GOMES, Almir Anacleto de Araujo.; CARDOSO, Walcir.; LUCENA, Rubens Marques de.
Resumo:
Text-To-Speech synthesizers (TTS) have raised the interest of researchers
and teachers for their ability to enhance foreign/second language (L2) learning,
particularly with regards to the development of pronunciation skills (Liakin,
Cardoso, & Liakina, 2017). Despite some optimistic results, there are no studies
that investigate TTS’s pedagogical potential to enhance L2 Phonological Awareness
(PA), especially in foreign language contexts, where access to rich aural input is
limited in terms of both quantity and quality. The present study examines TTS’s
pedagogical potential as a tool to assist English L2 learners develop their PA,
focusing on the morphophonological alternations that characterize regular past tense
marking in English (past -ed). Results show that TTS contributed positively for the
auditory perception and controlled (but not spontaneous) production of the targeted
phenomenon.