This article addresses the question, "Does the introduction of a language laboratory improve the functioning of a given teaching method?" Four experiments with the language laboratory are described and analyzed: the Keating and Lorge experiments in New York, the Jalling experiment in Sweden, and the Freedman experiment in Great Britain. These…

This article discusses the relationship between audiovisual methods and pedagogical strategies, or between technology and instruction, in second language teaching. Currently, the relationship between audiovisual methods and language instruction is one in which the audiovisual component is subservient, and plays a supplementary rather than a…

Instructional television via videotape can be a good source of assistance in alleviating comprehension problems that occur when foreign languages are taught by the audiolingual method. Television can be used in language instruction in two ways: demonstrations to the student or demonstrations by the student. Demonstrations to the student can…

Teaching Black English as a foreign language can improve communication between individuals and enrich the language patterns of Standard English. Essential areas of study in such a course (vocabulary, grammar, translation, and to some extent, environmental exposure) can be programmed on a computer. In fact, a computer supplies the perfect tool for…

The UNT project (Instructional Methods in German), begun in 1965 and ended in 1974, had as its principal aims (1) to investigate scientifically certain prerequisites for and methodological approaches to teaching German to Swedish comprehensive school pupils and (2) in the light of this investigation and with the aid of successive trails and…

While it is theoretically possible to exploit individualized instruction in the language laboratory, in practice this rarely happens. This article suggests transforming the language laboratory into a tape library, in order to achieve self-paced, individualized use of the lab. This solution is preferable to the traditional laboratory use from the…

A survey was carried out at the University of Nancy to determine how many students visited the tape library and how often, in one academic year. The academic year investigated was 1973-1974. One hundred eight students visited the lab the first trimester, 45 the second, and 14 the third. In general it was found that the more advanced the students'…

Language laboratories are especially neglected at the intermediate and advanced levels of foreign language learning. Teachers fail to avail themselves of an important teaching tool at a critical point, when the more mechanical aspects of assimilating the target language should give way to gaining an actual communicative competence in it. At the…

An experimental sound- and video-library has recently been established by the Centre de Recherches et d'Applications Pedagogiques en Langues at the University of Nancy II. This article describes the functioning of the library system and gives a brief explanation of the underlying pedagogical principles which have guided the design, choice of…

This article describes a program at the University of Nancy, for the teaching of introductory phonetic transcription to beginning students majoring in English. The alphabet chosen for this program, the English Pronouncing Dictionary Alphabet, lends itself particularly to use with beginners. Introduction to this alphabet takes place in ten sessions…

This is a report on the use of computerized instruction in some of the elementary French classes at the University of Illinois (Urbana campus). This project was initiated in the fall of 1968. The experiments were carried out on the PLATO III system until January 1973 at which time the PLATO IV system became operational for student use. This…

A survey was completed by 194 secondary school English teachers in Switzerland. Data indicate that: (1) a relatively small number of teachers have degrees from universities outside Switzerland; (2) the study of English generally does not begin until the age of 15; (3) the great majority of English classes meet for three or four hours a week; (4)…

The idea is prevalent that the presence of the language laboratory leads to better instruction. This is because the language lab is felt to further self-instruction and intensive learning. In determining the validity of this statement, various elements need to be taken into consideration, including student motivation and level, availability and…

In contrast with declining interest in the study of commonly taught languages in recent years, there has been a significant growth in the demand for instruction in the "neglected" or "other" or "less commonly taught" languages; schools and universities are therefore faced with the problem of providing the opportunity…

This paper presents arguments in favor of using partial dictation as a test of foreign language proficiency. In this kind of test, subjects listen to recordings of material in the foreign language and are required to fill in missing words in a written version of the recordings. Partial dictation is preferable to ordinary dictation in that: (1) it…