english accent coach

TESL-EJ20.1,May2016 xxx 1

TheElectronicJournalforEnglishasaSecondLanguageEnglishAccentCoachMay2016–Volume20,Number1

Title English Accent Coach Author Ron Thomson URL http://www.englishaccentcoach.com/ Type of Product Website and iOS apps Minimum Hardware (Apps require iOS 4.0 and later) Price Free

IntroductionPronunciationisanimportantaspectoflanguagelearning,butitcanbechallengingforinstructorstomeetstudents’variedpronunciationneeds.Incontextswhereclassroomsinclude students from several different first language backgrounds, the vowels andconsonants thatareeasy foronestudent tomastermaypresentamajorchallenge foranotherstudent.Although instructors insuchcontextscanteachclassroomlessonsonaspects of pronunciation, such as stress and intonation, they need to find a way toprovidestudentswithmorepersonalizedworkonindividualsounds.This isespeciallyimportant, becausemaking changes in vowel and consonant pronunciation requires agreatdealofpractice.

Electronic resources are one way to provide personalized work on the vowels andconsonantsthatchallengeeachstudent.Workingindividuallyonacomputerormobiledevice,individualscanfocusonthesoundstheywishtostudy,andadjusttimeoneachtask as needed. There are a number of websites, programs, and apps that promisepronunciation improvement, someunrealistically.EnglishAccentCoachpromotesmorerealistic expectations, stating that “this programwill help you recognize and produceEnglish soundsmore clearly, but itwill not eliminate your accent.”Theproductofferssustained,repeatedpracticeinrecognitionanddistinctionofEnglishsoundsandtracksstudentprogressviaawebsiteandmobileapp.ThisreviewwillfocusontheuseoftheEnglishAccentCoachwebsiteforL2Englishlanguagepronunciationdevelopment.Description

With English Accent Coach, students play games using the vowels and consonants inEnglish.BecausethegamesuseIPA(InternationalPhoneticAlphabet)symbolsthatmaynotbefamiliarto learners,usersare initiallydirectedtobrief lessonsthatconnectthesymbol,samplewords,andsimplearticulationinstructionsforeachsound(seeFigure1forthesite’shomepage,andFigure2forasampleIPAlesson).


Figure1.Welcomepage

Figure2.Vowellessons

Learnerscanthenmoveontotwodifferentkindsofgames.Inthevowelandconsonantgames(seeFigure3foranexample),students listenandclickto indicatewhichsoundthey think theyheard. In theEchogame(seeFigure4 foranexample), studentsmustremember increasingly longer sequences of sounds and click to recreate the samesequences. These games train students’ perception and awareness of English sounds,whichcanhelpthemspeakmoreclearlyviatheabilitytoaccuratelymonitortheirownproduction. These lessons and the Level 1 games are available without requiring


learners to sign in. To move beyond Level 1 and to access features that track theirprogress,usersmustregisterforafreeaccount.

Figure3.ConsonantGame

Figure4.Echogame


AnumberoffeaturesallowlearnerstopersonalizetheirexperiencewithEnglishAccentCoach.Users canselectanynumberof specificvowelor consonant sounds topractice(see Figure 5 for example of vowel activity). They can also select a “level” for theirpractice,whichsetsthecontextsinwhichtheywillhearthetargetsounds.Forexample,inLevel1, targetvowelsareheard insimplesyllablessuchas“he,” “ha,” “hi,”and“ho.”SimpleopensyllableswithagreatervarietyofinitialconsonantsareusedinLevel2,andfurther levels introduce closed syllables, consonant clusters, and stressed/unstressedsyllablesofauthenticwords.

In the vowels and consonants games, users can also selectwhether or not to see keywordswhentheyhoverovereachsound,andcanadjustthenumberofwrongattemptsallowed before the system gives them the right answer. For vowels, users can choosebetweentheIPAsymbolsandcolorblocksalignedwiththecolorvowelchart(seeFigure6).

Figure5.Vowelgamewithsymbols


Figure6.Vowelgamewithcolors

In the Echo game, users can choose exactly which four sounds they would like topractice,orletthegamedecide.Levelsaredefinedasdescribedabove,butdifficultycanbe further refined as users choose the degree of variety in voices theywill hear anddecidewhetherornottoaddavisualclueforthesounds.

Finally, EnglishAccentCoach tracks each learner’s progress.A report after each gamedetails overall accuracy and speed, along with accuracy and mastery levels for eachsound(seeFigure7foranexample).Theseindividual“reportcards”canbeexportedaspdfs,andlearnerscanalsotracktheirprogressovertimeonalinegraphthatincludesdatafromthevowel,consonant,andEchogames,togetherorseparately.(Figure8).


Figure7.Progressreportfromvowelgame

Figure8.Trackingprogressovertime


Evaluation

EnglishAccentCoachhasmanyobviousstrengths.Theinterfaceissimpleandclearwithnobugs,andgamedesignchoicesarebasedonprinciplesfrompronunciationresearch.

For example, the game uses a variety of voices in the recorded syllables and words.Learnersareexposedtomanydifferentspeakers’voices,sotheylearntorecognizethevowels and consonants independent of individual differences (Logan, Lively & Pisoni,1991).Whenauserclicksincorrectlyafterhearingasound,atoneindicatestheerror,andthenthe sound is played again and the correct response is highlighted. The user mustacknowledgetheerrorbyclickingthecorrectresponseinordertocontinue.Thisdrawslearners’ attention to the sounds they struggle with, and keeps them engaged in theactivities.TheFAQfeatureexplainsthat,whiletheconsonantgameexplicitlyencourageslearnersto select a few sounds towork on, the default vowel gamepractices all ten vowels atoncetoavoiddistortionsinvowelperceptionthathavebeenfoundinresearchactivitieswhenlearnerswereexposedintensivelytoafewvowels(Nishi&Kewley-Port,2008).

Thereareafewweaknessesworthnoting.ThemobileversionsareavailableonlyforiOS,notAndroidoperatingsystems.Thegamesalsodonotseemtoadaptautomatically toplayers’strengthsandweaknesses(althoughtheydogiveusersthedataandoptionstomake the needed adaptations themselves). The pacing on the Echo game seemed tooslowforthisnativespeakerofEnglishtorememberthepatterns,butperhapsthepacingismoreappropriatefornon-nativespeakingaudiences.

Finally, learners do not necessarily practice speaking in these games, and of coursespeaking practice and instructor feedback on production are still essential parts ofpronunciation instruction (e.g., Saito & Lyster, 2012). English Accent Coach cancomplement,butnotreplace,humaninstructioninpronunciation.

Summary

EnglishAccent Coach is an excellent resource for students and teachers of English. Inparticular,it isagreatself-pacedproductforstudentstosupplementformalclassroompronunciationinstruction.Byhearingtargetedvowelsandconsonantsmanytimesandin different voices, identifying the sounds, and tracking their progress, learners canbecomemorefamiliarwiththevowelsandconsonantsofEnglishandgraduallyincreasetheirabilitytocategorizeandpronouncethosesoundsincontext.

References

Logan,J.,Lively,S.,&PisoniD.(1991).TrainingJapaneselistenerstoidentifyEnglish/r/and/l/:Afirstreport.JournaloftheAcousticalSocietyofAmerica,89,874-886.

Nishi,K.,&Kewley-Port,D. (2008).Nonnative speechperception trainingusing vowelsubsets:Effectsofvowelsinsetsandorderoftraining.JournalofSpeech,Language,andHearingResearch,51,1480-1493


Saito,K.,&Lyster,R.(2012).Effectsofform-focusedinstructionandcorrectivefeedbackon L2 pronunciation development of /ɹ/ by Japanese learners of Englishlanguage.Learning:AJournalofResearchinLanguageStudies,62(2),595-633.

AbouttheReviewer

Beth Sheppard <[email protected]> is an ESL instructor at the University ofOregon, where she specializes in listening and speaking instruction. Her M.A. inlinguisticsisalsofromtheUniversityofOregon.Shehasmorethantenyears’experienceteachingEnglishinOregon,California,Mexico,andPeru.ShehasalsotaughtGermanandChinukWawa.

©Copyrightrestswithauthors.PleaseciteTESL-EJappropriately.

english accent coach

Documents