This is a report of action research that was carried out with first-year students in spring 2006.
Using Audacity, students did the following: (1) listening to a model, (2) recording their voices immediately after the model, (3) listening both to the model and their own voices, and (4)self-evaluating their own work in comparison to the model with a score and comments before sending the file to their instructor on-line.
The instructor listens to the recordings and give her own scores with comments, on-line.
The research goal was to find out if the regular use of Audacity, with students' self-evaluation and instructor feedback over a semester produces significant evidence that (1) students will have an increasing awareness of correct pronunciation and intonation, and (2) will improve their pronunciation and intonation as a result.
The following points were examined.
Will the scores by students and those by the instructor be (1) generally higher as time passes and (2) become closer?
Can the instructor find anecdotal evidence showing (3) students' better awareness of correct pronunciation and intonation and (4) improvement in students' pronunciation and intonation?
As additional evaluation data, the Oral Proficiency Interviews were given, once in the first week of the semester and again in the last week, as well as an anonymous questionnaire.
The result shows that (1) both the scores by the students and the instructor generally became higher, but not significantly, and (2) there was a significant decrease in difference between the scores by the students and those by the instructor over time. As for searching for anecdotal evidence, the report turns to three case studies which seem to indicate that generally student awareness has risen, but actual improvement was not necessarily made, except in one case.
The exercise brought pronunciation into classroom discourse and thereby raised both students' and the instructor's awareness.