos and relative terminology are then uploaded
on the Quizlet website and used for self-study and spaced repetition with the aim to facilitate long-term retention of relevant lexis
(Hirschel & Fritz 2013, p. 638; Nakata 2008).
References
Hirschel, R & Fritz E 2013, Learning Vocabulary: CALL Program versus Vocabulary Notebook, System, vol.41, no.3, pp. 639-653.
Loucky, JP 2010, Constructing a Roadmap to More Systematic and Successful Online Reading and Vocabulary Acquisition, Literary and
Linguistic Computing, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 225-241.
Nakata, T 2008, English Vocabulary Learning with Word Lists, Word Cards and Computers: Implications from Cognitive Psychology
Research for Optimal Spaced Learning, ReCALL, vol. 20, no.1, pp. 3-20.
Nation, ISP 2011, Research into Practice: Vocabulary, Language Teaching, vol. 44, no. 4, pp. 529-539.
Stanley, G 2013, Language Learning with Technology: Ideas for Integrating Technology in the Classroom, Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge.

https://quizlet.com