What are the Components of a Language Laboratory

Language lab software is designed to teach students any foreign language like Japanese, French, German, Russian in an easy way. In India, the language lab software is mainly used for teaching English language skills. The Digital language lab system is used in schools, universities, institutes, polytechnics, etc. for teaching English skills to the students. The language lab consists of various components that help in the smooth functioning of the software.

• LAN – The language lab system works on local area networking. The systems are connected through local area networks or audio cabling for the smooth running of the software. LAN connection allows the teacher to see the computer screen of all the students and access them.
• Microphones – Microphones are used with headsets by teachers and students to communicate the English learning exercises and other activities for effective learning.
• Intercom switches – It is used for two way communication process. The teacher pronounces a word and asks students to pronounce in the same accent.
• Headphones – Headphones are used to listen to interactive video lectures for learning English skills content covered in digital language lab software.
• The media player / recorder – A recorder is used to record voice, audio recorder facility is provided in language lab software to record the voice and improve their accent. A teacher can assign them the lessons of reading a passage and ask them to record it.
• Monitoring switches – It enables the teacher to listen to the voice of the students whether they are pronouncing the word or sentence incorrect accent so that she can advise them and correct them.

Four Important Core skills of English language

The above components are important for efficient learning of English skills. They help you quickly understand the concepts of English through interactive and multimedia-based content.

The four important core skills of English language are listening, speaking, reading and writing i.e. LSRW technique.

Listening Skills

To acquire any knowledge we first begin with listening to that language until we listen to something, how we will grab it. In a class, the objective of a teacher is to inform the students about a particular topic and make them earn and understand readily.

Speaking Skills

Speaking is the second language skill. Speaking skills give us the ability to communicate effectively. When we listen to something repeatedly then we can learn, understand and also mimic the style of speaking that language. In the digital language lab, students are asked to listen to the topic and then try to speak.

Reading Skills

School Management software facilitates reading exercises with dictionaries and phonetics that help the students in a better understanding of exercises. This is very useful for the students to improve their reading vocabulary, a grammar section, fluency and comprehension skills.

Writing Skills

Writing is an important part of communication. Good communication skills help you to communicate your message with clarity. Communication skills lab help in improving writing skills which will automatically enhance the communication skills among students and bring confidence.

The Digital language lab system is an effective tool that facilitates classroom engagement as well as effective interaction between the teacher and students. Students learn more effectively through the language lab system as it motivates them in different ways.

• Self-learning: The structure of a language lab is user-friendly where a student can learn and practice exercises of grammar, vocabulary, spellings, etc.
• Better revision: Language lab software allows the students to revise the matter learned in the classroom at home with the login facility.
• Monitoring and evaluation: Students know that a teacher can assess them or monitor them anytime, so they pay attention to the topic and complete their homework also.
• Interactive learning: As the learning is based on animation and multimedia based videos that engage students for a long time and help them grasp and understand the concepts in an efficient manner.
• Foster communication: Language lab software helps in foster communication among students. The teacher uses different activities given in the software to make students speak like accent training, phonetics, chat, messages, etc.
• Quality teaching: A digital language lab has replaced the traditional teaching system completely. Students like these new teaching methods and participate actively in the classroom. They feel the traditional teaching system was monotonous.

Different types of laboratories and their components

There are various types of laboratories available in the market for teaching language. We will discuss the variety of laboratories and the components used with them.

• Conventional laboratory – It is used in earlier times, it consists of a tape recorder and audiocassettes to teach the language to the students. The teacher used to play the tape recorder and students used to listen to it and learn the pronunciation of the words.
• Lingua Phone laboratory – It is also a primitive based language lab system, where students are given headsets to listen to the recording through audiocassettes. It also has the feature of recording voice on a cassette player.
• Computer-assisted language laboratory – In this system, a computer is used to teach students the English language. The course material is fed into the computer and displayed to the students.
• The dial access lab – It is a broadcast operation where a student can access any tape given to him for learning English language skills.
• Wireless lab – In this type of laboratory system, wires are connected to the sources of students in this headset are replaced with radio transmission.
• Portable lab – As we all know that it is a movable lab, one can handle easily from one place to another. It is powered by batteries or portable electric generators.
• Mobile Lab – These labs can be moved from one room to another in a single building. The advantage of this type of lab is that any classroom can be converted into the lab. The disadvantage is it requires time and energy to set up.

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Language lab software does not only help in teaching effective skills but also in developing the overall personality of a learner. By providing various soft skills courses a learner can improve their personality and overcome the fear of facing an interview. Here is the list of benefits of language lab software.

• Acoustic – This system provides an equal opportunity for all the students to listen to the voice of the teacher and learn the lessons.
• Attention – It provides better attention to the students with the help of headsets. A student learns in a more focused environment with language lab software.
• Provide diversity in the classroom – Modern language lab software provides diversity in the classroom with so many activities included in it like accent training, phonetics, pronunciation, etc.
• Effective role-playing exercises – Students are grouped into small numbers and asked to converse on some topics. These types of exercises bring confidence in students and encourage them to submit their views on the topic given.
• Variety – The language lab provides variety to the students with the availability of different activities, games, etc. to learn English skills. The various activities involve students for a longer period.
• Oral testing – This feature allows the teacher to take an oral test of the students and record their voice and then they can assess the students by giving marks.
• Teacher monitoring – The teacher can monitor all the students at the same time with the help of the feature provided in the language lab system.
• Develop listening skills – Digital language lab helps in developing listening skills in students at a faster pace due to the use of advance technology like mic and headsets. Students can listen to the pronunciation of a word and can copy.
• Improve the efficiency of students – A digital language lab improves the efficiency of students by providing a friendly environment. It makes the most efficient use of time by teacher and student time ratio.
• Level based learning – The language lab system is based on three levels of learning; basic, intermediate and advance. One can learn based on their level whether they fall in basic, intermediate or advance level of learning.
• Soft skills – The soft skills courses like group discussion, interview jitter, personality development, resume writing, career skills, social skills, etc. helps in developing the overall personality of the learner.

With the growing competition, it has become essential to meet the requirement of the current demand for the English language. Excellent communication skills are the need of an hour. Without gaining good command over the English language, one doesn’t stand anywhere. Hence, digital language lab `glish skills.

Conclusion

The language lab system is a perfect solution as it is based on the academic curriculum and designed in a structured way that students can learn and grasp the concepts. It leads to high-quality teaching. It provides an attractive learning environment for the teacher as well as students. Students can practice any number of exercises, as language lab consists of a huge number of exercises to practice and ace in the exam.