Using challenges to enhance a learning game for pronunciation training of English as a second language

Abstract

Learning games have a remarkable potential for education. They provide an emergent form of social participation that deserves the assessment of their usefulness and efficiency in learning processes. This study describes a novel learning game for foreign pronunciation training in which players can challenge each other. Native Spanish speakers performed several pronunciation activities during a one-month competition using a mobile application, designed under a minimal pairs approach, to improve their pronunciation of English as a foreign language. This game took place in a competitive scenario in which students had to challenge other participants in order to get high scores and climb up a leaderboard. Results show intense practice supported by a significant number of activities and playing regularity, so the most active and motivated players in the competition achieved significant pronunciation improvement results. The integration of automatic speech recognition (ASR) and text-to-speech (TTS) technology allowed users to improve their pronunciation while being immersed in a highly motivational game.