Our List of the Top Digital Language

Lab Software Solutions

Who would have thought that what used to be frowned upon, even banned, in
classrooms can make this kind of a comeback?

Computers, tablets and smartphones—once the bane of language teachers the world
over, are now in full collaboration mode, helping teachers create the kind of lessons
students can’t help but love.

In this post, we talk about seven language lab software solutions educators can integrate
into their language classes. We look at how these technologies make language
acquisition a more exhilarating and engaging experience.

But first, we briefly talk about 3 mindsets that ensure educators make the most out of
these amazing technologies.

Ensuring Digital Language Lab Software Success

Nothing replaces the teacher

It’s tempting to simply sit back, relax and play second fiddle to cutting edge technology.
After all, teachers are all too human, and if there’s some software able to accomplish
their tasks, why get in the way, right? But don’t commit the mistake so many
PowerPoint presenters make—thinking and talking as if the slides are the show. But
truth is, in both instances, the human speaker/presenter will always be “the show.” You
will always be king or queen.

Technology can give you an extra pair of hands and that extra oomph to your class. It
can make your job a little easier and sure, it can save you time, but it will always be
your job to educate and mold those students. You will always be holding the reins. No
matter the software in your language lab, it can never replace the passion of an educator.

A program can be made to be interactive and fun, but only a living and breathing
teacher can make funny faces, tell funny stories or find the humor in the mundane. It’s
still on you.

Active learning is key

Your students can place the same burden on tech and expect it to teach them a language
on command. But that should never be the case. The most productive of language
programs are those done with active participation and purposeful attention.

Language cannot be learned passively. It cannot be acquired through a thousand

mindless mouse clicks. If students are going through the motions, like Rapunzel waiting
for her prince atop a tower, then no software program will suffice. So, remind your
students to engage in every activity, every exercise, actively. If the program says “Okay,
repeat after me, ‘Water, water, water,’” they better be cooperating 100% and really get
on with the program.

Repetition will be key. It’s not all about finishing the modules and getting through every
task. It’s about going at it over and over until concepts are learned like the back of one’s
hand. For technology to do its part, your students must be willing partners in the
process.

Make use of the flexibility and feedback

Students are unique in that they have varying mixes of strengths and weaknesses.
Thankfully, today’s language solutions can easily factor that into consideration, for
example, by allowing students to study at their own pace or tailor-fitting a program
according to a student’s needs.

Today’s classroom technology is robust enough to respond to individual requirements.

Make use of this flexibility by allowing students to chart their own learning paths—
instead of compelling the whole class to learn the same things at the same time. Gone
are the days when a class is considered a single, homogenous blob.

In relation to this, you should also make full use of a software’s feedback system. The
lessons are for the students, the feedback mechanisms are for you. There are plenty of
takeaways from those progress reports you receive. You’ll get a clearer picture of how
each member of the class is doing. For example, you’ll know who’s having trouble with
what topics. This would, ideally, inform your future lessons. Armed with insights, you
are in a much better position to effectively guide your students to language mastery.

So, if you are to make the most out of your language lab technology, you need to be
fluent on flexibility and feedback.

7 Digital Language Lab Software

Solutions for Your 21st Century
Classroom
FluentU
FluentU brings cutting-edge video content to your language classroom.

FluentU’s carefully-curated authentic videos are actually pre-packaged mini-language

lessons. They have been subtitled, translated and annotated by professional translators
so your students can comfortably follow every clip. Whether they’re watching a movie
trailer, a music video or an interview, they will be immersed in content packed with
lessons and insights.

FluentU’s interactive transcription technology works like magic. Whenever a student

doesn’t understand a word in the subtitles, they merely have to hover the pointer or tap
on that specific item and outcomes everything they need to know about the mystery
word, including translation, definition, pronunciation, images, audio and even usage
examples!

FluentU is a powerful learning system that comes with progress tracking—allowing you
to spot pain points so you can cover them in class reviews. Your students will pick up
vocabulary and grammar, and hone their listening and reading comprehension. They’ll
also be competent to perform communicative tasks.

Best of all, its cloud-based system is a breeze to set-up. No installations are needed and
you can begin with as few as 10 students. So, if you’re teaching English, Chinese,
Spanish, French, German and Japanese, be sure to ask for the free trial.

DLL Language Laboratory System

Imagine a class where each student is busy looking at her own computer screen. DLL is
a language teaching software that allows for pronunciation practice, video presentation,
audio broadcasting and quizzes to be integrated into your language classes.

The system prides itself of its “Courseware Building” feature which allows teachers to
create multimedia language lessons in advance. You can make use of slides and images,
for example. But aside from creating original material, DLL can be the platform where
you display 3rd party content you find online.

There are two modes of learning: Teaching Mode and Self-Learning Mode.

The “Teaching Mode” lets you manage the pace and direction of learning. You control
what students see or hear on the computer screen. You may call on a student and ask
him to speak into the mic. For example, you can ask him to pronounce a word, to which
you can give you instant feedback. The class listens to you and engages in activities as a
group.
In the “Self-Learning Mode,” students continue to learn the target language even
outside of class. With their own devices accessing DLL, they can review the lessons, do
the exercises and work on the assignment you’ve prepared. (Both modes have their own
merits.)

Still unsure if the system is for you? Get the DLL trial download and see for yourself.

Mythware Language Lab

Mythware Language Lab is a top-notch facilitator of language instruction in a class

setting. Mythware is able to do this because the interface was designed, first and
foremost, as a classroom management tool.

You practically have complete control of your students’ activities on this one. With your
own console, you see what goes on in each of your students’ monitors. You can
whitelist or blacklist websites for the class, you can even determine if their USB ports
work or not. You can also fire up the device’s camera so you have an actual visual of
students as they work through your activities. All these you can do, remotely—with the
click of a button.

Language educators can broadcast lectures and give demonstrations by controlling the
audio and video coming through every monitor and headset. You can stream a foreign
language film or any prepared multimedia lesson, for example. You can conduct
pronunciation or vocal exercises and encourage class participation. Quizzes and tests
can be interactive and you can check in real time how every student is responding.

Mythware Language Lab really puts you in the driver’s seat, with your students being
willing and happy participants.

Orell Digital Language Lab

Orell claims to be “best in class” and promises to teach your students all the four
language skills—listening, speaking, reading, writing. And it does this in a very
particular order. Listening and speaking come first. Reading and writing come later.

Program developers believe that this is the most effective way to learn languages
because it is the order in which we learned our first tongues. When we learned our first
languages, we weren’t writing words or reading grammar textbooks early on—we were
listening and babbling.

Orell follows up on this Philosophy by providing plenty of pre-recorded native speaker

voice, accent and pronunciation training. The students’ job is to listen, hone their ears to
the target language and become familiar with its rhymes and rhythms. After listening,
they are to pronounce and mimic how a native speaker sounds like. There is a voice
recording feature that allows students to listen and modify their own vocal work.

The instructor’s console can monitor each student the whole time, privately correcting
and providing input if need be. Like other language lab solutions, you will have the
ability to assess student performance, and can even assign a particular lesson to a
student if you think it will help.

Zybro Language Lab

The Zybro Language Lab affords your students the flexibility to learn the language at
their own pace, and in the privacy of their own personal consoles. The company argues
that this language lab set-up really helps shy students and encourages learners to speak
more freely compared to the traditional classroom setting.

Students develop their language skills by engaging with a “master stimulus,” native
speaker audios that serve as modules building in complexity as the lessons progress.
There’s a recording feature that allows students to save their output and compare it with
native speaker pronunciation.

The teacher’s console allows for access to each terminal so that the teacher can give
individualized attention without disrupting the work of others. You can assign pairs and
create role-playing exercises so students can converse and practice with each other. You
can also monitor those conversations, facilitate the interactions and give constructive
criticisms when needed.

The language lab set-up allows pairs to have more time for practice. In a traditional
language class, everybody else keeps quiet and pays attention as one pair goes to the
front of the class to say their piece. But in this set-up, all the pairs are doing their thing
at the same time. Productivity for all is increased.

The pairs (or groups) don’t even need to leave their seats. With Zybro Language Lab,
your students learn language at the speed of light.

Smart Class Plus

All language lab systems feature some kind of audio pronunciation practice that requires
students to speak into their mics and mimic native speakers. Checking recorded output
would then be done by students themselves or by the teacher listening to individual
recordings. Smart Class Plus cuts through all the trouble by using A.I. that can “listen”
to student pronunciations and quickly determine how close they are to being accurate.
This time, students can know how they’re doing, make some adjustments, without all
the inherent bias of self-assessment. Educators, for their part, can quickly scan how
students are faring by looking at the automatic assessments provided by speech
recognition technology.

Smart Class Plus is also able to run in any device—iPads, smartphones, laptops—not
just the computer terminals of the school’s language lab. Because the program can be
safely hosted on the cloud, students can continue working on the target language on
their own, wherever they are. You can send them off with assignments and homework
that they can submit outside class schedules.

Truly, Smart Class Plus can help your students learn any language, from any place, at
any time and on any device. Request for a demo today.

School Shape

The School Shape system follows the principles of the Communicative Method where
language is taught through authentic, task-based activities. After all, the goal of
acquiring a language is so that one can adeptly use it to communicate with others.
Students are placed in context and input rich situations where they would have to use
the target language in order to accomplish a task—like introducing themselves to a
stranger, asking for directions or ordering food at a restaurant.

The different activities in School Shape—whether they’re about listening, speaking,

reading or writing—are geared towards a communicative mindset. You don’t have
empty drills of phrases or sentences that students will never encounter in life, like “The
green cat jumped over the pink elephant.” All activities are purposeful and experiential.

The system also allows you the full range of assessment tools including: drag-n-drop
exercises, multiple choice, fill-in-the-blanks and even essays. You also have a
“Worksheet designer” where you can spiff up those activities you broadcast to the
whole class.

Many schools in the US absolutely love School Shape—find out why. Register your
school today.

So, there you go! Have your pick of these language lab software solutions. And
remember, in spite all the surreal advances in technology, there will never be a
substitute for a teacher who has her students’ welfare at heart. For all the ungodly
discoveries science and technology makes every day, a passionate teacher will always
be at the very heart of every language class.

Good luck!

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