INNOVATION IN LANGUAGE EDUCATION

Language Laboratory

Presented by: Hendra/NIM: 060954

Innovation in Language Education

In line with the development of EFL teaching, there are some media and devices to make EFL teaching simple and easy. One of the most outstanding devices in EFL teaching is language laboratory (Lab) that almost every schools and institutions have been applying this device.

A.     Language Laboratory

Language laboratory is a set of equipment that has between ten or twenty booths, each equipped with a tape deck, headphones, microphone, and especially for modern lab with computer. The technology is organized in such a way that students can work on their own, can be paired or grouped with other students, or can interact on a one-to-one basis with the teacher. The teacher can broadcast the same taped material to each booth, or can have different students or groups of students work with different material. Students can interact with each other. 

B.     Characteristics of labs

Language Laboratories have three special characteristics which mark them out from other learning resources:

1.      Double track: the design of tapes and machines means that students can listen to one track on their tapes and record on another. They can listen back not only to the original recording on the tape, but also to what they themselves said into the microphone which is attached to their headset.

2.      Teacher access: apart from the separate language booths, laboratory also has a console terminal manned by a teacher who can not only listen in to individual students, but can also talk, with the use of microphone and headsets, with one student at a time.

3.      Different modes: from the console the teacher can decide whether or not to have all students working at the same time and speed because they are all listening to a master tape. Since teachers can group students mechanically, each pair or group can be given different material to work with.

C.     Advantages of the language labs

The language labs have many advantages, namely:

1.      Comparing: the double track allows students to compare the way they say things with the correct pronunciation on a source tape. In this way they can monitor and get feedback on their own performance, even without the intervention of a teacher.

2.      Privacy: Students can talk to each other (through their microphones), record onto the tape, wind and rewind tapes without disturbing their colleagues. Since every student is cocooned by their headphones, they are guaranteed some privacy, and they are free from the intrusion that the work of others would case in a normal classroom setting.

3.      Individual attention: when teachers want to speak to individual students in a laboratory they can do so from the console. The attention that teachers give to one student does not distract the others.

4.      Learning training: the language lab helps to train some students to really listen to what they say and how they say it. When they compare their pronunciation with the correct version on the tape, they begin to notice the differences, and this awareness, over period, helps them to hear and pronounce English better.

5.      Learner motivation: a worry about leaner autonomy in general, and self-access centres in particular, is that some students are better at working on their own than others. The language laboratory offers a good half-way house between teacher control and leaner autonomy since, although students work at their own pace, they are more open to the guidance of the teacher.

D.    Activities in language laboratories

1.       Repetition: the simplest use of a double-track laboratory is repetition. Students hear a word, phrase, or sentence on the tape. A space is left for them to repeat what they hear, and the word, phrase, or sentence is then said again, so that they get instant feedback on whether they have spoken correctly.

2.      Drills: based on Audio-lingual methodology, language laboratories have often been used for substitution drills, using the same basic model as the repetition example above. The difference is that the student has to work out what to say before the tape voice then gives the correct response.

3.      Speaking: language laboratories can give students the opportunity of speaking in a number of ways. They can record their own talks and speeches and then listen back to them and make adjustments in the same way as they draft and redraft written text in a process-writing approach. But the tape can also ask them a series of questions which encourages them to practice language which they have recently been focusing on. In language lab individual students can play and replay questions until they are sure what they are being asked. From console, teachers can listen in and give focused individual feedback.

4.      Pairing, double-plugging, and telephoning: almost any interactive speaking activity can be performed by students at different booths who are paired together. They can describe objects or people for others to identify. They give directions for their pair to follow on map and they can make decisions, on role-play dialogues. Together they can plan and tell stories.

5.      Parallel speaking: Adrian Underhill (1994: 181, 186-187) gives two examples of parallel speaking, where students are encouraged to imitate that way the teacher says something and, because of the double-track system, do so at the same time as the teacher is speaking.

6.      Listening:  listening of all kinds can be practiced in language lab. Activities such as note-taking, dictation, findings differences between a written text and a taped account of the same events, and answering comprehension questions can all be performed successfully in the lab setting.

7.      Reading: students can read text and then record their answer on tape.

8.      Writing and correcting writing: language labs allow teachers to give individual, private spoken feedback on students’ written works.

References:

þ Aziz, E. Aminuddin Introduction to language laboratory, upgrading course for teachers of Madrasah Aliyah, Bandung, West java, 2003

þ Panduan singkat cara pemakaian Lab Bahasa Tanderberg TLC-1000, PT. Visicom Citra Perkasa. Jakarta