THE USE OF DICTIONARY SPEECH ASSISTANT IN ELSA SPEAK APPLICATION TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ PRONUNCIATION ABILITY AT SECOND GRADE OF SMP NEGERI 6 SEMARANG

Susanto, Agnesia Stefanny. 2023. “The Use of Dictionary Speech
Assistant in ELSA Speak Application to Improve Students’
Pronunciation Ability at Second Grade of SMP Negeri 6
Semarang.” Final Project, English Education Study Program,
Faculty of Language and Arts Education, Universitas PGRI
Semarang. Advisor I: Dr. Sukma Nur Ardini, S.S., M.Pd.,
Advisor II: Dr. Rahmawati Sukmaningrum, S.Pd., M.Pd.
Keywords: ELSA Speak; Pronunciation: EFL Learner; Mobile-Assisted
Language Learning.
Non-native students often experience difficulty to learn pronunciation
which then affects their speaking ability. On the other hand, proper
communication requires proper pronunciation as well. However, today’s
technological advancement provides an alternative to aid pronunciation
mastery, one of which is in the context of mobile-assisted language
learning. This research investigated the effectiveness of Dictionary
Speech Assistant in ELSA Speak Application to Improve Second Grade
Students of SMP Negeri 6 Semarang Pronunciation Ability. The
objective of this research was to find out the result of students’
pronunciation ability before and after applying Dictionary Speech
Assistant; as well as to find out whether there was any significant
difference of students’ achievement in their pronunciation mastery before
and after taught using this mobile application. Dictionary Speech
Assistant is one of the features or tools in ELSA Speak Application. It is
a pronunciation dictionary that facilitated by Automatic Speech
Recognition which provides direct feedback. This research employs pre-
experimental design involving 34 students as the research sample. The
data was gained from pre-test and post-test. The instrument of this
research were tests consisting of single-word and phrase test.
Subsequently, the data was analyzed by using t-test formula in Microsoft
SPSS software to find out the significant difference on students’
pronunciation ability before and after applying Dictionary Speech
Assistant. The result showed that Dictionary Speech Assistant effectively
improves the students’ pronunciation ability. The main factor affecting
this improvement was the students’ interest in teaching learning process
involving Dictionary Speech Assistant. The researchers concluded that
Dictionary Speech Assistant is beneficial for students in learning
pronunciation.