Abstract:

The study investigates the possibility of using speech recognition software to improve pronunciation in English among Vietnamese university students. These are known for specific diction, which can often cause misunderstanding. Students should thus be lead to comprehensible pronunciation. The study presents the results of testing suitability of a very common and widely used software Microsoft Office 365, Word, Dictate. In the experiment, six Vietnamese doctoral students read a short text, which was simultaneously transcribed by the software. The reading repeated after one week of practicing with the given software. Both versions of transcription were compared, the ratio of mistakes was determined and the mistakes were analyzed. The results show that the mistakes are similar to those identified elsewhere (Thao, Difficulties for Vietnamese When Pronouncing English Final Consonants, 2007), but the main finding is that the pronunciation of each participant improved, which shows the suitability of the software for the given purpose.

Keywords:

Second Language Acquisition, Pronunciation, Speech Recognition Software, Vietnamese.