| Title | Multimodal Approaches to the Empowerment of Pronunciation Teaching and Learning: Creating Online Interactive Tutorial Videos |
|---|---|
| Faculty/College/Unit | Arts |
| Status | Completed |
| Duration | 2 Year |
| Initiation | 04/01/2014 |
| Completion | 08/31/2016 |
| Funding Details | |
| Year 1: Project Year | Year 1 |
| Year 1: Funding Year | 2014/2015 |
| Year 1: Project Type | Large TLEF |
| Year 1: Principal Investigator | Bryan Gick |
| Year 1: Funded Amount | 138,740 |
| Year 1: Team Members | Bryan Gick, Linguistics, Faculty of Arts |
| Year 1: Summary | Pronunciation is an integral part of communication as it directly affects speakers’ communicative competence and performance, and ultimately their self-confidence and social interaction. The goals of this project are two-fold: first, through the practical use of novel visual technology, this project enables Speech Science and Linguistics students to become better speech therapists, vocal trainers, language teachers, and communicators. Second, this visual technology actively engages students in Japanese language pronunciation practices. Approximately 1500 students in Japanese courses and 1100 students in Linguistics will benefit from this enhanced pedagogy every year. The accessibility and practicality of these methods can encourage learner autonomy and lifelong learning. We believe the best results for successful language learning will be obtained through cooperation and collaboration between the Departments of Linguistics and Asian Studies. Moreover, the methods and results can be easily expanded to other language programmes, including distance and blended courses within and beyond UBC. |
| Year 1: TLEF Showcase |  |
| Year 2: Project Year | Year 2 |
| Year 2: Funding Year | 2015/2016 |
| Year 2: Project Type | Large TLEF |
| Year 2: Principal Investigator | Bryan Gick |
| Year 2: Funded Amount | 148,530 |
| Year 2: Team Members | Bryan Gick, Linguistics, Faculty of Arts |
| Year 2: Summary | Pronunciation is an integral part of communication directly affecting speakers’ communicative competence and self-confidence. The goal of this project is to develop web-based biovisual tools (the eNunciate! site) to improve learners’ pronunciation. In the project to date we have successfully created novel instructional videos incorporating ultrasound overlays (see interim report). In year 2 we will continue developing new technology to create 1) an interactive tongue visualizer enabling learners to see their own tongue shapes, and 2) a prosody visualizer interactively displaying learners’ pitch signals. These tools will enable learners to compare their own productions with correct pronunciations in real time. The current project is a collaboration between the Departments of Linguistics and Asian Studies. We believe the best results for successful language learning will be obtained through collaboration across language programs, connecting with broad-based initiatives such as the “Language Learning Curricular Project” and with distance and blended courses beyond UBC. |
| Project Report | TLEF-Final-RPT-Gick-WEB.pdf |