New code helps teach English

A new program designed to help people learn to speak English quickly and easily is being used in Malaysia, Japan, South America, Korea, Saudi Arabia and throughout Australia.

Developed by a team of researchers including Head of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering Professor David Ross from the University of Southern Queensland (USQ), the project codes vowels and consonants to allow people to learn the different sounds in the English language.

Professor Ross has been involved in the project for six years providing instructional design and developing the educational technologies the program contains.

'I helped create the e-learning tools such as the dictionary, speaking tool and the sound-coder tool,' Professor Ross said.

The program uses a phonetic system ‘paech phonetics’ to assist people of non-English speaking backgrounds learn the sounds of the language to speak it fluently.

'It is a program that was developed to create a new way of learning English.'

'It uses a new sound code that uses colour and coded symbols for vowels and consonants,' he said.

'People learn how to say the sounds a word may have.'

The program is designed for individual users who want to learn to speak English or improve their fluency.

'One goal is to have it delivered to universities around the country. There are a lot of non-English speaking academics at universities who could use it to improve their language skills.'

Professor Ross recently returned from conferences in Georgia in the United States of America and Berlin, Germany where he presented information on the research behind the product and demonstrated it to delegates.

'The first conference I went to was the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) conference which is a research conference,' Professor Ross said.

'I was invited to talk on the research components of coded part of the project and the research and development of the code and its effectiveness for speaking.

'At the conference in Germany I was asked to give a paper on the program itself, what the program is, give demonstrations and explanations on how it works.'

In the near future the product will undergo further development to achieve the goal of becoming the world’s most advanced, interactive and systematic spoken English learning curriculum.

'We’re continually developing the program; we’re looking to include some edutainment activities: an English speaking game and a karaoke tool.'

Professor Ross said the entertainment features of the product were essential for younger users of the product.

'Edutainment creates more motivation for learning,' he said.

'If you look at the current student profile in higher education most are Generation Y who have grown up with technologies.

'They have the internet, educational technologies, PDA’s and most of all the new technologies involve entertainment and activity.

'There is a focus to have education to meet the needs of the new generation coming into the universities; they like to have things that are fun and enjoyable.'

Media Contact: Jane Urquhart USQ Media +61 7 4631 2559