The Language Teacher
06 - 2003
Minidiscs: An aid for teachers and students
Iain Lambert
Tokyo Denki University
<iain@naa.att.ne.jp>
QUICK GUIDE
Key Words:Minidisc
Learner English Level: All
Learner Maturity Level: Young adult and above
Preparation Time: None, however, you should take time to familiarize yourself with the equipment
Activity Time: Open-ended
Materials: Minidisc player, external microphone, speakers, headphones
Minidisc (MD) players are popular in Japan and may eventually replace standard audiocassettes. Here are some suggestions for using them in the EFL classroom.
Benefits of MD
Although you can do much the same with MDs as you can with cassettes, when it comes to basic functions like record and playback, MDs have the following advantages and extra functions that the teacher might find useful.
MDs provide higher quality recordings than cassette tapes and can be erased and re-recorded any number of times with no noticeable loss of quality. Normal stereo recording on a 74/80-minute disc can be doubled to 148/160 minutes in mono. MDs are also easy to edit. Recordings can be divided (given track marks), labelled, and named electronically so it's easy to find what you're looking for. Tracks can be moved, erased, or split/merged. You can, for example, record ten seconds of silence to put into a recording so that a student can listen and respond, insert comments into a student's recording, or delete stretches of silence at the touch of a button. Shuffle/memory/single repeat functions also allow you to play tracks at random, in the order you choose, or repeat a track any number of times. MDs are more portable than cassettes and cassette recorders. Leading on from this, here are some practical uses I've found for MD players in and out of the classroom.
Student-centred activities
In class
With just an MD player and speakers/headphones, you can set up a portable Self-Access Centre in the classroom. Set up two or three desks at the back of the room with MD players. Students can work solo using headphones or in pairs/small groups if there are small, external Walkman speakers (such as those available from Muji for ¥2,000). This is particularly useful for students who finish assigned tasks early. Just give them a prepared MD and a worksheet, and off they go.
For dictation, the single repeat function allows students to listen to one section of the recording as often as they like. For dialogue practice, one-sided dialogues/phone calls can be easily made up by adding track marks, then editing out one side of the conversation and replacing it with silence. For listening comprehension, record and edit stories or conversations and make accompanying worksheets.
Outside the class
For projects, students can use MD players with external microphones to record and edit audio guide commentaries for gallery/factory tours. Other students can visit the site using the prepared guides and report on how useful they were.
Prediction activities
Select a scene from a movie and record the dialogue to MD. Add track marks and check the running time of each line of dialogue, then replace certain sections with an equal amount of silence and play the video/DVD using the prepared MD as the soundtrack. This helps prediction skills and lets students play one of the characters using their own made-up dialogue. Conversation jigsaws can also be created by recording a conversation or story and adding track marks after each turn or section. Put the MD player on shuffle mode and have students try and guess the context or reconstruct the text from what may initially appear to be a series of unrelated utterances. Alternatively, delete certain parts, replace them with silence, and ask students to fill in the gaps with their own ideas.
Assessment activities
When recording oral interviews or other examples of students' work, the date/time stamp on some MD players conveniently lets you know exactly when a recording took place and thus measures students' progress. You can record feedback regarding pronunciation or grammar, for example, onto a student's disc, and insert it at the appropriate spot.
Problems/caveats
- It's important to check sound levels before recording.
- You can't conveniently record from one MD to another.
- It's difficult to save MD recordings on a PC.
- MDs may be superceded, but by most estimates will probably be in use for the next 15-20 years.
For an in-depth discussion of the medium see: minidisc.amulation.com
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