Streaming Video for Enhanced Foreign Language Training in Vocational Education

Streaming video is increasingly recognized as a most effective tool within the field of contemporary and future education. The Austrian SMILE project (SMILE = Streaming Media for Interactive Language Experience) aims at the enhancement of foreign language learning by making use of the streaming video technology. The main component of the SMILE software are video clips, each of which comes along with a series of interactive training units, lesson plan and vocabulary. The authenticity of pronunciation and intonation is guaranteed by well-trained native speakers. The learners will benefit from the opportunity to work according to their individual capacity. The makers of this software have taken into account state of the art technology, didactics and methodology. The program may either be used for regular school education in a blended learning environment or as a distance learning device. We will demonstrate its employment as a means of language teaching in the field of engineering and technical terminology. SMILE is in the process of being evaluated this year with the intermediate results being presented in the paper.