Soundcloud

Soundcloud: 

In the attempt of using a language, most emphasis is laid on practice: practice through speaking, practice through writing. Often in the process of learning, the learners shy away from using the language in speaking as they fear failure of making mistakes such as not speaking correctly, not pronouncing a particular word properly, fillers, gaps, et al. It is in this module of Speaking, where Soundcloud comes to much help or should I say 'rescue' to teachers and learners.

Soundcloud is a wonderful tool that can be used by the teacher to encourage speaking practice of the students. It is very easy to use. The students need to go on the website of Soundcloud and create their account. They can then record their speech or upload a previously recorded speech (as an existing file on the computer) and upload it.  The recording can be made upto 1 hr 59 mins for FREE. The link to the uploaded recording can then be e-mailed to the teacher for the teacher to listen and review the recording. 

An absolute brilliant feature of Soundcloud is the way 'feedback' can be given to the students for their recordings. When the teacher is listening to the record, he/she can make a comment or give feedback, exactly at the point where error is committed or a particular point is made for appreciation. The mark of comment is automatically indicated on the frequency bar of the recording. What more, the recordings can be made private, restricting the audience to the recordings.

I feel Soundcloud is a great way to giving feedback as it helps in precision and accuracy helping the teacher comment at the exact point of utterance in the speech which is actually quite difficult to do when giving feedback to the occurring speech in the classroom. In the classroom situation, the student's speech is either interrupted by the teacher for making a comment which breaks the flow of the speech or the feedback is given at the end when the student or teacher might not be able to recall an error committed. 

Also, its a great boon for the shy students or the way I call 'silent zones' in the classroom. The students can sit in the comfort of their homes or a relaxed environment and participate in the speaking activity without any inhibitions.

Another way of  using Soundcloud is where teacher reaches out to students with his/her recordings of a lecture, a thought, instructions, and the students could make comments at particular points of recording such as 'please elaborate', 'not clear', 'give examples' etc. The teacher can use the option of group involvement for conducting such an activity.

The following video takes you step-by-step, helping you understand the tool better:

Take a look and try it out!

Looking forward to your feedback on it..