The POOLS-T project has now reached the end of its funded period. During the course of the project the basic concept of a tool that enables the checking of any unknown words in a text in an online dictionary has been developed substantially. The original “Webpage Textblender”, invented by Kent Andersen, is now complemented by Caoimhín Ó Donnaíle’s Wordlink and Multidict tools, and the range of languages supported has been massively expanded.
To mark the completion of the project Gordon Wells has placed all 40 texts from Series One of Island Voices (20 English and 20 Gaelic) on WordPress platforms linked to Wordlink/Multidict. Although the funded period of the project is now over further refinements of the tools will continue, as more languages are incorporated and in response to comments from users. Interested readers are invited to take a look at the Wordlinked Island Voices materials. Please note that, while the default display is “Split Screen”, there are alternative options, such as “New Tab” and “Pop-up”. A choice of dictionaries is also available, depending on the language in question.
Of course, dictionaries are by no means the answer to every language learning problem – and some dictionaries are better than others. But the facility to present online text with this added dictionary access function may be attractive to both teachers and learners. Comments are welcome here, and will be relayed to the developers.