We know that reading is an activity done with a specific intention. Sometimes, this reading might be for attaining knowledge, information, entertainment or for exam purpose. Whatever it is, reading is considered essential in learners’ life.
In a classroom atmosphere, getting chances for individual reading is really painstaking. Hence, teachers cannot evaluate each student’s reading ability in this forty-five minutes class. Digital language lab is being introduced in schools as a solution to this problem. By using this tool, teacher can assign lessons to students for practice reading individually or in group and can monitor and evaluate their reading with or without the knowledge of student. Language lab facilitates maximum time for students to expand their reading ability.
Reading as the third element in language learning helps the learner to coordinate their eye movements, to relate symbols they hear with those they see in print, to identify grammatical structures, to learn the spelling of words etc. Beginner level learners can use language lab to read after listening to audio version of the text. Provision to read the text listening to the audio, repeated comprehension, speaking what they hear, and comparing the recorded video with the original one will help the reader to understand the mistakes they committed.
The online reader tool in language lab software can be used by the teacher to assign reading materials to the learners. The instructor can mark learner’s mistakes regarding pronunciation, intonation, stress, and modulation during the session or afterwards. They can give error correction exercises as well after evaluating the reading exercise done by the students.