The SIMULAB laboratory is an Internet-based tailor-made environment for role-play activities in language learning. The environment consists of a flexible system of authoring tools, which allows any language teacher to create simulations on the Internet for their pupils. This includes systems that give access to internal e-mail systems within a group; communication with others outside the SIMULAB environment; internal chat forums in real-time; automatic creation and editing of Internet sites and documents on-line.
The role-play activities motivate oral and written communication amongst the participating groups who are learning a new language. The simulation scripts are produced by language teachers and are made to guide users through scenarios relevant to the country of their chosen language and involve problem-solving tasks. The SIMULAB tools are designed to run on standard WWW networks using the TCP/IP protocol. The environment can easily incorporate new Web supported applications and can currently support both sound and video files. Simulations are initially created and verified in English, French, Spanish and German.
