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Mastering 'S' and 'ES' Plurals When Writing

Project Overview

This course, Mastering 'S' and 'ES' Plurals When Writing, was designed to help English as a Second Language (ESL) learners overcome common challenges with pluralization in English. It teaches the rules for adding 'S' or 'ES' to words based on their ending letter patterns. Through interactive exercises and a final assessment, learners gain practical skills to improve their writing accuracy and confidently apply the correct plural forms.

Audience: ESL Learners

Responsibilities: Instructional Design, eLearning, Visual Design, Development, Research, Analysis

Tools Used: Articulate Storyline

Experience The Full Project

Learning Gap

Needs Analysis

As an ESL instructor, I identified a common challenge among adult learners: difficulty understanding and applying pluralization rules in written English, using 'S' versus 'ES' at the end of words. This gap was particularly prevalent in words ending with letter patterns like 'CH', 'SH' and 'X' Through informal assessments, including quizzes and direct feedback, it became evident that learners lacked clear strategies for recognizing which plural form to use. This insight drove the creation of a course designed to address these difficulties and improve writing accuracy.

The course aims to bridge this gap by providing learners with a structured and interactive learning experience focused on the pluralization rules for words ending in specific letter patterns. The ultimate goal is to boost confidence and writing accuracy by giving them a clear understanding of when to use 'S' or 'ES'.

Knowledge Target

Learning Objective

I designed this course with clear and measurable learning objectives that guided the structure and content of it. The objectives aligned with the needs of ESL learners and ensured the course would focus on practical application and mastery of the material:

Identify the pluralization rules for words ending in 'CH', 'SH,' 'X', and other specific letter patterns. This objective helps learners recognize common patterns in English that dictate when to use 'S' or 'ES' at the end of words when writing. By the end of the course, learners will be able to identify the ending of a word and apply the correct pluralization rule.

Correctly apply 'S' or 'ES' plural endings in written exercises. Learners engage in interactive exercises that prompt them to decide which plural form is correct. This objective emphasizes practical application to ensure learners can independently use plural forms in their writing, reinforcing the rules they have learned.

Demonstrate understanding of pluralization rules through a final assessment. The final mastery quiz allows learners to showcase their ability to apply pluralization rules in different contexts. Different questions were used, such as multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, and matching questions, to assess the understanding of the material.

Reinforce learning with immediate feedback and remediation. The course includes knowledge checks with immediate feedback to help learners identify and address any areas of difficulty, enhancing their understanding of the material. If learners answer incorrectly, they are redirected to relevant content that reinforces the rules, ensuring they have ample opportunities to grasp the concept fully before moving on.

These objectives guide the course in offering a clear path to mastering pluralization rules, helping learners develop knowledge and practical skills for correctly using 'S' and 'ES' in their writing. By emphasizing application, feedback, and assessment, the course ensures that learners grasp the rules, retain them, and apply them effectively.

Course Design

The course was developed in Articulate Storyline, which allowed for a high degree of interactivity and customization. I selected premade slides from Articulate’s content library to maintain a consistent visual design throughout the course. I chose slides that would help create a cohesive look while ensuring the content remained easy to navigate. This design approach helped create a professional and user-friendly interface for learners.

The course structure follows a clear, logical flow:

Introduction to Pluralization:

The course begins by introducing the concept of pluralization, which explains what they are.

Explaining the Rules:

Learners are taught the different rules for when to add the 'S' or 'ES' to words based on their final letter patterns (e.g., words ending in 'SH', 'CH', 'X'). The rules are presented in clear, digestible steps, accompanied by examples to ensure learners understand when each rule applies.

Interactive Practice Activities:

Matching Exercise: One of the key interactive features of the course is a matching exercise where learners drag and drop singular words to their correct plural forms. If an error occurs, the word snaps back to its original position, and learners cannot proceed until they answer correctly. This process reinforces repeated practice, helping them accurately match the word with its correct plural form. For this effect, I used a combination of states and triggers in Storyline.

Sentence Completion Exercise:

In another knowledge check, learners must choose the correct plural form to complete a sentence. Learners are redirected to an earlier slide of the rules if they select the wrong answer. Using branching allows for remediation and ensures learners can quickly revisit and reinforce the content until they understand it.

Final Assessment:

The final assessment includes multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, and matching questions designed to test learners' understanding of the pluralization rules. By using a variety of question types, the Mastery check effectively measures whether learners can apply the rules in different contexts.

Course Recap and Key Takeaways:

The course ends with a recap reinforcing the key pluralization rules. This section helps learners consolidate their understanding of the material, providing a reference they can return to for review.

Learning Theories

To ensure the course maximized its educational impact, I applied a blend of Constructivist and Behaviorist learning theories:

Constructivism: The course was designed based on the principle that learners build knowledge through active engagement. By engaging with interactive exercises such as matching activities and sentence completion, learners improve their understanding of pluralization rules by applying them in context. The course design encourages learners to engage in problem-solving and critical thinking, which deepens their understanding.

Behaviorism: The course also utilizes behaviorist principles by incorporating immediate feedback loops. Incorrect answers prompt learners to retry, reinforcing correct behaviors through repetition and corrective feedback, ensuring learners have multiple opportunities to improve their understanding and internalize the pluralization rules through guided practice.

Gauge Mastery

The final assessment measures the learner's ability to apply pluralization rules correctly. It includes a variety of question types to assess their knowledge from different angles:

Multiple-choice questions test the learner's recall of the rules.
Fill-in-the-blank questions assess a learner's ability to apply the rules independently.
Matching exercises match singular words with their plural forms.

Using interactive knowledge checks throughout the course also provides immediate formative feedback, allowing learners to correct mistakes. These assessments ensure that learners deepen their knowledge and understanding.

Reflection

The "Mastering 'S' and 'ES' Plurals When Writing" course addresses a key challenge for ESL learners: mastering pluralization rules. Through this project, I gained valuable insights into the design process, from identifying the learning needs of the target audience to creating interactive, engaging activities that reinforce learning. The experience reinforced the importance of clear objectives, effective assessment methods, and providing learners with immediate feedback to support their growth.

Although this course is conceptual, testing it with actual learners would allow me to refine it further. Feedback from pilot testing could help identify areas for improvement, such as content pacing, clarity of instructions, and engagement. Future iterations could include additional practice exercises and examples to deepen learners' understanding and ensure the course is as effective as possible. Combining iterative design with real-world testing could enhance the effectiveness of this course and promote learner success.