You can then conduct feedback: have them guess what the topic is, analyse grammar categories, vocabulary etc. by copying/pasting them on a Google Docs form). Students can share their word clouds with you (for e.g.– please note this option can be pre-ticked). Tell students to copy/paste their text into the word cloud generator of your choice (make sure they click on the option “Remove common words” in order not to see words like AND, THE etc.Point out that students need to produce texts in their own words. Ask students to work in pairs to create likewise a short text about a topic you are covering in class.However, because a word cloud is not a perfect tool, identifying its contradictions to student analyses can lead to more interesting in-class discussions ( Word Clouds in Education: Turn a toy into a tool).Įxample with this word cloud created from the Tagging literacy, what is it? page: “cloud” & “clouds”, or “folksonomy” & “folksonomies” are counted separately “word” & “cloud” are also separated in the word cloud. Limitations are also pointed out, like the fact that singular and plural nouns, or verbs in different tenses will be counted separately and won’t be shown as prominently as they were used also if a 2-word or more expression is used, such as “word cloud”, those two words might well be separated in the word cloud, which can be misleading. Word Clouds in Education: Turn a toy into a tool A glance at a cloud is an easy way to preview a passage, or to analyze text. Most word cloud programs work in the same, straight-forward way the more a word is used in the text, the bigger it is shown in the cloud. Ask students what a word cloud is, and why it is useful.Tell students these are keywords to a text and ask them to find the topic.
This activity is an adaptation of Activity 23: Travel clouds in Dudeney, Hockly & Pegrum (2013: 176-180). This activity aims to raise students’ awareness of the concept of word clouds, and to investigate how keywords in a text can be visually represented in a word cloud (see Tagging literacy, what is it?).