Teresa MacKinnonLanguage Centre,

University of Warwick

Voice over the internet: user perspectives on voice tools in language

learning

Overview:• The Language Centre context• Affordances of voice tools • User perspectives study• Data collected• Examples of other uses• Best practice

Context• Language Centre, 3500 students a year, 8

languages for academic credit.• Business language teaching operation• 4 sanako digital labs, moodle vle• Interest in ICT for teaching and learning• Increasing importance of oral/aural skills

Voice tools• Range of easy to use, international process tools

to support spoken language over the internet• One basic interface: the voiceboard

Themes• Tutor role• Error correction• Affective factors: in technology and in

language learning• Technical management and support

Data collection• Practitioner interviews and questionnaires• ICT “can do” questionnaire (based on Davies,

2004)• “Traveler metaphore” (Steiner Kvale,1996)• Walkthrough interviews (Garfinkel, 1967)• Bildungsreise • Quantitative data from software

ResultsVoice tools created

02468

101214161820

date

nu

mb

er

voiceboards

voice email

oralassessments

podcaster

Conclusions• Useful process to encourage dialogue• Community of practice• Reflective practitioners• Importance of awareness of research• Student engagement and desire for control!

www.uwe.ac.uk/elearning

Best practice notes:• Importance of understanding nature of

communication• Management awareness of relative

advantage• Opportunity for shared reflection and

student input• Use may challenge language tutor

approach