Analysis of and feedback on phonetic features in pronunciation training with a virtual teacher

Abstract

Pronunciation errors may be caused by several different deviations from the target, such as voicing, intonation, insertions or deletions of segments, or that the articulators are placed incorrectly. Computer-animated pronunciation teachers could potentially provide important assistance on correcting all these types of deviations, but they have an additional benefit for articulatory errors. By making parts of the face transparent, they can show the correct position and shape of the tongue and provide audiovisual feedback on how to change erroneous articulations. Such a scenario however requires firstly that the learner's current articulation can be estimated with precision and secondly that the learner is able to imitate the articulatory changes suggested in the audiovisual feedback. This article discusses both these aspects, with one experiment on estimating the important articulatory features from a speaker through acoustic-to-articulatory inversion and one user test with a virtual pronunciation teacher, in which the articulatory changes made by seven learners who receive audiovisual feedback are monitored using ultrasound imaging.

Rehabilitating Fossilized Consonants through Computer-aided and Animated Material

“…Henüz embriyonik aşamada olmasına rağmen, bilgisayar destekli telaffuz araçlarının kullanıldığı çalışmalar da yer almaktadır (Tsai, 2006, Engwall & Bälter, 2008Thomson 2011, Luo, 2016. Nadiren deneysel araştırmalarda da bilgisayar destekli telaffuz çalışmalarına da rastlanmaktadır (Engwall, 2012 Öğrencilere öncelikle telaffuz konusundaki seviyelerini belirlemek üzere ön-test uygulanmış. Bu testte, USBEM firmasına ait Akademik Uzman Telaffuz adlı 40 soru içeren bir test özel izin alınarak kullanılmıştır.…”

“…There are however serious attempts, though at embryonic stage, to include computer-animated pronunciation tools to correct pronunciation errors such as voicing, intonation, insertions or deletions of segments (Engwall & Bälter, 2008;Luo, 2016;Thomson 2011;Tsai, 2006). In a rare but a quite significant experimental study Engwall (2012) used computer-animated pronunciation teachers to correct phonemic pronunciation errors though providing audiovisual feedback on the correct position, shape of the tongue and parts of the face.…”

Augmented Reality Talking Heads as a Support for Speech Perception and Production

“…In Engwall et al (2006), Engwall & Bälter (2007) and Engwall (2011), the subjects were given feedback on their articulation, using the AR talking head display shown in Fig. 1(a).…”

“…Olov Engwall (2011). Augmented Reality Talking Heads as a Support for Speech Perception and Production, Augmented Reality -Some Emerging Application Areas, Dr. Andrew Yeh Ching Nee (Ed.…”

A Discussion of the Ins and Outs of L2 Pronunciation Instruction: A Clash of Methodologies

“…Globally considered, there has recently been a revival of interest in pronunciation teaching to make L2 learners more efficient users of the target language (Luchini, 2005), and this interest has been more apparent as a number studies have been published in leading journals in ELT (e.g., Ali, 2016;Engwall, 2012;Golonka, Bowles, Frank, Richardson, & Freynik, 2014;Hsu, 2016;Lee & Lyster, 2016;Liakin, Cardoso, & Liakina, 2017;Luo, 2016;Martinsen, Montgomery, & Willardson, 2017;Mbah, Mbah, Iloene, & Iloene, 2014;Meng, Wang, Li, Meng, & Chen, 2012;Mompean & FouzGonzález, 2016;Olson, 2014;Ouni, 2014;Sun et al, 2017;Thomson, 2011Thomson, , 2012Thomson & Derwing, 2015;van Doremalen, Boves, Colpaert, Cucchiarini, & Strik, 2016). The EIL and LFC perspective has had a great impact on this.…”