A multilingual class is one with a mix of students from various countries/cultural background who may speak diverse languages. It is not possible for the students in a multilingual classroom to chat in their first language or to clarify a doubt in the language structure, syntax or pronunciation clearly. English as a global language is most commonly used by people in such situations. This is really a big challenge for students, yet they get a great practise.
Digital language lab can be used in a multilingual classroom where most of the students speak different languages. Students in the multilingual contexts with different learning styles usually struggle to communicate with their classmates properly. Language lab software is a great aid for teachers in such contexts. In a class of mixed students with varied culture and language, teacher’s role is to scaffold them, encourage them to actively participate in the class, give proper guidance to learn academic and English for communication etc. By using multimedia language lab, the teacher can pair or group the students to assign works to get them out of their comfort zone by attempting new approaches in learning English.
By understanding the diverse language backgrounds, proficiency level and experiences, teacher can tailor-made the instructions and resources. Language laboratory as an ICT enabled language teaching aid helps the teacher to customise the instruction and study materials according to the need and difficulty level of learners.