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    Japan
     Oct 22, 2005
Firm offers language study based on 'podcasting'

TOKYO - ALC Press Inc, a publisher of language text materials, will begin a new English language-study service in January based on "podcasting".

Conventional Internet-based language-study programs have focused on the skills of reading, writing and listening, but not conversation. The new podcasting service will allow students to experience one-on-one conversation practice with teachers in a form that is far less expensive than real-time teleconferencing, and less burdensome on the teacher. It will also give the student the freedom to study at any time.

In ALC's new service, the student will pay a monthly study fee. The student will also purchase a study book that includes the necessary software for "podcatching", the process used to download new podcast feed files.

The teacher poses questions to the student by talking on the phone to a server on the Internet. The spoken question is



converted into an audio file and stored. When the student executes the podcatching software, the file is automatically downloaded. The student listens to the question and answers via phone to the same server. The teacher listens to the response in the same way by using the podcatching software.

ALC estimates that students can practice English conversation this way for a yearly cost of about 10,000 yen (US$86).

(Asia Pulse/Nikkei)

 

 
 



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