A Word Cloud from Wordle

We have dealt with a lot of tools that are directly used for teaching and learning language. In this blog post, we will look into Wordle, the tool to generate word cloud and see how this can be exploited for teaching and learning. Wordle is a tool that enables the most frequently used word appear in big font. We can also have some tweakings to change the colour and layout. It is easy to use.

How to create

At first, browse www.wordle.net, you will see the Wordle’s homepage. And beneath the introduction, you will find ‘create your own’. Click on it that will lead you to the open box. You will copy your source text, the text of which you are planning for the word cloud to appear, and paste it in the open box. Then click on a ‘go’ option. Now you will see the java processing on your screeen and after a while your word cloud! You may not like the first shot of the word cloud. The layout may not be that much attractive. In that case, click on ‘randomize’ and check for the various options unless you come up with the exquisite and elegant one.

Next, you can try out with the language, font, layout and colour options available on the Wordle and change the word cloud accordingly. Next, interesting feature is, you can right click on the individual word and delete it if you think that the word is no longer useful. Also if we double click on the word cloud, we can get the words outline which can be filled with different colours. Finally, once you feel like you are done with editing, you can save as a PNG or print it.

For a brief tutorial, please watch this video.

This is the word cloud that I created using Wordle.

How can we use it for language teaching and learning?

A word cloud can be a good material for teaching vocabulary. We can make a word cloud big enough to be seen by the whole class and make the learners guess about lesson or content that is going to be discussed. Or we may ask them to create a story out of the words used in a word cloud.

Next, the word cloud can be used for teaching grammar. For instance, we can divide students into different groups and ask which word class does the word belong to and how they could put the word in context.

I see the potential of word cloud for creating some project work’s illustration too. For the illustration, the word cloud can narrate what the project work is about with the help of number of key words in a visually appealing format.

As we have discussed its extended function to classroom teaching and learning, now I would like to analyse its strengths and limitations below.

Strengths

•      It is free of cost, easy to handle and has least navigations.
•      The word cloud can mostly be used for teaching vocabulary and grammar.
•    The word cloud can be used to have the worded illustration for any kind of project.

     Limitations

• Sometimes, in some devices, it may not work as it runs in Java.
• It doesn't have many extended use as other tools have in language teaching and learning.

You may compare the features of Wordle with Wordsift which has more or less similar features. For this please visit www.wordsift.org.

I hope you enjoyed this post. Thank you.