Multi-digital laboratory inaururatd at GCT
V. Palanisamy, Principal of Government College of Technology (sitting), Coimbatore, inaugurating the multi-digital laboratory at the college.Even though the in-thing being communicative English, there are only a handful of colleges that can boast of a language laboratory. But, the Government College of Technology here has a new multi-digital language laboratory.The state-of-the-art laboratory comes as a refreshing change from the primeval corridors and staircases of the Government College. With 32 private workstations complete with a monitor and headphone, the laboratory is well equipped to meet its requirement of helping engineering students “get over their inhibition to speak in English.”The laboratory has been planned under the aegis of the Department of English of the college and executed with financial aid from the Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme. The college has implemented the project under the Community Development Programme.“The laboratory is aimed at increasing the proficiency of students and teachers. They can hone their reading, listening, speaking and writing skills,” says the department head D. Edwin Joseph Raj.He has been aided by Young India Films in the choice of software for developing an ideal learning atmosphere for the learners at different levels – beginners, intermediate and advanced. The learner initially takes a test to evaluate his level of the language. Based on the evaluation the instructor suggests the ideal module that suits the candidate best.
The interactive language software has four modules with different levels. One is called “Live Action English,” for the beginners. “Study Skills Success” is aimed at those who are going to attempt IELTS. There is “Tense Busters” at five levels. There is also the TOEFL programme, which has 120 exercises in grammar, 170 in reading and 200 in listening.S. Suresh Babu of Young India Films, which has been supplying other colleges in the city with similar software, says: “Colleges are increasingly concentrating on developing communication skills of students.Companies that come for placement give importance to the presence of a language laboratory in the college. Most of the softwares we use are imported. This gives students an edge when they have to work in the U.S. or the U.K.
Indian software have the native sound with an accent.”Those using the software will not have the embarrassment of interacting with a live teacher. It can add to the excitement of language teaching and learning and can also serve as an effective supplement to those who are willing to deviate from the established practice of learning English through the “chalk and talk” method.According to principal V. Palanisamy, the laboratory will be made open to rural schoolchildren and teachers gradually. M. Palaniswamy and G. Anbalagan Vijay, both faculty of the department, have been trained to guide the learners.
