Language Lab

At University, the language lab was a vital part of the process of acquiring the requisite listening comprehension and pronunciation skills for effective communication in a second language. The iPad’s video and audio recording capability proved to be a very useful tool for providing meaningful and immediate feedback to students in a number of ways:

Grade 7A French students wrote and prepared dialogues, and then used the iPad to record themselves. By listening and watching their recording they had an opportunity to self-correct, pausing and replaying any passages that were challenging for them;

I was able to work with one pair of students while another pair recorded a dialogue; as a result, I could provide meaningful commentary on the efforts of this latter pair after the fact. This provided me with greater flexibility with my class time; I could replay the recordings at any time – in class or during a lunchtime tutorial, for instance – and still provide individual and relevant feedback and instruction;

The students enjoyed using the tablet to record themselves and were motivated to do a good job. They were able to assess their performance and were able to re-record their dialogue until they were happy with the final version.

PH