Studies show English language learners (ELLs) experience increased communication apprehension and foreign language anxiety more than primary English speakers. Strategies to better assist ELLs with their public speaking skills are needed, especially within communication centers. One way is to better understand the intercultural aspects of the ELL…

An increasingly interconnected world requires people to become versatile communicators in a variety of different settings. Language centers have a critical role to play in this process by offering language and culture training in multiple languages to students, professionals and the wider community alike. They may do so from the perspective of…

The traditional language laboratory consists of computer-based exercises in which students practice the language individually, working on language form drills and listening comprehension activities. In addition to the traditional approach to the laboratory requirement, students in the study participated in a weekly conversation hour focusing on…

Suggests teaching communication has led to wider use of communicative activities to create contexts for English uses. Cites use of music and photographs as valuable tools for stimulating conversation. (BK)

This digest examines ways in which the foreign language laboratory can serve to support communicative approaches to language instruction by becoming interactive. Although, in one sense, this can be achieved through the acquisition of interactive hardware, this paper focuses on the pedagogical approaches to language lab use that create interaction…

An inexpensive way to foster interactive, participatory learning in the language laboratory through communicative tasks is described. Problems with traditional approaches are discussed, and enthusiastic reactions from both students and teachers to the University of Maryland-College Park multimedia approach are reported. (39 references) (LB)

Discusses Travessia, a Portuguese language curriculum that emphasizes development of communicative competence by using printed materials, the language lab, and a series of video tapes focused on Brazilian culture. (SR)

Three communication courses for nonnative English speaking pharmacy students at the University of Maryland, Mercer University, and the University of Southern California are described. (Author/MLW)

A workshop was given to identify and point out the limitations of mechanical language laboratory drills, and to compare them to drills which have been classified as being meaningful or communicative. Mechanical drills do not require an understanding of the meaning of the sentence; there is not consideration of context; and there is no connection…

Describes the use of language lab materials supplied by the pedagogical journal "Russkij Jazyk Za Rubezom" in an advanced Russian-language class. Each week students were given a relevant picture and vocabulary list prior to listening to a taped story. The story was used as the basis for conversation. (LMO)

A model for introducing English-as-a-Second-Language learners to the language laboratory component of a modern "Language Acquisition Resource Center" (LARC) at a metropolitan university is presented. Emphasis is on audio materials, but many of the LARC suggestions are applicable to video and computerized materials as well. (Contains 16…

The use of technology in the language classroom is chronicled from early phonograph use through the emergence of the language laboratory, and computer technology. The role of appropriate materials and the importance of interaction and communication, even with technological aids, are stressed. (21 references) (Author/MSE)

This analysis of the state of the art of computer programs and programming for language teaching has two parts. In the first part, an overview of the theory and practice of language teaching, Noam Chomsky's view of language, and the implications and problems of generative theory are presented. The theory behind the input model of language…

This second edition is a complete reworking of the 1968 text to include later views of language learning and teaching, and theories of linguistics and psychology. The text is intended particularly for use in methods classes in conjunction with observation of experienced foreign language teachers. The early chapters deal with general principles…

The language laboratory could make a larger impact than it does on undergraduate language study. The growth of attractive new technology makes even more important the careful evaluation and exploitation of existing technology. A major obstacle in doing this is the lack of careful and rigorous research about the effectiveness of the language…