Using ELSA App in Speaking Classes: Students’ Voices

Abstract

T Covid-19 has caused a sudden shift from face to face teaching method to online learning that requires teachers and lectures as well to utilize technology. It also has made a significant surge in usage of online learning applications, video conferencing tools and language apps since COVID-19. One of language learning apps which is used by university students is ELSA Speak App. Hence, in the present study, four classes of students from English Education study program were surveyed to elicit their perceptions toward the use of ELSA App. By using a questionnaire adopted from Martins, Levis and Borges (2016), it is revealed that the majority of the students agreed that ELSA Speak App is a useful tool to improve their speaking ability particularly pronunciation aspect

I “…I Felt More Challenged to Keep Practicing”: An Exploration of the Students’ Voice towards Elsa Speak for Supplementing Students’ Speaking Willingness

“…This is evidenced by the majority of students agree with these points. This finding is consistent with Darsih et al (2021) that the whole score of the students' answers was 86.5%. It means that it belongs in the fully consent category.…”

AI in teaching English as a foreign language: Effectiveness and prospects in Kazakh higher education

“…The experimental group exhibited escalated levels of grammatical comprehension, vocabulary expansion, as well as enhanced listening skills. Darsih et al (2021) discovered that "ELSA Speak" can assist students in speaking English more clearly, fluently, and with ease while also encouraging them to practice regularly. Due to the intricacy of English grammar, EFL learners frequently struggle with verb agreement, tense usage, and sentence structure, which are carefully analyzed by AI-powered writing assistants such as Grammarly (Fahmi, Cahyono, 2021).…”

“…Many scholars have noted the importance of developing students' critical thinking in the application of AI in foreign language teaching (Supiano, 2023;Zhai, 2022). The following works of scientists are devoted to the issues of using AI in developing foreign language writing skills of students, increasing vocabulary (dos Santos et al, 2023;Kim et al, 2023;Yan, 2023), and also note that AI can help identify unknown words, generate dialogues at different language levels and explain terms in students' first language (Kohnke et al, 2023). Moreover, the next group of scholars emphasizes the application of Bloom's classification in the process of improving writing skills (Chandio et al, 2021).…”

Tertiary Students’ Perceptions on Elsa Speak Application for Pronunciation Learning

“…Akhmad & Munawir (2022) conducted a study with 20 English education students, finding that using Elsa Speak Application significantly improved pronunciation skills. Darsih et al (2021) surveyed 94 students at Kuningan University, Indonesia, revealing positive perceptions of Elsa Speak Application across various aspects, including content, pedagogy, assessment, multimedia, and automatic speech recognition. Students expressed interest in learning to speak with Elsa Speak Application, highlighting its beneficial impact on speech learning.…”

“…Several universities in Vietnam have recognized Elsa Speak Application's value in improving students' pronunciation skills. The positive perceptions of EFL learners towards Elsa Speak Application indicate its effectiveness in fostering enthusiasm for pronunciation improvement (Darsih et al, 2021).…”