USING AUDACITY IN CLASS

Audacity is a free audio recorder and editor that can be downloaded very easily from the web. You can use it to record texts in preparation for lessons and students can use it to record themselves in class. To download Audacity go to: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Once the programme has downloaded, plug in your microphone and open Audacity. Press the RECORD button when you're ready. Make sure Audacity is set to MICROPHONE. Press PAUSE or STOP when you've  finished.  Press PLAY to listen back (The recording must not be on PAUSE). When you play the recording it will start from the beginning. If you want to  start from the  middle of the recording, place your cursor there and a line will appear.

If you make a mistake, highlight the section you  want to delete and press the DELETE button on your keyboard. Place your cursor where you want to start the recording from again and press the RECORD button. Another track will appear but when you play it back and once it's saved, it'll be  one complete recording.

There are many different features with Audacity. You can for example, increase the sound level by highlighting the entire recording, clicking EFFECT on the top tool bar and choosing AMPLIFY.  You can also slow down and speed up audio by choosing the CHANGE TEMPO option. You cannot edit or use these features if you have paused the audio. You must have stopped the audio for these to be available.

SAVING AUDIO FILES

You can save the file as a .aup.file. This means the file will open in Audacity and allow you to edit it or add to it. If you want to use the programme as a language laboratory then this is the best way to save files. You do this by clicking FILE,  SAVE PROJECT AS.

If you want to play the audio on programmes other than AUDACITY (e.g. Windows Media Player, Real Player) then save the file as a .wav file. Click FILE  and EXPORT AS WAV.

You can also download the audio as an MP3 file. To do this, you need to download a plug-in. The Audacity website can help with this.

RECORDING EXTERNAL AUDIO

To record audio from the Internet, make sure that  Audacity is set to STEREO MIX  or WAVE MIX and not MICROPHONE. Start playing the audio from the Internet and immediately press the RECORD button on Audacity.

EXPLOITING AUDACITY FOR LANGUAGE LEARNING

There are many ideas of ways in which we can use Audacity in the classroom to benefit language learning. Here are some of them:

Pronunciation:
Intonation
Stress
Linking

Grammar and Vocabulary:
Drills
Complete the sentence about you
Guess the definition

The four skills:
Record audio from the web (great if you don't have the Internet in your classroom but be aware of copyright laws)
Record dialogues/conversations with your colleagues for listening practice
Questions and Answers
Describing an object/a person/ a place
Creating a news report
Speaking exam practice
Recording and assessing speaking skills
Half a dialogue
Dictation/dictogloss
Parallel reading
Half a story
Make a podcast
Make a digital story
Record a play
Voice messages
Note taking
Read and record a summary of an article

The key benefit of these activities is that each learner is working at their own pace. Speaking tasks can be  repeated so that accuracy or fluency are improved; listening texts can be repeated more than once if necessary and parts can be listened to again if missed. Activitites can be  graded according to level so that stronger learners are challenged and weaker students are supported.