Pros & Cons of Voicethreads

Based on chapter 6 of the CALL textbook, I would say that voicethreads are just like other technology-based tools, which all have both advantages and disadvantages that ESL/EFL teachers should be aware of when using them. Generally speaking, I think that voicethreads can provide a good opportunity for practicing oral language outside of the class. However, I believe that voicethreads can be useful ONLY if they were well designed and integrated into the lessons especially by providing explicit online learning. I think that one of the main advantages of this software is allowing its users to embed audio and video media, which can be really useful for authentic learning. Also, a big plus of this CALL tool is its interactivity feature, which allows students to practice speaking while interacting with other speakers. However, voicethreads have some disadvantages such as the over reliance on the teacher’s feedback and corrections in order to maintain improving his/her students’ speaking and pronunciation skills. Another limitation of this software is that students will only learn one variety of English only (teacher’s variety of English), and does not expose students to a variety of pronunciations of English (dialects & accents).