Moving into the "syllables" section a Japanese participant who was excited with her progress said, "Since my high school years I've had problems with this sort of thing." She practiced pronouncing "raise" as "rai-su" thus counting two syllables rather than one. Similarly, a Spanish student practicing "silicon" said "es-il-i-con" thereby counting four syllables rather than three. "This is difficult and good for me." At several concluding points, the program said "Double check your answers by looking up your words in a dictionary." To this instruction, a participant responded, "I've never seen another language learning software that tells me to look into a dictionary before. Why can't the software have the dictionary function?"

In the "Stress in Words" section a participant thought a video clip was funny; "They are trying to explain what stress is like with a video clip of a woman in a red dress among formal black tuxedo men." She enjoyed the visual imagery of stress and later said, "The quiz was fun!"

In the "Intonation" section, a participant read "Do you want chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry?" and responded, "I didn't know the last word is the longest pitch." The investigator felt most exercises were authentic and relevant to the students' lives. The participants liked the instant feedback during exercises with syllables, stress, intonation, and rhythm but at points in the program had difficulty when they were asked to self-assess. "How I say it, the speaking part, they don't give feedback. I'm just supposed to hear it myself." On a positive note, participants liked the audio and video clips.

n ALR's software surveys are based on a Likert-type rating scale, composed of 25 Likert-type items, on a five-point continuum. Students were asked to rate each statement with a response as follows: 1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = undecided, 4 = agree, and 5 = strongly agree. All students completed the survey after spending 90 minutes on the program. Tables show the survey statements and their corresponding sample mean responses.

Pronunciation in American English

# Survey Statement Mean
1 Directions and instructions are clear 4.2
2 Text suits your reading ability 3.8
3 Type and place of requested response is clear 4.2
4 Feedback after response is fast and helpful 3.0
5 Evaluation of your performance is given 2.6
6 Software is easy to operate (user friendly) 3.8
7 Options, menus, and choices easily found 3.8
8 You can review instructions and prior screens 5.0
9 Instruction can be skipped when appropriate 3.8
10 You can enter program at different points 4.2
11 There is a feature to start again where you end 3.0
12 Moving within program is easy 3.8
13 Easy exit is available at all times 3.8
14 Goals and objectives are clear 4.0
15 Presentation of each topic is logical 4.6
16 Lessons build on knowledge from last lesson 3.4
17 There are choices for different student levels 3.0
18 Subjects explained with appropriate details 4.6
19 Demonstrations are available and clear 3.4
20 Program re-teaches subjects after errors 3.0
21 Visual descriptions explain major concepts 3.4
22 Graphics and audio motivate you 3.4
23 You can easily find audio and visual aids 4.0
24 Graphics/audio don't distract from content 3.4
25 Program is interesting 3.4