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Teachers and researchers have had high hopes for computer-assisted pronunciation teaching, or CAPT, for several decades (Molholt, 1988). Yet it remains in its infancy in many ways. Chun (2007), for example, did not classify pronunciation among the topics published in two prominent computer-assisted language learning (CALL) journals from 2001 to 2006, except perhaps as a subset of other topics such as speaking, listening, or computer-mediated communication (CMC). This is odd, because the use of computers is almost ideally suited to learning pronunciation skills. Computers can provide individualized instruction, frequent practice through listening discrimination and focused repetition exercises, and automatic visual support that demonstrates to learners how closely their own pronunciation approximates model utterances. In a foreign language teaching environment in which few teachers receive adequate training in teaching pronunciation (Breitkreutz, Derwing, & Rossiter, 2002; Burgess & Spencer, 2000; Kawai & Hirose, 2000; MacDonald, 2002; Murphy, 1997), and in which little class time appears to be available for focused work on pronunciation because of emphasis given to other skills, CAPT seems tailor-made to meet a critical need. Despite this great promise, effective commercial CAPT applications are less innovative either in pedagogy or use of computer technology than one might expect.
A variety of experimental software applications and studies into how various features of pronunciation might best be taught have demonstrated the flexibility and value of CAPT. A wide variety of pronunciation-related features have been examined, including general pronunciation quality (Seferoglu, 2005); speech rate, fluency, and liveliness (Hincks, 2005); vowels and consonants (Lambacher, 1999; Neri, Cucchiarini, & Strik, 2006a; Wang & Munro, 2004); vowel lengthening and pitch accents (Hirata, 2004; Kawai & Hirose, 2000); intonation (Cauldwell, 2002; Chun, 1998; Hardison, 2004a; Kaltenboeck, 2002; Levis & Pickering, 2004); and English stress timing (Coniam, 2002). CAPT seems to also work for children, if designed with that audience in mind (Mich, Neri, & Giuliani, 2006). The great majority of these studies demonstrate that CAPT, when constructed wisely, can be both effective and flexible in addressing pronunciation instruction.
Yet difficulties remain, and CAPT rarely makes its way into books that present state-of-the-art views of CALL. Some of the difficulties that CAPT has faced are pedagogical, some are technological, and some are related to teacher preparedness....