Technology and Language Teaching

For me, the "ideal" language facility is a multi-faceted center that promotes, supports and enhances language education and research at all levels. To achieve these three levels of service, a successful language center must be attuned to the varying needs of its patrons, be they undergraduate language students, language and literature faculty, or community members interested in improving their language knowledge. For the majority of beginning, intermediate or advanced language students, the language center is first and foremost a place to obtain resources to assist with their study of a second language. Beyond providing audio, video, software, and satellite television materials in the target language for checkout or in-house use, an exemplary language facility would seek to expand delivery of materials through other formats such as the Internet. Expanding access to materials in this fashion allows for the inclusion of more learner styles into the language learning equation and provides opportunities for non-traditional students that may have been overlooked in a more traditional language lab setting with limited hours and space. However, providing access to materials, though of extreme importance, should not be the only service offered to language students. On the contrary, a language center needs to provide other learning opportunities to enhance our students’ classroom experience. These opportunities may include:

• a weekly international film series showcasing foreign language films chosen according to a particular theme, such as horror, the role of war, the impact of children or expressions of humor in other countries’ national cinemas

• a study lounge for students’ use between classes with access to computers for e-mail and Internet use, televisions for viewing SCOLA or I-Channel broadcasts, and multi-standard VCRs for watching a favorite foreign language film or reviewing a video for class

• a language exchange service for students seeking no-cost tutoring in their target language on an individual level

Relationships with language and literature faculty are of equal importance. Again, an "ideal" language center must offer the typical basic services to support the language faculty’s teaching needs, but it must also avail itself to the innovative ideas and projects that an exemplary teaching faculty generates. From audio and video tape duplication, non-NTSC video conversions, satellite broadcasting requests and software purchasing input to support for foreign language e-mail, advice and training for multimedia materials production and grantwriting assistance for advanced research projects, the language center should serve as both a resource center and gathering place for faculty to research and share their ideas about successful language teaching.

Given my strong literature background, I also feel that a language center should not divorce itself from the teaching of literature. Rather, the importance of literature in the language training of our advanced undergraduates must be taken into account when developing materials for the language classroom, and it is my feeling that an ideal language center should foster this relationship. Reaching faculty and piquing their interest in new technologies is often a daunting task, yet a language center, which is proactive through providing hands-on workshops, guest speakers and support for materials development and research, would be instrumental in creating an atmosphere conducive to the changing needs and priorities of junior and senior faculty alike.

Finally, it is my belief that a language center in a college or university setting should cultivate relationships with the community at large. Outreach to language teachers in area high schools and middle schools is one example of a level of community involvement that could be achieved by a language center. Here, once again, technology plays a part in the implementation of an activities and syllabus database, which could be shared among those interested. Building and maintaining such relationships offers a link to a wealth of educational experience oftentimes left untapped, and promotes language learning among high school students, which directly influences enrollment in language majors at the college and university level. Thus, my vision of an "ideal" language facility draws together three separate, but not mutually exclusive, areas of service, reflecting not only the multi-foundational aspects of language learning, but also the need for supporting and cultivating communities of language learners.