Authoring programs continue to allow teachers to create customized materials for their classrooms. Language lab systems are being upgraded to allow the incorporation of multiple media resources. Advances in computer networking have increased the power, flexibility, and interconnectedness of desktop computer systems and the equipment available for use in the lab or resource center setting, and has also made possible the use of networked software in the classroom. A wide variety of non-Internet software is available for foreign language teachers and learners. CD-ROM programs such as Nouvelles Dimensions and Nuevas Dimensiones use multimedia to provide visual context and textual reference materials to help the learner master listening comprehension techniques.
Software programs are also available for more specialized instructional purposes.
In The Rhythm of French , audio, video, animation, and speech recognition technology are used to teach pronunciation and phonetics. Teachers and students of grammar, stylistics, and translation may find a concordancer program such as MonoConc helpful in searching texts for vocabulary and grammar usage. These authoring programs are becoming more sophisticated, incorporating multiple media resources, flexible feedback mechanisms, and in many cases a database system for tracking user performance. Libra , developed at Southwest Texas State, WinCalis from Duke University, and Dasher from the University of Iowa are all examples of authoring tools used by language teachers to create a wide variety of multimedia exercises. The language lab is sometimes seen as a means of providing in-class and independent access to analog audio, usually in the form of audiocassettes.