Oral proficiency training in Dutch L2: The contribution of ASR-based corrective feedback

In this paper we introduce a system for providing automatically generated corrective feedback on pronunciation errors in Dutch, Dutch-CAPT. We describe the architecture of the system paying particular attention to the rationale behind it, to the performance of the error detection algorithm and its relationship to the effectiveness of the corrective feedback provided. It appears that although the system does not achieve 100% accuracy in error detection, learners enjoy using it and the feedback provided is still effective in improving pronunciation errors after only a few hours of use over a period of one month. We discuss which factors may have led to these positive results and argue that it is worthwhile studying how ASR technology could be applied to the training of other speaking skills.