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February 2005, Week 2

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From:
LLTI-Editor <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 8 Feb 2005 15:31:03 EST
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--- Forwarded Message from Jeff Magoto <[log in to unmask]> ---

>In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]>
>References: <[log in to unmask]>
>From: Jeff Magoto <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: LLTI Digest - 4 Feb 2005 to 7 Feb 2005 (#2005-21)
>Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2005 23:22:53 -0800
>To: Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum
<[log in to unmask]>

Dear LLTIers,
Yesterday's requests from David Pankratz about sources of
proficiency-based placement testing, especially oral/aural, and Gil
Koenigsaecker's about directions in lang. lab technology sound very
familiar. Like many on this list, we've been exploring both rather
extensively over the past year. (A summary of our initial efforts can
be seen at: http://babel.uoregon.edu/ortesol.html)

Actually, our neighbors at the Center for Applied Second Language
Studies (CASLS) have been plugging away at web-based testing for quite
some time and are in the process of re-calibrating and validating their
K-12 proficiency tests for university placements. David, you may want
to participate in their Listening pilots in Spanish and/or Japanese.
<http://casls.uoregon.edu/home.php>
CASLS' commercial partner, LLS, already has university placement tests
which make innovative use of sample collection in both speech and
writing, and are interested in delivering curriculum in similar ways.
<http://www.onlinells.com/onlinells/place.asp>
We've piloted their German PLACE tests and plan to use French and
Spanish over the coming year. Because of their online delivery and
distributed network of graders, the per student cost is very low, the
results (even for speaking and writing) are fast, and the feedback is
extensive.

For our lab's curricular needs, we've adopted the same speech
technology CASLS (and others on this list are now using), Flash
Communications Server. We hired Jim Duber (whose "you say tomato"
experiment impressed us very much) to develop an "always-on" virtual
tape recorder and  a version of his Let's Talk messaging system:
<http://duber.com/LetsTalk>. These two web-based apps plus our existing
streaming media tools have given us more capacity and reliability than
we were ever able to deliver in the console days.

The question of whether to go it alone with a build-it-yourself virtual
lab (and testing environments) or to go with the one of the established
vendor's is, of course, an intensely local decision. The good news is
that good choices are there to make, now. --jeff

Jeff Magoto
Director, Yamada Language Center
1236 University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403
[log in to unmask]
http://babel.uoregon.edu



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