How can you take effective use of ELSA AI?

 

The prize for Teaching Pronunciation 

Excellence goes too... ELSA AI👏👏👏

The world has gone digitally advanced now. I am very impressed to see how technology is granting opportunities to us to study languages easily, effectively, with less stress, in shorter time compared to the past. 

There are a wide variety of apps anyone can choose today that serves this purpose. I compare this case to the scene in "Rock Dog" animation movie when the musician dog chooses a guitar in a huge collection of more than thousands of guitars according to his taste. Or in the Aladdin movie, the Genie makes the wishes possible in a blink of an eye like the apps for language learning are facilitating these days. Learning English is becoming easier and more accessible thanks to the development of technology. Learners choose the apps according to their needs and preferences. 

One of these apps is ELSA AI. It is a very helpful tool to learn and develop pronunciation. As an EFL teacher, I would recommend it to other colleagues and students to enhance their pronunciation. Especially, it is useful to A1 and A2 levels. Also, ELSA AI can motivate the students to engage in learning (Kholis, 2021).

One should download the ELSA AI app to start to practise and improve pronunciation. There are 3 versions of the app: ELSA Free, ELSA Pro and ELSA Premium. 

ELSA AI offers conversational practise and role playing scenarios. Proficiency comes with practise in learning languages. Obviously, it takes some time. Learners may feel confident while talking to this app without the fear of being judged or making mistakes. There is no human factor as it is an AI app. This app provides thorough feedback for your pronunciation and feedback is objective. I prefer this app for this reason. Also, a research by Dennis (2024) on AI-powered speech recognition technology for enhancing pronunciation and speaking abilities found out that considering the dynamic relationship between language acquisition theories, the use of technology and learner factors are important to create effective language learning environments.

There are some limitations of ELSA AI app. Advanced levels might find the app too basic, as it is mostly tailored to beginners and elementary levels focusing on accent and clarity. Also, it may provide incorrect or very strict feedback, especially with varied accents or intonation which may hinder its objectivity.

Companies can use this app as well, for example, to boost pronunciation skills of their employees. 

Here is the example for pronouncing the word "confidence". Learners should write the word on the app, then may tap to listen and say it. I would recommend to use this app along with other apps to promote language skills, because one drawback of ELSA AI app could be it is only focused to develop pronunciation. 

Here is the link for a YouTube video about ELSA AI.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFuhtAi5tJk

References

Dennis, N. K. (2024). Using AI-Powered Speech Recognition Technology to Improve English Pronunciation and Speaking Skills. IAFOR Journal of Education, 12(2), 107-126.

Kholis, A. (2021). Elsa speak app: automatic speech recognition (ASR) for supplementing English pronunciation skills. Pedagogy: Journal of English Language Teaching, 9(1), 01-14.