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Language lab inaugurated

THALASSERY: Can a multimedia language laboratory displace classroom instruction by which students learn language skills from a teacher?

This question was raised at a function to inaugurate the language laboratory of Kannur University’s department of studies in English at the Thalassery campus in Palayad, here on Wednesday. The fully digitalised fifth generation language lab, the kind that was inaugurated at the department, was set up with financial assistance from the University Grants Commission. The computer software-aided lab had facilities that would allow the learner to develop their English language skills on their own.

T.B. Venugopala Panicker, former Dean of the Faculty of Languages and Literature at Kannur University inaugurated the lab.

He said that the language lab was only a teaching aid which was a supplement to teaching languages in classrooms. It could never replace a teacher.

He also said that many language labs in colleges were defunct today because of not being utilised properly.

University Registrar K.M. Abdur Rasheed, who presided over the function, said that the teaching of English had deteriorated in the past. With the introduction of modern facilities to develop language skills, English could now be taught in the way it was expected to be taught.

Head of the Department of studies in English S. Josh said that vary rarely had the students as well as people belonging to different professions got facilities to improve their speech skills in the past.

As the English language was becoming popular all over the world, language labs gained significance. With software-assisted teaching of language skills, students were able to learn about language use without much support from the teacher, Dr. Josh said.

Campus Director M. Haridas and former head of the department M. Dasan offered felicitation.

The department plans to develop modules to help students from other institutions and people from different professions learn the skills of English language and communicative abilities.

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