Pronunciation verification application for android smartphone

• Main Author: Zin, May Thant.
• Other Authors: Soon Ing Yann
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/52688
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This project aims to create an Android application that will be an effective English teaching tool, with focus on improving users’ pronunciations. The Java programming language and extensible markup language are used for this project. Eclipse Integrated Development Environment together with Android Development Tools plug-in are utilised in the development of the Android application. For this project, the devices on which the application is tested on are an Android emulator, a Sony Ericsson Xperia X8 smartphone, a Samsung Galaxy SIII GT-I9305 smartphone and an ASUS Eee Pad Transformer TF101. Users will be able to enter words and hear synthesis of the words using the Text-to-Speech engines available in the devices. The application can also verify users’ pronunciations of these words by using Google’s speech recogniser and comparing the results against the entered text. If users wish to get the definitions of the entered words, the application brings them to the results page of the website dictionary.com. Another feature teaches the users phonetic symbols used in the English language so that they can learn the basics of pronouncing the English language. Using this feature, users can also try to decipher the phonetic transcriptions available in dictionaries to learn the pronunciations of words. To help new learners of English, lists of words and phrases belonging to various categories are made available for the user to peruse through in case they require some help in choosing words to earn. Users can also get the definitions of these words by pressing and holding the text buttons. In this project, user experience and user feedback are put as a priorities because users are the target audience for this application. Without them, the product would not have a demand which is an important factor in deciding its success.