Future of the Language Lab

[Tony Anemone]

I would like to thank everyone who replied off-line to my question
about language labs, summarize below the responses, and to invite
further discussion of the issue.

Most people who responded agreed that changes in the technology of
teaching and learning foreign languages (i.e., storage, saving and
sharing of information through digital means) are rendering or have
rendered many of the traditional functions of the language lab
obsolete.  In some cases, labs are still necessary because of copyright
issues (e.g., students may view films that cannot be shared on campus
servers in a lab), other schools need a lab to allow faculty and
students use foreign standards video material  (e.g., multi-standard
DVD players). At some campuses, the lab is the only place where all
students are guaranteed high-speed access to the Internet.

At the same time, it is clear that labs are adapting to new needs.
Among the most commonly cited needs for the future are:

        - a high-tech training facility for faculty to learn new technologies
relevant to language pedagogy (e.g., use                of weblogs by students on
study abroad, ;
        - an instructional facility to train students in foreign language Word
Processing, chat room programs, digital-                video editing projects,
etc:
        - a central location for satellite TV reception,. packaging and
distribution;
        - a backup facility for students to use when their laptops are in the
repair shop, etc.

Because of the changes in functions of the language lab, the job
descriptions of lab directors are also changing. In addition to the
traditional functions (e.g. hiring and supervising staff and student
workers, keeping the equipment working, etc.) the new lab director must
also run instructional workshops for faculty, advise faculty and
students on purchase and the use of software programs for foreign
languages, troubleshoot software incompatibilities and foreign font
problems. If anything, changes in the functions of the lab seem to be
increasing the demands on lab directors, as well as the needs of the
faculty and students for instruction and technical support.

Tony



Tony Anemone, Chair MLL
Associate Professor of Russian
P.O. Box 8795
Department of Modern Languages and Literatures
College of William and Mary
phone:          757-221-3636
fax:            757-221-3637

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