An Effectiveness Study On The Application Of Praat Software For Speech Visualization In Junior High School English Phonetics Teaching

With the accelerating construction of a globalized and informatized society,the status of English as a widely used language is constantly improving worldwide.Phonetics is the foundation of English learning.By studying phonetics,one can understand basic pronunciation rules and characteristics,laying a solid foundation for English learning.In the "Compulsory Education English Curriculum Standards(2022 Edition)" issued by the Ministry of Education in 2022,not only are additional content related to English phonetics included,but also it is proposed to pay attention to the reform of English teaching and learning methods under the background of educational informatization.However,the English teaching in China’s basic education stage is affected by exam-oriented education,with a general emphasis on English reading and writing,while phonetics teaching has long been neglected.Although the continuous development of the Internet and information technology has introduced many new teaching methods for basic English education,these methods are rarely used in English phonetics teaching.In response to the long-term lack of innovation in junior high school English phonetics teaching methods and the lack of interest in English phonetics learning among students in China,this study attempts to apply Praat,a speech visualization software,to junior high school English phonetics teaching.Through a 16-week teaching experiment,the effectiveness of its application in junior high school English phonetics teaching is explored.The study was conducted in a junior high school in Harbin,with a total of 98 students from two grade 9 classes selected as the research subjects.The main research questions include: first,what is the current status of speech visualization teaching in junior high school English? Second,how can Praat software be applied to junior high school English phonetics teaching? Third,can Praat software be effectively applied to junior high school English phonetics teaching? The first research question will be investigated through questionnaires and interviews.For the second question,this study,based on the output hypothesis,multimodal discourse analysis theory,and constructivist theory,and combining the current situation of Praat software application in English phonetics teaching at home and abroad,designs a study on the effectiveness of Praat software application in junior high school English phonetics teaching.For the third question,a mixed-method research approach that combines quantitative and qualitative research is adopted.First,SPSS 24.0 data analysis software is used to conduct horizontal and vertical comparative analyses of the pre-test and post-test English phonetics test scores of the experimental and control groups.Second,the mean values of the first and second formant frequencies of the vowels in the pre-test and post-test of the experimental and control groups are compared with the corresponding values of the Received Pronunciation(RP)of the United Kingdom.Finally,the data obtained from the questionnaires and interviews conducted before and after the pre-test and post-test are discussed and analyzed to understand whether Praat software is effective in junior high school English phonetics teaching and in which aspects it is effective.The research results show that the application of Praat software in junior high school English phonetics teaching is highly effective.Its effectiveness in junior high school English phonetics teaching is mainly reflected in the following aspects: first,for students,Praat software can significantly improve their English phonetics ability while also stimulating their enthusiasm for learning English phonetics.For teachers,Praat software provides innovative methods for English phonetics teaching on the one hand,and reflects the teaching philosophy of "integrating teaching and research" on the other hand.For the overall junior high school English phonetics teaching,the use of Praat software in English phonetics teaching at the junior high school stage is in line with the recommendations for English teaching in the 2022 new curriculum standards and contributes to the development of students’ core competencies.With the continuous development of modern educational technology,this study explores the application of Praat software in junior high school phonetics teaching,providing new methods for English phonetics teaching in basic education.Moreover,under the current background of "Internet + Education," this study also offers new research ideas for basic education research in this context,which has a certain reference value.However,there are some limitations in this study,such as the short research period and the small sample size.In future research,further improvements should be made.