ELearning of Second Language Speaking Skills.docx
- 文档编号:11168362
- 上传时间:2023-05-29
- 格式:DOCX
- 页数:21
- 大小:31.19KB
ELearning of Second Language Speaking Skills.docx
《ELearning of Second Language Speaking Skills.docx》由会员分享,可在线阅读,更多相关《ELearning of Second Language Speaking Skills.docx(21页珍藏版)》请在冰点文库上搜索。
ELearningofSecondLanguageSpeakingSkills
E-LearningofSecondLanguageSpeakingSkills
He,Wenchao
CoCoResearchCentre
FacultyofEducationandSocialWork,UniversityofSydney,Australia
November8,2007
E-mail:
hewenchao@
Introduction
Thecontinualgrowthofinformationandcommunicationtechnologies(ICT)hasmuchfacilitatedonlinelearning.Secondlanguage(L2)learnerscaneasilygetaccesstohugeamountofrelevantonlineresourcesforfreeandcommercialcoursesaswell.Withinformaltrainingprograms,onlinesecondlanguageteacherskeeptryingtodevelopandimprovetheirstudents’comprehensiveskillsofthetargetlanguage.However,notallskillsofalanguagecanbetaughtonlineeasily.Whenteachinglanguagesatadistance,oneofthemainchallengesisthedevelopmentandpracticeofspeakingskills(Hampel,2003).Ontheotherhand,learnersoftenfeelmoreconfidentandcantakemorerisksandtrialswhentheypractisespeakingusingcomputersinaprivateworkspacethaninaface-to-facesettingsuchasarealclassroomorreal-lifecommunicationsituation(Gong,2002;Kataoka,2000).Thegapbetweentheaffordanceofonlineoralsecondlanguageteachingandthedemandfromlearnersisexpectedtobefurtherbridged.
Hence,underthemechanical-meaningful-communicativeframework(Paulston,1971a,1971b;Pennington,1989,1996),thispaperwillreviewandsynthesizerecentrelevantempiricalstudiesfromthreeaspects,andarticulatetheirimplicationforfurtheractionofbridgingsuchgap.
TheoreticalFramework
Thetheoreticalframeworkadoptedinthisstudyisbasedonclassificationoflanguagelearning.OneexampleisthestructuralpatterndrillsforlanguageteachingraisedbyPaulston(1971a,1971b)—mechanicaldrills,meaningfuldrillsandcommunicativedrills.Thisframeworkhelpslanguageteachersorganizetheirinstructionaccordingtodifferentgrades,stagesandperiodswithcorrespondingobjectives.Asforbeginners,teachersareadvisedtousemechanicaldrills,inwhichthereiscompletecontroloftheresponseandonlyonecorrectwayofresponding.Theabilitytopracticemechanicaldrillswithoutnecessarilyunderstandingthemisanimportantcriterionindistinguishingthemfrommeaningfuldrills.Inameaningfuldrill,thereisstillcontroloftheresponsealthoughitmaybecorrectlyexpressedinmorethanoneway.Theteacheralwaysknowswhatthestudentoughttoanswer.Themaindifferencebetweenameaningfuldrillandacommunicativedrillisthatinthelatterthespeakeraddsnewinformationabouttherealworld.Theexpectedterminalbehaviorincommunicativedrillsisnormalspeechforcommunicationor,ifoneprefers,thefreetransferoflearnedlanguagepatternstoappropriatesituations.
Forthepurposeofcomputerassistedlanguagelearning(CALL),Pennington(1989,1996)furtherdefinesspokenlanguage’scompetencewith“mechanicalaspect”and“meaningfulaspect”.Themechanicalaspectofspeechinvolveslearningtodiscriminateandproducesoundsofalanguageandtiethesetogetherprosodicallyinfluentstringsofsoundscomprisingsyllables,words,phrasesandlongerutterancesorarticulationanddecodingofindividualsounds(phonemes),whilemeaningfulaspectinvolveslearningtobuildaswellastodecomposegrammaticallycoherentutterancesandtotiethesetocommunicativefunctionsaccordingtorulesofpragmaticappropriatenessinagivenspeechcommunity.
Pennington’sframeworkfocusesonspeechitselfregardlessthesequencingstructureoflearningorteachingalanguage.Mechanicalaspectandmeaningfulaspectcanbeusedseparatelytoexplainlearners’speakinglevel.Forexample,someL2learnersmayknowhowtocommunicateappropriatelybuttheirpronunciationorfluencycouldbeawkward.However,oneofthecharacteristicsofPaulston’scommunicativedrills—expectingspeakerstoaddnewinformationfromtheirrealworld,isstillworthwhileforreexaminingonlineL2speakinginstruction.ThisisbecausePennington’sframework“paystoolittleattentiontotheInternet”(Kisner,1997,p.13),butthedevelopmentofinformationandcommunicationtechnologieshasincreasedtheaffordanceofonlineenvironmentforlearn-teacherandlearner-learnercommunicationsimilartotherealworld.Hence,inthisstudy,Iadda“communicativeaspect”toPennington’sframework,whichhelpsfurtherarticulatetherecentempiricalstudiesonL2speakingonlineinstruction.
RecentStudiesonL2SpeakingOnlineInstruction
MechanicalAspect
PronunciationhasdominatedthemechanicalaspectofL2speakinginstructionwithcomputerassisted.Pennington(1995)reportsthesituationinlastcenturythat,topracticespeaking,L2learnersmainlyusemultimediaproductsincorporatedextensivetexts,graphics,animation,audio,anddigitizedaudioorvideoclips.Withsomesoftware,computerscanproducerelativelynaturalspeechfromindividualphonemesstoredasdigitalcodesthatarestrungtogetherbyruleastheusertypesonthekeyboard.This'synthesis-by-rule’technologyhastheadvantagethatitcanconvertanytexttospeechthusenablinglearnerstogainexposuretoadiversityandquantityofinput.Insuchamode,thecomputerkeepsoutputtingbutnot“listens”tothelearners.
Laterin1990s,automaticspeechrecognition(ASR)hadbeendevelopedtothepointwhereitcouldbeusedinlanguagelearningapplications.Studentsbegantobeableto“talk”withtheircomputers.WhiletheAmericancompanySyracuseandtheFrenchcompanyAuralogbothbegantoemploythistechnologytodesignsoftwareforcomputerassistedpronunciationtraining(CAPT),OrdinateCorporationusedASRtoevaluatestudents’spokenEnglishbymeansofits10-minutePhonePasstestadministeredbycomputeroverthetelephone.However,theproductlaterhasbeenprovenfailedtoreflectstudents’realpronunciationlevel(Hincks,2001).
Ontheotherhand,speech-recognition-basedlanguagelearningprogramswerealsoevaluated.Hincks(2002)investigatedwhethersuchprogramwouldimprovethegeneralgoodnessofpronunciation.ElevenstudentsweregivenacopyoftheprogramTalktoMebyAuralogasasupplementtoa200-hourcourseinTechnicalEnglish,andwereencouragedtopracticeontheirhomecomputers.ButtheresultisthatsuchpronunciationtrainingusingASR-basedlanguagelearningsoftwaredidnotdemonstrablyimprovethemeanpronunciationabilitiesofthestudents.However,resultsfromthePhonePasstestindicatethatuseoftheprogramwasbeneficialforthestudentswhobeganthecoursewithan'intrusive’foreignaccent.
Youmaynoticethatthesameresearcher(Hincks,2001,2002)hasusedaprovensuspicioustool—PhonePasstoimplementthepre-andpost-testsandthenconcludesthatTalktoMedoesnotworkforintermediatestudents.Thisresultcouldbefurthersuspicious.
AlthoughusingASRforevaluationhastobeartheriskofinaccuracy,itsevaluationfunctionkeptbeingdeveloped.Butthistime,evaluationandinstructionhavebeenintegrated,andtheroleevaluationturnedtoassistinstruction.MyETisanexampleofsuchdevelopment.Itisaweb-basedprogramemployingautomaticspeechanalysissystem(ASAS)toidentifythewordsspokenintotherecordingdevice,anditcananalyzethespeechonpronunciation,pitch,timingandemphasis.Itthendisplaysthespectrumandcontouroftheuser'sutterance,andprovidesascoringmechanismwithcorrectivefeedbackinformationthathelpsuserstoimprovetheirpronunciation.MyETcanexplicitlypinpointlearners'pronunciationerrorsbygivingoneononefeedbackthatcomparesthelearner'spronunciationwithamodelpronunciation(L-Labs,2007).
Chen’s(2004)studyoncollegestudentswhousedMyETfoundsignificantpositivecorrelationsbetweenmachinescoringsandhumangraders.HesuggestedthatsubjectswithdifferentlevelsoflanguageproficiencyshouldbeinvitedtofurthertestthescoringvalidityofMyET.Tsai(2006)acceptedthesuggestionandcontinuedthestudy.TheresultisthatMyETcanonlydistinguishbetweenbeginningandhigherlevellearners.Ontheotherhand,notmuchdifferencewasfoundbetweenthescoresforintermediateandadvancedlearners.ThisconclusionissimilartoHincks’s(2002)findingonTalktoMe.Inordertosolvethisproblem,TellMeMore’s“individualpackage”,alatereditionofTalktoMe,nowprovidesthree-levelsolution—beginner,intermediateandadvanced.Eachoneallowslearnerstoalterthevariouselementsoftheprogramtomatchtheirindividuallevelsclosely(Auralog,2007).
ASR-basedCAPTsystemsnowarewidelydevelopedbydifferentinstitutesaroundtheworld,butincommon,theirtypicalfunctionscanbedescribedwithasequenceoffivephases:
Speechrecognition,Scoring,Errordetection,ErrordiagnosisandFeedbackpresentation(Neri,Cucchiarini,&Strik,2003).Butthefirsttwohavemuchcriticism.Speechrecognitionaccuracyisonlygoodfornativespeakers(90%accuracy),butitperformsmuchlesswellfornon-nativespeakers.ThereforeitsapplicationinL2learningenvironmentleavessuspicious(Coniam,1999;Derwing,Munro,&Carbonaro,2000),especiallywhensuchmechanicaldrilldemandshighaccuracysinceitsupposesonlyonecorrectresponse(Paulston,1971a,1971b).Scoringsystemisbasedonthecomparisonbetweennativespeakers’andlearners’utterances,buttwoutteranceswiththesamecontentthatmaybothbeverywellpronouncedstillhavethewaveformsthatareverydifferentfromeachother.Sothescoresarealwaysconfusing,especiallywhentheresultsindicatethatadvancedlearnersevenhavelessscoresthanlowerlevellearners(Reesner,2002;Tsai,2006).Sodoubtsshouldbeexpressedtothepedagogicalvalueofthesetypesofdisplays
- 配套讲稿:
如PPT文件的首页显示word图标,表示该PPT已包含配套word讲稿。双击word图标可打开word文档。
- 特殊限制:
部分文档作品中含有的国旗、国徽等图片,仅作为作品整体效果示例展示,禁止商用。设计者仅对作品中独创性部分享有著作权。
- 关 键 词:
- ELearning of Second Language Speaking Skills