Computers have recently become really effective means in various aspects of language teaching and learning. Computer-assisted language learning (CALL) presents a way of language teaching and learning in which computer technologies are used as an aid to the presentation, storage and assessment of the material which is to be learned.
Using Computer-assisted language learning you learn various language aspects by typing at the keyboard, speaking into a microphone, pointing and clicking with the mouse. Teaching language software makes use of numerous modern technologies, especially multimedia and communications technology.
One of the numerous trends of Computer-assisted language learning software constitutes programs which deal with speech: those which relate to speech recognition and those which relate to speech synthesis. These programs are called text-to-speech programs and are of considerable assistance to foreign language learners, especially in improving pronunciation skills and intonation. You can use this software to make language learning easier.
Text-to-speech (TTS) software converts text into speech and read aloud this speech using various voice formats. Speaking Notepad is the very text-to-speech program, which is designed for people with visual impairments or reading disabilities. Besides, this language teaching program and improving pronunciation software can assist those who learn a foreign language.
With Speaking Notepad foreign language learner can:
1 get to know pronunciation of words in a moment without searching them in pronunciation dictionaries
2 listen to pronunciation of a word or a phrase as many times as it is necessary
3 listen to accurate pronunciation instead of reading transcriptions and guessing the pronunciation of every sound
4 practicing your pronunciation by repeating the phrase after the speaker and imitating his manner of pronunciation
5 convert text files to audio files
As you see, nowadays there are a lot of innovative means to master one's pronunciation skills with ease and comfort.