Plug and play

What goes on in a language laboratory?:

by Aditha Dissanayake

Say the words language laboratory. What comes to mind? Students clad in long white coats peering through microscopes at the supreme expression of creative consciousness - words? Scientists grouped together, conducting experiments on the vibrations of the vocal codes of the homo sapient? Bunsen burners, beakers, pipettes? Far from it, so I learn last Monday.

First however, a rigorous interrogation. Rigorous for the likes of me who has no head for figures and calculations. Here goes the question "There are twenty students in one batch who are given two hours at the computer per day.

If the language laboratory is open for eight hours a day, how many students will be using the laboratory within a single working day?" When Keith Livera, CEO of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Sri Lanka, (ICASL) looks up at me through his glasses and waits for me to answer the question, all I can do is stare at him, hoping my face would not betray how totally clueless I am when it comes to solving problems relating to maths.

When the silence prolongs, he begins to smile, and when I shrug my shoulders indicating I give up, he comes out with the answer. "Eighty".

Eighty! So far so good. Eighty students of accountancy, using a language laboratory to hone their skills in English. Yes. Agrees Keith Livera. "We are hoping to use this facility as an element of confidence building in our students and we believe we are unique because this is the first language laboratory in the country focusing specifically on an exact profession".

Then he balances his serious statement with a grin and a quip, in the way perhaps only an accountant can do. "In other words, all this is "plug and play".

Elaborating further, Sunil Karunanayake, Project Director, acknowledges that skills in communication are an indispensable component for the success of any professional, and adds that "ICASL as the premier national accounting body catering to students from all over the country is now meeting the needs of some of its students who require special inputs to overcome their limited exposure to English.

The proposed course using all modern techniques will be utilised to assist this sector to give that extra confidence to face the world."

Thus I learn the basic functions of a language laboratory. "A language has to be practised, heard and corrected and that if one has to reach out to people, one has to speak their language.

In short, to acquire the sensibility for the sounds and rhythm of a language, one has to hear the best samples of a spoken language. This is precisely the function of a language laboratory. It is a unique synergy of art and technology, taste and craft."

Explaining how the laboratory came into being Karunanayake says "ICASL was selected to be a beneficiary of a World Bank Grant IRQUE (Improvement of the Relevance & Quality of Undergraduate Education) that was essentially meant for the University sector and we were the only non University grantee at first, though an year later another two qualified to get the grant.

The project got delayed as sufficient knowledge was not readily available. We spoke to Universities, retired Dons, the Open university, the British Council before we finally got started".

Seeing it as a long hard journey with many obstacles Karunanayake believes the laboratory will improve the quality of future Chartered Accountants.

Finally, when I step inside the language laboratory it is hard not to grasp at its simplicity. Certainly no microscopes or pipettes or experiments here.

The medium sized room with twenty booths, computers, and headphones is utilized to its utmost under the surveillance of the English Language Coordinator, Achala Kodikara. Explaining the structure of the programmes at the laboratory she says "The beauty of this course is that we give the students the freedom to learn at their own pace.

We have twenty computers with multimedia facilities together with a specially selected user-friendly system which provides an environment for interactive learning that will foster the acquisition of communicative skills".

On to the next question. If eighty students use the language laboratory within a day, how many students will complete the course in five months? What do you do if you cannot calculate the answer? Run. That's what I did.

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