As a result of the Japanese Ministry of Education's recent edict that students' written and spoken English should be assessed in university entrance exams, there is an urgent need for tools to help teachers and students prepare for these exams. Although some commercial tools already exist, they are generally expensive and inflexible. To address…

This research aimed to investigate the effects of pronunciation monitoring on learners' affective factors through self-monitoring activities using speech recognition systems. The effect of a specifically designed pronunciation activity for Japanese university students was analyzed. The worksheet form of the activity was based on the use of speech…

This study investigated the influence of communication apprehension and anxiety in second-language (L2) learning on oral performance of Japanese university students in terms of F0 (fundamental frequency) analysis. The participants were English-major students (3 males and 6 females) who presented at an oral communication festival for university…

This paper explains how the mobile app and computer software Moxtra has augmented presentation and oral communication classes at the university level. Even the free version of Moxtra allows students to compile a digital portfolio of presentation and storytelling work, involving voice and visuals, to which both the teacher and fellow students have…

The ultimate aim of our research project was to use the Google Web Speech API to automate scoring of elicited imitation (EI) tests. However, in order to achieve this goal, we had to take a number of preparatory steps. We needed to assess how accurate this speech recognition tool is in recognizing native speakers' production of the test items; we…

In universities throughout Japan, English language learners are required to stand in front of their peers and make a presentation with the aid of software such as Microsoft PowerPoint. This type of public speaking activity can often be an anxiety-inducing, glorified reading or memorization exercise of text-heavy slides that fails to meet the…