The use of conversational AI technologies, such as voice assistants, is increasing. By providing fast and consistent interaction with a device, AI technologies respond to commands or provide services for an individual. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has triggered demand for the use of these technological applications in language learning environments, maximizing learners' affinity with digital devices.
This study was carried out to explore the effect of utilizing AI mobile applications (AI apps) in foreign language pronunciation training, which attempts to expand the adaptation of AI technologies in education. Two recordings were prepared containing 100 sentences, adopted from a test battery, the Oxford Placement Test (Allan, 2004). One audio was made by six Korean-speaking learners (KSLs) who received 4-week English pronunciation practice using instant feedback from the AI apps, and the other one was recorded by six other KSLs who did not make use of the AI apps for pronunciation training. A total of 51 KSLs from two intact classes with a similar English proficiency level listened to one of the two audio materials for word identification task. The mean listening scores were compared between two audio sets in consideration of the eight distinctive features based on the generalized phonological inventory of the Lingua Franca Core (Jenkins, 2000), and non-LFC features.
The findings showed that those who listened to the audio of the experimental group (AI apps intervention group) outperformed the counterpart group. Moreover, significant differences between two groups were observed in three distinctive features, reported as major sources of reduced intelligibility in Korean-accented English (Chung & Bong, 2021): vowel lengths, vowel quality, and coda consonant clusters.
By directing attention to some features in a learnability aspect, this study concludes by suggesting that English language learners who have high digital literacy skills should be engaged in AI apps utilizing pronunciation practice.
Allan, D. (2004). Oxford placement test 1. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
Chung, B., & Bong, H. K. M. (2021). Intelligibility of Korean-accented English: Effects of listener's familiarity. English Teaching, 76(1), 33-56.
Jenkins, J. (2000). The phonology of English as an international language. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
Bohyon Chung is a lecturer teaching various English courses. Her research areas focus on the Pedagogy of English ̶ the development of instructional design combining artificial intelligence applications, and on the areas of Applied Linguistics - Second/foreign language acquisition, English as a lingua franca, and cross-cultural discourse analysis. She is a two-time recipient of a young researcher grant for a three-year period by the National Research Foundation of Korea.
Hyun Kyung Miki Bong is Professor at Ritsumeikan University, Japan. She holds BA and MA from Nagoya University in English Linguistics and M.Phil. and Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge in English and Applied Linguistics. Her main research interests lie in practical applications of English language studies: e.g., English language learning and teaching as a foreign language, translation and interpretation, English as a lingua franca, and in the field of Applied Linguistics: i.e., first and second language acquisition.
