A case study on the effectiveness of elsa on learning english pronunciation with first year english language teaching major students at hanoi pedagogical university 2

HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY 2
FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

DO HOANG ANH

A CASE STUDY ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ELSA ON LEARNING
ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION WITH FIRST YEAR ENGLISH LANGUAGE
TEACHING MAJOR STUDENTS AT HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY 2

(SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT OF THE
DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS OF ENGLISH)

SUPERVISOR: DO THI THANH DUNG, M.A

HANOI, 2018


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my
research supervisors, Mrs. Do Thi Thanh Dung, M.A, without her guidance and
whole-hearted instruction in every step throughout the process, this study would
have never been accomplished. As a novice researcher, I had made a lot of mistakes
in the process of writing the research paper but Mrs. Dung was kind enough to work
nights and days to help me completing the study. I would like to give my sincerest
thanks to her not only for being my research supervisor but for her support during
my whole four years at Hanoi Pedagogical University 2.
I would also want to thank my lectures at Faculty of Foreign Languages for
helping me and giving me the constructive comments of my thesis, their advices
were invaluable to the results of this research.
I wish to acknowledge the assistance provided by the students of K43AEnglish Language Teaching at Hanoi Pedagogical University 2, without their
participation, I could not be able to conduct this study.

Most importantly, I am truly grateful to my beloved family and my friends
who were always there to help me get back in track, encourage me and give me
power to overcome any challenges in my life.
Once again, thank you all for your dedication!

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ABSTRACT
This study aims to investigate students’ attitudes towards the implementation
of ELSA and to examine the effectiveness of ELSA in learning English
pronunciation skills on a group of 10 students from K43A – English Language
Teaching, Hanoi Pedagogical University 2 (HPU2). The data of this qualitative and
quantitative study was collected from four different sources: Survey questionnaire,
Interview, ELSA Assessment Test score and the Student Oral Language
Observation Matrix (SOLOM) score. From the results of the survey questionnaire
and the interview, the researcher concluded that all of the participants had positive
attitudes towards the application of ELSA as a supporting tool for self-study, the
majority of them wanted to continue using ELSA to improve their pronunciation
skills in the future. Based on the results of the pre and post ELSA Assessment Test
as well six-week class observation, the implementation ELSA was demonstrated
that it was effective in both improving students’ pronunciation skills and boosting
their confidence and increasing their speaking fluency.

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STATE OF AUTHORSHIP
Title: A Case Study on the Effectiveness of Elsa on Learning English
Pronunciation with First Year English Language Teaching Major Students at

Hanoi Pedagogical University 2
I certify that no part of this research has been copied from any other person’s
work without acknowledgements and the study is originally written by me under the
guidance of my supervisor.
Date submitted: 9 May, 2018

Student

Supervisor

Do Hoang Anh

Do Thi Thanh Dung, M.A

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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1. English Consonant Phoneme
Table 2. The schedule of implementing ELSA in 6 weeks
Table 3. The SOLOM Assessment Score
Table 4. The comparison of ELSA score and SOLOM score from the participants
Table 5. The SOLOM Assessment results of Week 1
Table 6. The SOLOM Assessment results of Week 2
Table 7. The SOLOM Assessment results of Week 3
Table 8. The SOLOM Assessment results of Week 4
Table 9. The SOLOM Assessment results of Week 5
Table 10. The comparison of ELSA score and SOLOM score from the participants
Table 11. The SOLOM Assessment results of Week 6

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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1. Features of pronunciation
Figure 2. English monothongs
Figure 3. The scores of ELSA Pre-Test and ELSA Post-Test
Figure 4. The scores of the Pre-SOLOM Pronunciation Score and
the Post-SOLOM Pronunciation Score
Figure 5. SOLOM Score in Week 1 and SOLOM Score in Week 6
Figure 6. Students’ methods of learning English pronunciation skills
Figure 7. Amount of time per week that students spent on learning English
pronunciation
Figure 8. Student’s difficulties in learning English pronunciation
Figure 9. Student’s difficulties in learning English consonants
Figure 10. Student’s difficulties in learning English vowels
Figure 11. Students’ opinions towards the usefulness of ELSA in pronouncing
words
Figure 12. Students’ opinions towards the usefulness of ELSA in practicing ending
sounds
Figure 13. Students’ opinions towards the usefulness of ELSA in speaking in
general
Figure 14. Sounds that ELSA may not recognize properly
Figure 15. Students’ attitude towards the helpfulness of ELSA
Figure 16. Students’ biggest improvements in pronunciation after using ELSA
Figure 17. Students’ attitudes towards applying ELSA in a real curriculum
Figure 18. Students’ opinions on biggest drawbacks of the application of ELSA
Figure 19. Students’ recommendations for the implementation of ELSA

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

Hanoi Pedagogical University 2: HPU2
Automatic speech recognition: ASR
Computer Assisted Language Learning: CALL
Computer Assisted Pronunciation Training: CAPT
Hidden Markov Model: HMM
English Language Speech Assistant: ELSA
Student Oral Language Observation Matrix: SOLOM
Operating System: OS
International Phonetic Alphabet : IPA

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART 1: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................1
I. RATIONALE OF THE STUDY ...........................................................................1
II. AIMS OF THE STUDY.......................................................................................1
III. RESEARCH QUESTIONS ................................................................................2
IV. THE SCOPE OF THE STUDY..........................................................................2
V. METHODS OF THE STUDY .............................................................................2
VI. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY ...................................................................2
VII. DESIGN OF THE STUDY ...............................................................................3
PART 2: DEVELOPMENT ........................................................................................4
CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................4
A. Pronunciation .......................................................................................................4

1. Definition of pronunciation ...............................................................................4
1.1. English vowel sounds .....................................................................................5
1.1.1. Monophthongs .........................................................................................5
1.1.2. Diphthongs ...............................................................................................6
1.1.3. Triphthongs ..............................................................................................6
1.2. English consonant sounds ..............................................................................6
1.2.1. English consonants classification................................................................7
1.2.1.1. Voicing ..................................................................................................7
1.2.1.2. Manner of articulation ..........................................................................7
1.2.1.3. Places of articulation .............................................................................8
B. Speech recognition technology and ELSA ..........................................................8
1. Definition of speech recognition .......................................................................8
2. An introduction to ELSA Speak .......................................................................9
3. The use of speech recognition in learning pronunciation ...............................10
CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY .........................................................................12
1. Research method .................................................................................................12
1.1. Case study .....................................................................................................12
1.1.1. Rationales behind the case study ...........................................................12

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1.2. Research procedure ..........................................................................................12
1.2.1. Describing background .............................................................................13
1.2.2. Identifying problems .................................................................................13
1.2.3. Vision & objective(s) ................................................................................13
1.2.4. Proposing solutions ...................................................................................14
1.2.5. Implementing case study ...........................................................................15
1.2.6. Results and evaluation ...............................................................................16
2. Data collection instruments ................................................................................16

2.1. Survey questionnaire ....................................................................................16
2.1.1. Reasons for using questionnaire ...............................................................16
2.1.2. Description of survey questionnaire .........................................................16
2.2. Classroom observation .................................................................................18
2.2.1. Reasons for using classroom observation .................................................18
2.2.2. Procedure of classroom observation .........................................................18
2.3. Interviews .....................................................................................................19
2.3.1. Reasons for using interview ......................................................................19
2.3.2. Description of interview ............................................................................19
3. Research setting ..................................................................................................19
3.1. Participants ...................................................................................................20
4. Data analysis description ....................................................................................20
4.1. The ELSA Assessment Test .........................................................................20
4.2. Classroom observation .................................................................................20
4.3. Survey questionnaire ....................................................................................20
4.3.1. The pre-survey questionnaire ................................................................21
4.3.2. The post-survey questionnaire ...............................................................21
CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .......................................................22
FINDINGS ..............................................................................................................22
1. The results of using ELSA in learning English pronunciation skills in 6 weeks.
.................................................................................................................................22
1.1. Description....................................................................................................22
1.1.1. Week 1 (19/03/2018 – 25/03/2018) .......................................................22
1.1.2. Week 2 (26/03/2018 – 01/04/2018) .......................................................23

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1.1.3. Week 3 (02/04/2018 – 08/04/2018) .......................................................24
I.1.4. Week 4 (09/04/2018 – 015/04/2018) .....................................................24

1.1.5. Week 5 (16/04/2018 – 22/04/2018) .......................................................25
1.1.6. Week 6 (23/04/2018 – 29/04/2018) .......................................................25
1.1.7. The comparison of the Pre and Post ELSA Assessment Test and Pre
and Post SOLOM Assessment .........................................................................26
2. Students’ attitude towards using ELSA in learning English pronunciation skills
.................................................................................................................................29
2.1 Results from survey questionnaire ................................................................29
2.1.1. Results the pre-survey questionnaire .....................................................29
2.1.1.1. Students’ attitude towards the importance of English pronunciation
skills ..............................................................................................................29
2.1.1.2. Students’ interest in English pronunciation skills...........................30
2.1.1.3. Students’ methods of learning English pronunciation skills ..........30
2.1.1.4. The number of hours per week students spent on learning English
pronunciation skills .......................................................................................31
2.1.1.5. Student’s difficulties in learning English pronunciation skills.......32
2.1.1.6. Students’ experience in learning English pronunciation with ELSA
.......................................................................................................................33
2.1.2. Results from the post-survey questionnaire ..............................................35
2.1.2.1. Students’ opinions towards the usefulness of ELSA in learning
English pronunciation ......................................................................................35
2.1.2.2. Students’ opinions towards the implementation of ELSA in learning
English pronunciation ......................................................................................37
2.1.2.3. Challenges that students faced in the process of implementing ELSA
in learning English pronunciation ....................................................................39
2.2. Results from the interview ...........................................................................40
DISCUSSION .........................................................................................................44
PART 3: CONCLUSION ...........................................................................................45
1. Summary of the study .........................................................................................45
2. Limitations of the study ......................................................................................45
3. Recommendations ...............................................................................................46

3.1. Recommendations for students ........................................................................46
3.2. Recommendations for teachers ........................................................................46

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3.3. Recommendations for researchers ...................................................................46
REFERENCES ...........................................................................................................48
APPENDIX A ............................................................................................................50
APPENDIX B .............................................................................................................54
APPENDIX C .............................................................................................................56
APPENDIX D ............................................................................................................58
APPENDIX E .............................................................................................................64

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PART 1: INTRODUCTION
I. RATIONALE OF THE STUDY
Nowadays, in the increasing development of globalization and
industrialization, English has become the second language or even the official
language in numerous countries. English is also a primary language of instruction in
vital equipment such as computer, mobile phones and the Internet. Under such
circumstances, mastering English is not only an advantage but also a requirement,
especially for young labor force all over the world. In order to meet the requirement,
they need to devote a great amount of time and effort to learn this language.
Inevitably, learners have difficulties learning different aspects of English. In
terms of vocabulary, it is common that learners gradually lose their interest and get
confused as they try really hard to remember new words and their pronunciation but
eventually forget and then fail to use them when they need to. The traditional method

of learning pronunciation like writing down phonetic transcription or repeating after
teachers may make student feel bored and soon forget how to pronounce words
properly. Therefore, a more effective way is of necessity, especially which could raise
student’s interest. This demand has led to the development of various software in. In
the context of Vietnam, English Language Speech Assistant (ELSA), a tool to
improve pronunciation, is becoming a popular application.
At Hanoi Pedagogical University 2, however, ELSA application is not widely
used by students, even English-majored ones while they seem to have difficulties in
learning English and in particular pronunciation. With the aim of introducing students
in English Language Teaching an effective learning method to enhance their
pronunciation in detail, and create a habit of using technology in their study in
general, the author has conducted the research: “A Case Study on the Effectiveness of
Elsa on Learning English Pronunciation of First Year English Language Teaching
Major Students at Hanoi Pedagogical University 2”.
II. AIMS OF THE STUDY
Ultimately, the researcher aims to introduce ELSA to students and examine its
effectiveness in their English pronunciation. Suggestions for better use of the
technology are also provided.
Besides, the study is hoped to contribute in the variety of the theoretical and
practical knowledge in teaching and learning English pronunciation.
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III. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
To achieve the goals of the study, the researcher focuses on finding answers to
these following questions.
Question 1: What are the students’ attitudes towards the implementation of
ELSA in learning English pronunciation?
Question 2: To what extent does ELSA help to improve students’
pronunciation?

IV. THE SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The study is on the use of ELSA application to learn pronunciation. The
population of the study is limited to 10 students of K43A-English Language Teaching
Major at Hanoi Pedagogical University 2.
V. METHODS OF THE STUDY
In this study, the researcher has decided to use the case study approach, along
with the following data collecting instruments: Survey questionnaire, classroom
observation and interview.
VI. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Conducting this research, the researcher hopes that its results will be beneficial
to the following:
LEARNERS: The results will provide the students with knowledge on learning
English pronunciation skills and also take a different look at learning with technology
in general and learning with smartphone’s applications to be specific. The results of
the study can be considered as an input for readers who want to expand their
knowledge about English pronunciation, with the help of technology, learning can be
so much more interesting than before.
TEACHERS: The given data of this study will be a reference for not only teachers
who are interested in applying technology in teaching English pronunciation skills but
also teachers who are finding a new approach to vary their teaching techniques.
RESEARCHERS: The results of this research will be beneficial to researchers who
are fond of Speech Recognition in general and the effectiveness of Speech
Recognition in learning English pronunciation in particular.

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VII. DESIGN OF THE STUDY
This thesis is divided into 3 main parts as follows:
PART 1: “INTRODUCTION” gives an overview of rationale, objectives of the

study, research questions and the scope of the study, the significance of the study and
the design of the study.
PART 2: “DEVELOPMENT” consists of three main chapters:
Chapter 1: “Literature Review” provides the background knowledge of
pronunciation, the background knowledge of speech recognition technology and using
of speech recognition technology in learning English pronunciation. Some related
researches conducted by former scholars and professionals are also illustrated.
Chapter 2: “Methodology” describes in detail the participants, research
instruments employed and the procedure of collecting and analyzing the data.
Chapter 3: “Findings and discussion” analyzes gathered data by research
instrument and further discussion of the data
PART 3: CONCLUSION includes three sections:
Section 1: Summary of the study reviews the research outcomes and presents
a brief description of the study
Section 2: Limitations of the study reveals in detail the difficulties in process
of conducting this study.
Section 3: Recommendations gives suggestions for further study and the
researchers who want to conduct studies about ELSA

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PART 2: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW
A. Pronunciation
1. Definition of pronunciation
Pronunciation plays an important role in improving our skills in English. It
becomes one of elements for improving communication skill. Without having enough
knowledge about pronunciation, communication will end up in unpleasant situations
and make students feel difficult to convey their ideas. There are numerous ways to

define pronunciation
In Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary, pronunciation means the way in
which a word or letter is said, or said correctly, or the way in which a language is
spoken.
According to Richards, J. C., & Schmidt, R. (2002, p. 429) pronunciation is the
way a certain sound or sounds are produced and pronunciation stresses more the way
sounds are perceived by the hearer.
(Harmer, 2007) states that Pronunciation is the way we make sounds of the
language how and where we place the stress, and how we use pitch and intonation to
show how we are feeling and what we mean”.
The following diagram (Kelly, 2000) illustrates the main features of
pronunciation

Figure 1. Features of pronunciation (Kelly, How to teach Pronunciation, 2000)

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As can be seen from the diagram above, pronunciation consists of phonemes
and suprasegmental features, the phonemes include two main parts are consonants and
vowels while suprasegmental features deals with intonation and stress. Besides,
pronunciation is a really broad subjects with various aspects, in the scope of this
study, the researcher mainly focuses on two features which are vowels and
consonants.
1.1. English vowel sounds
Vowels, according to (Roach), “The most common view is that vowels are
sounds in which there is no obstruction to the flow of air as it passes from the larynx
to the lips”.
Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D., and Goodwn, J. (1996) defines vowels as
"sounds in which there is continual vibration of the vocal cords and the air stream is

allowed to escape from the mouth in an obstructed manner, without any interruption.'"
English vowels consists of : Monophthongs/ pure vowels : Single sounds (Long
vowels and short vowels), Diphthongs: Two vowels in one syllable and Triphthongs:
three vowels pronounced in a single syllable.
1.1.1. Monophthongs
English monothongs includes short vowels (æ, e, ʊ, ɒ, ʌ, ɪ, ə) and long vowels
(iː, ɜː, ɑː, ɔː, uː), there are 12 different sounds in total and all the monothongs can be
classified in terms of:
+ The length of vowels: Long vowels are longer than short vowels in similar
contexts. The symbols consist of one single vowel plus a length mark made of two
dots. They are different from short vowels not only in length but also in quality,
resulting from differences in tongue shapes and lip positions.
+ Tongue position and shape (Front – Central – Back): Refers to the horizontal
position of the tongue in regard to the front or back of the mouth.
+ Tongue height: High (Close) – Mid – Low (Open): In concern with the vertical
position of the tongue towards palatal area (low or high).
+ Lips position/ Degree of lip rounding: Refers to position of lips during the
progress of produce the vowels. There are two lips position: Rounded and unrounded.

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Figure 2. English monothongs (Based on the Diagram of Cardinal Vowels (Jones,
1962))
1.1.2. Diphthongs
A diphthong is a glide from one vowel to another vowel, and the whole glide
acts like one of the long simple vowels. In terms of length, diphthongs are similar to
long vowels. The most vital thing to remember about all the diphthongs is that the first
part is much longer and stronger than the second part. Therefore, the second part is
shorter and quieter. There are 8 dipthongs in total: ɪə, eə, ʊə, eɪ, aɪ, ɔɪ, əʊ, aʊ.

Diphthongs can be classified into two types: Centering (ending in /ə/) and
Closing (ending in /ɪ/ and ending in /ʊ/).
1.1.3. Triphthongs
A triphthong is a glide from one vowel to another vowel and then to the third,
all of these vowels are produced rapidly without interruption. There are five
triphthongs in English. They are composed of the five closing diphthongs with /ə/
added at the end: eɪə, aɪə, ɔɪə, əuə, auə.
1.2. English consonant sounds
Kell (2000, pp. 47-53) states that “Consonant is formed by interrupting,
restricting or diverting the airflow in a variety of ways”.
Consonants are classified according to:
+ Voicing
+ The manner of articulation
+ The place of articulation
+ The force of articulation
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Table 1. English Consonant Phoneme

1.2.1. English consonants classification
1.2.1.1. Voicing
+ Voiced consonants: The consonants which are produced when the vocal cords are
vibrating.
+ Voiceless consonants: The consonants which are produced when the vocal cords
are not vibrating.
1.2.1.2. Manner of articulation
Refers to the nature of the obstruction
+ Stop (Plosive): A total closure of the articulators involved in order that the
airstream is not able to escape through the mouth: / p, t, k, b, d, g /.

+ Fricative: The close approximation of two articulators in order that the airstream is
partially obstructed and turbulent airflow is produced: / f, v, Ɵ, ð, h, z, s/.
+ Affricate: The combination of a plosive sound and a fricative sound: /tʃ/ /dʒ/.
+ Nasal: Similar to plosives, except that there is a full closure in the mouth, but as the
velum is lowered the air can escape through the nasal cavity. [m], [n], [Ƞ].

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+ Approximant: An articulation in which one articulator is close to another, but
without the vocal tract being narrowed to such an extent that a turbulent airstream is
produced /w,r, j/.
Lateral: Obstruction of the airstream at a point along the center of the oral tract, with
incomplete closure between one or both sides of the tongue and the roof of the mouth.
/l/.
1.2.1.3. Places of articulation
+ Bilabial: Made with the two lips (/p/, /b/, /w/, /m/).
+ Labiodental: The lower lip articulates with the upper teeth (/f/, /v/).
+ Dental: The tongue tip articulates with the upper teeth (/Ɵ/, /ð/)
+ Alveolar: The tongue tip articulates with the alveolar ridge (/t, d, n, l, s, z/).
+ Palato-Alveolar: The tongue tip and the back of alveolar ridge (/tʃ/ /dʒ/, /r/)
+ Palatal: The front of the tongue and the hard palate (/j/).
+ Velar: The back of the tongue and soft palate (/k, g, Ƞ/).
+ Glottal: The sounds produced when the air passes through the glottis as it is
narrowed: [h]
B. Speech recognition technology and ELSA
1. Definition of speech recognition
ASR (Automatic speech recognition) falls within the area of Computer
Assisted Language Learning (CALL) (Levy, 1997). CALL system has become very
popular in recent years due to its advance in speech recognition that allow students to

get understood better by computer, CALL offers student extra learning time and a
stress-free learning environment, which mainly because CALL is often used in selft –
study methods.
ASR is a cutting edge technology that allows a computer or even a hand-held
PDA (Myers, 2000) to identify words that are read aloud or spoken into any soundrecording device. ASR technology has been widely used for business dictation or
special needs accessibility, its market presence for language learning has increased
dramatically in recent years (Aist, 1999).
With the integration of ASR technology, these systems, which can be referred
to as CAPT (Computer Assisted Pronunciation Training) systems. The computer
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understands the student’s speech and reacts spontaneously, thus making the learning
process more realistic and engaging, the CAPT systems can also give feedback on the
quality of the student’s speech. Early CAPT systems used the template-based
recognition systems which perform pattern matching and most of these programs do
not give any feedback, these systems can only give a simple comparison between
students’ speech sound waves and the templated ones. Later then, ASR programs
adopted the Hidden Markov Model (HMM) algorithms. That is, a speech recognizer
based on HMM computes how close the phonemes of a spoken input are to a
corresponding model, based on probability theory. High likelihood represents good
pronunciation; low likelihood represents poor pronunciation (Larocca, S. T., Moagan
J. J., & Bellinger S. M, 1991, pp. 295-310).
The most recent methods that today ASR software use is Artificial Intelligence
(AI) which is the latest trend in the Industrial Revolution 4.0, by using AI, the
programs can learn every time they are used, the AI systems are programmed to adapt
and develop by itself, this is the key solution to the individualism of all users.
2. An introduction to ELSA Speak
ELSA stands for English Language Speech Assistant, ELSA is an AI-powered
program that allow users to practice and improve their pronunciation by a set of

lessons and exercises that are evaluated on ELSA’s server. ELSA was first released
for testing in 2015 and then in 2016, ELSA was debuted during SXSW (a component
of the South by Southwest® (SXSW®) family of conferences and festivals)., the
program won the SXSWEdu launch competition. Until now, ELSA parent company
has released two version of the application, which are on Google Android (A mobile
phone operating system by Google LLC) and Apple IOS (A mobile phone operating
system by Apple Inc.).
In 2017, ELSA reached 2 million users from over 100 countries, more than 100
million practices, 81% of ELSA users are reported to feel more confident after they
start using ELSA (ELSA Speak Blog, 2017), ELSA corp was also mentioned by
Forbes magazine in the list of 4 companies that are using AI to transform the world.
ELSA is free to download from both Google Play (The official application store for
the Android operating system) and App Store (The official application store for the
IOS operating system), ELSA offers users four different features which are:

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+ Skills: This is the feature that contains all of the lessons about pronunciation theory,
ELSA guides users through 12 lessons, each lesson is about different skills, the
difficulty increase gradually as users go from the first to the last lesson.
+ Topics: In this sections, users can choose the topic that they want from 21 different
topics for different purposes
+ Dictionary: This is the most popular feature of ELSA, users can type any word,
phrase or sentences and ELSA will give users phonetic transcription, the audio of
correct pronunciation and then ELSA will help users test their pronunciation, ELSA
can point out specifically the user’s mistakes and after that, all of the texts are filled in
with different colors, green stands for correct, yellow is for quite correct and red is for
incorrect.
+ Progress: In this area, ELSA display the user’s proficiency level and ELSA also

offers a Proficiency level/ Assessment Test with a detailed report for each
pronunciation skills.
The detailed report gives information about: Schwa sound, the TH sounds, ending
sounds, the short and long /i:/, the /r/ sound, consonant cluster, the /l/ and /r/
confusion, the /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/ and /dʒ/ sounds, the /s/ and /z/ contrast, the /p/, /t/ and /k/
sounds, /w/ and /v/ and /b/.
3. The use of speech recognition in learning pronunciation
ASR off ers many advantages for language learners, this technology gives
teachers a chance to find out individual problems of the learners so that teachers will
be able to know which are the student strong points or weak points so that teachers
can understand their students better and modify their curriculum to be suitable for
each level of students. ASR can also help students who are afraid from practicing
speaking in public to improve their speaking skill (Neri, A., Cucchiarini, C. & Strik
H.(, 2001, pp. 40–48)
Most of the studies which have investigated the effectiveness of ASR programs
have showed that this technology can be effective. For instance, Neri (2008)
investigated if a CAPT system can help learners improve word-level English
pronunciation skills at a level comparable to that achieved through traditional teacherled training. Their results showed that the pronunciation quality of isolated words
improved significantly after using ASR-based method. (Kim) examined the reliability
of ASR software which was used to teach English pronunciation. The oral production
10


of 36 students was compared to pronunciation scores determined by native English
speaking instructors. Although the results indicated that ASR technology is still not as
accurate as human analysis, the author concluded that the software may be useful for
student practice with certain aspects of pronunciation (Denis Liakin, Walcir Cardoso,
Natallia Liakina, 2013).
In short, ASR-based method or ASR software cannot be 100 % correct yet, the
systems have not been able to identify a number of aspects such as intonation, accent

or emotions. The average score for ELSA is reported to be around 90%, ELSA user
are reported to increase their pronunciation score by 40% within less than 4 weeks.

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CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY
This chapter presents detailed description about research method, research
procedure, data collecting instruments and data analysis description.
1. Research method
1.1. Case study
The definition of case study is various, Merriam-Webster’s dictionary (2009)
defines a case study straightforwardly as follows:
Case Study. An intensive analysis of an individual unit (as a person or community)
stressing developmental factors in relation to environment

(Yin, 1984) defines the case study research method “as an empirical inquiry
that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context; when the
boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident; and in which
multiple sources of evidence are used.”
A case study is a unique way of observing any natural phenomenon which
exists in a set of data (Yin, 1984). Usually in a case study, only a small number of
subjects of interest are examined in detail.
1.1.1. Rationales behind the case study
The case study approach was chosen due to the following reasons:
Firstly, case study is considered to be the most comfortable and least stressful
method for the novice researcher, the researcher was able to conduct a case study with
a small number of participants and focus on them.
Secondly, case study is a qualitative method that makes it possible for the
researcher to have an in-depth look of the issue and it may offer some insight on how

to conduct further research in the area
Finally, because of the second teacher training month (as the researcher is a
senior English Language Teaching student), the long distance and the tasks of trainee
teacher made it really difficult for the researcher to be at HPU2 frequently, therefore,
case study is the most suitable method for both the researcher and participants as well.
1.2. Research procedure
There are many different models for a case study to follow and in this study,
the researcher chose the steps suggested by (Chorev, 2013) from University of
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Pennsylvania – The Wharton School, Sydney Australia. According to Raz Chorev, 7
steps are conducted in the model of case study.
1.2.1. Describing background
In the first step, the researcher need to provide a brief background describing
the situation, the people or the organization involved. Not too specific, but a
description good enough for anyone to understand fully the context of the case study.
10 students of K43A – English Language Teaching at HPU2 were chosen to be
the participants of this study, they all had different problems in learning pronunciation
and want to improve their skills, especially, they were very excited to use ELSA
because they heard about it a lot and this is also the first time they use smartphone AI
technology to support their learning.
1.2.2. Identifying problems
In this section, the researcher identifies and clearly articulate the problem that
the study is going to solve. The challenge the researcher facing, and would like to
solve. Quantify the situation and provide specific description of the issues. The aim of
this section is to get the reader to buy-in and empathize, and create an emotional
connection.
The focus group of this study appeared to have lots of difficulty in pronouncing
English words correctly and fluently, they were always willing to learn and do have

great passion in English. At high school, the curriculum that they followed does not
really focus much on speaking in general and pronunciation in particular, thus,
students might have excellent reading, listening or writing skills but speaking skills
were still a challenge for them. And the very first start of speaking well is mastering
pronunciation which is also what this research is about.
1.2.3. Vision & objective(s)
In this section, the researcher shows what exactly does the study want to
achieve, and how the researcher sees the situation, and what is an ideal outcome to
expect.
The main objectives of this study are to help the participants enhance their
English pronunciation skills and also examine if their speaking skills could be
improved via 6 weeks of implementing ELSA or not. Besides, the researcher wanted

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to introduce a new method of learning pronunciation which involves technology as
applying technology in education is currently a trend all over the world.
1.2.4. Proposing solutions
In this section, the researcher describes in detail about the solutions to achieve
the goal of the study as well as solving the participants’ problems.
The schedule for this research was carefully planned by the author for the
participants to follow, sometimes a few participants changed their own schedule due
to the events of the university that the they had to attend, but eventually they still
managed to finish the task of learning 2 sessions per week. In all session, the
researcher was in the position of a supporter who answered all of the questions
emerged by the participants. Every week, the researcher asked the participants to send
their screen captures of the practicing sheet on ELSA as a proof that they had
practiced weekly.
Table 2. The schedule of implementing ELSA in 6 weeks

Week

Session

Time

1

1

20/03/2018

Lesson
Introduction to ELSA
Pre-ELSA Assessment Test

2

2

23/03/2018

How to use basic features of ELSA

1

27/03/2018 Introduction to the implementation of ELSA
Tips & Tricks in learning pronunciation

2

30/03/2018
Questions & Answers (Q & A) session

3

1

03/04/2018

Lesson 1 : /ʌ/ and /ɑː/
Lesson 2 : /ʊ/ and /u:/
Lesson 3 : /e/ and /æ/

2

06/04/2018

Lesson 4 : /ɪ/ and /i:/
Lesson 5 : /ɒ/ and /ɔː/
Lesson 6 : /ə/ and /ɜː/

4

1

10/04/2018

Lesson 7 : /eɪ/, /aɪ/ and /ɔɪ/
Lesson 8 : /əʊ/ and /aʊ/

2

12/06/2018

Lesson 9 : /ɪə/, /ʊə/ and /eə/
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