French language students at Trent have a big advantage over their counterparts at other Canadian universities thanks to work being done by Professor Aline Germain-Rutherford, Chair of Trent's French Studies.

Using a computer-based program that visualizes and synthesizes speech, Germain-Rutherford has designed teaching and learning applications that enable her students to achieve an oral mastery of French beyond what has been previously possible.

"There has been a lot of research in speech technology, but most oral production software has had a limited learning application, said Germain-Rutherford. "It can, for example, tell you that what you say is correct or incorrect, but not why. I knew of work being done by Philippe Martin at the University of Toronto that enables speech to be synthesized and visualized on screen in real-time. As a language teacher, I saw the potential to develop this for use in the classroom."

Together with Martin she created WinPitchLTL, a Windows-based language teaching and learning software. It allows students to literally see their speech on screen, as well as hear their pronunciation. After four years of research and testing, Germain-Rutherford is now trying in-class situations.

When students record their speech directly onto a computer with WinPitchLTL, a graphic interpretation of the sound waves made by their speech appears on screen. The software allows each element of speech to be segmented, compared and corrected.

"I can edit the signal, highlight the incorrect intonation, and then trace the correct intonation pattern using the student's own voice so that she becomes the model. She can listen to her own voice using the correct intonation, as well as see the difference on the screen. As a teacher, it allows me to give students very precise feedback."

It has enormous potential for all second-language teaching and learning even in a distance education context. Students can e-mail their assignments to Germain-Rutherford who in turn uses a dialogue box to explain corrections for each element of speech. Precise feedback can take place no matter where the student or teacher is located.

The use of technology as a learning tool in the humanities has not been widely used and other universities are starting to take an interest in Germain-Rutherfordıs work. She spoke last month at the University of Waterloo and will lead a workshop there in December. The University of Ottawa has purchased a WinPitchLTL licence, and the Chairs of other university French departments have asked to hear more about the program. There is also potential to use the software for other second-language teaching within Trent.

For now, Trent students of French have a distinct advantage. "Many are going on to Education programs. Not only do they benefit in their learning, but they can also see other ways to teach. They have the potential for using technology in their own classrooms in the future and developing other ways of teaching language."

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