In the face of the unprecedented global workplace undergoing shifts influenced by technology and socio-economic changes, experts emphasise the need for children to be exposed to foreign languages early in life.
Early language learning, they say, is essential to improve a child’s cognitive development, enhance communication skills and increase academic success.
According to Victoria Duru, principal at Ronik International Schools, exposing children to foreign languages early is important because it will help them have a more global outlook.
Language laboratory provides practice in listening comprehension, speaking (listening and repeating), to reinforce the grammar, vocabulary, and function, grammatical structures, presented in class.
Having language laboratories will help schools address the lack of students’ interest in French, Chinese and Spanish, among other languages; and the poor performance of Nigerians in mastering foreign languages.
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Efficient communication skills are indispensable for the success of any country and its citizens; hence, to achieve efficient communication skills, education is required.
Education is an important tool for development. One of the clogs in the wheel of progress in Nigeria’s development today is the fact that the country is surrounded by countries whose official medium of communication is the French, yet the majority of Nigerians are illiterate in the language.
According to the federal government policy, education is an instrument “par excellence” for effecting national development. In the national policy on education, the French language is a compulsory subject to be offered at the primary and junior secondary school levels.
It can be offered as a non-vocational/elective subject. In line with this policy, the federal government, in collaboration with the French government, tried to promote the learning of the French language through various means.
However, there is one major issue that these governments have failed to address. This is the language laboratory (laboratoire de langue).
According to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, Language Laboratory is a room in a school or college that contains special equipment to help students learn foreign languages by listening to tapes, CDs, watching videos or DVDs, and recording themselves, among others. Language laboratories provide a facility which allows students to listen to model pronunciations, repeat and record the sounds, listen to their performance and compare with the model, and do self-assessment.
The language laboratory gives every learner the freedom to learn at their own pace. It does not require the teacher’s presence at all times. Teachers can however, assist students individually or collectively.
In fact, the language laboratory is a very helpful tool for practicing and assessing one’s speech in a language. Language laboratory is used for learning pronunciation and all other aspects of the phonetics of a language.
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Adebola Olubanjo, lead consultant/ vice chairman at Ronik Group of Schools, Ejigbo in Lagos State, explained that with language laboratories, the school can teach in addition to English Language, French, Chinese and Spanish languages, to prepare students for diaspora community and labour markets.
Experts posits that to acquire the sensibility of the sounds and rhythm of a language, one has to hear the best samples of all spoken language.
David Wilson and Thayalan in their study opined that a language laboratory is required by any language learner to have a good command of the language for communication purposes, with clarity and accuracy being vital for effective and efficient communication.
Research has shown that the students taught in the language laboratory and classrooms achieved better in foreign language mastering than those taught in classrooms only.
Hence, there is a need for language laboratories in the effective implementation of the foreign language curriculum in Nigeria’s primary and secondary education for quality learning outcomes.
