Using Automatic Speech Processing for Foreign Language Pronunciation Tutoring: Some Issues and a Prototype

In this article I will discuss the possible use of automatic speech recognition (ASR) for training students to improve their accents in a foreign language. Principles of good language training as well as the limits of the use of Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) and how to deal with them will be discussed first. I will then use the example of the Carnegie Mellon FLUENCY system to show concretely how such a system may function. Prosody training as well as phonetics will be emphasized. Finally, I will underscore the importance of having a system that adapts to the user, again using the FLUENCY system as an example.