“Elsa Speak” in an Online Pronunciation Class: Students’ Voices

Abstract

Developing productive skills such as pronunciation requires more than just comprehension. Students should have ample opportunities to practice their knowledge. With the strike of Covid-19 that has abruptly shifted learning from offline to an online setting, lecturers have tried to employ technologies such as Elsa Speak in teaching pronunciation online. With the rising popularity of this application, there should be a study investigating how the students perceive Elsa Speak in online pronunciation learning. To do so, this present study employed a mixed-method approach to know the attitudes of 112 English Department students toward Elsa Speak used in their online pronunciation class. Through an analysis of data collected from questionnaires and interviews, the study found that most participants had a positive attitude toward Elsa Speak concerning its use in their online pronunciation class. Even though there were some negative comments from the participants, the benefits outweighed the downside. To make the integration of Elsa Speak into online pronunciation learning more accommodating to students’ needs, lecturers could take some pedagogical measures, such as supplementing the materials provided by Elsa Speak with those from other resources, increasing their involvement during the learning process, and promoting collaborative activities. ABSTRAKMengembangkan keterampilan produktif seperti pengucapan membutuhkan lebih dari sekedar pemahaman. Siswa harus diberi banyak kesempatan untuk mempraktikkan pengetahuan mereka. Dengan adanya wabah Covid-19 yang mengubah sistem pembelajaran dari luring ke daring, dosen menggunakan teknologi seperti Elsa Speak dalam mengajar mata kuliah pengucapan secara daring. Dengan meningkatnya popularitas dari aplikasi ini, harus ada penelitian yang menyelidiki bagaimana persepsi siswa tentang Elsa Speak dalam pembelajaran pengucapan secara daring. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan metode campuran untuk mengetahui sikap 112 mahasiswa Jurusan Bahasa Inggris terhadap Elsa Speak yang digunakan di kelas pengucapan daring mereka. Melalui analisis data yang dikumpulkan dari kuesioner dan wawancara, peneliti menemukan bahwa sebagian besar mahasiswa memiliki sikap positif terhadap Elsa Speak terkait penggunaannya di kelas mereka. Meskipun terdapat beberapa komentar negatif dari partisipan, manfaat Elsa Speak lebih besar daripada kerugian yang ditimbulkan. Supaya integrasi Elsa Speak ke dalam pembelajaran pengucapan secara daring lebih mengakomodasi kebutuhan mahasiswa, dosen dapat mengambil beberapa langkah pedagogis, seperti menggunakan materi tambahan untuk memberi variasi terhadap materi yang disediakan oleh Elsa Speak, meningkatkan keterlibatan dosen selama proses pembelajaran, dan mengimplementasikan kegiatan pembelajaran yang kolaboratif.

The Effect of Using Elsa Speak App for First-Semester Students’ English Speaking Proficiency

“…The advancement observed in students' pronunciation skills is notably attributed to the app's capability of providing instant feedback, a feature widely acknowledged and appreciated by students. This aligns with Yosintha and Rekha (2022), where they highlight the app's effectiveness for pronunciation learning. ELSA Speak has everything students need to study pronunciation independently at their own pace and different levels.…”

“…The consequent enhancement of speaking capabilities, producing more coherent and error-free oral compositions, is a noteworthy accomplishment and valuable tool. As well as Dini et al ( 2021), cited in Yosintha and Rekha (2022), also found the distinct advantage of ELSA Speak's immediate feedback that can firmly affirm the significance of ELSA Speak in providing feedback to students for EFL classes at present times at any given moments. Furthermore, the enrichment of students' language competence and speaking comprehension via AI feedback validates the application of AI feedback in EFL speaking classes as a form of learning assistance from an empirical and theoretical standpoint.…”

Analysis of Students' Perception Toward the Use of the Fondi Application to Learn Speaking English in Junior High School

“…The previous studied mostly focus on studying the use of commonly used applications, such as Youtube, Whatsapp, ELSA Speaks, Duolingo, etc. The results of research on ELT using the ELSA Speaks application explained that the majority of students expressed a favorable opinion of Elsa Speak, which was used in their online pronunciation class (Yosintha, 2022). Also Hamad et al (2019) argue that YouTube videos and Listening Audio Tracks Imitation are very effective CALL tools for improving students' speaking skills.…”