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Review: Azar Interactive

By Elin Melchior

Ever since I started to think seriously about CALL and what kind of software I want to use, I have used an Azar program which I created in my head as an example of a type of program that I wanted to see on the market. While most of my classes are devoted to communicative activities, some students respond well to rules and drill type exercises. The computer lab provides the perfect setting for individualized work of this type, but nothing that I have seen comes close to providing the numerous grammar exercises that the Azar textbooks do. Unfortunately Azar Interactive does not either. Knowing that expectations are always hard to live up to, I have tried to write the first part of this review without thinking about my personal fantasy Azar software.

Azar Interactive starts off with a very simple interface and a well-designed computer help section for those who need it. The user may click on a book (red, black or blue - corresponding to the Azar textbooks) to specify a level or click on a grammar category in order to get a list of specific grammar points. Clicking on a specific grammar point will take the user to an exercise page. The style of the exercises is identical to that of the textbooks (simple short items with some type of grammar word(s) to be filled in or chosen). The exercises do appear to be new as I could find no corresponding exercises in the textbooks. The software contains only one exercise for each grammar point as opposed to the textbooks, which contain numerous exercises.

Reading, audio and video activities have been added to the traditional Azar exercise type in Azar Interactive. These activities are simple true/false, matching and multiple choice comprehension questions. There are also some short dictation exercises in the audio and video sections. Calling them interactive seems to be a stretch of the normal meaning of the word.

The correct answers to all activities are available with each individual item. Sometimes the computer chimes or clangs immediately to indicate a correct or incorrect answer, but usually the user needs to click next to the item to see the correct answer for that particular item. While correction is available, no scoring of any sort takes place.

The Azar textbooks are famous not only for the numerous exercises, but also for their succinct grammar charts which offer explanations of most of the commonly taught grammar points. Most of the textbook grammar charts are available through Azar Interactive. There is some repetition amongst the three textbooks, and this has naturally been eliminated in the software. I also noticed that some charts were slightly shorter than the original textbook charts as some examples are not included. Users can reach these charts from the activities pages by clicking on the "Charts" button. This will give the user a pull down menu with access to all the charts related to the grammar point on which they are currently working. However the font on the grammar charts is too small to read easily on the computer screen. At the bottom of each chart, there are directions for printing the chart. However these directions involve quitting Azar Interactive, opening Adobe Acrobat, and then opening the specific chart file. I found it easier to go directly to the chart file and open that - this opens Acrobat automatically. Either way, it is inconvenient and, if students are not familiar with basic computer functions, difficult. To make matters worse the charts would not print from the computers in the computer lab at my school (postscript error). Switching to a faculty computer, the charts printed, but the type was fuzzy and difficult to read. I mentioned this to someone at Prentice Hall and was told that the whole reason for using Adobe Acrobat was to avoid this problem; nevertheless, the printing was a problem with our LaserWriter 16/600 PS. [This software was reviewed on a Macintosh. Before sending the software for review, I briefly looked at it. Upon loading, it created a second iteration of QuickTime, causing my Mac to hang upon booting. Also, I could not find a way to set Azar Interactive to connect with a browser after initial setup. –ed.]

I cannot see myself using the Azar software with students because there is no feedback. I currently use the Azar textbooks in this way, I see a student with a gerund/infinitive problem and I tell the student "Go to the library and get the Black Azar book. Read over the charts in Chapter 7 and then do four of the exercises. Put the exercises in my mailbox when you finish." I then check the exercises and am either satisfied or meet with the student to do further explanations and give the student more work of some sort. I wanted to be able to use the Azar software to do the same thing, but with no feedback of any kind I would have no idea whether the student understood the grammar or was completely confused.

The fantasy Azar software that I created in my head had a "student report" section. This report, which could be printed, contained information, such as, how long the student worked, which exercises the student did, which charts the student accessed, and most importantly some type of scoring for each exercise. Azar Interactive contains nothing like this. The user does not receive any type of score information. Prentice Hall told me that the disk space demands of the audio/video activities prevented use of an assessment tool. I think they made the wrong choice. I did not expect audio/video activities from Azar, and quite frankly I can find better audio/video activities elsewhere.

Prentice Hall suggests using Azar Interactive along with the Azar Grammar Series texts. I find that the Azar books have enough practice activities and feel that they should be supplemented with communicative activities involving pair work and group work, not more individual practice of the type offered by Azar Interactive. Azar Interactive cannot replace the books in the Azar Grammar series, but at the same time the activities are too similar to truly complement the series.

If teachers are not going to use the software with students, that leaves use of the software for self-study. More and more of my students have computers and some of them are starting to buy ESL/EFL software on their own. With this in my mind, I asked two of my students to review the software. The first student liked the audio and video, but said that he has another program that he likes better. He said that he could not read the charts on the computer and he could not figure out how to print them. He would consider buying and using the software, but only as an additional program. The second student found the video and audio clips "intriguing". She thought that the program was not suited for self-study because the program does not teach the grammar. She felt that the program is really meant to review something that has previously been taught and to serve as "extra input". She also felt that the charts were too difficult content-wise for most students to understand. This actually fits with Prentice Hall’s comment that the software is meant as "a practice tool to reinforce grammar already presented to students by their instructors." These comments match my own feelings that the software would not be successful as a true self-study tool for low level learners, in that without the guidance of a teacher they may not know where to start or how to focus. However, for higher level, self-motivated students who wish to do some grammar review on their own, Azar Interactive might work very well. The interface is user-friendly and students can work through the exercises in order by clicking on the book icons and using the list of grammar points there as the syllabus. The charts (assuming clear printing) give explanations as needed and they can check their answers as they go. Azar Interactive is not what I wanted, but it has potential as a good review resource for higher level students.

System Requirements:

Macintosh: 68040 or PowerPC processor; System 7.1 or higher; Color monitor with 256 colors; 12 MB RAM (16MB recommended)

PC (Windows 3.1 & Windows 95): 486 or Pentium processor; Color monitor with 256 colors and Sound Card; 16MB RAM recommended)

To obtain a demonstration copy of the software, please contact Prentice Hall Japan at:

Prentice Hall Japan

Nishi-Shinjuku KF Bldg 101

8-14-24 Nishi-Shinjuku

Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-0023

Tel: 03-3365-9002; Fax: 03-3365-9009; e-mail: elt@phj.co.jp

Website: http://www.phregents.com

Azar Interactive prices in Japan as of May 1998:

0-13-862103-9 (Single) Yen 7,000

0-13-793043-7 Azar's CD-ROM 5 pack Yen 33,250 (5% off normal price of 35,000 yen)

0-13-793050-X Azar's CD-ROM 10 pack Yen 63,000 (10% off normal price of 70,000 yen)

0-13-793068-2 Azar's CD-ROM 20 pack Yen 119,000 (15% off normal price of 140,000 yen)

******

Elin Melchior ****** Komaki English Teaching Center

JALT CALL N-SIG Coordinator, SIGNIF listowner

See the CALL N-SIG website at http://langue.hyper.chubu.ac.jp/jalt/nsig/call

elin@gol.com------office phone: 0568-76-0905