5. Acoustic Analysis of Speech Sounds as an Effective Technique for Pronunciation Teaching

Need for learning pronunciation

1. The ultimate object of a second language learner is to be able to pronounce properly without having to pay any particular attention to the way in which he does it, 'intelligible pronunciation is seen as an essential component of communicative competence' (Morley, 1991:513).

2. Today’s approaches to second language teaching, world-wide recognize pronunciation as having a key role in the achievement of successful communication.

3. It is one of the aspects of language to be taught properly at the very beginning of language study as can be observed from the major historical trends can be seen from the table given below.

Table - 1 The Major Trends in Pronunciation Teaching

Speech Analysis as a Tool for Feedback in Pronunciation practice

i) Speech analysis and use of speech analysis software have been reportedly used in pronunciation teaching classes. Sug­gestions by Spaai and Hermes (1993); Lambacher (1996b); Stib­bard (1996); Chun(1998); Eskenazi (1999); Wennerstrom (2000) reveal that a combination of audio and visual feedback may have a major impact on learners and enhance their ability to learn both segmental and suprasegmental aspects of pronunciation. The use of speech analysis software allows learners to record and visualize their speech output on their computer monitors to obtain real-time information about the acoustic properties of the output. These visualizations can be used by both learners and teachers to compare and evaluate learners’ productions with those of native speakers. Through these visualizations, learners have an objective measure of the distance or closeness of their pronunciation with respect to the target pronunciation. This method is recommended and considered to be highly effective by the re­searchers who have used it.

ii) Eskenazi (1999) maintains that the visual display of second language prosodic patterns may be crucial for correcting students’ inaccurate prosody. It allows them to visualize where exactly their prosodic patterns differ from those of the native speakers.

iii) Wennerstrom (2000) argues that the visu­alization of pitch ranges in speech makes it easier for the learner to increase pitch to signal topic shift, and this has a bearing on learners’ overall intelligibility in a second language learning situation.

iv) Lambacher (1996b) recommends that the function of this computerized training system is very appealing and effective as learning and teaching tool in pronunciation. It allows students to visualize their pronunciation as they learn to associate the patterns on the display with the sounds. The sound analyzer is also very motivating to students because it provides them with a deeper sense of their own articulation by allowing them to visually compare their own pro­nunciation with their teacher’s or with the native speaker’s. The meas­urement of phonetic details such as duration, frequency and intensity is a rather simple task and does not require much technical or theoretical expertise.

v) Speech visualization helps language learning. Both commercial and university research teams have shown growing interest in exploring the applications and potentials of speech analysis software for lan­guage pronunciation instruction. ‘Visemes’ are fast overtaking ‘phonemes’

In the case of a foreign accent, viewed as the effect of a confrontation of two phonological systems in contact from a native language (L1) and a target one (L2), the mastery of an L2 - like prosody may be difficult to teach, from pedagogical viewpoint, sometimes because teachers themselves are not well aware of their prosodic systems especially in rural Indian milieu. This kind of analysis can be made use of to overcome the lacunae.

Incorporating Objective Teaching of Pronunciation in Instruction

Pronunciation teaching these days uses particular technologies like audio-tapes, videos, computer based programmes and websites, it could even provide explicit information in pronunciation in the form of phonetic information, articulatory descriptions and vocal charts, Advances in technology have enabled automatic speech processing to be integrated into foreign language pronunciation training. The advantages of computer assisted pronunciation training (CAPT) software for improving English learners' pronunciation have been studied extensively (Molholt, 1988; 1990; Harless, Zier & Duncan, 1999; Holland, Kaplan & Sabol 1999; Kaplan, Sabol, Wisher & Seidel, 1998; LaRocca, Morgan & Bellinger, 1999; Eskenazi, 1999a, 1999b; Neri, Strik & Boves 2002; Butler-Pascoe & Wiburg, 2003; Kim, 2006). The untiring, non-judgmental nature of the computer allows students unlimited opportunities to review any part of the materials and receive additional assistance provided by the system. CAPT software enables students to study autonomously, choosing what function to use and how often they use it.

Visual feedback in Pronunciation Teaching

Visual feedback of learner errors could be very helpful where the learner could match his speech wave along with all its features, with that of the model speech. Speech analysis and synthesis now allow the users to sort out the role of segmental and suprasegmental features in the perception of a language or an accent.

While perceptual studies, as they were done earlier, present great face validity, their results tend to be considerably variable due to the subjective nature of the analysis.

The use of speech analysis software allows researchers, learners and teachers to record and visualize the speech output on their computer monitors to obtain real-time information about the acoustic properties of this output. These visualizations can be used by both learners and teachers to compare and evaluate learners’ productions with those of native speakers. Through these visualizations, learners can have an objective measure of the distance or closeness of their pronunciation with respect to the target pronunciation. Visual indication of the correct place of articulation is the most effective and useful feedback to the Second Language Learner. The objective feedback motivates the learners to correct their pronunciation in their subsequent attempts.

In recent years, the development of digital technology has greatly improved the efficiency in studying speech acoustics. Acoustic analysis, on the other hand, allows for more precise and objective tracking of subtle speech sound changes in guiding speech training and monitoring progress (Uchanski and Geers, 2003).

Fig-3.The Three Levels of Acoustic Analysis

Speeches analyzing windows or frames use animated views of the articulatory mechanics, video clips showing jaw, lip and tongue movement and waveform patterns of sound samples. Michael Ashby, in his talk (Michael Ashby, 2004) at University College, London demonstrated at a conference some of these new technologies which he is using, to very good effect, with his students. He demonstrated how it is possible to have available, on a laptop, all the equipment necessary for demonstrating and experimenting with sounds. Tools range from the widely available PowerPoint which is highly interactive and can incorporate sound and vision (audio and video files), to specialized speech analysis software such as WASP. With the addition of a microphone, or better still a wireless radio microphone, sounds for analysis can be generated in the classroom by both teacher and student. This is highly motivating and involves the students in the learning process much more closely.

Conclusion

Finally it may be concluded that, an aid to pronunciation teaching classes may come from the acoustic dimensions of speech analysis which aids students to be independent learners. With most teachers and learners having access to computers and the availability of low- or no-cost acoustic analysis software, there is little reason why the acquisition, analysis, and interpretation of acoustic aspects of speech are not routinely incorporated into the teaching especially of pronunciation skills or the skills set of language teaching practitioner.

With adequate education, modeling, and support the application of speech analysis to pronunciation teaching and learning practice can lead to effective language teaching learning management.

Pronunciation can be one of the most difficult parts of a language for adult learners to master and one of the least favourite topics for teachers to address in the classroom. Nevertheless, with careful preparation and integration, pronunciation can play an important role in supporting learners' overall communicative power. Students enjoy practising at their own pace and receiving individualised, immediate feedback. There is an expressed need for more instruction on how to refine their pronunciation and for cumulative analyses of performances.