Using Technology to Teach Pronunciation

A review of the research from

Melike YücelEleonora FrigoLaurie Wayne

Ling 578, Winter 2010, Dr. Arnold

Using Technology for Pronunciation: a Brief History

Early years: "repeat after me"  Goals - accent reduction, native-like pronunciation  Technology was used for listening or for providing a native-speaker amodel  ASR provided limited feedback - technology is/was limited to awords/phones

Past 20+ years: "talk to me"  Pedagogical emphasis on intelligibility  Used for interaction with software or other speakers  Connected speech, suprasegmentals and internet-enabled xcommunication

FluSpeak (A part of Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) Software)

English pronunciation, intonation, dialog practice with pronunciation testing

Research Question: Is FLuSpeak software reliable in terms of teaching pronunciation?

Pilot study participants: 36 Korean EFL college students

Method: Students recorded voices, ASR analysis was compared to NS instructor scores

Analysis: WinSPASS program run on the four kinds of pronunciation ratings. Correlations between FluSpeak scores and NEI scores weak to zero at the intonation level.

FluSpeak (A part of Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) Software)

Results

ASR Software can be used as a valuable tool for teaching pronunciation to EFL students where Native English Speakers are not available.

Keep in mind: ASR pronunciation software

Saves energy, time, and effort for creative activities.

Promotes learner autonomy.

four- point scale, with no midpoints between the whole numbers, is used.

Rating Scale

Least Native-like |----------------|---------------|----------------| Native-like

0 1 2 3

Pronunciation Accuracy Rubric

0 Many pronunciation errors and foreign accents and intonation patterns that cause the speaker's

pronunciation of the sentence to be completely unintelligible.

1 Frequent pronunciation errors and foreign [non native-like] accents and intonation patterns that cause the speaker's pronunciation of the sentence to be somewhat unintelligible.

2 Some consistent pronunciation errors and foreign [non native-like] accents and intonation patterns, but

the speaker's pronunciation of the sentence is intelligible only with some effort.

3 Occasional nonnative pronunciation errors, but the speaker's pronunciation of the sentence is clearly

intelligible with effort from the listener.

Sample Scoring Sheet

Item 2 6 7 8 10 13

1 1 1 1 2 2 1

Important points to be aware of when rating students' pronunciation:

Be consistent across all items and all students in rating students' pronunciation.

If you are not sure of a student' pronunciation, listen to the item again.

 

Using Praat and Moodle for Teaching Segmental and Suprasegmental Pronunciation.

Ian Wilson

Vowel length (code vs. coat)

VOT for /p/ vs. /b/ (peas vs. bees)

Using Praat and Moodle for Teaching Segmental and Suprasegmental Pronunciation.

Ian Wilson

Choice activity: VOT of English /p/

Choice results for VOT of /p/

Conclusion

Technology can support many pedagogical goals:

It's your friend!

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