This study investigated whether a translation tool (Microsoft Translator
– MT) and its built-in speech features (Text-To-Speech synthesis – TTS – and
speech recognition) can promote learners’ acquisition in pronunciation of
English regular past tense -ed in a self-directed manner. Following a
pretest/posttest design, we compared 29 participants’ performances of past
-ed allomorphy (/t/, /d/, and /id/) by assessing their pronunciation in
terms of phonological awareness, phonemic discrimination, and oral
production. The findings highlight the affordances of MT regarding its
pedagogical use for helping English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners
improve their pronunciation.
Can online translators and their speech capabilities help English
learners improve their pronunciation?