In this contribution we report on experiments aimed at the comparison of the conventional classroom method to a computerised method, utilising the CSL system. Twelve Arab persons following a course in English, at an intermediate level of proficiency participated in the experiment. Another group of students served as the control group. We confined the study to the pronunciation of the English voiceless stops [p t k ], and concentrated on aspiration of these consonants in initial position. In connection to this, the distinction between /p/ and /b/, which is a major problem for Arab speakers, was focused on.
VOT values were used as an estimation of the level of proficiency in controlling aspiration. The main results indicated that the CSL group performed statistically significantly better in comparison with the conventional classroom group, and also did this in 25% less time.
Cite as: Wissing, D., Walt, J.v.d. (1998) Teaching aspirated stops of English to arab speakers: technological vs. conventional methods. Proc. ETRW on Speech Technology in Language Learning (STiLL), 143-146
@inproceedings{wissing98_still,
author={Daan Wissing and Johann van der Walt},
title={{Teaching aspirated stops of English to arab speakers: technological vs. conventional methods}},
year=1998,
booktitle={Proc. ETRW on Speech Technology in Language Learning (STiLL)},
pages={143--146}
}