This study investigates an Intelligent Personal Assistant’s (IPA) ability to assist English as a Second Language (ESL) learners in developing their phonological awareness, perception, and production of the allomorphy in regular past tense marking in English (e.g. talk[t], play[d] and add[ɪd]). The study addresses the following questions: Can the pedagogical use of IPAs improve learners’ pronunciation of -ed allomorphy in terms of phonological awareness, perception, and production? What are learners’ attitudes toward IPAs? The results suggest that participants improved in their ability to articulate their phonological awareness regarding the target form, and that their attitudes toward the technology was positive in terms of the four measures adopted to assess their experience (i.e. learnability, usability, motivation, and willingness to use). We discuss these findings and emphasize the pedagogical potential of IPAs for the development of L2 pronunciation, as well as their ability to personalize learning and consequently extend the reach of the language classroom.
Intelligent personal assistants and L2 pronunciation development: focus on English past -ed
Published 2021 in CALL and professionalisation: short papers from EUROCALL 2021
ABSTRACT
PUBLICATION RECORD
- Publication year
2021
- Venue
CALL and professionalisation: short papers from EUROCALL 2021
- Publication date
2021-12-13
- Fields of study
Not labeled
- Identifiers
- External record
- Source metadata
Semantic Scholar
CITATION MAP
EXTRACTION MAP
CLAIMS
CONCEPTS
- english past -ed allomorphy
The variable pronunciation of the regular past tense suffix in English, including forms like [t], [d], and [ɪd].
Aliases: -ed allomorphy, past -ed, -ed
- intelligent personal assistant
A voice-enabled digital assistant used here as the instructional technology for supporting ESL pronunciation practice.
Aliases: IPA, intelligent personal assistants
- l2 pronunciation development
Improvement in pronunciation skills for a second language in the instructional context discussed here.
Aliases: second-language pronunciation development, L2 pronunciation
- language classroom
The formal educational setting whose reach may be extended by using the assistant outside direct classroom interaction.
- learnability
A perceived ease-of-learning measure used to assess how easy the technology was to understand and use.
- motivation
A measure of learner engagement and interest in using the technology for pronunciation practice.
- personalized learning
Instruction adapted to individual learner needs or pace through the assistant's interaction style.
Aliases: personalization
- phonological awareness
Learners' conscious knowledge and articulation of sound patterns relevant to the target pronunciation form.
- usability
A measure of how effectively and comfortably the technology could be used in the learning task.
- willingness to use
A measure of learners' readiness to keep using the technology in future learning.
REFERENCES
Showing 1-9 of 9 references · Page 1 of 1
CITED BY
Showing 1-5 of 5 citing papers · Page 1 of 1