LLAS Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies

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Multimedia Lab Teaching Awards 2009/2010

The Centre for Excellence in Multimedia Language Learning (CEMLL) invites proposals for the development of projects that facilitate language teaching and learning in a multimedia laboratory.

Games help you 'learn and play'
An article on the BBC news website, 18th January, 2005, suggests that computer games such as The Sims, in which players must control virtual people and societies, could be a good way of teaching languages.

E-learning symposium
Event date: 25 January, 2008
Location: Avenue Campus, University of Southampton

Resources Information Day: teaching languages through virtual learning environments
Event date: 4 December, 2002
Location: CiLT

Creating Web-based Resources
Event date: 6 April, 2001
Location: C&IT Centre, Hull

CALL Research Seminar
Event date: 1 February, 2002
Location: Leeds Metropolitan University

OpenLearn modern languages courses
The Open University has published several online language learning material on its OpenLearn website. The French module 'En ville' will suit absolute beginners while 'Bien dans sa peau' will suit those with some previous knowledge. The Spanish modules are available for beginners ('Espacios públicos'), upper intermediate ('La historia piedra a piedra'), and advanced ('Perspectivas porteñas' and 'Con mis propias manos'). The German materials include a unit at upper intermediate level about family life in Germany ('Lebensumstaende'), and at advanced level about regions and political structures ('Regionen, Traditionen und Geschichte').

Language Testing: Dialang: Diagnostic Tests for Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Icelandic, Irish, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish

DIALANG offers validated tests of different language skills, together with a range of feedback and expert advice on how to improve your skills. It also offers scientifically validated self-assessment activities and allows users to determine their language level, strengths and weaknesses as well as to increase their awareness of current skills and of what it means to know a language. It has been developed by more than 20 major European institutions, with the backing of the European Commission and is based on the Council of Europe's "Common European Framework of reference", which has become established throughout Europe as the most widely recognized frame of reference in the field of language learning.

Czech Online
A collection of materials for Czech learners inlcuding grammar exercises, reading, games, dictionary, essays. Most of the material is freely available for use, but the source must be acknowledged.

Authorware: The GISMO Project (Guildhall Interactive Software for Multimedia Online)
A selection of teaching materials produced by The Department of Humanities, Arts and Languages at London Metropolitan University using the authoring program developed within the department that allows language teachers to prepare their own audio-enhanced websites containing a variety of interactive exercises. Any educational institution is welcome to use this material. The software combines the ability to edit your own text and then to record someone reading it, all using the same program. The sound and text are then automatically integrated and a web page containing the exercises is generated.

REAL Reading and Listening for Adult learners of Dutch, Greek, and Swedish
A suite of reading and listening materials developed as part of an EU Lingua Project and in association with the TELL Consortium. Reading: Integrated suites of reading exercises, each containing a number of independent units based on an authentic text in the target language. Available in Dutch, Greek, and Swedish. Listening: Integrated suites of listening exercises similar to Reading Units and in the same languages, except that each exercise is based on an authentic audio passage in the target language

French: Reading French 2000
A web-based independent learning course for French for students at the University of Calgary but freely accessible to anyone who wishes to study the course autonomously and online.

Chinese: Language skills for Britain: dissemination of best practice
Over two years, from 2000 to 2002, within the framework of the FDTL 3 programme of the Teaching Quality Enhancement Fund, Oxford's Institute for Chinese Studies has developed an experimental approach to non-intensive teaching of Mandarin Chinese. It goes counter to conventional teaching strategies by isolating particular skills and focusing a teaching programme exclusively upon each one. The aim has been to learn through experience how much can be achieved with volunteer beginners in each distinct skill, and to devise materials which can contribute flexibly to teaching or learning regimes serving individual needs. The four-phase project has dealt with three basic skills – reading, speaking, listening – followed by the needs of native Cantonese speakers embarking on spoken Mandarin. In each case a pedagogical specialist from China, Taiwan or Hong Kong has spent a month in Oxford developing material, and a student-teacher from China or Taiwan has spent four months in Oxford working with a class of volunteers. Achievements and results have been monitored through systematic testing, and the whole programme kept under regular review at the national level by a seminar of professional Chinese language teachers

German: grammar question bank
This bank of over 1,000 questions was created using Question Mark Perception. It was aimed at first year Undergraduate students of German. The grammar topics covered include definite and indefinite articles, adjective endings, personal pronouns, demonstrative adjectives and pronouns, relative pronouns, indirect speech and verb tenses. Question types are either Selection (student chooses correct item from drop-down list) or Fill in Blanks. All questions have minimum feedback of correct answer; many have differentiated feedback and marking. The questions have been drawn mainly from GramEx German or devised using the Astcovea German concordancer. The bank can be used by institutions running Question Mark Perception to create diagnostic, formative or summative tests.

German: verbs with dative objects
This is a grammar exercise aimed at first year Undergraduate German students. It provides practice in the use of German verbs with dative objects. A list of 50 verbs is provided. The user is given a random selection of 20 sentences in English (from a library of 48) to be translated into German. Some vocabulary help is provided and the user can have up to three attempts at each question before the correct answer is displayed. This exercise was created using Question Mark for Windows. Institutions with a licence for Question Mark for Windows can copy the .qdt and .qdl files into their folder with Question Mark Presenter. Others must copy these files into a folder with Question Mark Testview (provided). Clicking on Testview (or Question Mark Presenter) should bring up a menu; select the programme and click 'Run'.

French grammar question bank
This bank of over 1,000 questions was created using Question Mark Perception. It was aimed at first year Undergraduate students of French. The grammar topics covered include possessive adjectives, partitive articles, demonstrative adjectives and pronouns, relative pronouns, direct and indirect object pronouns and verb tenses. Question types are either Selection (student chooses correct item from drop-down list) or Fill in Blanks. All questions have minimum feedback of correct answer; many have differentiated feedback and marking. The questions have been drawn mainly from GramEx French or devised using the Astcovea French concordancer. The bank can be used by institutions running Question Mark Perception to create diagnostic, formative or summative tests.

French: Listening comprehension - Club Méditerranée - transcription exercise
This is an audio transcription exercise aimed at first year Undergraduate French students. The recording gives information on the holiday firm Club Méditerranée and the kind of clients it attracts. There are buttons on screen which the user can click at any time to hear the whole recording or a short section of it. The user is advised to begin by listening to the whole recording at least once without trying to type anything, and then to listen section by section, typing what they s/he has heard. The user is allowed 3 attempts at each section, after which the work is checked for mistakes and automatically marked. The "Show Answer" button brings up the correct response and allows the user to proceed without scoring any points. During the course of the exercise the full correct transcript is compiled on the right of the screen. This exercise was created using Authorware. Provided the resources are in the same folder, double clicking the file '3clubmed' should launch the programme.

French: for beginners and general French grammar
Interactive exercises for French created using 'Interactive Language Learning Authorware' designed by Steve Cushion, Guildhall University. The materials come in two files (A and B) which are compressed files that can be self-extracted by clicking on them. The programs run using a web browser and can be started by clicking on the 'home' icon.

Spanish: grammar question bank
This bank of over 1,000 questions was created using Question Mark Perception. It was aimed at first year Undergraduate students of Spanish. The grammar topics covered include uses of ser and estar, definite and indefinite articles, object pronouns, prepositions, comparative and superlative adjectives, verb tenses and the subjunctive mood. Question types are either Selection (student chooses correct item from drop-down list) or Fill in Blanks. All questions have minimum feedback of correct answer; many have differentiated feedback and marking. The questions have been drawn mainly from GramEx Spanish or devised by Spanish tutors. The bank can be used by institutions running Question Mark Perception to create diagnostic, formative or summative tests.

Spanish: for beginners and general Spanish grammar
Interactive exercises for Spanish created using 'Interactive Language Learning Authorware' designed by Steve Cushion, Guildhall University (also available for downloading from www.llas.ac.uk). The materials come in two files (A and B) which are compressed files that can be self-extracted by clicking on them. The programs run using a web browser and can be started by clicking on the 'home' icon.

Arabic for beginners
Interactive exercises for Arabic created using 'Interactive Language Learning Authorware' designed by Steve Cushion, Guildhall University.

German: for beginners and general German grammar
Interactive exercises for German created using 'Interactive Language Learning Authorware' designed by Steve Cushion, Guildhall University. The materials come in two files (A and B) which are compressed files that can be self-extracted by clicking on them. The programs run using a web browser and can be started by clicking on the 'home' icon.

Promoting less-widely-taught languages. The outreach experience of the Foreign Language Awareness Group for Schools (FLAGS)

In the current downward trend in the uptake of languages, and especially of less-widely-taught languages, FLAGS aims at enthusing sixth-formers with an interest in either Italian, Russian and / or Portuguese through a series of language sessions delivered through the Virtual Learning Environment WebCT. Pupils' progress is aided and monitored by University students, who act as language facilitators on a weekly basis. This paper assesses the outcomes at the end of the first year of FLAGS' life, as well as the challenges met during the project's setting-up period and throughout its duration.

Implementing a digital multi-media language learning environment
This article examines a number of the practical and pedagogic considerations involved in the implementation of a digital language learning environment. It makes a distinction between digital audio-lingual and digital multi-media learning environments and focuses mainly on the latter which, because they provide a computer for every user, have rather more pedagogic potential (and are considerably more expensive) than digital audio-lingual systems. The article - presented here in shortened form - aims to providing readers with an analysis of the practical and pedagogic factors involved in deciding to move from analogue to digital materials.

Collaborative writing in Russian with shared text editor
A shared text editor was introduced into a Russian class in writing skills and used over a period of four years. It was initially adopted for its potential practical advantages over a traditional classroom whiteboard. Its use has led to new language learning activities that have contributed to the whole language programme and the writing class has become more integrated into the language programme as a whole. Opportunities for sharing and collaboration have been greatly increased and the role of the teacher has changed.

Towards a framework for expansion and collaboration: A web-based multilingual grammar resource

The paper aims to discuss: the use of an authoring package designed to produce interactive web-based CALL materials that integrate text and the spoken word; provide hands-on experience in the use of the authoring package; the integration of interactive web-based language teaching material into daily practice.

Developing Computer Skills

Focusing on the IT skills required increasingly of staff in areas of administration, research and classroom practice, this article distinguishes generic core skills from those required in more specialist situations (such as applied language study and areas of linguistics). A number of key sources of information and training are given, together with a brief review of forms of certification. Best practice is seen as knowing how to define clearly the skills one needs to develop and, having aquired a new capability, being able to show that one can use it effectively.

Technology-mediated learning
Introduction to the use of educational technology in higher education in the UK and beyond. This article provides an overview of the available tools and their effective use. It also mediates three major beliefs about the reasons for employing technology-mediated learning - appropriacy for flexible, distance and open learning, widening participation and cost-effectiveness.

CALL (computer assisted language learning)
An introduction to Computer Assisted Language Learning, including a brief history and mention of more recent trends (CD-ROMS, DVDs, the Web) and professional associations dedicated to CALL.