Authoring Tools in Language Teaching and Learning

A summary of what authoring tools are and the possibilities of their application in language teaching and learning can be found in my
AUTHORING TOOLS PowerPoint Presentation.

Authoring software enables you to create interactive exercises, with text, images, sound or even video and giving you several feedback options. Activities include multiple choice, text-picture-sound matching and gap fill, which can be suitable for both whole class teaching and pupil independent work on computers. Some software allows you to create exercises online, but other software can be downloaded onto your pc for you to work on the exercises whenever it suits you (such as the Hot Potatoes Suite, or the crossword generator EclipseCrossword).

You can also learn more about authoring software and how to use it for teaching and learning English by visiting the following websites:

Green Eclipse's EclipseCrossword.

University of Victoria's Hot Potatoes Authoring Package.

Have a look at some exercises built with Hot Potatoes:

1) JMix (Mixed-Up Sentence Exercise)
2) JQuiz (Quiz)
3) JCloze (Gap-Fill Exercise)
4) Gap-Fill (Gap-Fill with Drop-Downs Exercise)
5) JCross (Crosswords)
6) JMix (Jumbled-Word Exercise)
7) JMatch (Ordering Exercise)
8) JMatch (Matching Exercise)

Visit the CILT/ALL's languagesICT website for more information on how to use authoring tools in modern foreign language teaching and learning. Please, read the What Are Authoring Tools in MFL and the Technology for Languages/Focus on Authoring Software document.