I have great pleasure in writing a foreword to the book entitled A Handbook for English Language Laboratories, jointly authored by Prof E Sureshkumar and Dr P Sreehari. Since I have gone through the manuscript very closely, I can say, without reserve, that it is a significant contribution to the field of English Language Teaching (ELT) in India. This study elaborately covers all such fundamental aspects like Computer Assisted Language Learning, Phonetics of English (with special reference to accent, rhythm and intonation) and communication skills.

I am particularly impressed with their presentation of interview skills, résumé writing, group discussions and debates. It is often not adequately realised that no success in any public career is possible unless one is fully equipped with these skills. Since, advancement in life depends essentially on one's capability to present one's personality as efficiently as possible, it becomes imperative that one should be equipped with these skills for interacting with others effectively.

Here is a book which should serve as an invaluable companion to anyone interested in improving communicative competence through computer assisted language labs.

In this unit you will learn about:

• what CALL is

• how CALL benefits learners and teachers

• how CALL helps in developing skills in English

• resources for CALL

• language learning softwares.

About CALL

CALL, an abbreviation for Computer Assisted Language Learning, is an interactive method of instruction that helps learners achieve their goals of learning, at their own pace and ability. In this method, computer technology is used in teaching/learning procedures at all stages such as presentation, practice and feedback.

Benefits of CALL

CALL:

• helps in enriching English language skills

• connects a learning place to the outside world

• helps in relating academics to the practical needs of the outside world

• serves as a ‘surrogate teacher’

• aids in collaborative and cooperative learning

• is ideal for carrying out repeated drills

• provides impartial feedback

• creates a realistic environment (for example, listening activities are combined with visuals)

• is ideal for integrating skills such as reading, writing, speaking and listening

• provides a choice of an appropriate learning strategy

• acts as a ready-reckoner for all queries in the field of language learning/teaching

Use of CALL in Classroom Learning/Teaching

With the reduction in the cost of computers, most educational institutions can afford to have computer systems. A computer lab is nowadays seen as an essential requirement in any educational institution because of the increased awareness among the students, teachers and managements.

In this unit you will learn:

• about debating

• the importance of debating

• how debates are conducted

• the essentials of debating

• about roles in debating

• to assess your performance in debates

What is a Debate?

Debate or debating is a method of interactive argument. Though a debate is basically an argument, it is not an indisciplined shouting match between parties (individuals/teams) holding different points of view.

Benefits of Debating

By participating in various debates you can

• enjoy the experience

• develop your communication skills

• arrive at a better perspective on different topics

Debate and Group Discussion

Debate differs from a group discussion in several ways. Debate is basically an argument where participants take a particular stand on a given topic and stick to it as they speak on it. A group discussion, on the other hand, is a cooperative process in which members discuss a topic and reach a consensus. You need to be very flexible in a group discussion. You need to consider others' points of view also. However, in a debate you need to have just one particular view point. In a debate, the number of participants could be from two to fifty or even more, whereas in a GD it is usually between five and fifteen.

Conducting a Debate

A topic is given for debating to individuals or teams. A team might consist of a minimum of two debaters and a maximum of fifty or more.

In this unit you will learn:

• to plan and prepare well for your presentations

• to open presentations effectively

• to establish rapport with the audience and sustain their interest

• to use body language effectively

• to handle questions from audience effectively.

What is a Presentation?

A presentation is a purposeful communication. In other words, it is the process of presenting a topic to an audience, with a specific purpose.

Who should Learn to Make Presentations?

Everyone. The skill to make a powerful presentation has now become an essential prerequisite for people from different walks of life.

• Students need to make presentations on various academic topics.

• Teachers make presentations as part of their teaching.

• Business professionals make presentations to customers to enhance their business prospects or to their peers to inform them of something.

How to Make Effective Presentations?

For your presentation to be effective, you need to plan the various aspects of it and make necessary preparation too.

Choose the right topic

Keep the following in mind while deciding on the topic. The topic must be

• something that interests you

• something on which you have a sound knowledge

• something relevant to your audience

Have a clear goal

Be clear about the purpose of your presentation. Is it

• to inform?

• to explain something?

• to entertain?

• to persuade or dissuade?

Have a central idea or thesis

The brief and clear statement that you use to introduce the central argument of your presentation is your thesis. This acts as a preview for your audience and tells them what the entire presentation is about.

In this unit you will learn:

• to play various roles, in a variety of situations and settings

• to use language to perform various functions

• many words/idiomatic expressions in English that can be used in day-today life

Role Play

In a role play, participants act out various characters or parts. Study and act out the dialogues/conversations given in this unit. They will help you function efficiently in a variety of situations and settings. Practise them with your friends, family members and others. You must act out the roles and also keep changing your roles as you practise. Each role play should be acted out, at least twice, with the participants changing roles. Audio or video recordings of role plays can be a very useful tool for getting feedback, or you can ask others to observe you and evaluate your performance.

Give more importance to how you say your dialogues. Stressing, pausing and intonation are very important. Be clear about the vocabulary and key sentences used in various dialogues. Read aloud the dialogues many times, and know what is expected of you, to make it sound natural as you act it out.

As you practise the dialogues below, you will learn the ability to use language for a variety of functions like greeting, leave taking, asking for information, giving advice, warning, asking for directions, answering telephone calls, expressing delight, expressing displeasure, congratulating, expressing pain and expressing fear.

In this unit you will learn about:

• word accent/stress

• rhythms in English

• contracted forms

• strong and weak forms

• intonation.

Word Accent/Stress

The beauty of the English language lies in pronunciation. Accent/stress lends naturalness and beauty to your English. If you can't pronounce words clearly and stress properly, your English might sound like ‘Tinglish’, ‘Tamlish’ or ‘Hinglish’! In phonetics, accent/stress means expending extra breath on a particular syllable in a word. It is a matter of greater prominence and greater audibility.

Accent is very important to make your speech intelligible. For instance, look at the words career /kəriə/ and carrier /kæriə/. Looking at the transcription you can say there is a slight difference between the two in pronunciation. But you can bring out the difference between the two very clearly by accenting them on the right syllables. So in the word career /kə̍riə/ the accent is on the second syllable and in the word carrier /̍kæriə/ the accent is on the first syllable.

The mark (') on the top of a syllable in a word indicates that the particular syllable is stressed. This is known as primary stress. Primary stress indicates that the syllable is more prominent than the other syllables. There might also be a mark below on a syllable in a word. This is known as secondary stress. This indicates that this particular syllable is the next most prominent syllable. But for our speech purposes primary accent is the most important one.

This book is written to help college and university students enhance their pronunciation and communication skills.

The matter in the book is divided into three parts–Computer Assisted Language Learning, The Sound System of English and Communication Skills. Part one deals with the uses of computers and information technology in developing language skills. Part two endeavours to help the students learn the appropriate pronunciation of English. The focus here is mainly on the practical aspects of English phonetics. The information covered in this part, it is hoped, will help in overcoming the Mother Tongue Influence (MTI). In the era of globalization, where you are expected to speak English with global intelligibility, Accent Neutralization or Accent Reduction has assumed greater importance than ever before. Accent neutralization/reduction attempts to reduce the Mother Tongue Influence (MTI) and makes spoken English sound closer to the American or British variety. Part three seeks to help students develop their communication skills. This section also provides practical tips for effective public speaking, preparing résumés, facing interviews, making presentations, participating in group discussions and debates.

We believe that this book will not only meet the needs of the target group, but also be found equally useful by all those working towards improving their language and communication skills.

The book draws upon our experience of teaching English. Most of the material has been drawn from our notes and from other different sources. Unfortunately, the sources were not properly noted or available; hence it became impossible to provide accurate acknowledgements.

Learning to work with and for local people

As income and food security have increased for many agricultural communities, the challenge of environmental protection and natural resource management has taken centre stage. Addressing this challenge requires a new approach that involves understanding and sharing of knowledge about livelihood outcomes directly benefiting the poor, enabling the poor to engage in agricultural production while conserving natural resources on a long-term basis, and facilitating joint learning and action within and among local communities. Besides simply transferring technology, the goal of agricultural Research and Development (R & D) has become more complex and emphasis on sustainable management of natural resources has increased.

A number of R & D organizations around the world have adopted the concept of Participatory Research and Development (PR & D) in an effort to capture the essence of this approach. PR & D was also the focus of a collaborative regional programme for capacity development in South Asia.

Recently, capacity development has once again become popular. In a world of struggling, failing, and collapsing institutions and organizations this does not come as a surprise. But capacity development is a complex issue – easier talked about and written about than put into practice.

Webster's Online Dictionary (consulted 29 September, 2008), gives eight definitions of capacity. Among them, are the ability to perform or produce and the power to learn or retain knowledge. These two definitions seem closely linked when the concept of capacity is applied to a professional field, such as teaching, research, or development planning and implementation. In these fields, professionals are preoccupied with both individual and organizational (what could be called collective) learning and performance. Capacity development then refers to strengthening individual and collective abilities to perform one or more tasks or to produce valuable outcomes and impacts.

This book is about collaborative learning for participatory rural development with a focus on community-based natural resource management approaches. Although informed and inspired by capacity development and learning theory, the emphasis of the three in-depth, Asian case studies highlighted here is on rural development practice. The three cases have the following features in common – they focus on real-life, complex learning situations concerning natural resource management dilemmas; they are examples of the gradual making of novel communities of practice for capacity development; they demonstrate both the process and outcome merits of using a variety of learning methods; and they make facilitators an integral part of the learning process.