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Article published In: Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada/Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 38:1 (2025) ► pp.134–161

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The Spanish Computer-Assisted Listening and Speaking Tutor

A multilingual approach to pronunciation training

ORCiD logo with link | Universitat de València
ORCiD logo with link | Norwegian University of Science and Technology
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

This article was made Open Access under a CC BY 4.0 license through payment of an APC by or on behalf of the authors.

Published online: 5 April 2024
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https://doi.org/10.1075/resla.22046.mar
Abstract
This article presents the Spanish version of the Computer-Assisted Listening and Speaking Tutor (CALST), an online platform that can be used to complement pronunciation training in the classroom. The Spanish CALST offers listening, speaking, and spelling exercises for Northern-Central Peninsular Spanish as an L2. Exercises are tailored by an automatic comparison with the learner’s native language based on a database of phonetically specified phoneme inventories for over 500 languages, with the result that learners with different L1s are exposed to different exercises adapted to their specific needs. In this article, we present a description of the exercises as well as the criteria used to develop Spanish content for CALST. We discuss the limitations of the platform, the logging of user results as a partial solution to these limitations, and the possible future use of the logged data to increase our understanding of L2 acquisition.
Resumen
El CALST español: Una aproximación multilingüe a la práctica de la pronunciación
Este artículo presenta la versión española del Computer-Assisted Listening and Speaking Tutor (CALST), una plataforma digital que permite complementar la práctica de la pronunciación de segundas lenguas en el aula. El CALST español ofrece ejercicios de escucha, pronunciación y ortografía de la variedad centro-norte peninsular del español. Gracias al uso de una base de datos que permite comparar de manera automática propiedades fónicas de unas 500 lenguas con el español, los ejercicios del CALST se adaptan a las necesidades específicas de cada usuario, al ofrecer distintos ejercicios a los usuarios de distintas lenguas. En este artículo presentamos una descripción detallada de los ejercicios de la plataforma y de los criterios empleados para desarrollar el contenido de esta. Por último, se discuten las principales limitaciones de la plataforma, la posibilidad de registrar los resultados de cada usuario como una solución parcial a algunas de estas limitaciones, así como el posible uso de estos resultados para ampliar nuestro conocimiento sobre el proceso de adquisición de la pronunciación de una L2.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Challenges for Spanish pronunciation training
    • 1.2The significance of the learner’s native language
  • 2.A multilingual approach to online pronunciation training
    • 2.1L1‑L2map and its use in CALST
    • 2.2CALST
    • 2.3Beyond single segments
  • 3.Developing the Spanish CALST
    • 3.1Informants
    • 3.2Spanish phonological inventory in L1‑L2map
    • 3.3Phonological comparison, allophonic training
    • 3.4Criteria for exercise creation
      • 3.4.1Exercises contrasting individual phonemes and their allophones
      • 3.4.2Consonant cluster and stress exercises
    • 3.5Selecting content for the exercises
  • 4.Limitations and future exploitation
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
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