TTS (Text-To-Speech) Technology for Language Teaching
Junichi Azuma, Hideto Harashima and Chew Lee Chin
The purpose of this project is to review the current development of TTS technology and explore the possibility of employing TTS technology in a foreign language teaching/learning environment. The impact of future (speech) communication technologies will be also discussed.
After a short description of the nature of TTS (Text-To-Speech) technology, Junichi Azuma will talk about the current status of TTS technology, providing an introduction to several popular English TTS speech engines available today.
Hideto Harashima will show how voice files are generated with one of the cutting-edge TTS software packages -- VoiceText. He will also show how to manipulate such prosodic features as duration, pitch, and stress on the voices. After demonstrating how these machine-made voices can be actually used as online listening quiz materials, he will discuss some limitations of TTS technology. Finally, he will propose some ways in which we can minimize the limitations and make the best use of TTS technology at present.
Chew Lee Chin argues that despite widespread use of multimedia in language teaching and learning, less attention is focused on its potentials for language testing. In Singapore, a 2-year research project on computer-assisted assessment (CAA) explored innovative multimedia tests for English Language at primary levels. Her talk will present an example of a Text-To-Speech software application for creating quality test materials for listening comprehension. Based on her field experience of training EL teachers in how to convert digitally written text into oral text, the implications of this technology for creation of multimedia EL tests will be discussed.
Junichi Azuma is a professor of English as a Foreign Language and Media & Communication Studies at the University of Marketing and Distribution Sciences, Kobe, Japan. He is also an adjunct professor for IICM (Institute for Information Systems and Computer Media), Graz University of Technology, Austria. His main interest today is application of TTS technology to language teaching and development of a universal symbolic language.
Hideto Harashima is an associate professor of applied linguistics and language teaching technology at Maebashi Institute of Technology, Maebashi, Japan. His current interest is e-Learning and integration of multimedia learning objects within a Web-based teaching environment.
Dr Chew Lee Chin is a professor in the Psychological Studies Academic Group at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, where she teaches pre-service and master level courses in the teacher education programs. Prior to joining the National Institute of Education, she was for many years a school teacher and administrator. As an educator she has been involved with several local and overseas educational research projects since 1997 and is currently a principal investigator for MOE-funded research. She has been Honorary Secretary and Vice-President of the Educational Research Association of Singapore. From 2004 she has actively promoted action research by classroom teachers as a consultant with several schools.
