Muzakki Bashori, Roeland van Hout, Helmer Strik, Catia Cucchiarini
Practicing pronunciation through language learning systems incorporating Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) technology has been effective in helping improve foreign language pronunciation. One of the ASR affordances is that it can provide immediate, personalized feedback on learners’ pronunciation. We investigated the effects of two ASR-based language learning systems, I Love Indonesia (ILI) and NovoLearning (NOVO), on learners’ word-level and sentence-level pronunciation. ILI offers global corrective feedback, while NOVO is equipped with corrective feedback on phonetic details. 117 Indonesian high school students participated in a five-week-long experiment; 52 students used ILI and 65 NOVO. Three pronunciation measures were calculated on a pre and post reading test: phonetic edit distances plus accentedness and comprehensibility ratings. Results indicate significant improvements in learners’ pronunciation, confirming that both systems are promising learning tools, with NOVO leading to more progress. Future studies should examine the long-term effects of ASR-based global and phonetic feedback on learners’ pronunciation quality. © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands; Centre for Language and Speech Technology (CLST), Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands; Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands; NovoLearning BV, Nijmegen, Netherlands; Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Semarang State University, Semarang, Indonesia
