Evaluator scheme for schools

Join the spelling revolution! Become involved in an exciting new literacy project and receive breakthrough software at no cost to the school.

Words Worldwide is giving schools the opportunity to take part in evaluating and helping in the further development of a completely new literacy resource.

This is principally aimed at students who struggle with spelling and word recognition, through the introduction of a new program, WordWizard.

Every school joining this project will receive WordWizard software at no cost to them for use in literacy development classes. In addition further copies will be available for home use by students with limited family resources. Email support will be provided to school staff in response to technical queries.

What exactly is WordWizard and how can it help my students?

Full details of WordWizard are available by clicking here: https://wordsworldwide.co.uk/wordwizard/

However, to give you an immediate idea of the scope and power of this new resource, its main features are outlined below:

WordWizard is a sophisticated literacy development tool. It has been created to assist in the  development of the ability to read and write through phonics, i.e. centred on the way that a word  is pronounced. People with a need to develop their literacy skills or who have English as a second or additional language will find the program particularly useful.

WordWizard has three modes of use: 
   Orthographic (spelling)
   Phonics (development) 
   Progress monitoring

Orthographic Mode
Orthographic Mode enables a student to check the spelling of a word and to produce certain information about it, such as relevant parts of speech, whether it is a homophone and a hint regarding its meaning. The spelling of the word is checked against WordWizard’s 190,000-word dictionary.  If it is not present it is assumed that the spelling is incorrect and the user is given the option of selecting Phonics Mode to discover the reason for the error.

Phonics Mode
Phonics Mode enables an orthographic spelling for a word to be identified by typing in the names of its phonemes. The student will either be directed to this mode from Orthographic  Mode or else will wish to learn a spelling from the phonics information derived from the pronunciation of the word.

Progress Monitoring Mode
WordWizard enables progress to be monitored and recorded through the production of monitor files which can be printed or stored by the teacher or student.

WordWizard is essentially focused on the phonics system of spelling development. An important component of the program is text-to-speech technology (TTS) whereby a naturally-sounding computer-generated voice speaks out selected text.

WordWizard’s Phonics Mode enables a student to type a required word as a sequence of phonetic segments using the phonics system, e.g. “h+ou+s” for “house”. The TTS system speaks out what they have input every time a segment is added. At any point, new input can be “undone” and a new attempt can be made.

As each phonetic segment is added, the student can study a displayed list of suggestions for words which commence with the same phonetic value. Helpful hints are provided as to the meaning of any word in the list. These assist in determining whether the required word has yet been identified. The list quickly reduces in size as the pupil types each additional segment.

In this way the student usually finds their required word long before all the constituent phonetic segments in the word have been typed.

To assist in understanding exactly what word is displayed on the list of suggestions, the student can click on it and the TTS system will then speak back the word. Finally, when the student feels that the required word has been correctly spelt, it can be copied to the clipboard for use in another program such as a word processor or web browser.

A structured teaching environment can also be established by the teacher through automated spelling sessions. WordWizard’s Progress Monitoring Mode provides spelling lists for this purpose, taking successive words from the list in sequence or randomly. Each fresh word is automatically spoken out by the TTS system to the student who is invited to spell it. The subsequent attempt by the user is then assessed against the correct spelling and the results are stored for each word. WordWizard automatically moves to the next word when the user has completed the spelling of the current word. On completion of a session a table of results can then be accessed by the pupil and/or their teacher.

Teaching staff can generate their own word lists of varying size to supplement those provided in the WordWizard library. The lists can be for curriculum-based tests or for developing skills in special subject areas and for different key stages.

In this way a pupil can use WordWizard at their own pace without continuous supervision and their progress can be continually monitored. Not only does the student learn how a word is spelt, but just as importantly, how it is accurately spoken. An invaluable by-product of the program’s use is a permanent record of each user session which can be added to the student’s performance records.

When using WordWizard the student soon achieves a level of independence far beyond that possible with conventional solutions to spelling development.

Those pupils with English as a second or further language and those experiencing particular literacy difficulties stand to benefit hugely from this advanced approach.

What does Words Worldwide seek in return for the software?
We are simply asking for the school’s involvement in evaluating the software.
We ask a relevant teacher to sign an agreement which involves emailing us a simple monthly report while you are participating in the scheme. To speed things up, the reporting consists of providing brief answers to a few key questions. There is also the opportunity to provide comments or questions which will we will respond to individually. You may terminate your school’s involvement in the scheme at any point during the evaluation period.

However, only those schools which have participated for at least four months will qualify for permanent copies of the software. We are expecting significant interest in this project and in the WordWizard software. To ensure that we can manage the evaluation exercise effectively
and support the evaluators we must limit the number of schools involved in the project. We are looking for up to 100 schools to work with us and will close the offer as soon as we have achieved that target.

So… don’t wait for another school to take your place … get involved now!

If you are interested in becoming involved and working with this ground-breaking software, email us us immediately requesting the WordWizard Evaluator Invitation and we will make sure you receive full details promptly.

Remember – your involvement in this exciting project promises to revolutionise your students’ literacy experience at no cost to them or to the school.

If you have any specific questions before you decide whether to join the scheme, email us at enquiries@wordsworldwide.co.uk