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 the place of the language laboratory in the audiolingual, situational, cognitive, and pragmalinguistic approaches to foreign language teaching. Finds that laboratory work can help in achieving some of the goals of "communicative competence," and suggests some criteria for judging such work. (IFS/WGA)

In a discussion of video technology and language learning, video is defined as any form of language-teaching (LT) material that can be shown on a television monitor, excluding interactive video. The first part of the paper presents a possible pedagogical framework for video in language learning. The role of video is: (1) to provide a source of…

An experimental year of oral testing using the language laboratory at Victoria University is described. A new first-year 12-credit course is primarily a language course based on audiovisual/lingual methods. The content, evaluation, and administration of oral expression tests and performance tapes are covered. (SW)

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)

Provides an overview of the most widely used methods of classroom oral testing, as well as evaluations of their practicality and conformity to the goals of communicative teaching and testing. Also described are ways the video camera and task-based activities have successfully been used to make oral testing a more realistic communicative…

There has been a growing interest in the use of the computer in language learning because of its capacity to offer interactive learning and to handle a much wider range of activities than other educational aids. Although the traditional view of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) implies the substitution of the computer for the teacher and…

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…

The injection of conversation/discussion sessions into English language laboratory exercises could help to achieve the major objective of teaching English as a foreign language--helping the learner to express himself in English. Steps in developing the method are outlined. (SW)