As stated in Cardoso, Smith, and Garcia Fuentes (2015), second language researchers and practitioners have explored the pedagogical capabilities of Text-To-Speech synthesizers (TTS) for their potential to enhance the acquisition of writing (e.g. Kirstein, 2006), vocabulary and reading (e.g. Proctor, Dalton, & Grisham, 2007), and pronunciation (e.g. Cardoso, Collins, & White, 2012). Despite their demonstrated effectiveness, there is a need for up-to-date formal evaluations of TTS systems, specifically for their potential to promote the ideal conditions under which languages are acquired, particularly in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) environment, as suggested by Cardoso, Smith, and Garcia Fuentes (2015). This study evaluated a modern English TTS system in an EFL context in Brazil, at a number of levels, including speech quality, opportunity to focus on form, and learners' cognitive processing of TTS-generated texts. Fifteen Brazilian EFL learners participated in the study in which they listened to both human and TTSproduced speech samples while performing the abovementioned tasks. Semistructured interviews were used to collect data about participants' perceptions of the technology. We report an analysis of these interviews, which indicate that EFL learners have overall positive attitudes towards the pedagogical use of TTS, and that they would like to use the technology as a learning tool.

Despite positive evidence demonstrating the pedagogical benefits of Text-To-Speech (TTS) synthesisers for second/foreign language learning (Liakin, Cardoso, & Liakina, 2017), there is a need for up-to-date formal evaluations, specifically regarding its potential to promote learning. This study evaluates the voice quality of a TTS system in comparison with a human voice, and examines its pedagogical potential for use in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) setting in terms of speech quality, ability to be understood by L2 users, and potential to focus on a specific language form. EFL learners in Brazil completed four tasks to evaluate the quality of TTS-generated texts. Results suggest that the TTS voice performed equally as well as the human voice in almost every assessment measure, demonstrating a high level of intelligibility and the ability to provide learners with opportunities to notice linguistic forms.

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