The Fluspeak ASR-based pronunciation software gave good results with beginners focusing on phoneme production but poor results overall for advanced learners seeking fluency¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · design r1 · q2
Currency · newest study 2016 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · overdue for a recheck since 2019: tool and model accuracy changes quickly

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Kim's (2006) Fluspeak software, tested with 36 university students through a hybrid face-to-face plus software approach, worked well for beginners on phoneme production but poorly for advanced learners working on fluency. → Ali 2016

Evidence¶

Ali 2016¶

Ali, S. (2016). Towards the development of a comprehensive pedagogical framework for pronunciation training based on adapted automatic speech recognition systems. In S. Papadima-Sophocleous, L. Bradley & S. Thouësny (Eds), CALL communities and culture – short papers from EUROCALL 2016 (pp. 7-13). Research-publishing.net. https://doi.org/10.14705/rpnet.2016.eurocall2016.530

q2 · i? · design · r1

The article reports, citing Kim (2006), that Fluspeak was tested with 36 university students in a hybrid teaching approach with a comparison between human and automatic scoring; "it gave poor results overall for advanced learners trying to gain fluency." No effect size is printed.

"It was tested with 36 university students through a hybrid teaching approach mixing Face to face teaching with individual work with the software. The study included a comparison between human scoring and automatic scoring with Fluspeak. Although Fluspeak gave good results with beginners focussing on phoneme production, it gave poor results overall for advanced learners trying to gain fluency."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Guided ASR practice improves overall pronunciation accuracy of Korean EFL learners more than ordinary classroom pronunciation practice alone — related
• CAPT software shows promising results for segmental pronunciation, while prosodic features and fluency still require further research and development — a broader claim this one bears on
• Whether individual or peer practice works better with ASR-based pronunciation training is unsettled: one study found individual work best, a meta-analysis found peer practice gave larger effects — related
• Students responded positively to ASR pronunciation training and the Rainbow passage, but were mixed on technical aspects of recording and voice typing — related
• Explicit pronunciation instruction improves controlled production of targeted sounds and prosody, with smaller and less certain gains in spontaneous speech — related