D JETTSPOTLIGHT Book Reviews Mosaik: Deutsche Grammatik

Vital Statistics brand new Deutsch natiirlich; most of your students learned their German with textbooks Author(s): Barrack, Charles M. & Rubura, like First Year German; and, a few of your Horst M. students studied at a Goethe Institute during Copyright: 1986 the summer and used Deutsch activ. Publisher: New York: Random House No. of Pages: pp. ii-372; Appendix AI-A34 "Great!" you think and hope that all of Edition: Second your students will be well-served by Mosaik: Title: Mosaik: Deutsche Grammatik Deutsche Grammatik. Series: Other books in this series are a M osaik: Deutsche Grammatik is an inte­ cultural reader and a literature reader: grated part of the Mosaik series which also Mosaik: Deutsche Kultur includes Deutsche Kultur and Deutsche Li­ Mosaik: Deutsche Literatur teratur. Grammatik is the core of the series Cost: Mosaik: Deutsche Grammatik - Net and can be used in combination or indepen­ $15 dently of the other two. Additional supportive Mosaik: Deutsche Kultur - Net $10 materials include a workbook, a laboratory Mosaik: Deutsche Literatur - Net $10 manual, an instructor's manual, and an audio Workbook/Laboratory Manual - Net tape program. The authors claim that, apart $16 from its use as a classroom text, this grammar An instructor's manual is included in book can be successfully used by students the price of the textbook independently of the teacher.

Subject Structure Imagine being a German instructor at a The table of contents is one of the book's U.S. or Canadian college or university. You strong points; it is very useful in helping the are planning your communication-based cur­ user locate a discrete grammar point for re­ riculum for second-year German students. view. The titles of all 14 chapters evoke vi­ Anticipating that they will need to "brush up" sions of learning about interesting cultural on their grammar and vocabulary after the items such as "Schule und Beruf," "Kom­ summer break, you explore the market for munikation," Hpolitik," ""Feste und Trach­ supplementary materials which can be used in ten," and .. Handel und Wirtschaft," to men­ conjunction with an existing textbook. tion a few. Your search seems over; you have found The authors tried to arrange the grammati­ Mosaik: Deutsche Grammatik which not only cal exercises around the cultural topic of each seems to be what you have been looking for chapter. Sometimes, this approach works but also promises to be adequate for students very well as in the case of Chapter 2; at other from different language learning backgrounds. times-as in Chapter 3-the relationship of cultural topic and surrounding exercises is not This is important to you because you know entirely clear and obvious. that some of your students come from an avant-garde college where they used the The appendix of principal parts of strong

62 Premiere 1987 Journal of Educational Techniques and Technologies

and irregular verbs, German-English/En­ In dealing with two-way prepositions (p. glish-German vocabulary lists-along with an 130), the text treats them only superficially in index of grammar terms-are all features of the exercises. The verb pairs-sitzen, setzen; this text that both teachers and students will liegen, legen; stehen, stellen-must be appreciate. brought to the attention of students. Since Each chapter is introduced by delineating these are a common source of errors, it is the grammar items to be discussed, followed insufficient to have them occur, as they do in by "Wortschatz" which lists the new vocabu­ this text, only in exercises. lary with English translations. In addition, The authors recommend this grammar book various exercises are given to practice the for the classroom as well as for students who lexical items in a context. Succeedingly, each wish to review independently of the teacher. I grammar point is defined and explained. The have reservations about students using this exercises following grammar point definition textbook on their own. Since no answer key provide for application and practice of the to the exercises is provided, how do students grammatical forms. find out if their answers are correct? In the "Riickblick" section-consisting of The authors must have been aware of this, "Wiederholung" and "Gesamtwiederholung" since they caution that homework not be as­ -students are asked to translate from English signed before the grammar rules have been into German. introduced by the teacher; it would seem that Finally, "Anregungen zur Unterhaltung" the book cannot always be used without encourages guided communication designed teacher guidance. specifically for practicing the grammar points The grammatical approach of this book is of a chapter. based on the traditional Latin grammar­ which is often a somewhat restrictive ap­ Achievement of Stated Goals proach. Only few North American teachers Mosaik: Deutsche Grammatik achieves its of German are experienced in the more re­ main goals of grammar and vocabulary re­ cent method of teaching German grammar, view-along with the introduction of new ma­ namely, the concept of "Dependez-Verb­ terials-to a great extent. For the achieve­ Grammatik," which is considered-by those ment of some goals, however, a more who use it-to be a more adequate pedagogi­ thorough approach would have been advan­ cal approach to the grammar of German. tageous. Textbooks such as Deutsch aktiv and Themen are based on the "Dependez-Verb-Gramma­ It would have been beneficial to include, tik" concept. especially for second year students, the "progressive" form of the present tense--as Exercises in •. Klaus telefoniert gerade" -and there­ by familiarize students with the colloquial Considerable effort on the part of the au­ progressive-" Klaus ist gerade am telefo­ thors has made the drills and exercises in this nieren" -a form students are bound to en­ textbook interesting to students. Through counter during a stay in Germany. varying forms and practice of lexical items, the exercises provide opportunities for a cre­ Additionally, the stress patterns for the ative use of the language. For this reason in varying uses of the present tense (p. 17) particular, this text deserves high marks. would have been helpful. Although helpful, the list of subordinate conjunctions (p. 19) is, unfortunately, incomplete. An entire collec­ Layout tion of subordinate conjunctions is an indis­ American students are very visually-ori­ pensable tool for advanced learners. ented; yet, this text does not capitalize on

Premiere 1987 63 Journal of Educational Techniques and Technologies

this fact. Even special grammar charts are not , 'ein beliebtes Berufsziel." Such blanket gen­ in eye-catching color, and photographs are in eralizations can easily reinforce already exist­ black and white. ing stereotypes in American students. A further disadvantage of this text is the On page 32 we find a more realistic piece of unnecessary use of footnotes. In dealing with realia, namely, Professor Rabura's airplane the dative verbs (pp. 71-73) for example, a set ticket. It is certainly a good idea to include of 12 other "common" verbs requiring dative this type of authentic material, but can the objects is listed in the footnote. One wonders authors justify selecting a ticket issued in En­ if the verbs are so common, do they belong in glish by an American travel agency? a footnote? Other examples of this over-use of footnotes can be found on pp. 19,22, and 122. In Chapter 8, entitled .• Politik and Regie­ rung," incorrect information appears: "There The items in the "Wortschatz" are not ar­ are five political parties in Germany" [sic]B ranged as effectively as possible. Not only is (p. 231). the overall layout confusing, but it also does not allow for covering one side while mem­ A delightful observation in this text is the orizing the other. consistent use of both male and female forms in the nouns-as in "der Biirgermeister, die Overall, the general structure of this text is Biirgermeisterin." Unfortunately, the de­ "handy," that is to say, it is logically ar­ rogatory term "Fraulein" sneaks in through ranged and facilitates the use of this book as a the back door now and again (p. 292, 281). reference tool. In a nutshell, the selection of informa­ Culture tion-especially as depicted in the photo­ graphs-is too narrow and much too super­ With reference to culture, this book rein­ ficial. There is hardly a glimmer of cross-cul­ forces cliches about West Germany by pro­ tural awareness-something I find hard to be­ viding a "touristy" picture of the country and lieve since the co-author, Horst Rabura, is its people. familiar with German culture in a much wider For a native German under 40 years of context; he is co-author of Sprich mit uns, a age-who is not from Bavaria-it is impossi­ textbook for guest-workers' children in the ble to believe the picture of the Federal Re­ Federal Republic of Germany. public that emerges from the pages of this textbook or to accept it as representative. Conclusion Most of the photographs show famous I recommend this book for its exercises; buildings and landscapes which are indistin­ however, I would improve the layout and guishable from picture postcards and relegate eliminate all pictures. An effective German the information to the level of typical tourist textbook neither creates nor reinforces a impressions. touristic picture of Germany nor a Deutsch­ land aus der Mottenkiste. The photograph on page 107, showing the narrow streets in the village of Pottenheim, J.E.T.T. Contributor Profile tells the student that this is "moderner Ver­ Maria Egbert, a native of the Federal Republic of Germany, kehr. " If students end up believing that the recently completed a graduate degree at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia. While working on her degree, single lane traffic of Pottenheim is representa­ she also taught beginning and intermediate German tive of modern traffic in Germany, the Au­ courses in the Department of Germanic and Slavic Lan­ tobahnkreuz Koln-Bonn would probably cure guages. them of this impression, especially if they Currently, she is completing a degree at the University of Bielefeld in West Germany and plans to return to the United ever find themselves there in traffic trying States for doctoral work in linguistics. Persons wishing to to negotiate a turn. write to Maria Egbert may do so at the following address: Maria Egbert, clo J.E.T.T., 304C Moore College Building, On page 133 we see a picture of apprentices Language Laboratories, University of Georgia, Athens, in the book binding business and the caption Georgia 30602. 64 Premiere 1987 o JETTSPOTLIGHT Book Reviews Alles Gute! Basic German for Communication

Vital Statistics vice versa) and an index of grammatical terms. Author(s): Briggs, Jeanine, & Crean, John E. Jr. Copyright: ,1986 Layout Publisher: New York: Random House With the exception of its impressively at­ No. of Pages: ix-403; Appendix AI-A40 tractive cover, Alles Gute! is not very gener­ Edition: Second ous in providing the learner with an attractive, Title: Alles Gute! Basic German for eye-catching, attention-grabbing visual lay­ Communication out. Series: Other supportive materials with this text: Complimentary instructor's For example, after "ploughingH through manual, laboratory manual, eight pages (pp. 45-52) of grammar explana­ workbook tions and exercises, the only visual relief the Cost: Alles Gute! Basic German for learner encounters is a small picture of an Communication - Net $20 entrance ticket. When it comes to pictures of (includes instructor manual) entrance tickets, one cannot help but wonder Laboratory Manual - Net $8 if collecting tickets is a hobby of one of the Workbook - Net $8 authors, since pictures of tickets substitute for actual pictures of the institutions to which Alles Gute! Basic German for Commu­ they permit entrance throughout the book. nication-it is a promising title for a first-year This is not to say that the book has no photo­ textbook. Does it deliver what it seems to graphs; it does, and some of them are up-to­ promise? date and appealing to the reader. What this reviewer questions is the reasoning behind In the tradition of textbooks like First Year when and where the photographs are used. German, this is a text which adheres to the Why use an illustration of a movie schedule? following organizing principle of textbook de­ Why not a picture of the real thing (p. 295)? sign: Take a grammatical item and create sen­ An actual photograph of a menu could have tences containing as many examples of this proved that an unusual menu-like the one item as possible. shown in Chapter 8-really exists (p. 188).

Whereas First Year German appears to be arbitrarily-arranged, Alles Gute! is formally Reinforcement of Stereotypes organized. Its 18 chapters-each consisting of After having reviewed Alles Gute!, this re­ "Worter,H "Grammatik,H and "Kommuni­ viewer came to the sad conclusion that Ger­ kation"-are framed by the ~~Einleitung" and mans may forever be thought of as nice, the appendix. The appendix provides a list of beer-drinking people (pp. 248, 255, 264, 269) German words translated into English (and dressed up in "LederhosenHand "Dirndl. H

Premiere 1987 65 Journal of Educational Techniques and Technologies

Perhaps, the reviewer should be grateful that But why do they not refer back to the IPA in the authors gave the stereotypical Germans later chapters? Who is there to tell the student something other than "Eisbein" and "Sauer­ studying at home which of the three al­ kraut" to eat. At least, in Alles Gute! laphones of "e" is appropriate in the pronun­ Germans eat "Sauerbraten" and "Wiener ciation of words like "'Telefongesprach?" In Schnitzel" (p. 254) once in a while. such an instance, would not the IPA have been a helpful tool? Not only does reinforcement of stereotypes exist in Alles Gute!, but it is also consistent. Unlike many textbooks, Alles Gute! begins Why, for example, did the authors choose with "Worter." Right at the beginning of each "Gretchen" (p. 236) and "'Liesl" (p. 223) chapter, students practice the words to be for typical German names? Do they not learned. The "Wortiibungen" constitute an epitomize the blond, long-hair-braided Ger­ extension of the usage of the words given in man girls of German stereotyping? Why rein­ the vocabulary list and compares favorably to force the picture of a forever-underdevel­ what is called vocabulary development in oped Germany with textual materials like the First Year German. Words are classified following: "1m Winter ist es mir zu heiss in according to common features (weak nouns meinem Zimmer, aber zu kalt im Flur . . . Ich in Chapter 5); differentiated semantically trage meinen Mantel, wenn ich das Telefon im ("'kennen," "wissen," "konnen" in Chapter Flur benutze." (p. 230)? 7); or explained in their syntactic context ("gem" in Chapter 2). When the reviewer saw an entire chapter of Alles Gute! devoted to the roles of men and Presenting vocabulary at the very beginning women, she was hopeful that, at least on this of the chapter is a strategy the reviewer has topic, the authors would guard against the found helpful in her classes as well; familiariz­ reinforcement of old stereotypes; such hope ing students with new words before they proved to be nothing more than wishful think­ occur in the text facilitates comprehension. ing. Alles Gute! encourages students to work Indeed, the authors are very careful in al­ with cognates as well as the formation of ways giving male and female nouns in the compound nouns; this can be beneficial in that vocabulary; they do not, however, address it can help students develop strategies for ap­ the dubious connotations of .. Fraulein" (p. proaching unknown words (p. 126, p. 54). 34); while very liberal in their perception of Some of the expressions, however, made the male and female roles in this particular chap­ reviewer, a native German, ill at ease in her ter, the authors retain and reinforce stereo­ own language. The inclusion of dialectal ex­ types in other chapters. What else could and pressions is appreciated, but not if the expla­ should Julia think of doing but of going nation follows pages later ("Fasnet," Chapter "shopping" because she needs a "skirt," etc. 7). Many young people in Germany prefer (p. 164, Exercise H). "Fete," since a "Party" often has more for­ mal connotations (p. 35). "Studentenheim­ instead of "Studentenwohnheim" -is a term Structure which can evoke awkward feelings (p. 213). Unlike First Year German-which includes As is often typical of beginning language pronunciation exercises in the first six chap­ textbooks, Alles Gute! makes grammar the ters-Alles Gute! stops with pronunciation center of the chapter and builds everything after the ""Einleitung"-an approach that around it. once again raised the reviewer's hopes. Fur­ thermore, the authors introduce the Interna­ Typically, the authors begin with a dialogue tional Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) which is an filled with examples of the particular grammar excellent tool for describing sounds visually. point. Even before the new grammatical

66 Premiere 1987 Journal of Educational Techniques and Technologies

structures have been explained, students al­ ever, cannot make up for the poor quality of ready use them in "Variationen" of the the "Lesetext" itself. dialogue. Dialogues containing as many da­ Except for two authentic texts (Chapters 14 tive verbs (p. 201) or modals (p. 114) as pos­ and 18), the texts are as artificial as the sible are awkward and result in sentences like dialogues of the grammar section. For exam­ "Worauf stellst du den Fernseher?" (p. ple, the "Lesetext" of Chapter 3 conveys the 223)-a sentence that exists in order to use thoughts of a girl upon her arrival in Ger­ the wo-compound in a context where Ger­ many. It seems most artificial and unreal that mans would use "Wohin." the girl, Laura-traveling with John-does Not only is the language of the dialogues not say anything to him in this rather exciting artificial and awkward, in Alles Gute! the setting at the Frankfurt Airport. In Chapter 6, dialogues are also generally without much in­ there is a text which is even called .. Ein Ge­ formation about cross-cultural differences. sprach," but it is not a conversation at all. The For example, in the second dialogue of only indication that this is supposed to be a Chapter 8, there is the situation of a telephone conversation are the names in front of each call (p. 179). In America, people are accus­ paragraph. Omitting the names leaves no tomed to expect" Hello" or "Yes" when call­ doubt in anyone's mind that this is an infor­ ing someone; in Germany, the person called mative discourse about German landscape answers with his or her first name. This dif­ and architecture endangered by air-pollution. ference is not addressed by the authors. The laconic "Jemand sagt: "Hello" is not very helpful to students. The closing phone call formulas •. Auf Wiederhoren" and "Tschiiss" Strengths -which do not belong to the same register The strengths of this textbook are apparent since one is more formal than the other-are in its treatment of two topics, namely, geog­ not differentiated either. Without sensitiza­ raphy and culture. By providing maps of the tion to cross-cultural and stylistic differences, world (p. 580), Europe (p. 55), and the how can students be successful in target lan­ German-speaking countries (pp. 77, 80, 122), guage communication? Alles Gute! provides students with the neces­ sary reference tools to broaden their geo­ If the dialogues in Alles Gute! are awkward, graphical horizons. I found it amusing to read the various charts are generally confusing. in the introductory text to Chapter 8 •'you 're The nominative and accusative chart of the traveling through Europe and you've just ar­ der-words (p. 128) conveys the impression rived in a German-speaking city ... (p. 169). that "der," "dieser," "jeder" are only used Imagine! German-speaking cities scattered all in the singular, whereas "mancher," "sol­ over Europe. What an impression to take with cher, " and "welcher" are always plural. The you. adjective chart (p. 264) while not as confus­ ing, can be a source of frustration. Why not Impressions notwithstanding, Alles Gute! combine the weak and mixed adjective end­ gives useful information about the countries ings in one chart-instead of confusing stu­ of Europe-including Lichtenstein (p. 138)­ dents with two-since these only differ in through photographs accompanied by cap­ three instances (nom.m., nom.n., and acc.n.)? tions. The use of the term "Kommunikation" in Due to her own geographical bias, the re­ Alles Gute! is misleading. The main ingredient viewer asks herself why southern Germany is of "Kommunikation " is the "Lesetext" always overrepresented in comparison to which is preceded by a" Vor dem Lesen" northern Germany, and why the authors fnsist paragraph with useful strategies for approach­ on leaving the impression that it is quite easy ing the text itself. The useful strategies, how- to come in contact with people in the German

Premiere 1987 67 Journal of Educational Techniques and Technologies

Democratic Republic (DDR) (p. 129); it is not magic force determining the progression and and never has been that easy. organization of the book. As is usually the case with textbooks in The authors of Alles Gute! deserve high which grammar determines organization and marks for including information on the so­ substance, the dialogues are awkward, stilted, called Hlittle-c" culture in this text. These and artificial. little differences in every day situations fasci­ In obvious and subtle ways, this text rein­ nate students, e.g., in Germany you do not forces stereotypes of Germany and its people; hesitate to sit with strangers in a restaurant yet, in its treatment of geography and "little­ when all seats are taken; you are not automat­ c" culture, it is an exemplary text. ically served a glass of water in a restaurant and so on. The conversion chart with different My question to the authors of foreign lan­ sizes for clothes (p. 152) and the differences guage texts remains: Must a language text in counting floors in a building-all these rep­ always be just a textbook; can it not be both resent items of practical data for anyone going instructive and fun to read? to Germany; they are useful inclusions in a good German language text. J.E.T.T. Contributor Profile Angelika Lindemann, a native of West Germany, taught Hopeful, even stimulated by the beautiful beginning and intermediate German courses in the De­ cover depicting Emil Nolde's HRed and Yel­ partment of Germanic and Slavic Languages at the Univer­ sity of Georgia where she also worked on an advanced low Sunflowers," this reviewer opened Alles degree. Gute! Basic German for Communication. Currently, she teaches at Clark College and the Goethe During the review, however, it became readi­ Institute in Atlanta, Georgia. Persons wishing to write to her may do so at the following address: Angellka Lindemann, ly apparent that this book follows the old, c/o J.E.T.T., 304C Moore College, Language Laboratories, familiar patterns: Grammar once again is the University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602.

68 Premiere 1987 D JETTSPOTLIGHT Software Review Rightwriter

Vital Statistics necessity of having to go back and forth be­ Courseware Name: Rightwriter tween the word processing program and Application: Writing analysis program; utility Rightwriter-in order to run analysis, read Rightwriter 104 program to be comments, make changes, or get print-outs used in conjunction with word -can be a frustrating complication. processor Rightwriter's PC-based program reviews a Instruction: Manual with demo program text for spelling, diction, sentence structure, Vendor: Decisionware Inc. active-passive voice, and such things as 2033 Wood Street "weak phrases" and "'ambiguous wording." Suite 218 An overall summary provides an index of Sarasota, FL 33577 readability in terms of "strength," descrip­ (813) 952-9211 tive, and jargon, together with specific rec­ Cost: $95.00 ommendations on the structure of sentences. Copy Policy: Copy/Personal use only Equipment: IBM-PC compatibles Since it is nowhere evident in the Rightwrit­ PC Memory: Minimum 192K er documentation who set the writing stan­ Prerequisites: PC-DOS or MS-DOS 1.1 or dards or how those standards are statistically higher/dual diskette drive/l calculated, the reviewer had no idea for whom diskette and hard drive the writing standards are most appropriate: students, business or technical writers, lay Rightwriter by Decisionware is a utility persons, or academic writers? The program program rather than a standard instructional could be useful to all, but without more in­ program. It is designed to be used-along formation and understanding of the technical with commonly-used word processors-to standards used, it is difficult for anyone to analyze writing style and check for simple judge the appropriateness of the feedback it errors in spelling and usage. gives. For the user already familiar with PC-style With no idea for whom Rightwriter is most microcomputers, Rightwriter is relatively easy appropriate or who set the writing standards to use. It conveniently inserts comments in it, the reviewer used the following method into any specified text file for easy review; a to judge the nature of the feedback Rightwrit­ new output file is created which can be typed er provides in its analysis of textual mate­ to screen or printed out through the standard rials: Familiar with Writer's Workbench, the command of the word processor. UNIX-based program developed several years ago by AT&T for its writers, the re­ The documentation provided with Right­ viewer input the same text file for analysis by writer is simple, straightforward, and pro­ Rightwriter and Writer's Workbench. vides relevant information on how to integrate it along side of the user's own word process­ The intent was not to compare the two pro­ ing program. grams. Writer's Workbench, designed to run on a mini-computer and Rightwriter, designed While only three or four simple commands to run on a PC, are not comparable in terms of provide feedback on a given text file, the power and complexity of analysis. However,

Premiere 1987 69 Journal of Educational Techniques and Technologies

both programs should detect similar problems standards the text had a good mix of sen­ in writing and suggest solutions. tences; by the other, it did not and needed more simple sentences. Comparing the two analyses revealed per­ plexing differences. Users of Rightwriter-or any writing analy­ sis program-need to know by what standards The Writer's Workbench analysis indicated their writing is being judged in order to under­ that the text had a good mix of sentence stand the nature of the program's feedback. types; the Rightwriter analysis, on the other hand, recommended improving the mix of Neither Rightwriter nor any writing analy­ sentences by replacing compound and com­ sis program alone will make a person a writer, pound-complex sentences with simple sen­ let alone a better writer. Users will need to tences-what the text needed was more sim­ examine Rightwriter'S capabilities and im­ ple sentences. plement them in conjunction with specific writing objectives. Used creatively and judi­ Statistics provided by Writer's Workbench ciously, Rightwriter has the potential of im­ on the same text, however, indicated that 52% proving writing skills. of the sentences were simple, 26% complex, 16% compound, and 6% compound-complex. J.E.T.T. Contributor Profile The issue here is not whether any text au­ Robin E. Lawrason is an instructional deSigner, teacher, tomatically improves and benefits when com­ and director of the media learning center at Temple Univer­ plex sentences are replaced by simple sen­ sity. The media center which he directs serves all faculty tences; the issue is that the writing standards with media and computer resources for teaching and pro­ vides a large audio cassette learning laboratory for faculty of Writer's Workbench are different than the involved in the teaching of foreign languages and English standards of Rightwriter. By one program's as a Second Language.

70 Premiere 1987 D JETTSPOTLIGHT Hardware Review MPO's VHS-984 Portable Video System

Vital Statistics well as the manufacturer's instructions for the Name: Portable video presentation system VCR and the TV/monitor. All three sets of Model: VHS-984 instructions are well-written and include help­ Vendor: MPO Videotronics ful illustrations. 619 W. 54th Street The two major components of the system, New York, New York 10019 namely, the JVC BR-1600U VCR and the (212) 708-0550 TMK 793 color TV/monitor, are housed in a 2580 Turquoise Circle grey and black plastic housing; looking at Newbury Park each component in this system, the user will California 91390 find some pleasant surprises. (805) 499-8513 The JVC BR-1600U is a state-of-the art, 640 North La Salle Street portable 4-head VCR with features and func­ Chicago, Illinois 60610 tions found only on Hbigger" machines. (312) 527-3680 Among these features are shuttle search, re­ verse play, an audio dub, and lead crystal With the introduction of the VHS-984 video diode (LCD) counter with built-in memory. system, MPO Videotronics has made video Every function button on the VCR is well­ viewing and recording extremely portable and labeled with both words ~nd pictograms; all reasonably affordable. buttons are touch-activated. Consisting of a JVC BR-1600U video cas­ sette recorder (VCR) and a TMK 793C color The BR-1600U will play video home system TV /monitor, the VHS-984 can be taken any­ (VHS) cassettes at all speeds, but will record where the user may want to take it. In part on them in standard play (SP) and extended this is made possible by the unit's size (15" x play (EP) modes only. 10~" x 13~") and its weight of only 22 Recordings made with this unit were of pounds. The fact that it can be powered by very good quality when played back through anyone of three different power sources fur­ the TMK 793C TV/monitor. By using a 10-pin ther enhances its portability; it can run on plug, the unit can record from an external Ii0V AC, 12V auto current, or from a re­ source such as a video camera or the TMK chargeable battery pack. To add to its ver­ 793C TV Imonitor. This constitutes the sys­ satility and convenience, the VHS-984 comes tem's only major design flaw: although the with wired remote control and an array of BR-1600U plays the tape back through the various connecting cables. TMK 793C, it is unable to record directly Overall, the unit is designed so that even a from it; in order to record directly from the person with no knowledge about audio-visual TMK 973C, the provided cables must be used (A V) equipment can operate it. MPO pro­ and hooked up. This task may be somewhat vides its own set of instructions for the 984 as confusing at first, but-as with all things-it

Premiere 1987 71 Journal of Educational Techniques and Technologies becomes easier the more one does it; the in­ for teachers who pre-view videotapes in order structions are helpful at this point. to determine lesson suitability; with the MPO-984, it is not necessary to make ar­ The other half of the VHS-984, the TMK rangements for special viewing facilities or 793C color TV Imonitor, provides the viewer ""lug around" full-size equipment from class­ with a sharp, clear, 9-inch (measured diago­ room to classroom. nally) picture. The TMK can serve as monitor for the VCR or it can be hooked up to an Learning laboratories, media centers, in­ external antenna or cable to receive television structional resources centers, and even indi­ broadcasts. Its electronic tuner allows the vidual college departments may find it useful user to tune in channels 1-13 VHF and 14-83 to have several units on hand for faculty and UHF. Channels 2-13 are pre-set; 14-83 must teaching assistants. be set manually. Directions provided are With the MPO-984, it is possible to play easy-to-follow and illustrated. videotapes wherever one chooses, even in the great outdoors. An the control buttons are located on the front of the machine behind a latch cover that conceals them when not needed. The only drawback here is the latch door itself; its J.E.T.T. Contributor Profile plastic-hinge construction does not fare well Paul M. VanWicklen, a native New Yorker, is currently com­ pleting his M.Ed. in foreign language education at the Uni­ under repeated use and can break off very versity of Georgia in Athens, Georgia. While working on his easily. degree, he also taught German in the Department of Ger­ manic and Slavic languages. Readers wishing to write to On the whole, the MPO-984 is a useful him may do so at the following address: Paul M. Van­ Wick len, c/o J.E.T.T., 304C Moore College Building, lan­ piece of equipment for individual or small­ guage laboratories, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia group viewing. It can be particularly useful 30602.

72 Premiere 1987