Improving Speaking Fluency of Students sing Computer programs,

Audio Books and Auditory Dictionaries

Abstract: English language is the most worldly spoken language that is increasing every
day and students tend toward it to learn . Among English students who study grammar,
speaking, working on their reading comprehension, writing and other skills; still we see many
problems in their study which is the fluency in their speech. For a second language learner,
no one is perfect and like natives speaker but what we try to work on in this paper is to
research about the importance and ways of using auditory dictionaries and audio books,
their benefits as the new tools of learning English language , and their effects on improving
the fluency in speaking English. Two English classes studying for intermediate level in Setak
institute (mehrdad street) that each class has 15 students analyzed for this research. One
class for control groupd and one for experimental group. The control group only studied their
own way and experimental group worked with audio books and dictionaries for one term. At
the end by post test that was oral exam it show that they can speak more fluently than the
other group.

Keywords: fluent speech, language skills, audio books , auditory dictionary

Introduction
These days more and more English speaking classes develope for learners that is difficult
for them to manage their time at home, school or work. Some methods have many benefits
and features such as flexible course hours and software programs to help improve the
learners ability in increasing the speech in a shorter time duration. It becomes as an
immediate attraction to many. Also the programs are simply more appropriately workable
and have better quality standards in improving the spoken English of a learner.
The participation towards programs comes fast with interest and gets more plus points than
the other unpredictable work patterns of the managing classes who catch money while
giving out very little. Such programs like dictionaries that include audio spellings and speech
recognitions try their best in improving the English speaking skills of the learner. Wide range
of photographs and drawings attract the learner to speaking English with interest and special
desire. These programs also come with a variety of interactive programs such as problem
solving, group discussions, short telephon conversations, interviews, public announcements
and a lot more. The student not only improves his English but also develops the confidence
in speaking it with others in public. Learning English speaking was never so easy before
when a learner had to run from pillar to post for the right kind of course material. Today
learning English is a burning desire to not only aspiring youngsters but people of all ages for
whom English is apart from being an official language is learnt for personal fulfillment.
The attractive and fun based learning programs give a speed to learning English speaking
more effectively and productively than ever. Phonetics have become an inevitable topic to
assimilate by all the English language learners who not only look for refining their written
English but want to prove their worth by speaking fluent English as well. To sharpen your
pre-listening, lecture orientation skills while hearing or explaining to your seers and peers
when you have to create that lasting impression with your powerful speech in English, find
the most comprehensive package of learning that now arrives in the form of auditory
dictionaries and audio books. As learning comes compacted in these gadgets, the number of
drawbacks that one faces while learning are declining to a great extent. These materials
come well equipped with miscellaneous activity based programs and practice lessons for
learners to sharpen and polish their English language. As the audio books are wonderfully
equipped with aural development methods auditory dictionaries too come enhanced with
features such as native-like pronunciation and voice recognition, process writing activity
books, specially designed communication activities such as group discussions, public
announcements, interviews or telephonic conversations. Altered auditory feedback (AAF)
such as singing, choral speaking, masking, delayed or frequency altered feedback have long

been known to reduce stuttering. Early altered auditory feedback devices were large and
thus confined to the laboratory or therapy room, but advances in electronics have permitted
increasingly portable devices such as derazne correctophone, the edinburgh masker, the
vocaltech clinical vocal feedback device, the fluency master and the speech easy. Current
devices may be similar in size and appearance to a hearing aid, including in-the-ear and
completely-in-the-canal models.
Statement of the problem
Among students of English working hard on their language skills we see a common problem
which is not being able to easily say what goes to their mind and want to express. This could
result from shortages prepared in class environments and not sufficient materials to improve
speaking skills and making it fluent.
Purpose of study
Digital dictionary programs composed with human voice in different stages with various
functions and audio books are course materials, which facilitate students to study without
other peoples help in correct pronunciation. The aim of this study is to inspect their functions
and effects in making speaking more fluent.
Audio-books make students learn on their own in effective, productive and equal learning
environments. Creating audio books is not only practical but also easily accessible and
inexpensive as well as duplicable indifferent environments such as cassette, CD ROM, the
Internet. This is another goal for us to help and also all students benefit from this. Besides,
universities contribute educational opportunities for people, thus this project will have a good
impression in constructing a public opinion about students in Iranian universities.
Significance of study
Auditory dictionaries and audio books are instruction materials that students can use in
every situation and every time without being tied to any place or without other peoples help.
Audio books produced for students can create an environment to provide, enrich, inform,
guide and teach subjects completely by creating an environment to learn and also develop
independent learning skill to solve problems and answer question as well as discuss on
different course related topics. The benefits of audio books in distance education provide an
easy, access, low cost and quick change of the content when it is necessary. Since audiobooks are educational tools to support learning, programs must be established with simple
vocabulary, supported with music and sound effects and the length of program must last 1520 minutes. Additionally; students need to listen to audio cassettes, etc. and like the idea of
being heard on audio book.

Research Question
:The study has investigated the following research question
To what extent computer programs, audio books and auditory dictionaries improve speaking
fluency?
Literature Review
In 1931, Congress established the talking-book program, which was intended to help adults
who could read print. This program was called "Books for the Adult Project." The American
Foundation for the developed the first talking books in 1932. One year later the first
reproduction machine began the process of mass publishing.
In 1933 anthropologist J.P. Harrington drove the length of North America to record oral
histories of Native American tribes on aluminum discs using a car battery-powered turntable.
Audio books preserve the oral tradition of storytelling that J.P. Harrington pursued many
years ago. By 1935, after Congress approved free mailings of audio books to citizens, the
Books for the Adult Project were in full operation.
In 1992 the National Library Service for the and physically Challenged (NLS) network
circulated millions of recorded books to more than 700,000 physically challenged listeners.
All NLS recordings were created by professionals. Though spoken recordings were popular
in 33-1/3 vinyl record format for schools and libraries into the early 1970s, the beginning of
the trade acceptance of this medium can be traced to the introduction of the audio cassette
and, most importantly, to the prevalence of these cassette players as standard equipment
(rather than as options which older drivers did not choose) in imported (Japanese)
automobiles, which became very popular during the 1979 energy crisis. Thereafter,
consumers and authors slowly accepted the medium. Into the early 1980s there were still
many authors who refused to have their books created as audio books, so a good many of
the audio books were original productions not based upon printed books.
With the development of portable cassette recorders, audiotapes had become very popular
and by the late 1960s libraries became a source of free audio books, primarily on vinyl
records but also on cassettes. Instructional and educational recordings came first, followed
by self-help tapes and then by literature. In 1975, Olympic gold medalist, Duvall Hecht
founded Books on Tape, Inc. as a direct to consumer mail order rental service for unabridged
audio books and expanded their services selling their products to libraries and audio books
gaining popularity with commuters and travelers. By the middle of 1980s the audio
publishing business grew to several billion dollars a year in retail value. Caedmon was the
first to work with integrated production teams and professional actors, while Nightingale
Conant featured business and self-help authors reading their own works first on vinyl records
and then on cassettes.
The Audio Publishers Association was established in 1986 by six competitive companies
who joined together to promote the consumer awareness of spoken word audio. In 1996 the
Audio Publishers Association established the Audie Awards for audio books, which is
equivalent to the Oscar for the talking books industry. The nominees are announced each

year in January. The winners are announced at a gala banquet in the spring, usually in
conjunction with Book Expo America. While most music fans rapidly accepted CDs, audio
book listeners were slower. One reason may have been that a cassette tape by nature
retains its position when the player is turned off, but many early CD players did not retain the
playing position of CDs when turned off. Also, it was not until cassette players were replaced
by CD players in most automobiles that this format eventually took hold.
With the advent of the Internet, broadband technologies, new compressed audio formats
and portable media players, the popularity of audio books has increased significantly. This
growth was reflected with the advent of audio book download subscription services. In this
sight, L2 teachers have often claimed that fluency is a difficult concept to define.
According to Derwing et al. (2004), the difficulty in achieving a definition lies in the fact that
fluency encompasses many aspects of language. Realizing the difficulties involved in
arriving at a precise definition of fluency, Brown (2003, p. 1) gives a sample of some of the
well-known ones. Hartmann & Stork (1976) suggest that a person is said to be a fluent
speaker of a language when he can use its structures accurately whilst concentrating on
content rather than form, using the units and patterns automatically at normal conversational
speed when they are needed. Brumfit (1984) feels that fluency is to be regarded as natural
language use.
Methodology
In this research we used different methods and tools to examine the effect of audio
techniques for improving the students fluency of their speaking. Each method is explained in
the paper and the text that took from students are explaned. First the students in the institute
(setaak institute) had a pre test that it was in this way: we had an oral exam and see how
much they can speak fluently with no mistake and error in pronounciation for two groups.
Then the experimental group we gave them some special programs that have audio files and
dictionary about the books that they study with other things like movies and musics that was
about different subjects. They should listen and work with them after they go home every
day and then report it to the class with their classmates. Every one talk about what they had
in their cd or flash and if some one said some thing by mistake or wrong, other class mates
correct them. This job continued for one term that is 18 session and after that there was a
same post test for two groups. The post test was an oral exam about their favorite job and it
was not in the audio files that we gave to experimental groupd and was new for all of them to
see its real effect. Therefore the experimental group worked with the audio files and
dictionary every day about 30 minutes and the files were the same for all of them. They
should listen to news, the conversations between people on the telephone, parts of movies
and other materials with different subjects and try to immitate their tone of speech. One
program, rosetta stone has a system that can understand human speech and test the
acuracy of speech. If it is not good enough it asks the student to repeat again until they
pronounce the word or sentence correct. Other program is babylon dictionary that has
prononciation with good data for alot of words and they can use it for finding meanings and
know the pronounciation with voice and phonetic.
Other things that used in this research for experimental group explain below:

Dialogues

Different dialogues in radio, in the students book in conversation part and dialogs of people
that speek with phone and voice is not very good.
Story

Some english stories have audio that makes the reading easier because you should not
read word by word you only look and the sentences and the audio reads the text for you and
you easily follow the text and it can have many benefits that you can read a novel or story in
a short time, learn the correct pronounciation of words and the intonation other things.
Recorded Programs

Some parts of BBC channel and other channels of TV that have good materials and useful
for students gave to them for practice. Some of them have subtitle to not have mistake in
listening and see the true words and some dont have because they are easy for them.

Special process for the control group:

The students should follow special techniques for having the best effect and we go to the
conclusion that we expect so it should do very exactly and the steps explain below:

1. Practice with narrow listening

Narrow listening means listening to many things about the same topic. This method is more
powerful than trying to listen to many different kinds of things. Students who listen to similar
things learn faster and speak better than students who listen to different kinds of things. For
example, you can choose one speaker and find many things by him. Listen to all of his
podcasts, audio books, and speeches. This is powerful because all speakers have favorite
vocabulary and grammar. They naturally repeat these many times. By listening to many
things by the same person, you automatically get a lot of vocabulary repetition. You learn
faster and deeper! Another example is to choose one topic to focus on. For example, you
could read an easy book, listen to the same audio book, listen to a podcast about the book,
and watch the movie. A.J. did this with his class in San Francisco. The class read Charlie
and the Chocolate Factory. Then we listened to the audio book. Then we watched (and
listened to) the movie. Then we listened to interviews with actors in the movie. His students
learned a lot of vocabulary in a short time, and their speaking improved very quickly.
2. Divide the listening time
Which is better: to listen for two hours without a break, or to divide that time during the day?
Well, dividing the listening time is best. By dividing the time throughout the day, we
remember more and learn faster. So its much better to listen 30 minutes in the morning,

then 30 minutes in the car or train, then 30 minutes coming home from work, then 30
minutes before sleep. In fact, this is the exact schedule recommend to students.
3. Use MP3 Player
Students can learn English while walking, shopping, in the car, in a train, while cooking.
With MP3 player, they dont have to worry about CDs. Also, they can find a lot of English
listening on the internet or can find lessons, stories, TV shows, interviews, and audio
books. We gave them mp3 files and ask them to use it with their mobile phone or mp3
player.
4. Read and Listen at the Same Time
Listening and Reading together are very powerful. While they listen to something, also read
it. This will improve their pronunciation.
Reading while listening also helps them understand more difficult material. Read and listen
to learn faster. After they do this a few times, they should put away the text and just listen.
So they will understand a lot more and will improve faster
Data Analysis
As we said before, we have two groups of students each class has students. One group was
the control group and continued their education with the normal method of institute and the
other group continue with the extra tools that we gave them. After that the term finished and
we took the final exam with the post test, the oral exam analyzed and by using the statistics
we found the differences and the measure of effects on them. The results that was from

the pretest show that the mean average of the students grades on the pretest were
the same as each other because they were all in one class with the same level of
intermediate and the pretest also show this that there was no statistical big
difference in their score. The average is shown in the table below (the average is out
of 20):
groups:

control group (15 students)

experimental group (15 students)

mean:

16.73

16.84

Then after that the treatment start for the experimental group and they followed the
instructions that was explained before (in methodology part). According to the results
that was taken from the post test the table below shows the effects of this techniqu:
groups:

control group

experimental group

mean:

16.80

17.66

standard deviation:

1.64

1.35

Besides the results that show in the tables and it clearly says that this research had
effected the students also it was interesting that students liked this way of teaching a
lot and asked the teacher to continue for other terms and also students from the
control group asked the experimental group about the process that we did and
wanted to do the same thing for them. If this task really effects the student more than
what I did for this research, it can be very useful for the institute and we perhaps use
it for teaching in other institutes too.
Discussion and Result
The purpose of speaking instructions is to enable students speak fluently. In this resear ch,
additional activities use with technology such as auditory dictionaries, audio books, DVDs,
and computer programs. Samuel says 'repeated trainings have been shown to increase
fluency' so if this process continue for a long time and more students it can show the effects
better than this short research . When a student has enough time to listen again to a read
passage, he becomes more familiar with the words and is able to understand where to place
proper stress and pause and notes of expression.
This technique improves word recognition and offers a model of fluency not only in improving
reading comprehension but a fluent speech that students can achieve by imitation.
Recorded television programs, video shows, serials, and DVDs can be used in a similar
mode. With programs students could to see the words on a screen and hear the actors read
the words in a normal, fluent and conversational tone. After watching a program for many
times, teachers may again play the program without sound and ask from students to read
the sentences. Fluency is a big goal for speaking of students. When students become more
fluent, they can focus their attention on other things and they are better able to discuss their
opinions with classmates and teachers. Fluent speakers have self confidence in their ability
and ara eager to find new materials.
In this matter, audio books and extra programs for students are very important for all of them
to study for themselves every where and any time they want with easy and ways.
Reference
Promoting fluency in EFL classrooms. Brown, J. 2003. Proceedings. Retrieved November 7, 2004.
Second Language Fluency:Judgments On Different Tasks Derwing, Rossiter, Munro. & Thomson.
2004
Radio Programming. Istanbul, Der Publishing. Erdamar, Bengul 1992.
Radio As a Medium Supports Learning at Distance Learning and Open EducationFaculty Applications,
Aydin Ziya 1999.
500 Tips for Open and Flexible Learning, London, Kogan Page. Race, Phil 1998
Teaching with Audio in Open and Distance Education, London, Kogan Page. Rowntree, Derek 1994
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