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| Former Language Lab |
The Language Lab has seen many changes over the past few decades as it has worked to adapt to the expanding language curriculum at Williams and technological developments in the area of foreign language instruction and learning. The Lab occupies a central presence in Weston Hall, near to classrooms and faculty offices in the Center for Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures.
Visitors to Weston Language Lab will find a computer "classroom" outfitted with sixteen MACS that may be reserved for class use on a single or regular basis. Additionally, the Lab retains audio, video and satellite carrels for independent study as well as new computers - both MACs and Dells - all of which browse the Web, have CD-ROM players and are fully equipped for multimedia use. The MACs perform word processing in all Latin character-based languages, in addition to Chinese (simplified and traditional), Japanese, and Russian (transliterated keyboard). They house spell check in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. The Dells, in addition to having all the capabilities of the MACS, perform word processing in Korean. Dell spell checks cover English, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian and Spanish. Direct satellite links to Scola 1 and 2 and the International Channel are accessible here, as are multistandard VCRs for individual or small group use. The Lab's video collection of international titles is available here, too. A recording studio has recently been upgraded and is available for use. Video and digital camcorders, slide and overhead projectors, tape recorders, a document camera, color scanner and video transfer machine are available for teaching preparation and class use.