The Effect of Automatic Speech Recognition Technologies on Students’ Pronunciation A Case Study of First-year EFL Learners at Biskra University

Abstract

Effective English pronunciation instruction requires exposure to authentic input, practice, and feedback. Nowadays, advanced technologies can be employed to teach and assess pronunciation. Therefore, this mixed-method research aimed to investigate the effect of Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) technology on EFL students’ pronunciation at the Department of English and Literature at Biskra University. For this purpose, a semi-structured questionnaire was administered to a sample of four teachers of oral expression and phonetics in the initial phase, in addition to using a quasi-experimental design involving a control and an experimental group with twelve participants each (n=12). The intervention was followed by a semi-structured interview conducted with the participants of the experimental group. The four teachers agreed that incorporating technology into the classroom is important, and they emphasized that adequate planning and training are essential before introducing a technological tool to the students. Besides, the results of the intervention revealed the significance of the use of ASR to improve students’ pronunciation. Further, the positive responses to the interview supplemented the results and also showed that the participants enjoyed using ASR technology. The research findings highlighted the potential benefits of integrating ASR technology into pronunciation instruction to facilitate the learning process and lead to better learning outcomes.