Audiocassettes
Tapes in the LLC and for Take-Home Use
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Audiocassettes Tapes in the LLC and for Take-Home Use |
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The UF Language Learning
Center houses audio materials for 18 languages taught at the University,
and a few that are not taught. Some tapes have been recorded here at UF
by instructors, and still others were purchased or donated by departments
or individuals who felt they would be of use to students.
Most of them are created by textbook authors or companies to accompany language texts, who rely on the lab to reproduce the tapes and deliver them to students. As we move into the new century, lab audio is mostly delivered as digitized audio over the Web. However, we remain committed to maintaining a tape collection and the equipment to play it. |
We have 6 audio booths in Turlington 1317, which allow not only playback of audiocassettes but recording, either on a lab tape or on a clean tape.The audiotapes for lab use are mostly in the tall "carrousel" to the right as one walks into the lab. The arrangement for course tapes is as followsPress the button marked "DRILL" to erase the "student track" on the tape and record your voice; then rewind and play to hear yourself as well as the model voice. If you wish to record your own voice on a tape of your own, the tape must be erased first, since the recording mechanism is designed to leave a "master track" of the earlier recording.Not all the tapes correspond to current courses. For example, we have some tapes for studying Finnish and Norwegian, which are not taught at UF, and also some supplementary tapes with books (besides the course materials) for learning Chinese and Portuguese. In a few cases, we have only one copy of important material and it is not in the carrousel; these items must be checked out at the desk.
- by language
- within each language, lower course numbers first
We also have a collection of tapes for pronouncing American English. For most of these, we have lab books or textbooks on a shelf near the lab. These materials can only be used in the lab. Some of them are textbooks and tapes used at UF in past years, and may be difficult to use for self-study, while others have proven their usefulness.
The tapes in the carrousel should be used only in the LLC. Many of the course tapes can, however, be copied for home use, or accessed online, whether in the LLC or at home.
You can get copies of your lab tapes in Turlington 1317 to listen to at home, in the car, and so on. Ideally, you should use them in a time and place when you can practice out loud to get the full benefit of the lessons. We have permission to duplicate most (but not all) the tapes used in UF language courses, for students in the courses only, and sometimes with restrictions. Take-Home Audiotapes
As of Fall 2005, we no longer require students to bring us a blank tape. Because of the drop in tape use, we have adequate stocks of tapes to cover your needs.
Most tape series include at least 10 tapes. Some series allow us to give out only one tape at a time, but when you return it to the lab you can get the next lesson, which can be exchanged for the next lesson, and so on. At the end of the term, the student can keep the last lesson or "donate" it back to the lab. Making a copy should only take 5-10 minutes.All our tapes are 2-sided tapes, with Side A beginning at the beginning of Side A and Side B at the beginning of Side B (even though there may be a lot of tape left at the end of the Side A recording).
Every copy handed out in the exchange program is a "new" copy, even if it was made on a used tape which has been erased and re-dubbed. If part of the recording is missing, let us know; it may be a problem with our master. If your tape is old, slow, and poorly recorded, tell us so that we don't try to recycle it!
