ICWL 2013: Advances in Web-Based Learning – ICWL 2013 pp 306-311 | Cite as
Exploring the Effectiveness of Adopting the ASR-Based System to Facilitate Adults’ English Speaking Proficiency
Abstract
The study constructs and evaluates an automatic speech recognition (ASR)-based system with multiple levels of corrective feedback to support adult learners with opportunities of practicing English speaking with immediate diagnosis. The corrective feedback includes three levels: the first level shows the learner’s pronunciation score and audio waveform, the second level provides learners with a comment, a list of words that are pronounced accurately and inaccurately, and an audio toolbar for replaying the learner’s utterance, and the third level shows a demonstration of the accurate utterances with both full sentence and single-word form at normal and slow speed. A total of 38 adults from Taiwan participated in this experiment, divided into an experimental and a control group. The control group practiced English speaking using the single-level-feedback system while the experimental group was given the three-level-feedback system. The results of the study indicate that the ASR-based system serves as a helpful tool for Taiwanese learners and the learners were satisfied with the system for self-paced learning. Besides, the learners in the experimental group with three-level feedback made significant progress in English speaking. Some research issues and suggestions are also presented for future reference.
Keywords
Automatic speech recognition system English speaking AdultsPreview
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