Abstract:

I am the chair of a modern language department with 55 faculty members who teach nine languages. We serve over 2,000 students per semester. In 2003, we stepped away from the traditional language laboratory to design a state of the art facility. Now, faculty members and their students can create sound technology-based activities to enhance language acquisition. In this presentation, I will outline the process for inventing and running a foreign language laboratory. I will discuss the configuration of the lab, budgeting, and the choice of hardware and software. More importantly, I will stress the importance of “warmware”. Without well-trained and well-qualified staff, whose responsibilities include but are not limited to working with faculty and language students, maintaining equipment and replenishing our software collection, the hardware would remain grossly under utilized. I will list the different kinds of technology-based activities that have been developed in our LRC (Language Resource Center), and give examples of a variety of projects including Technology and Teaching award winners.

Keywords:

language laboratory, language resource center, language lab.