The paper explores the accuracy of feedback provided to non-native learners of English by a pronunciation module included in Microsoft Reading Progress. We compared pronunciation assessment offered by Reading Progress against two university pronunciation teachers. Recordings from students of English who aim for native-like pronunciation were assessed independently by Reading Progress and the human raters. The output was standardized as negative binary feedback assigned to orthographic words, which matches the Microsoft format. Our results indicate that Reading Progress is not yet ready to be used as a CAPT tool. Inter-rater reliability analysis showed a moderate level of agreement for all raters and a good level of agreement upon eliminating feedback from Reading Progress. Meanwhile, the qualitative analysis revealed certain problems, notably false positives, i.e., words pronounced within the boundaries of academic pronunciation standards, but still marked as incorrect by the digital rater. We recommend that EFL teachers and researchers approach the current version of Reading Progress with caution, especially as regards automated feedback. However, its design may still be useful for manual feedback. Given Microsoft declarations that Reading Progress would be developed to include more accents, it has the potential to evolve into a fully-functional CAPT tool for EFL pedagogy and research.

In any migratory context individuals are faced with several challenges as a result of having to live in a different geographical location, function in a different cultural setting and use a different language. The migrants’ use of language plays a crucial role in mediation of their identity, especially in the domain of pronunciation (Kobialka 2016). When non-native users of language adapt their speech to resemble that of the host community, it may suggest their strong identification with the target community (Hammer and Dewaele 2015). This papers focuses on the pronunciation patterns among Polish adult migrants living in the west of Ireland. The aim of the study is to investigate the link between positive attitudes of the migrant community towards Ireland, Irish culture and community, their acculturation strategies and language identity, and the tendency to use one of the most characteristic features of Irish English – slit-t. The theoretical framework includes acculturation theory (Berry 2005), social identity theory (Tajfel and Turner 1987) and language identity (Block 2007). The qualitative and quantitative analysis of data indicates a certain correlation between the use of Irish English slit-t and the participants’ strategies of acculturation, identity and attitudes to the host community.

Abstract In any migratory context individuals are faced with several challenges as a result of having to live in a different geographical location, function in a different cultural setting and use a different language. The migrants’ use of language plays a crucial role in mediation of their identity, especially in the domain of pronunciation (Kobialka 2016). When non-native users of language adapt their speech to resemble that of the host community, it may suggest their strong identification with the target community (Hammer and Dewaele 2015). This papers focuses on the pronunciation patterns among Polish adult migrants living in the west of Ireland. The aim of the study is to investigate the link between positive attitudes of the migrant community towards Ireland, Irish culture and community, their acculturation strategies and language identity, and the tendency to use one of the most characteristic features of Irish English – slit-t. The theoretical framework includes acculturation theory (Berry 2005), social identity theory (Tajfel and turner 1987) and language identity (Block 2007). The qualitative and quantitative analysis of data indicates a certain correlation between the use of Irish English slit-t and the participants’ strategies of acculturation, identity and attitudes to the host community.