The Effects of an Automatic Speech Analysis System on Enhancing EFL Learners’ Oral Reading Fluency

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of an ASAS (Automatic Speech Analysis System) on EFL learners’ oral reading fluency from the perspectives of WCPM (words read correctly per minute), MFS (multidimensional fluency scale), and accuracy rate. A three by two between-subject design was conducted. Three classes of English-majored college students in central Taiwan were conveniently sampled and participated in the training. From each class, eight learners of low oral reading fluency and another eight of high oral reading fluency were chosen for data analysis. Learners in Class 1 enhanced their oral reading fluency with an audio player, Class 2 with a system-paced ASAS, and Class 3 with a learner-paced ASAS. Pretest and posttest were conducted before and after the training. During the 8-week training period, each student was required to read half of an article by repeating after the model speaker for thirty minutes each week. Two-way ANOVA simple main effect was conducted to analyze the data. Four conclusions were made. First, the training either with an audio player or with an ASAS enhanced learners’ WCPM more than their MFS scores. Second, students of low oral reading fluency benefited more by practicing with the ASAS. Third, training either with an audio player or an ASAS didn’t seem to help learners of high oral reading fluency much. Fourth, learners’ enhancement of WCPM came mainly from the improvement of reading speed rather than accuracy rate.