Electronic Education: Wired For Language Learning

After years of using an antiquated cassette tape lab, the Language Resource Center (LRC) opened last year. The new facility was part of an initiative to improve and expand international educational opportunities. The opening coincided with the merging of various language departments into one Department of Modern Languages and Classics (DMLC) and it was planned that DMLC students would work with students in the English Language Institute (ELI).

The opening of the Language Resource Center also brought with it a multiple concerns by interested parties on campus. Administrators are interested in seeing a payoff from financial investments made in equipment, software, and personnel. Students, especially those with limited computer experience, might be intimidated by computer technology in language learning. Faculty and graduate teaching assistants have several different kinds of concerns, such as wondering if their own computer skills will be adequate. They also question whether computers will eventually replace them, particularly as distance learning increases on campuses nationwide. Pedagogical concerns include how, when, and even why to incorporate multimedia materials and work in the LRC into language curricula.

Fortunately, the LRC has been able to allay many of these fears. Due to the size of the lab and the flexibility of both hardware and software, it has been able to meet the various needs of both the DMLC and the ELI. As every workstation is identical and has access to the same materials, students can walk in, sit at any computer, and begin work in a familiar atmosphere. Changes and additions are made at the level of the server rather than on individual machines, thus ensuring consistency throughout the LRC.

As the LRC coordinator, I have tried to keep abreast of research and development in the field of instructional technology for language learning. I am a member of the International Association of Language Laboratories, which is the professional organization for language lab directors. Membership in this organization gives me access to colleagues all over the country as well as internationally whose experience is very useful in matters large and small.

Today, the lab is buzzing with activity as students work on virtually every language offered at the University. It is not unusual to see a student taking a Japanese quiz over the Internet, a student of German working with the CD-ROM that accompanies the textbook, and students listening to Spanish and French exercises on CAN 8 all sitting side by side. Many ESL students come in to work with CD-ROM materials as well as to check their email using international character capabilities not provided at other campus labs. Dr. Tatiana Tsakiropoulou-Summers, instructor of Modern Languages and Classics and a builder of The VROMA Project, brings Latin classes, both language and civilization, into the LRC to work with the interactive web site. VROMA is an Internet based project in which students of Latin are creating a virtual Rome with other students from around the U.S. Such a wide variety of student usage would have been unimaginable in the old tape lab.

The ELI director, Bill Wallace, views the LRC as a place for both study and friendship. "It provides a wonderful opportunity for both U.S. students who are studying foreign languages and international students who are studying intensive ESL to meet, get to know each other, and perhaps even become each other's language and culture partners."
Dr. Greg DeRocher, professor of French, praises the technology that allows him to track student progress and to customize materials for specific classes and even individual students. De Rocher said, "CAN 8 allows each instructor to monitor student performance, to track their progress, to rank the students, and to test them in the LRC with a simple click of the mouse. This software also allows instructors to author their own exercises, tailoring them specifically to each class and even to individual members of the class."

Jenny Davis, a senior, said, "I am taking Italian 101. My experience in this class has been greatly enhanced by the new Language Resource Center. I bought the supplemental lab manual for the Italian textbook, and am now able to work very easily with the audio materials. Instead of wasting time finding the right section on a cassette tape, I can devote my full attention to the Italian language. The sound quality is excellent, and I can hear and repeat any part of a lesson at any time.

Moreover, the LRC has a very fast Internet connection that allows me to visit sites like the Italian Embassy home page."
Intermediate French students also have positive things to say about the LRC. French student Lauren Ellis, said: "Our class has been to the computer lab several times and I have found it very useful. We used the CAN-8 program for grammar exercises, which helped with reviewing a lot. We also used web sites to locate French articles and supplemental information to use with our textbooks. We, as a class, always found the computer lab days to be both enjoyable and beneficial." A classmate, Haley Lawson, chimed in: "I really thought that the exercises that our class did in the computer lab were extremely helpful. I like the way you can answer all the questions, and then go back to see which ones you missed. I could really see a difference in my ability to understand the material when it test time came!"

The Language Resource Center at The University of Alabama offers far more than technological advances in the teaching and learning of languages. Faculty members call it a vast improvement over what was here before, and many of their concerns have been proven unwarranted. The technology enhances both teaching and learning in ways that were not possible before the advent of CALL. Indeed, it is the ease with which students can use computers to access and work with multimedia materials that allows the technology to fade into the background. As a result, the LRC enables both teachers and students the luxury of focusing on content, that is, what they are teaching and learning. When the technology functions behind the scenes and allows for fast, easy, and useful access to language materials, then the LRC is a success.