--- Forwarded Message from Judy Shoaf <[log in to unmask]> ---

>Date: Thu, 17 Oct 2002 09:27:51 -0400
>To: Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum    <[log in to unmask]>
>From: Judy Shoaf <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: #6894.3 renaming the lab (!)
>In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]>

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>
> >From: "Susan Gehrlein" <[log in to unmask]>
>
>Our 'Lab' is really the 'Foreign Language Learning Center' or 'FLLC', but 
>everyone, including me, calls it 'The Lab'. So, good luck trying to change 
>names.
>

Mariana--the UF lab became the LLC in the mid or late 80s, according to my 
research--but I still often use the word lab to clarify what it is (e.g. on 
the phone). People associate a "language lab" with foreign-language 
learning, but because the schools now call English reading and comp classes 
"Language Arts," they sometimes think of the Language Learning Center as a 
place to get tutorial help on writing their English papers, etc.
I assume that the term language lab originated to dignify and scientificize 
<grin> the role of media in language learning, but because for so long 
language labs were associated with rote drilling or boring technology I 
think the term quickly lost its glamor.
We have not been a single "center" (rooms in different buildings) for 
several years, and as I say the name has become confused with "language 
arts" but I wouldn't change the name here just because it is so tedious for 
people to have to learn new names. If you do change, I think it's good to 
go with some kind of pronounceable acronym (like LARC) to make it easier to 
recognize. (Our Office of Instructional Resources here recently became 
Office of Academic Technology, but they chickened out on the OAT acronym 
after a few jokes and just use AT).

Judy Shoaf
University of Florida