WORDLE: GENERATING WORD CLOUDS FOR THE BENEFIT OF LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION

Coy Putra

LING 481 – The ESL Professional

March 11th 2011

What is Wordle?

Wordle (http://www.wordle.net/) is an application for generating “word clouds.”

“Word clouds” are visual depictions of the word content of texts. To create a word cloud, words are taken from a text and arranged on a blank palette according to their significance. Words that occur with a greater frequency appear larger in the word cloud, and often have a different color.

How to use Wordle:

Users can generate their own word clouds by directing their web browser to http://www.wordle.net/create

Input your text into the appropriate area and click “Submit” to develop your initial word cloud. You can now edit the font, shape, colors and other qualities of your word cloud by using the tools given in Wordle’s top-most taskbar. The possibilities are almost endless!

Users can also input links to websites to create complex word clouds from the word content found on the pages.

Okay, So I’m Still Not Sure What “Word Cloud” Means!

No problem. Here’s an example of a word cloud using the words from my definition of the term on the previous page

Clarification!

Notice how “word” is written in a larger font than every other word. That is because “word” appears with a greater frequency in the text used to generate the “word cloud.”

Applications for Wordle in the Classroom

Educators have found many educational applications for Wordle. One of these examples is given under the News section of the Wordle website, in the comment section of the article "Somewhere out there, a mother is angry.“

“I had my third graders make a list of things they were interested in (football, Christmas, cats, etc) and then type them into Wordle at school.” – Anonymous

“I am a high school world language teacher and constantly use Wordle because it is easy to use, it makes for great vocab reviews.” - Anonymous

More Glowing Reviews of Wordle and Examples of Real World Applications

“Wordle was a hit with my students who were struggling readers. They had to pick a favorite topic and use adjectives to describe that topic. This was done to increase vocabulary and give a visual picture.” Staci Warren

“Wordles are a great tool to use as a brainstorm activity on a variety of content areas. I have used it as a share out about personality traits.” – Joseph Iacono

1st Activity

Ask your students to develop a word cloud from their favorite poem.

Assist your students in an analysis of a few of the word clouds they have developed, drawing inferences from the words that occur with the greatest frequency, the size and complexity of the vocabulary, and the representation of the lexical categories.

My Favorite Poem: “A Grave,” by Marianne Moore

What kind of possible analysis of the word cloud of “A Grave” is possible without having read the poem itself? What can you infer about meaning and theme?

2nd Activity

Have students transform an essay or story they’ve written into a word cloud. Examine their vocabulary and their preference for lexical categories to see how they choose to develop their thoughts.

Are they developing their thoughts effectively? Does it seem like they are relying too heavily on certain words or phrases? Can they use stronger words to get their point across better?

A Word Cloud Developed From One of My Assignments for a Fiction Class

I almost certainly need to re-evaluate my constant use of the word “Brother.”

And perhaps my use of the abbreviation “etc,” substituting it instead with “and so on,” which I think is equally as good, and may even better express what I’m trying to get across to the reader.

3rd Activity

Create a word cloud from a collection of news articles about a recent event.

Ask your students to analyze the word cloud using the suggested guidelines given in the previous activities.