The weekly column

Article 29, September 2000

Review: Management Matters 2 CD-ROM

Review by Pete Sharma, Linguarama International

Authors: Barry Tomalin and Patricia Aspinall. Video authored by: Susan Norman and Hugh L'Estrange

Publisher: IBI multimedia, http://www.englishlive.co.uk

Overview
This disc is a Business English course based on video sequences. It covers the syllabus of Cambridge Business English Certificate level 2 (BEC2)

Description

1. There are six units, as follows:
Describing a process
Expressing your opinion
Understanding stock market reports
Selling a concept
Constructive criticism
Presentation skills

2. The features included on this disc are:
Video clips
Grammar and vocabulary exercises eg. gap-fill, mix and match, true / false
Dictation mode
Business English Glossary and a grammar reference
Voice Analyser tool
Tests

Comments
The lay-out of the disc is clear, with the navigation bar across the top. There is a HELP section, which suggests an order for learners to proceed through the material, which seems sensible. I wouldn't suggest working slavishly through every section, but rather using the Dictation section and the voice analyser for extra practice as necessary.

2.1 Video clips
The window displaying these clips is an adequate size, larger than the original postage-size pictures of early CD-ROMs. The video content includes street interviews and talking heads from news-clips. The financial clip, "Understanding stock market reports" is particularly useful, loaded as it is with the language of trends delivered in a natural context. "Constructive criticism", which is a presentation done badly (something many of our learners manage quite naturally!), is meant to be humorous and so will not be to everyone's taste, and the final clip, showing "how a presentation should be done" strays very much into the "teachers' zone", somewhat reminiscent of old interactive videos used in management training. It is nevertheless, quite useful, bearing in mind that at some point the teacher would follow up or activate work done by their learners at the workstation.

There are some nice features on the disc. Clicking on the "Delay" button, for example, allows you to delay each section (approximately every sentence) of the video clip by up to a few seconds. This is an excellent tool and the first time I have seen this useful feature.

When engaged in a listening exercise, you can see the text displayed on the left of the screen, which is rather odd, and potentially distracting. By double-clicking on a part of the text, the video moves immediately to that section, which is good for students wishing to reading and listen at the same time, a popular activity in self access centres.

2.2 Grammar and vocabulary exercises
There are a lot of exercises on the disc, and there is correspondingly a lot of useful language to be practised. Users can either choose whether to drag and drop, or to type in their answers. Some of the vocabulary is quite challenging (eg. rife, endemic), although most is appropriate for students at this level. The text itself is clearly displayed.

2.3 Dictation mode with keyboard exercises
The idea behind this is sound - having the chance to type in the dictated texts sentence by sentence. There are many benefits from the learners being in control of the number of times they hear the sentence modelled; the downside is that if you extract certain phrases from continuous speech, a native speaker would be challenged. (How many times do you miss things in a movie?). I was unclear as to why the text is revealed at the same time as you check your answers, which seems to take away the possibility to have a second chance at the exercise.

2.4 Business English Glossary and a grammar
The glossary benefits from the use of three colours on screen; it covers key words from the disc, and is not intended to be exhaustive in any way. Some core business expressions are covered. The same is true of the grammar section, which is quite short. Students would need to supplement their studies by referring to a grammar book or an interactive dictionary.

2.5 Voice Analyser
The Voice Analyser displays the intonation pattern of sentences in a line graph, and allows the learners a chance to practice repeating the phrases; they aim to replicate the intonation curve. Observing learners using this facility shows how motivating it is, more so for students than for native speakers who usually fail to replicate the pattern! It is a shame that the cover of the disc contains the phrase "use the voice analyser to perfect your pronunciation!". Perhaps "improve" would be a more realistic term.

Overall
Worth investigating, especially if you have students taking a relevant Business English examination.

System requirements
IBM or fully compatible PC with 486DX2, 66MHz or Pentium processor, P75 or above
8 Mb of RAM (16 Mb with Windows 95)
30 MB of free hard disk space
SVGA monitor
2 speed CD-ROM drive (4 speed recommended)
16 bit colour graphic card, resolution 800 x 600
Microsoft Windows 95 or higher, NT

Technical note
Everything ran very smoothly, apart from one or two minor technical difficulties on one machine- nothing insuperable.

Bio-spec of reviewer
Pete Sharma works as a teacher and teacher trainer for Linguarama International. He is an ex-officio member of the IATEFL BESIG Committee and contributes the CD-ROM / Internet page to Business Issues. He is the author of CD-ROM: A Teacher's Handbook (Summertown Publishing, 1998) and reviews EFL software.

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