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Degree Project in English Studies and Education
15 Credits, Advanced Level
“Text-to-speech Synthesizers”:
Teachers’ beliefs on utilizing TTS as a
tool for learning English at Upper
Secondary School
“Talsynteser”: Lärarnas åsikter om TTS som ett
verktyg för lärande inom Engelska på Gymnasiet.
Jonathon Stoker
Examiner : Chrysogonus Siddha Malilang Supervisor: Anna Wärnasby
Ämneslärare inriktning mot gymnasiet, 300 hp, 2019-06-09.
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Table of contents
1. Introduction ...6
2. Research purpose and questions ...8
3. Theoretical Background ...9 3.1 Reading to understand ...9 3.2DRM Model ... 10 3.4 Pronunciation ... 11 3.5 Dyslexia ... 12 3.6 Curriculum ... 12 3.7 Scaffolding ... 13 3.8 Motivational reading ... 14 3.9 Text to speech ... 15
3.9.1 Using TTS to facilitate reading comprehension skills in dyslexic students ... 16
3.9.2 TTS aiding pronunciation amongst students learning English ... 18
3.9.3 The applications of TTS used by students learning English without disabilities ... 19
3.9.4 TTS to encourage students to read and learn more English ... 19
5. Method ... 20
5.1 Participants ... 20
5.2 Semi structured interviews ... 22
5.3 Procedure ... 23
5.4 Ethical considerations... 24
6 Results and discussion ... 25
6.1 The teachers ‘beliefs in does TTS facilitate the reading comprehension skills with students with difficulties in reading English? ... 25
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6.3 The teachers ‘beliefs in how does the application work for the students learning English
without disabilities? ... 28
6.4 The teachers ‘beliefs in how does TTS encourage students to learn English? ... 29
7 Conclusion ... 31
7.1 Limitations ... 31
7.2 Further research ... 32
8. References ... 33
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Acknowledgments
I would very much like to thank all of the people involved in this study investigation the applications of Text-to-speech (TTS). In particular, the participants in the study as they to fulfil a full analysis. I would also like to thank my SAG partner as he gave provided me with a lot of inspiration to finish this paper. Finally, I would like to thank my supervisors for making this paper possible.
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Abstract
There are many students in the class that have dyslexia and can struggle with simple tasks such as reading. Therefore, this study set out to investigate the applications of text to speech synthesizers facilitate learning English at upper secondary with these students in focus from a teacher’s perspective. This study has been conducted through means of a semi- structured interviews with secondary school teachers. Research to support the fact that TTS does in fact aid facilitate the reading of students with difficulties has been stark. One the other hand scholars have claimed that it does not always aid struggling readers, therefore this paper will explore the discrepancies between these contrasting views. In the results it was found that the usage of TTS in the classroom should be seen as a compensatory tool that can aid struggling students in reading as opposed to being seen as a solution. The question to whether this can aid students without struggling difficulties was bound to the intelligibility of the voice of the TTS. Furthermore, it was maintained that this could in fact encourage students with their reading on the basis of academic success.
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1. Introduction
The purpose of this text is to explore the ramifications of using Text-to-speech (TTS) English as a second language (ESL) from a teacher’s perspective. In order to answer this main
question, I will investigate four themes. TTS for aiding students that have disorders such as dyslexia and have general problems reading, and comprehending English as a second language (ESL). Additionally, investigate whether the software has anything to offer with regard students without learning difficulties. Moreover, does TTS help students with pronouncing new words in English? Furthermore, can this particular software encourage students to engage in more texts when using this application? A TTS system comprises of an array of algorithms in order to turn the highlighted text into speech. This way the student can just listen whilst the software works progressively down the text itself, emitting the equivalent speech. This paper with some theoretical concepts explore the realms, and possibilities of this teaching resource. Finally, coupled with previous research this paper aims to shed light on these questions regarding TTS in the classroom.
Including all of the students in a classroom activity can be challenging, as there may be a spectrum of reading disabilities. In Sweden alone, there are roughly 5-8 percent of students that have been diagnosed with dyslexia (SBU, 2014, p.225). Additionally, there are many other reading disabilities such as attention deficit disorder (ADHD), Aspersers, and various forms of autism that all amount different learning paths required for students. As the Swedish curriculum advocates democracy “ A school for everyone”, it is imperative to remember that it lies within the teacher's responsibility to find solution for everybody (Skolverket, 2011, p.5
).
Finally, it must be stressed that all of the different departments within a school must work together in order to achieve cohesion, and so everybody is working together to provide solutions for these students. This involves the medical staff, special needs and mentors to ensure a unanimous co-operation (Jakobsson & Lundgren, 2013, p.92). The school classes are becoming ever larger, and it therefore the teacher has the job of trying to facilitate all the needs of the students. A teacher would not necessarily have the time to always read to the learners. However, for the purpose of this study is to assume that all reading difficulties will be taken into account. The sole purpose with this is to broaden the horizon within this topic as opposed to being too narrow.7
When I was on my teacher practicum (VFU), the students were supposed to read a newspaper article and then answering questions. There was one student who was very reluctant to this task. The student just sat and looked confused, and it seemed like he needed a bit more help. Perhaps there could have been some alternative for this particular student. For dyslexic students who usually have problems with reading comprehension, the steering documents actually support classroom adaptations such as TTS software. The Swedish curriculum in itself is based on the formalities that promote equality and are in fact of the leading countries regarding equality. The steering documents state the following:
Account should be taken of the varying circumstances, needs and the students’ level of knowledge. There are also different ways of attaining the goals of education. Special attention must be given to those students who for different reasons experience difficulties in attaining these goals. For this reason, education can never be the same for all. The school has a specific responsibility for students with functional impairments (Skolverket, 2011, p.6).
Therefore, the Swedish curriculum, clearly states that every individual is entitled to the necessary compensatory help to achieve their goal. As a teacher, it is important to understand what the students’ have access to.
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2.
Research purpose and questions
The purpose of this study is investigate the applications of TTS synthesizers from a teacher’s perspective. The research questions are as follows:
1. In what way does TTS facilitate the reading comprehension skills with students having difficulties in reading English in accordance to teacher beliefs?
2. In what way does TTS aid pronunciation amongst students learning English in accordance to teacher beliefs?
3. How does the application work for the students without learning disabilities in accordance to teacher beliefs?
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3. Theoretical Background
Firstly, investigating the term TTS, the notion of reading was explored. Secondly it is important to understand how Bruner's theory of scaffolding works well with teaching a foreign language in a classroom Moreover, this section investigated what previous research has been conducted in the field of TTS. Additionally, the Swedish steering documents in relation to the usage of TTS are discussed.
3.1 Reading to understand
Reading is one of the three main core areas of learning English, along with writing and speaking, and taking that into consideration, one of the most important, although in essence these three skills overlap one another considerably. Without possessing the necessary reading skills, one will find it hard to achieve academic success, as the reading is vital for learning a second language, English in this case (Janzen, 2007, p.710). Furthermore, the modern world requires one to understand all texts from newspapers to airport departure signs. The main purpose of reading is to provide meaning and understanding to a certain aspect, and therefore the importance of students reading a variety of texts is keystone for vocabulary growth (DeGardener, 2004, p.34). According to Lightbrown and Spada (2010), the” let’s talk”, the model emphasizes the importance of second language learner interaction, as this give rise to negotiation for meaning, and practicing intonation (p.150).It could therefore be argued that TTS is a form of interaction with the student to benefit them in second language reading and learning.
Essentially, reading to understand a text involves decoding of words on the paper itself. This act itself requires the student to be fully focused, and requires a certain amount of working memory. Patterson, Marshall & Colheart (1985) maintained that fluent reading can essentially be broken down into three main parts. Reading requires visual information in written form,
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the letters on the text (p.15). The authors maintain that the phonological information about the word when spoken, in other words how the word sounds is vital. Furthermore, the semantics of the word must be understood and contextualized. All of these three aspects juggled together to encapsulate fluency of reading. The balance between these three components must, therefore, be harmonic (p.16). According to Cameron (2011) skilled readers bypass the decoding by going straight to understanding. It has been shown that readers who read fast do all of the above, but faster, however, they are able to speak replicate the words into a voice in their head effectively (p.37).Therefore, this raises the question why readers find it difficult to comprehend certain texts. As he Swedish curriculum states that students must be able to understand content, and with reading disability this skill will diminish. Therefore, the student will not be able to achieve the grade they deserve.
Reading for content is paramount for success in reading, as it is one of the main reasons we read in the first place. Readers often look for messages within the text they see certain words and expect a certain pattern. Readers who expect this may find difficulties associated with the decoding, and advanced readers may be know how to tackle this problem. Lundahl (2015) claims the general context of a text gives the reader clues about what to expect from a text; the second is the linguistic and content part of the text which can vary in lexical strength. A difficult test will not provide these clues about the text. This would be hard enough for a student to grasp. However, having difficulties reading, and have dyslexia, then this problem becomes colossal.
3.2DRM Model
The process of reading can be very complex and often hard to describe. However Sela et al (2012) proposed the dual route model (DRM) model can be used to explain the information channeling processes that occur when reading, that is, the reading takes orthographic and phonological routes. The orthographic (lexical) route involves recognizing patterns and understanding the rules of writing, and then the sematic aspect. The authors mention that the phonological pathway involves the reader balancing the phonological representation from graphemes (how the word appears alphabetically), and the phoneme, which is how the word
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should sound acoustically (p.285). The authors maintain orthographic and phonological parts should, therefore, be harmonic and synonymous with each other in order to ensure fluid reading.
3.4 Pronunciation
Pronunciation can be described as the way in which the word is pronounced, and the delivery of the word, with regard to the way the word sounds. Pronunciation is claimed to be linked to reading, as if the student understand the morphological aspects of words, and have ease in reading then their pronunciation skills will also be at a good level (Carlise, 2000, p.169).Over the years, teaching pronunciation has differed somewhat, and there idea of repeat after me has changed a lot. There are more methods readily available now than there ever before.
Pronunciation is the bodily awareness of the articulators (tongue and pallet) in relation to the production of segmental parts (consonants and vowels); the rising and falling intonation (Burns & Richards, 2012, p.247). Lunderberg and Keaveny (2017) claimed that young learners seek to learn pronunciation through means of imitation (p.19). The importance of being able to actively hear how a word is pronounced helps. The authors additionally claim that good pronunciation can diminish anxiety when speaking English. Tasks in the classroom should be varied to train pronunciation, and students be exposed to actively listening to the various styles of speaking. Lundahl (2015) mentions in accordance with the cognitive
learning theory that students must notice features in pronunciation if they are to improve their own intonation (p.228). This may not always be an easy road for dyslexic students. TTS could help the students notice these features. The cognitive learning theory is a broad theory that states a stimulus coupled with cognitive processes give rise to a response (Ayres & Paas, 2012, p.830). The authors claim that the theory states that learning takes part actively when a stimulus is added. This is in alignment with learning the purpose of TTS: being actively exposed to the software trigger cognitive processes resulting in a response, or in this case improved pronunciation.
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3.5 Dyslexia
As reading and pronunciation can be hard to master it is relevant to look at dyslexia as a disorder to gain an understanding of why these students find hard. The term dyslexia has not officially become an established term that explains exactly what the condition entails. There has been a worldwide debate about how to produce an agreed upon definition, and what falls under the dyslexia category (Elliott & Grigorenko, 2014, p.474). There has been a subsequent issue since 1896 when the first learning disorder was described, and scientists even today are even still troubled in categorizing this learning disorder (Shaywitz, 1996, p.98). However, as a teacher in, it is relevant to follow governmental advice, and this study follows the Swedish national documents about dyslexia. According to Specialpedagogiska skolmydighenten dyslexia can be described as a student having difficulties reading, writing and even oral skills. It can be characterized by the students having problems in identifying certain parts of words, and often parts of language in general. When reading the students often get stuck on certain words, and finding it difficult to grasp the whole meaning. As a consequence students are not able to comprehend large amounts of text at once, and are very slow in doing so. Research conducted by Wolff (2009) demonstrated that the students with dyslexia had average decoding skills to their peers when given a comprehension task, and were not able to meet cognitive demands of the question Wolff claimed that dyslexia is therefore a neurological disease that still to this day requires more research to fully comprehend this learning disorder (p.89).
3.6 Curriculum
Reading and understanding is paramount, and of utter importance, for example with pilots when they pass on certain crucial information. In addition, pronunciation must also be clear as this could prove to be the difference between life and death. The European Framework of
Reference for Languages (CEFR) states that a language user must mobilize and exploit the
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to achieve this goal in the most economical way possible. Finally, reading difficulties should not be seen as a disability, rather more that they make up for this lack of ability through using alternative strategies.
Then one must look at the Swedish documents state after looking at the curriculum is exploring the English subject itself. The Swedish syllabus states the following: “In addition, students should be given the opportunity to develop their ability to use different strategies to support communication and to solve problems when language skills are inadequate”
(Skolverket, 2011, p.54). The statement suggests that the student must be able to use different strategies, meaning that if they are struggling with a certain aspect they should be able to use resources around them to help them reach this goal, by using TTS, for example. Reading is heavily weighted in the Swedish curriculum as to get an E a student must be able to do the following: “Pupils can understand the main content and basic details of English spoken at a varying speed and in clearly expressed written English in various genres” (Skolveket, 2011 p.55).Reading is not explicitly mentioned in the curriculum, but to understand, the students must be able to read.
Pronunciation is the ability of a student to be able to utter the words in the right pattern, and be understood correctly. The way words are can differ depending in which part of the world you learn English. Pronunciation is not mentioned directly in the Swedish steering documents, although it does lay the foundation for other learning goals. The core content mentions that it is essential for creating strategies to communicate to everyday life. The English curriculum contains a knowledge requirement that demands the following:In oral and written
communications of various genres, students can express themselves in relatively varied ways, relatively clearly and relatively coherently (Skolverket, 2011, p.55).Therefore, if a student has difficulties pronouncing certain words, it may be difficult for them to achieve this goal.
3.7 Scaffolding
Brunner (1976) developed a theory of “scaffolding”, and this term is in sync with the social constructivist point of view, as it can be coupled with Vygotskij’s theory of learning, and
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social interaction. The term scaffolding goes hand in hand with social interaction, in this case between the teacher and the student. Students often need help with unfamiliar tasks and it lies within the teacher’s role to facilitate these needs by means of “scaffolding”. Applebee & Langer (1983) stated that students in order to learn, need constant active support from teachers around them. The researchers added that gradually after the initial help they receive from the teacher, they gain more independence and gradually become less dependent on the teacher (p.172). As a consequence the students then begin the process of internalizing these learned skills. In regard to scaffolding Yealland & Masters (2007) maintained the following:
Our work has revealed that traditional forms of scaffolding, based on the “expert’s” view of how the problem should be solved, need to be modified in order to accommodate the child’s perspective and that three different types of scaffolding which we refer to as cognitive, technical and affective can be conceptualized (p.380).
TTS may qualify for the category of technical scaffolding. The authors claim that the context of the technical scaffolding can aid students’ performance through using metastrategic ideas to help them solve problems, In this case by using TTS as a means of technical scaffolding, teachers may help with second language acquisition.
3.8 Motivational reading
The purpose of motivation can be an important factor on determining whether a student reads well. This can in turn affect how a student understands content. Motivation can be described as the willingness of a student, or anybody for that matter, to carry out a particular task. In the case of reading this can often be imperative to achieve success. When the student is finding it difficult to understand or comprehend a text, a student may often give up as a result. A text can seem bewildering as it takes effort and time. Schramn (1978) devised an equation that is linked to motivation and is the formulated as follows:
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Therefore, motivation is directly proportional to the numerator or denominator, and if any of these values change, so does motivation as a consequence (p.6). Reading requires skills that involve the student grasping semantic and phonological aspects of reading and can therefore be seen as the effort of reward. If a reader finds it difficult to read a text the result will be significantly higher. Thus decreasing motivation resulting in a lack of understanding and development. Likewise, if the expectation of a reward is too high and the in relation to the effort of the reward motivation can decrease too. The introduction of a TTS system could therefore alleviate the denominator in this instance. Resulting in increased levels of motivation.
3.9 Text to speech
A TTS system is generically made up of two parts, “The linguistic specification and the production of a waveform. The linguistic specification involves using algorithms to determine the specific sequence phonemes. This input data is then converted to into different packagers where they are then sent in a particular order to a system called a vocoder. A vocoder is a system that converts binary digital codes into synthetic soundwaves in the output (King, 2011, p.848). Different systems vary in complexity, and use different parameters to achieve an authentic voice like sound
Despite not being devolved until 1970, the first TTS synthesizer was able to make its first appearance for the consumers. Previously, a TTS was a physical device which had little to do with the computers. The jump from mechanical to electrical synthesizers allowed room for further exploration. According Talyor (2009) he first TTS software named Mikruphue was released in 1989 and used the 8 bit processor. Today, there are numerous software options for TTS, and shows no sign of slowing down with the production of them. The author adds that one of the latest software pieces “Festival speech synthesis program” uses new technology where the system even offers help with specific intonation (p.13). This would be could potentially help students with dyslexia with their pronunciation, and even reading for that matter. As they will have a greater phonological awareness as well as morphological, and
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hearing the word can increase their orthographic mapping which leads to better reading and pronunciation (Ehri , 2013, p.18).
Furthermore, there is an option where one can choose between American and British English, and this could prove to be important to intelligibility, or whether the software is useful to students without dyslexia. Most importantly, these applications can be downloaded and then merged in either Microsoft word or Google Docs. Apple computers demand hardware and even a subscription cost, whereas google documents have an inbuilt TTS system, and no hardware is therefore required. So the software is readily available to use, and offers a lot of choice.
3.9.1 Using TTS to facilitate reading comprehension skills in dyslexic students
As mentioned before, there are students who struggle with reading in school .A study conducted used two variables on a reading comprehension that would tested students on the comprehension, the instructions were administered orally, and the group of students who received the instructions with an a oral program improved their performance on the test (Carretti, et al, 2013, p.205). This study could be key to understanding the fundamentals of TTS as opposed to the old traditional way of reading text on a page.
Unskilled readers often have a hard time making inferences, which means they cannot add to the text from their own experiences, which could amount to a better reader essentially. Therefore, it is the teacher’s responsibility to find interventions that are suitable to the group or learner at hand, for example, single word reading in class (Gough-Kenyon, Palikara & Lucas, 2018 p.2527). It could therefore be argued that an intervention using TTS, would in fact be up to the discretion of the teacher to make students become skilled second language learning.
There have been many studies that have investigated the effects of TTS struggling readers. Using TTS has demonstrated an increase in in reading comprehension skills, in comparison to
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those students without the software (Montali & Lewandoski, 1996 p.275). Similarly, Raskind and Higgins (2005) use a device called Quicktionary Reading Pen II, which was used to decode the text for students were struggling when reading a comprehension test. There was also a group reading the without the decoding pen, and one just reading the text without aid (p.33). The results showed that the group with the TTS pen increased their scores
considerably.
The perceptions of TTS is also very important in the field, as it can be the difference between a success and failure in the classroom. Two sets of students with reading difficulties were administered some tests, survey, observations and even interviewed about their perceptions toward the software, one group used TTS, and the other without. The results showed an increase in scores using the software and even perceptions of the software (Dolan et al, 2005, p.25). Likewise, there has been a lot of positive belief amongst teachers with regard to the software. Teachers reported that it is a good complement to a teacher as it provides
scaffolding, and gives the teachers additional time to focus on other aspects within the classroom; as using a digital audiobook application allows struggling readers to devote that extra amount of working memory used to focus on items such as the meaning, decoding and general comprehension of the text (Grimshaw et al, 2007, p.37).
On the contrary it could argued that TTS does not have any effect at all and does not aid struggling readers with their reading. Meyer & Bouck (2014) conducted a study where reading comprehension fluency scores were tested, with and without TTS, and it was found that comprehension scores with TTS did not improve vastly, although it was reported that they could comprehend faster. Similarly, a study conducted in Swedeninvestigated two of older and younger students, both using TTS, and in the other control group with no aid. It was found that the younger students considerably improved their scores, however, the older group did not show any significant difference in comprehension scores (Grunér, Östberg &
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3.9.2 TTS aiding pronunciation amongst students learning English
The question here is whether pronunciation can be aided by using TTS software. It was found that pronunciations skills were vastly improved when using TTS in comparison to the
tradition reading, this was monitored using post tests to determine student pronunciation scores (Klickaya, 2011, p.95). Kim (2014) tested using an autonomous self-learning program that contained a TTS program called Voicethread. In his study, ESL students claimed that the program helped them boost their oral proficiency skills, and gave them confidence when speaking (p.28). Liakin et al (2017) found that L2 French students divided into three groups, with TTS, without, and reading. Those who had TTS completed their listen-repeat-test with higher scores than the other groups.
Pronunciation is often a difficult trait to master regardless of the language, and takes a while to do so. Cardoso (2018) conducted a study where one group of participants used RPT (Regular past tense), a way of learning in contrast with TTS; the results showed that this only worked for certain allophones such as D (p.21). Reading itself can be quite a strenuous activity for the eyes and could therefore hinder a student who struggles, TTS could therefore be an alternative, as students can focus on their listening skills as well, consequently
boosting pronunciation skills (Joshi et al , 2015). When students had been given two conditions, an e-book and reading ordinarily, the E-book allowed students to highlight certain words, and therefore learned how to pronounce certain words. The students reported that they preferred it to ordinary texts because of this, and the researcher claimed the
following: “Students adapted quickly to their digital devices and developed new literacies.” (Larsson 2015, p.175). Likewise, a group of students learning English were dived into two groups where they were tested for pronunciation, learning words through a dictionary, utilizing TTS system. It was found that the latter group pronounced words with a 72% accuracy, whereas the former scored 26% (Damper et al, 1999 p.170).
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3.9.3 The applications of TTS used by students learning English without disabilities
Over the last decade we have seen a change in technological advancements and have seen the usage of digital devices flourish in classrooms. There have been studies to investigate the effects of TTS on students without learning difficulties. Following features such as word stress intonation and pitch, students were found to be more successful with TTS in comparison to the control group without the software (Meihami & Husseini, 2014, p.27). Similarly, the fact that this could be seen as a complement to the classroom seems reminiscent in the results with dyslectic students. On the contrary, students could find the voice unnatural to understand, and this could therefore impede understanding (Bione, Grimshaw. & Cardoso, 2016, p.56).The intelligibly of the synthesized voice may affect the understanding of the text as a whole, and therefore having little effect with aiding understanding (Wang & Munro, 2004 p.550).
3.9.4 TTS to encourage students to read and learn more English
Students with dyslexia may find it precariously difficult to read texts and may therefore need some motivation. Schramn (1956) maintained that motivation is keystone in learning a second language. If there are hindrances, then the possibility to carry out an action diminishes. Not only are comprehension skills improved by TTS, but the encouragement of the struggling readers to complete the task was boosted through the usage of TTS. Students can often feel anxious if they do not understand certain texts. However, using TTS can alleviate some of these issues (Ciampa, 2012, p.13).If a student is faced with a lot of information, he or she may give up. Twenty teachers trained with the TPACK
(Tecnological,Pedagogical,Content,Knowledge) with built-in TTS software; offered positive feedback after using the product, and said that they found it useful to use digital technology in the language learning process (Oktalia & Djajati , 2018, p.189). Likewise, Kim (2014)
maintained that the struggling students felt a surge of confidence after using TTS to help them with pronouncing certain words. Sha (2009) maintained: That TTS technology ensured
flexibility, superior work efficiency, instrumentality and choices of voices that language teachers have ever dreamed of, especially in non‐English‐speaking countries (p.89).
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Therefore, this flexibility can lead to an increase in motivation. Since motivation is often lost in stressful situations.
5. Method
I conducted a study using four English teachers from upper schools in Lund to gather the necessary data required for this field. This section therefore covers the type pf procedure that I carried out. Secondly, I provide a little information about the participants. Finally, a look into the ethical guidelines.
Table 1: participants Name Subject/year group Number of students Teaching time per week
Teacher 1 English upper-Secondary 102 12 Teacher 2 English upper-Secondary 116 15 Teacher 3 English upper-Secondary 120 12 Teacher 4 English upper-Secondary/Speci al educator 26 14 5.1 Participants
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I purposely choose English teachers for participants in this study. To anonymize the teachers in this study they are referred to as teacher 1, 2, 3, 4. All four of the teachers chosen were teaching English at upper secondary school and were chosen particularly because this category is linked to my research question which states English at Upper Secondary school. Furthermore, one of the teachers is part of a special needs team. This is even more interesting as they will have a lot of experience working with dyslexic students and reading in particular.
Teacher1
The first English teacher to be interviewed has been teaching upper secondary for the past seven, she got her degree in 2012. She has five classes146 students, with roughly 26 students in each class. She has 3 lessons a week with each of her classes. So, that amounts to 15 lessons in total, all of which last 60 minutes.
Teacher 2
This teacher has been working as a secondary school teacher for the past ten years. He has taught ages 7-9 in English for 5 of those. He then subsequently moved to upper secondary where he spent the latter of his teaching career. Teacher 2 has 4 classes a week with 113 students.
Teacher 3
This teacher has worked as an English teacher for 6 years in Sweden, and then decided afterwards to study some extra courses to become a special needs teacher. He has worked at secondary school level. He works with a total of 26 students who require extra help.
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Teacher 4 has worked as an English teacher for 10 years and has additionally taught Swedish. However, now she is only English teacher. She teaches around 26 students who come into what they call the learning studio for additional help.
5.2 Semi structured interviews
Qualitative interviews often adopt a semi-structured approach as it allows room for further discussion and thought (Kvale, 2007, p.269). This allows the interviewer to take several themes in where the interview can cover many aspects. All of my research questions were based on the teacher’s perceptions and experiences of the software that is why this method is most fitting as opposed to quantitative surveys or observations. Another reason for the choice of a semi-structured in is due to the time constraint for this study. Firstly, the interviewee was asked a few comfort questions that enabled a comfortable atmosphere. Then, subsequently, the four particular themes can be intertwined in the interview with regard to TTS, such as pronunciation and motivation, working progressively through the research questions, and in between them some additional items to keep cover of everything. Occasionally, this type of interview can open be for new questions or answers. This is largely influenced by the follow up questions that ask why this is the case, in a quite an open format.
The questions were formed in a way that made them non-biased or even leading for that matter. The structure of the questions themselves are tailored in a way that they are open to interpretation as much as possible, and that they are not closed in any particular way. The questions were often put forward in an informal fashion in order to make the interviewee feel at ease (Bryman, 2008, p.132). However, it can be rather difficult to avoid these types of problems as the interviewee may already see a pattern in the questions and only answer because they want to provide positive answers that could steer their thought process. Finally, one must be prepared for discrepancies between oral and written communication and one must bear this in mind when transcribing as these are important with regard to validity and reliability (Kvale, 2007, p.78).
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5.3 Procedure
This study adopted a qualitative approach as the information where the perceptions of teachers regarding TTS will be recorded. On the other hand, a quantitative study would only give one leeway in statistical data which was not the case in this study. The main instrument used was a Dictaphone in order to collect the data. The interviews took place at a variety of schools within Lund’s municipality, and all of them took place at secondary school. I had a total of three English teachers, and one that used to work as an English, teacher but has since become part of the special needs care team. Two of these teachers worked at an English school. This reason was due to the fact that they would unmistakably be more exposed to English than in other mainstream schools. Furthermore, there was a chance that they possibly knew of or about other colleagues that had used the software, as most subjects are performed in English.
I then arranged to meet the two of the participants on one day and the other two the Tuesday. When with the participants I had a bit of small talk to make them feel comfortable, and therefore create an environment that felt normal. The procedure was more or less the same for all of the four participants, and they were interviewed five minutes. I followed the ethical guidelines by informing the interviewees what the information was to be use for, and that it would be destroyed after the completion of the study, and they would stay anonymized. There were instances when a couple of teachers became distracted from the interview and had to look at their phone. This could have perhaps injected a sense of urgency into the participants, and thus create stress.
I then started recording until all of the questions were answered, and at the end of the interview I stopped the recording. Then I reminded the participants about all of the regular procedures with regard to ethical guidelines, and of course thank them for their time. The results were transcribed which additionally took a total of 4 hours to complete. There were certain things that would be omitted as they were not relevant for the study. The results were
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then compared with the theoretical framework in the literature review, and with the previous findings.
5.4 Ethical considerations
This study was conducted in alignment with all of the ethical guidelines, and these were focused on carefully beforehand. Firstly, the people who were involved in the interview were firstly informed about how the information would be used, and even the purpose of the study (Bryman, 2004, p.131). They were aware of the fact that they could withdraw at any particular point, should they feel uncomfortable. Secondly, the participants were able to steer their own involvement before taking part (Bryman, 2004, p.132). Thirdly, confidentiality was key here as the information recorded on the dictaphone was to be destroyed after uploading it onto Malmö universities data website. The participants were also anonymized so that their names and personal information was not available to others than me. Finally, all of the data
collected, was, and foremost be used only for the purpose of this study, and strictly nothing else. This is in accordance with GDPR (General data protection regulation) that insures that by law all personal data may not be breached in any way, and infringing this may result in a penalty (Feiler, Forgó Nikolaus & Weigl, 2017).
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6 Results and discussion
This section compares all of the results from the semi-structured interviews, and provides an overview. In addition, the theory is coupled with the teacher’s perspectives to be able to initiate a discussion. The research questions are answered progressively in order to eventually answer the main question of this paper arrive at ; in what way does TTS facilitate the reading comprehension skills with students having difficulties in reading English. All of these
questions will be coupled with the relevant theory and previous research in order to anchor a suitable conclusion.
6.1 The teachers ‘beliefs in does TTS facilitate the reading comprehension
skills with students with difficulties in reading English?
All of the teachers in this study only gave positive feedback with regard to how this application can help individuals with learning difficulties. Teacher 1 claimed “that it is the teacher’s responsibility to provide the necessary materials to students that struggle” (Teacher 1, personal communication, 2019). She also added that the effectiveness TTS could actually sometimes depend on how clear the voice within the TTS system is and that it is not choppy. This is in agreement with the research conducted by Wang and Munro (2004) who found that the voice could affect understanding (p.550) Teacher 2 claimed that “it can be useful for students that have a good oral vocabulary, but are not particularly good at reading”; especially, in English because a lot of English words are not spelt like they sound. He also added “It allows them to understand words that they would understand in speech but would not in text form; So in other words allowing the students more energy to unraveling the meaning of the text instead” (Teacher 2, personal communication, 2019).Additionally, teacher three maintained that students would not become lost within texts as a result of using TTS in the classroom. Teacher 4 claimed the following:” I believe that the using TTS would reduce the students working memory that would enable them to do more, and then be able to understand the inner meaning of things” (Teacher 4, personal communication, 2019).
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All of the teachers were in agreement that TTS would be an aid struggling readers in English. The description of the. DRM model focuses on how reading comprises of two information channeling parts, the orthographic and the phonological respectively. Teacher 1 mentioned the importance of young students being able to decode the text whilst trying to process the semantic aspect of the text. Teacher 1 maintained that the usage of TTS would “free up the working memory of the student”. This is very much in alignment line the DRM model that states both components of the information channeling must be harmonic. Grimshaw et al (2009) confirmed that using TTS would ease this with their findings. When students have difficulties reading a lot of the semantic information may be lost along the way. Research conducted to test the reading comprehensions skills of students reported a significant increase in post- scores support this idea (Carretti, 2013, Montali & Lewandowsky, 1996, Raskind & Higgins, 2005,Doolan et al, 2005) .
All of the aforementioned researchers had students using TTS as a condition, and finally had traditional reading to determine whether the software was useful. Is still not always a given that this software may help struggling readers learning English. One of the teachers or seemed quite hesitant when asked whether TTS would be useful. It has been found that TTS do not always lead to an increase in comprehensibility, likewise scores (Grunér, Östberg &
Hedenius, 2017). However, TTS led to students comprehending faster. One particular thing that really stood out for me was when teacher 1 mentioned that: this software would be a good compliment to the classroom”. The former quote implies that TTS that the software should be a compliment, this to me is synonymous with a compensatory tool. So therefore the software is there for using, but it should not be seen as a cure to struggling readers. Moreover, a compensatory compliment to the classroom. The Swedish steering documents state the students are able to use strategies to further their oral skills and solve problems when interacting, if these are not sufficient enough (Skolverket, 2011,p.56). Therefore using TTS could be seen as strategy that can be used to develop language skills when these are deemed inadequate. Finally, as the knowledge requirement in English 5 puts a lot ofemphasis on understanding, understanding content is heavily intertwined with reading comprehension ability. Using TTS can also be seen as a form of scaffolding where the teachers facilitates understanding, and the TTS could be considered as “technical scaffolding” (Yelland & Masters, 2005).
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6.2
The teachers ‘beliefs in
does TTS aid pronunciation amongst students learning English?All of the teachers apart from teacher 4, provided positive views with regard to this question, and that TTS would generally help students. Teacher 2 claimed that “it allows students to, especially with the intent of the document, to see the words whilst being pronounced so they can quite often make connections that may not have made otherwise (Teacher 1, personal communication, 2019)”. Teacher 1 mentions that the audio was clear and accurate then this should be a help to struggling students. Teacher two mentioned that “I believe that it can only help them in a way that is complimentary to their needs” (Teacher 2, personal
communication, 2019) .This is of course all up to the discretion of the teacher. If the teacher believes that the student needs work on pronunciation. Then they should administer TTS at their own discretion. But mostly it should be an aiding tool” (Teacher 2, personal
communication, 2019).
Teacher 3 claimed that “Kids using TTS in the classroom will be able to practice the words whenever they want by highlighting the words that they are unsure of, this will break down some of the barriers” (Teacher 3, personal communication, 2019). Teacher 4 on the other hand seemed a bit unsure and said “probably”. Therefore when the results were analyzed this latter result did not align that well with the other interviewee data. An important aspect here is intelligibility “It is important that the synthetic voice does not sound odd because otherwise the kids will find it weird! (Teacher 4, personal communication, 2019). Therefore the last teacher empathized the importance of the TTS voice. This did not adhere to what the other teachers claimed.
Pronunciation is key to understanding the message and content of oral information, and if not clear can lead to misunderstanding easily. With regards to the aid the following: it allows students to see the words whilst being pronounced so they can quite often make connections that may not have made otherwise (Teacher 2 2019, personal communication). This is in alignment with the previous research, the subsequent usage of TTS amongst students has led to increases in pronunciation post-test scores in comparison to only reading the instructions
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(Klickaya, 2011, Kim et al, 2014. Liakin et al, 2017). Teacher 2 and 3 (2019) claimed that hearing the words read out would aid them in their pronunciation as this would beneficial. Likewise, teacher two claimed that hearing the words and seeing the word in written form can save the student a lot of working memory otherwise devoted to the semantic aspect that they could then focus on pronouncing the word instead. This is in alignment with that in the students must actively pay attention to specific features to master the pronunciation it also adheres the cognitive learning theory (Lundahl, 2015). The student’s involvement in TTS (the stimulus) can be seen as actively focusing on pronunciation, and as a consequence result in a response, or clear pronunciation.
The Swedish curriculum mentions that a student must be able to express themselves clearly with fluency and ease (Skolverket, 2011, p.56). This suggests that a student must be clear ; pronunciation goes hand in hand with being able to express oneself clearly. Teacher three (2019) mentioned, this should be used as a “beneficial extra” the teacher can use the software as an additional tool in the classroom.
6.3 The
teachers ‘beliefs in h
ow does the application work for the students learning English without disabilities?This question was highly relevant as this could in fact be twofold advantage to the classroom if the software already helps people with reading difficulties. All of the teachers when asked replied that TTS could help students without disabilities. Teacher 1 had the following to say about this question “I think so, I mean if the compensatory tool is available in the classroom then it should be at the teacher’s disposal if needed; even kids who have no challenges could also get a boost from knowing how the words sound phonetically (Teacher 1, personal communication, 2019). She also added that she can experienced difficulties pronouncing some words sometimes.
The second teacher claimed that “Almost definitely, yeah, low level readers are always
looking for help regardless of their disability” (Teacher 2, personal communication, 2019). So the aforementioned teachers portray the software as being an extra compensatory tool that is available if needed. Teacher three claimed “Yes, I would make sure that the students are fully
29
aware of this function when starting up a new unit. “Teacher four maintained the following Yes it could be. Especially in the late afternoon when tired. It could help them better with pronouncing words, as mentioned before. Because even kids without difficulties need extra help with pronouncing oddly spelt words” (Teacher 3, personal communication, 2019).
Teacher 1, 2 & 3 they all agreed that this could in fact be useful to children without reading difficulties. This is in accordance with Meihami & Husseini (2014), who claimed that students (without difficulties) scored higher scores on their intonation and stress tests, when using TTS as opposed to not doing so. Furthermore, teacher 2 reported that there will always be hard words to pronounce in the English language. Therefore, this could be an extra in the classroom. The act of pronouncing takes a lot of practice. It can therefore be argued that Brunner’s (1976) theory of scaffolding fits in here. As the students are actively hearing how the text is pronounced, whilst being guided through their learning.
Teacher 1 mentioned the intelligibility of the software has to be clear. She also added that “The choice of the voice could be of putting for the students if it is not standard, as they might find it funny or even embarrassing”. This point is of interest as it is in alignment with the findings where the students found the TTS voice unnatural and off putting, and therefore of no direct use (Bione, Grimshaw & Cardoso,2016, Wang & Munro, 2004).Furthermore, Larson (2015) claimed that students gain a new digital literacy through using such methods. The Swedish syllabus maintains that students should be provided with different texts such that involve reading and writing, and use different forms of aid to achieve this (Skolverket, 2011, p.56). This therefore hints that students should have access to the appropriate aid, when needed. This is in accordance to what teacher 1 maintained about having the software available if needed.
6.4
The teachers ‘beliefs in
how does TTS encourage students to learn English?The subsection derives from the general beliefs of all of the four teachers being interviewed. Teacher replied to the question “Yes, it would I think it would be engaging for them as it will not require as much energy” (Teacher 1, personal communication, 2019). Likewise teacher 2 replied “Generally, yes. Students who want to learn will take any excuse to. And will seek the
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necessary resources available to them”. Teacher three proclaimed “Because you can play more with the language; it opens so many doors for you for them to actually and see how it is in context” (Teacher 3, personal communication, 2019). They will see it in a full sentence. So I really like the tool as a compliment to the classroom”.
Teacher 4 said the following “yes, as success usually motivates anyone I think. So if a reward is in place then yes” (Teacher 4, personal communication, 2019). The reward in this case being academic success. All of the aforementioned answers give credit to TTS software.
Whether TTS encourages students to read was a rather mixed picture, but all of the answers were similar in some cases. Teacher one maintained that reading is the gateway to academic success and therefore should be the driving force, TTS could absolutely be a motivational factor here. In accordance with Shramn (1956) who claimed that the motivation to read is proportional to the effort required, TTS reduces the numerator in his equation. Alleviating the effort required to read, especially for those who find reading challenging. Teacher 2 claimed that TTS can open the door to new things and in context can provide the student with more meaning. Since context can often be challenging for some students: understanding this better will boost the confidence of the students. Similarly, students were rather anxious when they could not understand the reading, TTS alleviate a lot of these symptoms amongst the struggling students (Ciampa, 2012).Similarly, teachers have reported positive feedback regarding the software, as it can allow them to focus on other aspects of the classroom, and perhaps help the students with the content instead of the complex task of reading (Oktalia & Djajati 2018, Sha, 2009). This could encourage the students as they might not feel as
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7 Conclusion
This paper explores the teacher beliefs of using TTS in the classroom, and then compares empirical studies on the subject. To summarize all of the teachers claimed that TTS can be a good “compensatory aid” to struggling readers. One of teachers even claimed that listening to the words does not overload the working memory. Positive attitudes to TTS emerged amongst the participants, and also it is synonymous with the previous research conducted. This is also supported by empirical evidence that supports my findings. In regard to pronunciation it can be claimed that this method can help. Positive effects have been made with both the previous research and the feedback from the teachers. The prominent findings with regard to
pronunciation was that it would allow students to hear the word pronounced in context.
The twofold question to whether this application can be useful to students without dyslexia was explored. The teachers considered the software to be potentially useful even for those students, but raised concerns about the intelligibility of the voices in TTS. The general
outcome from the interviews was that TTS could be something that is available to the students when needed, and that both the students and the teachers should be made aware of this. It felt once again that it felt like TTS should be used to the discretion of the teacher. So to use it when needed and to be an extra that can be used. The final theme of whether TTS may encourage and motivate the students to read and work on their pronunciation skills. All of these four themes have provided me with a similar theme. In that it feels like TTS is more of a complement to the classroom as opposed to a solution. The implications for teachers in the classroom is that this TTS software can be used more in class, and its availability as a compensatory tool should be highlighted.
7.1 Limitations
As this study has been conducted it has become apparent that there have been some discrepancies between certain things. Foremost, one of the limitations of this study is that although rich, the data has been elicited only from four informants. This in its turn affects the reliability. One of the major limitations is that I was unable to conduct observations on the
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students. Additionally, one of my sub questions was whether this could aid students without disabilities. Therefore I was unable to have any experimental groups. Furthermore, the fact that perhaps some of the ideas where biased, as the participants could probably guess that I was looking at mostly at the advantages. As the benefits of TTS are more weighing than the disadvantages. This could have affected the validity somewhat.
7.2 Further research
In section 6.1, I have outlined several possible avenues for future research where there would be the possibility to use triangulation as a method, for example, completing data with
observations of practices and questionnaires to a larger group of informants; Secondly, to complement the teacher perspective on the use of TTS with a student perspective. Thirdly, to conduct an experimental study of TTS comprising of a test group and control group
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9. Appendix
LÄRANDE OCH SAMHÄLLE INSTITUTION DatumSamtycke till medverkan i studentprojekt
Jag heter Jonathon Stoker och utför mitt examsarbete på Malmö Universitet och går i min tionde termin. Jag har dessutom fått godkännande från mitt universitet att kunna utföra detta arbete.
Jag kommer att använda mig utav semi-strukturade intervjuar där jag kommer ifrågasätter visa saker gällande Text-to-speech mjukvara och hur det kan hjälper elever med lässvårigheter inom Engelska samt. Intervjuarna kommer sker i lärarnas konto och inte i närheten av elever.
Jag kommer inte att nämna något namn eller namn på skolan utan att det kommer enbart att handla om teacher 1 och så vidare. Mobil telefoner kommer inte används i detta ändamål utan en
På lärarutbildningen vid Malmö universitet skriver studenterna ett examensarbete på avancerad nivå. I detta arbete ingår att göra en egen vetenskaplig studie, utifrån en fråga som kommit att engagera studenterna under utbildningens gång. Till studien samlas ofta material in vid skolor, i form av t.ex. intervjuer och observationer. Examensarbetet motsvarar 15
högskolepoäng, och utförs under totalt 10 veckor. När examensarbetet blivit godkänt publiceras det i Malmö universitets databas MUEP
39
diktafon som är inte uppkopplad mot nätet. Inspelningen kommer att raderas så fort som den har registrerats. Vidare de som har deltagit har rätt att kunna återfår sin medverkan i studien och allt information som lagras under arbetet kommer
- Medverkan baseras på samtycke och detta samtycke kan när som helst återkallas. Alla som tillfrågas har alltså rätt att tacka nej till att delta, eller (om de först tackar ja) rätt att avbryta sin medverkan när som helst, utan några negativa konsekvenser.
- Deltagarna kommer att avidentifieras i det färdiga arbetet.
- Materialet kommer enbart att användas för aktuell studie och kommer att förstöras när denna är examinerad.
40 Interview Questions
Theme Questions Follow up Questions
Warm Up
Introductory questions to formalize the purpose
In what way does TTs facilitate the reading comprehension skills of with students having learning difficulties in reading English?
In what way does TTS aid pronunciation amongst students learning English?
How does the application work for students learning English without disabilities?
How are you?
What problems have you encountered with students reading?
What have you ever heard of text to speech(TTS)?
Can TTS help or hinder the students with disabilities?
Could this be an application to aid pronunciation?
In what way could this be applicable to students without disorders?
How long have you worked as an English
teacher? Degree? How many classes? Number of
students?
Which ones in that case?
Which ones? Why is that do you think?
Why is this?
41 How does TTS
encourage students to read more English?
How could this encourage the students?
