The use of automatic speech recognition (ASR) tools on platforms such as WPS Office app, Chat GPT, and Google Assistant in the English language classroom can really help to boost students’ confidence when speaking English. That’s according to Janitha Ekanayake, an award-winning English teacher from Sri Lanka.
Janitha’s approach was so innovative it helped him win this year’s IELTS Morgan Terry Memorial IATEFL Scholarship – an annual award which recognises innovation in the English teaching space.
The IELTS Morgan Terry Memorial IATEFL Scholarship is funded by the IELTS Partners (British Council, IDP IELTS, and Cambridge University Press & Assessment). The annual award is organised in memory of Morgan Terry who taught IELTS for many years, trained other teachers, and was prolific in developing test preparation materials for students. This year’s winner, Janitha Ekanayake, has been involved in English teaching for over six years in Sri Lanka and has contributed to several publications in English.
Congratulations to Janitha for coming up with such a fantastic way of blending real-life teaching with technology in the classroom. The scholarship is designed to recognise those who go above and beyond when preparing students for IELTS and Janitha’s innovative ideas really struck a chord with the judges.
Janitha’s award-winning idea!
Janitha’s award-winning idea used ASR technology and other innovative approaches to help his students identify mispronunciations and boost their confidence speaking in the classroom. In his award-winning essay, he explained how he introduced these different tools to students in three phases:
First phase: ‘word stress’
Janitha wanted his students to be confident when pronouncing individual words, so he encouraged them to use the microphone feature in Google Search Bar and the Samsung Keyboard. He also introduced them to the audio recordings on the Cambridge Online Dictionary which allowed his students to listen to words and repeat them with their mobiles.
Second phase: ‘sentence stress’
The second phase focused on ‘sentence stress’, where Janitha asked learners to speak complete sentences into the WPS Office app on their mobiles. He explains:
‘When the student identified instances of mispronunciation, she was encouraged to check the pronunciation of the individual words using the mentioned dictionary, and/or to use the “read aloud” feature available on the WPS Office app. This feature enabled her to listen to the entire sentence at a reduced pace allowing her to better understand mistakes.’
Third phase: having a ‘conversation’ with AI and ASR tools
Finally, Janitha encouraged students to practise having ‘conversations’ using ASR and AI tools, such as Google Assistant and ChatGPT. Students were able to have a ‘conversation’ without been interrupted as the tools provided appropriate follow-up questions.
The approach was so successful that it helped one of Janitha’s students not only improve their speaking skills but achieve an IELTS Band 6 for Speaking in just four months.
As part of Janitha’s scholarship, he will be attending the 4-day IATEFL Conference next year in Edinburgh, where he will be presented with the award. Learn more about the IELTS Morgan Terry Memorial IATEFL Scholarship including how to apply.