EXPECTED RESULTS FROM IMPLEMENTING THE SONY VIRTUOSO/SOLOIST

TECHNOLOGY INTO A LANGUAGE PROGRAM INCLUDE:

 1. Efficient Oral Testing Methods: The instructor can complete oral testing in half the

time normally spent on this task using traditional methods. Provides accountability

for student progress.

 2. Efficient Use of Space: Efficient space management is practiced since the

networked computer lab room can be utilized for other disciplines, when not in use

as a language laboratory facility.

 3. Language Skills are Improved

            A. Listening comprehension: This skill implies listening and understanding what we

hear. Instructors use the lab during a class session to propose activities such as

listening to authentic music and dialog, drills, and pairing students for exchanges

or debates in the chosen language that directly target this skill in a seamless

transition from one activity to the next. This makes the class session more time

efficient than in the past. Students are thus introduced to live language earlier

than was possible with more traditional methods. A more natural, contextualized

environment is created to better simulate an authentic immersion experience.

B. Speaking: Speaking is the productive skill in the oral mode. The lab allows

students to practice this skill in interactive and limited-interactive ways. Limited interactive

ways are for example exercises that make students record and replay

their voices, using a comparative recorder that allows them to evaluate their own

pronunciation against a given model. The instructor can then immediately

evaluate the oral pronunciation progress and provide corrective suggestions to

the students. Full interactivity is possible as well using the voice communications

capability of the lab. Group or pair discussions and/or debates offer the possibility

of multiple-partner discussions as well as immediate feedback from the instructor

to each student or group.

 C. Reading: Reading is the receptive skill in the written mode. If it is true that the

lab’s greatest value lies in expanded possibilities of oral interactivity, it also

dramatically enhances the development of reading skills. Instructors can prepare

reading exercises in text file form that can be paired with their audio production.

Students can then open the two files simultaneously by clicking on the audio file

thus reinforced by listening to the correct pronunciation and intonation. Screen

sharing exercises are also key to promoting reading. When students

simultaneously work on the same file visible on two computers, it encourages

cooperative learning with one of the partners to do Internet research in the target

language thus reading on one computer while the other partner incorporates on

the second computer the information obtained in the written document they are

asked to produce in the other.

 D. Writing: Writing is the productive skill in the written mode. Screen Sharing is

important for improving writing skills because it involves student paired written

activities with the opportunity for immediate feedback from the instructor.

Moreover, a variety of other writing activities, such as chat room activities and

other descriptive assignments, related to the three other skills reinforce the

development of writing.