A system for high-variability training of French vowels: A design-based study

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to document an initial iteration of a design-based research (DBR) project that expands an adaptive, high-variability phonetic training (HVPT) system that was initially proposed for English to a different language, French. The design steps taken in this project will hopefully inform further efforts to develop HVPT tools in a range of target languages with the goal of providing state-of-the-art learning tools for second language learners and teachers.The lofty and worthy goal of second language teaching is to create intelligible communicators. Since communication is multifaceted, a plethora of skills are necessary for communication to be successful. By "success" in communication, I mean that both parties are able to understand each other. This thesis outlines a tool which can help learners with their listening skills in a second language. Listening, along with speaking, is a vital skill required for successful spoken communication. Listening is important for several reasons. First, spoken communication is typically highly interactive, which means that a speaker must listen to and understand the interlocutor's utterances in order to produce coherent turns. Second, gains in listening performance do result in gains in speaking performance (Sakai & Moorman, 2018).Finally, a learner should be able to carefully monitor their own utterances and make changes as necessary. In sum, listening is a skill crucial for spoken communication and pronunciation, so this skill needs to be taught in a language classroom. The importance of listening is evident from the pedagogical focus it receives. In the communicative framework for teaching pronunciation described in Celce-Murcia et al. ( 2010), an important "step" or part of pronunciation teaching is helping the learner attain listening discrimination. For activities aimed at improving listening discrimination, learners are asked to