Reducing Thai EFL Students’ Pronunciation Anxiety through a CAPT-Based Reading Progress Application
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14456/jlapsu.2022.4Keywords:
pronunciation, pronunciation anxiety, application, computer-assisted pronunciation training (CAPT), automatic speech recognition (ASR)Abstract
This research investigated the effects of implementing
a Reading Progress (RP) application and an Immersive Reader (IR) tool as a computer-assisted pronunciation training (CAPT). It was utilized with the goal of 1) lessening the students’ pronunciation anxiety, 2) assessing their pronunciation skills, and 3) exploring their degree of satisfaction with the utilization of the pronunciation application. A pre-experimental (one-group pretest posttest) research design was conducted with thirty students from two state universities, who were selected by simple random sampling. The pronunciation performance test, pronunciation anxiety scale, and a questionnaire focusing on the levels of satisfaction for the utilization of the application were obtained. The data was collected using the recordings of the pre-tests, 12 reading practices, and the post-tests, which were held over 4 weeks of intervention on Microsoft Teams. The pronunciation performance tests were evaluated by three raters. Meanwhile, the descriptive statistics and t-test were analyzed using SPSS version 20. The findings indicated that there was a statistically significant effect of CAPT on pronunciation skills and the reduction of pronunciation anxiety. In conclusion, the students’ pronunciation anxiety lessened, and their pronunciation improved significantly (p < 0.01). Additionally, their satisfaction regarding the utilization of the application was significant.
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