Pronunciation

Another good Google tool I discovered today is the pronunciation feature in [|Google Translator]. When you translate a language, you can also click on an audio button to hear it pronounced, which is really helpful. More widespread languages such as Spanish or English have excellent pronunciation, but other less common languages use a robotic voice that does not sound authentic. I am sure that these tools will improve over time as voice recognition becomes more ubiquitous. Some of the translations are not perfect, but I think they will also improve over time, as my phrase, "how are you" had extensive information after it.

Here is an example of the phrase "how are you" translated into Spanish.

- Shannon Everett

A great website for those learning how to speak French, [] has common vocabulary, describes how accents change the sounds of words (and provides TONS of examples that you can hear), a verb conjugator that tell you how to pronounce the verbs when conjugated and so much more. The website is free with minimal popups, which makes it very user friendly. Native French speakers pronounce the words to ensure correct pronunciation by users. They also speak at a nice slow pace with exceptional clarity.

- Robynn Boissoin

__Related Terms__

 * ASR** - Automatic Speech Recognition
 * CAPT ** - Computer Assisted Pronunciation Training

Though not all programs or tools using ASR perform well, the use of this technology for practicing and assessing pronunciation is deemed to be of value by a number of researchers in this discipline. This might be surprising to anyone who has struggled to pay bills over the phone or communicate their information or reason for a call before being transferred to a customer service representative over the phone. Some of the research suggests that the user experience can be positive if there is an awareness of the technological limitations of a given tool (Ehsani and Knot, 1998; Neri et al., 2003), the appropriate devices are employed while using this technology (example: a noise cancelling microphone) and there is an evaluation of which tools are the most effective for the skill level of the language learner in the first place (Neri et al., 2003).

[|Speech Technology in Computer-Aided Language Learning: Strengths and Limitations of a New CALL Paradigm] - Ehsani and Knot (1998) argue that ASR is both essential and already ready for use (even back in 1998) in CALL.

PLASER: Pronunciation Learning via Automatic Speech Recognition - Mak et al. (2003) explore the use of a tool which utilizes ASR technology to help Chinese students to practice the pronunciation of English words. This tool also creates a colour coded visual to indicate 'phoneme confidence.'

//Automatic Speech Recognition for second language learning: How and why it actually works// by Neri, Cucchiarini and Strik (2003) compares //TriplePlayPlus!//, //Tell Me More French// and //Tell Me More Japanese// (applications which utilize ASR). * This article is available through a search of the title on Google or Google Scholar.

- Bridgette Atkins

Getting students to participate in the classroom can be one of the most challenging things for a teacher. Students in intermediate grades are often very conscious about what of their peers will think of them when they participate in classroom discussions. For many students they do not want to feel embarrassed when they get the answer wrong or be laughed at by their peers. According to a very informal survey I did, many students in my classrooms are introverts, as such they have a difficult time sharing their thoughts on the spot with others. This problem also arises for ELL learners because they may not have the vocabulary to express their thoughts (STAGE 1 ELL Learners) or they are very conscious about speaking because they feel their English is not good enough. I have a Stage 3 ELL learner who is a fantastic student, she writes really well to express her thoughts but is deathly afraid to share her thoughts because she is conscious about how her English sounds in front of her peers. I have to tried to circumvent this problem in a few ways:
 * USING TECHNOLOGY TO GIVE ELL LEARNERS "VOICE" (by Thava)**
 * My students are working together to create audio books on Robert Munsch books using their IPAD. This allows her to practice speaking in a safe and non-threatening way. It also allows her to work with a partner who she feels comfortable with and eventually she can start to speak in front of groups 3-4 people.She is often scared to share her written work so I often take a picture with my phone and project it on the screen using Air Projector app. (with her permission of course!)
 * She also has been using Apps like twitter and Edmodo to engage in discussions in the classroom and became more confident with sharing her work.

According to Helen Butterfiled from her article on Top Tools for learning she says that finding new tools to help her pupils speak is a motivating task for her and pupils. Mobile technology is a great tool for language learners because she says that they can see their hard-work materialize right in front of them! Much like me she finds that her students often have to struggle with fining the opportunity and confidence to speak. Technology gives them a voice both literally and figuratively!

Source: Technology in Modern Foreign Languages A practitioner’s perspective