Teaching Communication Skills in Multimedia Language Lab: Advantages and Apprehensions
TEACHING COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN MULTIMEDIA LANGUAGE LAB: ADVANTAGES AND APPREHENSIONS
INTRODUCTION Communication is the ‘modus oprendi’ of social and commercial intercourse. It is communication which gets the world going. It is the ability of mankind to communicate across barriers and boundaries that has ushered the progress of mankind. Communication plays a crucial role in the functioning of organizations. Individuals use words to communicate. This process can be face to face or written in different roles and relations. Understanding the power of communication is essential for the success of any human endeavor.
TECHNOLOGY AND LANGUAGE TEACHING
To begin with the question whether computers really assist second language learning, many teachers who have never touched a computer tend to respond with an emphatic no; whereas, the overwhelming numbers of teacher who give computers a try find that they are indeed useful in second language learning. No doubt, computers make excellent teaching tools especially in teaching languages in any aspect, be it vocabulary, grammar, composition, pronunciation, or other linguistic and pragmatic communicative skills. The basic features of computers like speed, memory, accuracy, color, timing etc facilitate to present teaching materials in more attractive way, to preserve the material for future uses, to update them with little effort and there by improve the learning efficiency. It saves the learner’s time and provide for better learning environment.
FOUR SKILLS OF COMMUNICATION (LSRW)
LISTENING SKILLS (A key to understanding): we are given two ears but one mouth. This is because God know that listening is twice hard as speaking. Therefore, there is a common phrase saying that “be a good listener”, which contains a great truth about our personal as well as social dealings. The students need to achieve ability to comprehend telephonic conversations at relatively fast speed in Standard Indian English, British
INTRODUCTION Communication is the ‘modus oprendi’ of social and commercial intercourse. It is communication which gets the world going. It is the ability of mankind to communicate across barriers and boundaries that has ushered the progress of mankind. Communication plays a crucial role in the functioning of organizations. Individuals use words to communicate. This process can be face to face or written in different roles and relations. Understanding the power of communication is essential for the success of any human endeavor.
TECHNOLOGY AND LANGUAGE TEACHING
To begin with the question whether computers really assist second language learning, many teachers who have never touched a computer tend to respond with an emphatic no; whereas, the overwhelming numbers of teacher who give computers a try find that they are indeed useful in second language learning. No doubt, computers make excellent teaching tools especially in teaching languages in any aspect, be it vocabulary, grammar, composition, pronunciation, or other linguistic and pragmatic communicative skills. The basic features of computers like speed, memory, accuracy, color, timing etc facilitate to present teaching materials in more attractive way, to preserve the material for future uses, to update them with little effort and there by improve the learning efficiency. It saves the learner’s time and provide for better learning environment.
FOUR SKILLS OF COMMUNICATION (LSRW)
LISTENING SKILLS (A key to understanding): we are given two ears but one mouth. This is because God know that listening is twice hard as speaking. Therefore, there is a common phrase saying that “be a good listener”, which contains a great truth about our personal as well as social dealings. The students need to achieve ability to comprehend telephonic conversations at relatively fast speed in Standard Indian English, British
References: 1 Alessi, S.M. & Trollip S.R. (1985) Computer- based Instruction: Methods and Development, New Jersey, Prentice Hall. 2 Brmfit, C.& Johnson K (1979) The Communicative Approach to Language Teaching, New York, Oxford University Press. 3 Hardisty, David (1987) The Computer in the Reading and Language Arts, New Jersey, The Haworth Press, 81-93 3 Levy, Michael (1997) Computer- assisted Language Learning, Oxford, Clarendon Paperback 4 Littlewood, W. (1981) Communicative Language Teaching, New York, Cambridge University Press. 6 The Icfai Journal of Soft Skills, Vol III, NO 3&4, 2009 7 Underworld, John H 8 Wilga Rivers M. (1987) Interactive Language Teaching, Cambredge, Cambridge University Press.