The Computational Linguistics Laboratory is very well equipped. The lab has five Linux workstations, server space, corpora in several languages, and tools for computational linguistics research. The University of Illinois's Department of Computer Science is among the best in the world, with a growing number of well-known specialists in Artificial Intelligence and natural language processing.
A unit within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Language Learning Laboratory serves the various language departments and the Departments of the Classics, English, History, Linguistics, Philosophy, and Speech Communication, the Division of English as an International Language, the Programs in Cinema Studies, Comparative Literature, and Religious Studies, and the various area-study centers. The Laboratory supports second-language instruction carried on within these units, develops and evaluates new language-related technology, assists faculty and staff in their use of technology for both instruction and research, and cooperates with faculty to conduct research on second language acquisition, particularly as it relates to technology. The Laboratory has a wide range of computer, audio, and video facilities and is deeply involved in developing new technologies for language instruction.
The Audio Division's basic function is to support the teaching of foreign languages through the use of audio tapes. An Audio Recording Studio functions to prepare audio material for use by instructors. The studio has facilities for audio recording, mixing, editing, high-speed duplication, transfer from one format to another, and synchronization of slide-tape programs. An Audio Laboratory provides students with the opportunity to listen to audio lessons for 64 languages at any of 28 cassette decks or eight Caramates for slide/tape lectures. One digital shortwave radio allows students to listen to live broadcasts from various countries. An Audio Classroom contains a Tandberg Teaching Laboratory which is a teacher-controlled interactive audio laboratory with a dual teacher console. With this equipment, students can listen to language tapes, record themselves, and communicate with the instructor. In addition, the Audio Division provides students with access to various language-course lessons over the telephone. This telephone service is carried over the campus voice-mail system and is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Students are able to listen to and control language recordings from any phone.
The Video Lab provides educational technology to humanities departments in the school of Arts and Sciences (LAS) at the UIUC. The Video Lab supports language instruction and research activities involving the use of video or television. Audio/video equipment and viewing rooms are available for departments and courses within the Language Learning Lab service area. Video production, duplication, and multimedia facilities and services are also available. Satellite transmissions are received for redistribution in the Foreign Languages Building, in the dormitories, and for individual or teleconference viewing within the Foreign Languages Building. Further information is available on the ATLAS Web site.
- Henry and Renée Kahane Linguistics Research Room
The Department's Henry and Renée Kahane Linguistics Research Room (4100 Foreign Languages Building) maintains a collection of over 700 books and dissertations and more than 3200 offprints, with subscriptions to two major journals and a large number of departmental working papers from other universities. Publications circulate for two weeks. The Research Room also keeps collections of books for review and current job announcements. It houses computers for the use of the librarians, of teaching and research assistants (for job-related endeavors), and of linguistics students (for course work), in that order. Other computers are available in the Microcomputer Lab in the basement of the Foreign Languages Building. All faculty and students also have the immense resources of the University Library at their disposal, including the Modern Languages and Linguistics Library, the African Library, the South and West Asian Library, and the East Asian Library, as well as a number of other exceptional resource facilities, such as the Phonetics Laboratory and the Language Learning Laboratory (see below).