9 Foreign language speaking anxiety and automatic speech recognition-based practice
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Muzakki Bashori
Abstract
Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety (FLSA) has been known to negatively affect learners’ speaking performance. Learners with higher levels of FLSA usually feel extremely nervous and are afraid of being laughed at when it comes to speaking. To help reduce learners’ FLSA, Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) technology might be of great contribution due to its potential affordances in FL learning. We employed two ASR-based language learning systems, I Love Indonesia (ILI) and NovoLearning (NOVO), in a series of English-based experiments. In our first experiment (n=167), we found that students positively evaluated the systems, without a significant change in FLSA. This might have been caused by the short duration of this experiment (90 minutes for each system). In our second experiment (n=232) with a duration of 360 minutes, the students receiving the ASRbased interventions reduced their FLSA significantly more than those in the control group. Classroom observations and interviews with the students revealed that the systems helped the students feel more enthusiastic, less nervous, and not afraid of being laughed at when speaking. Future studies should consider a longer duration of ASR-based experiments and larger sample sizes with various learners’ backgrounds and investigate retention effects of ASR-based practice on learners’ FLSA levels.
Abstract
Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety (FLSA) has been known to negatively affect learners’ speaking performance. Learners with higher levels of FLSA usually feel extremely nervous and are afraid of being laughed at when it comes to speaking. To help reduce learners’ FLSA, Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) technology might be of great contribution due to its potential affordances in FL learning. We employed two ASR-based language learning systems, I Love Indonesia (ILI) and NovoLearning (NOVO), in a series of English-based experiments. In our first experiment (n=167), we found that students positively evaluated the systems, without a significant change in FLSA. This might have been caused by the short duration of this experiment (90 minutes for each system). In our second experiment (n=232) with a duration of 360 minutes, the students receiving the ASRbased interventions reduced their FLSA significantly more than those in the control group. Classroom observations and interviews with the students revealed that the systems helped the students feel more enthusiastic, less nervous, and not afraid of being laughed at when speaking. Future studies should consider a longer duration of ASR-based experiments and larger sample sizes with various learners’ backgrounds and investigate retention effects of ASR-based practice on learners’ FLSA levels.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- List of figures IX
- List of tables XV
- Introduction: Affective language and prosody as a key 1
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Section A: Approaches to learning and teaching prosody
- 1 On the functional map of intonation in Spanish Foreign Language (SFL) teaching: is there a place for emotion? 11
- 2 The effect of emotions on melodic patterns. A focus on Spanish learning 41
- 3 Affect and emotional prosody in the foreign language classroom 61
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Section B: Affectivity and prosody
- 4 Melodic cues of acted emotional speech in LX Spanish spoken by Chinese L1 speakers 79
- 5 Emotion and melodic features of emphasis in Spanish produced by Chinese speakers 105
- 6 Melodic features of emphatic intonation in Spanish spoken by Swedish speakers 131
- 7 The prosody of word stress realization as a possible sign of insecurity in the spontaneous speech of Hungarian learners of Spanish 157
- 8 Catalan early readers prosodic characterization of a wh-question: traits of affectation 175
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Section C: Emotional status of L2 learners
- 9 Foreign language speaking anxiety and automatic speech recognition-based practice 213
- 10 Facilitating oral skills and willingness to communicate in the L2 classroom: towards a music-and-emotion-mediated learning 229
- 11 Feeling lonely in a new country: The emotional discourse of migrant learners of Spanish 251
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Section D: Cross-cultural affective conditioning factors in L2 learning
- 12 Music videos for fostering awareness of democratic culture in foreign language learning 275
- 13 Intercultural climate in university segregated classrooms: Language, emotions, and gender dynamics in Qatar’s higher education settings 295
- 14 Chinese EFL learners’ cognition of colour and colour-related emotional expressions in the case of red and blue 317
- Conclusions 341
- Index 347
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- List of figures IX
- List of tables XV
- Introduction: Affective language and prosody as a key 1
-
Section A: Approaches to learning and teaching prosody
- 1 On the functional map of intonation in Spanish Foreign Language (SFL) teaching: is there a place for emotion? 11
- 2 The effect of emotions on melodic patterns. A focus on Spanish learning 41
- 3 Affect and emotional prosody in the foreign language classroom 61
-
Section B: Affectivity and prosody
- 4 Melodic cues of acted emotional speech in LX Spanish spoken by Chinese L1 speakers 79
- 5 Emotion and melodic features of emphasis in Spanish produced by Chinese speakers 105
- 6 Melodic features of emphatic intonation in Spanish spoken by Swedish speakers 131
- 7 The prosody of word stress realization as a possible sign of insecurity in the spontaneous speech of Hungarian learners of Spanish 157
- 8 Catalan early readers prosodic characterization of a wh-question: traits of affectation 175
-
Section C: Emotional status of L2 learners
- 9 Foreign language speaking anxiety and automatic speech recognition-based practice 213
- 10 Facilitating oral skills and willingness to communicate in the L2 classroom: towards a music-and-emotion-mediated learning 229
- 11 Feeling lonely in a new country: The emotional discourse of migrant learners of Spanish 251
-
Section D: Cross-cultural affective conditioning factors in L2 learning
- 12 Music videos for fostering awareness of democratic culture in foreign language learning 275
- 13 Intercultural climate in university segregated classrooms: Language, emotions, and gender dynamics in Qatar’s higher education settings 295
- 14 Chinese EFL learners’ cognition of colour and colour-related emotional expressions in the case of red and blue 317
- Conclusions 341
- Index 347
