Spanish Checker by Terry Nadasdi, and Stéfan Sinclair (review)

The Spanish Checkerwebsite allows L2 Spanish learners the opportunity to verify the accuracy of their writing abilities by entering a text of information (e.g., from an essay). The website does not make corrections, but highlights errors. The two primary sections of the website are: 1) a word processor to type text in the L2 for analysis of possible spelling and/or grammatical errors; and 2) a set of language resources to guide students in areas of vocabulary and grammar. Though not mentioned, the website seems to target L2 secondary and post-secondary learners.

Unlike other websites that check syntactic and orthographic issues of merely words or phrases, Spanish Checkerexamines an entire text of material. Beginning learners can use this website at the phrase or sentence stage, while intermediate and advanced learners could refer to this webpage to type one or more paragraphs. Two dictionaries, one for English-Spanish translations and one for Spanish synonyms, provide additional resources while students attempt L2 writing. These tools can prove beneficial when teachers cannot provide the adequate amount of time or energy to help L2 learners in their writing acquisition. That being said, at times the explanations on how to eliminate spelling and grammatical errors prove complicated or inaccurate.

As an example, the following faulty sentence was entered to test the website: *Prefero que mis amigos les gusta los libros. After hitting 'check text,' the misspelled word Preferois highlighted and italicized to denote an error. Rather than reminding the learner that 'preferir' is a stem-changing verb, however, the website provides eighteen options as to how to correct the word, including multiple words unrelated to preferir(e.g., Perforo, Proferí). In terms of grammar, though the website successfully highlighted the need to pluralize gustaand use the subjunctive (i.e. gusten), no mention of the missing abefore the indirect object exists. Such errors could mislead learners from an early stage of writing acquisition.

The language resources contain a vocabulary guide, which covers topics in over fifteen categories as well as pronunciation hints, a grammar guide covering twelve categories, and a verb conjugator in all tenses and moods. The breadth and depth of the material covered is vast, more than sufficient for L2 learners of Spanish to attain a low level of proficiency. A huge concern, however, is the inconsistency in spelling accuracy of words throughout the section.

Several words lacked the necessary written accent, including adiosand ¿cuando?; when a learner attempts to copy the word for spelling practice, the website claims the word is spelled incorrectly when the accent is added, further misleading the student. Other errors include using English lettering to spell Spanish words (e.g., quatro). Though most learners know enough about simple Spanish words that they recognize these and similar mistakes, such egregious errors demonstrate a lack of proofreading before making the website available.

Spanish Checkerhas the potential to guide L2 learners through the difficult task of writing acquisition. The authors of this website are to be commended for providing an opportunity not available otherwise online to help students at a more advanced level of effectively completing writing tasks. At this time, though, the potential lack of a user-friendly way to guide students in their spelling and grammar errors, and the misspelling of several words in a section meant to tutor students, do not render this website effective. With changes, this website will prove useful to all levels of L2 learners of Spanish.