Vocaroo Online Voice Recorder

http://vocaroo.com/

What is it?

Vocaroo is a web-based free service which allows you to record, listen to, upload, or email your own voice to another person and you can use it for a variety of classroom activities.  This adopts a simple recording system with clear instructions, which is easy to understand if you are a little intimidated by technology.  You can embed the recorded voice into any on-line sites or provide a link to share for free.  All you need is to prepare a computer and a microphone, whatever it is a built-in or headset type, in order to use this tool.

As soon as you click on the ‘Click to record’ button, the recording starts.

Followed by ‘Click to Stop’, Retry/Listen, Stop/Pause for listening the recorded voice, ‘Click here to save’ for embedding or emailing the data.  

Why is this Vocaroo relevant to language teaching?

There are many advantages in adopting Vocaroo.  Firstly, students can concentrate on speaking, and secondly, teachers can use it in a flexible way in both inside and outside of the class.  For easy access, individual QR code is provided in the right bottom end.  Scanning the QR code, students can listen to the recorded data promptly, by which you can save the time for explaining the procedures repeatedly in a classroom.  

The other advantages of this Vocaroo are its incredibly easy audio recording system without installing any software/creating an account, and there is no limitation of the recording time.  It can make a simple embeddable voice recording.  In addition, students who are afraid of speaking in front of classmates may decrease their anxiety because they can just show their data during giving presentations with using this recorded voice.  The most remarkable is that this tool has various download options and you can send the recorded messages by email, or embed them on the websites or files.

This is one of the easiest tools to use but a great tool for getting your students speaking.

The limitations;
 

1)    You have to consider ethical issues before recording because shared personal data

     on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter can be accessible by

     anybody.

2)    Vocaroo does not provide permanent storage and there is not a definite duration which messages are deleted.  However, they are likely to disappear in a few months after the recording.  Therefore, you must save and download the data in the case you need them.

3)    You cannot add a voice recording function to your own website even if you have downloaded Vocaroo because it does not currently provide the function.

How can Vocaroo foster language teaching:

* An actual teaching example using‘Vacaroo ;

(A private lesson for a female pre-intermediate student;50 min.)

Speaking:  After explaining the procedure, I had her read and record the first chapter of a fairy tale – ‘The Frog Princess’. Then, I asked her to listen to the recorded voice and try to seek the points which she should improve. (Saved the data) She recognized some wrong pronunciation, stress, intonation and her monotonous reading tone which seemed to be inappropriate for a narrative story.  Corrections by me.  I had her record it again and listen to it together in order to confirm whether she did corrections or not.

(Saved it) She did some corrections well but still needed further improvement.

Recording again. (Saved it)

Dictogloss by listening her recorded voice: 

I had her check the mistakes and try to find the reason of lack of plural ‘s’ and some prepositions.  Listen again.  Then, she discovered that those were caused by her unclear pronunciation. Considering the findings, this time I had her read and record another chapter.   We found that this recorded voice has been remarkably improved compared with the first one. (Saved it and sent all recorded data to her email account for further reflection at home)  Since this is an example of a private lesson, it includes immediate feedback from a teacher.

We can adopt this orthodox teaching method to small or large size of classrooms likewise by using pair or group interactions and teachers’ feedback in the end.  As it is shown, this tool can reinforce learners’ pronunciation/stress/intonation and lead their cognitive learning by their own reflection and the feedback from a teacher or their peers, which is effective also for self-learning.

Other suggested usage of Vacaroo:

l  Creating a classroom blog or site and embed the recorded data on it as a verbal noticeboard/an audio newsletter for students and their parents

l  Record and send  instructions for pronunciation practice or messages for students who are absent by email

l  Students’ oral diaries for improving individual pronunciation and speech competence

l  Presentation activity about learners’ own country’s fairy tales, heroes, heroines et cetera

l  For simulation of presentation

*  Or, simply for homework or feedback including peer evaluation/reflection