Well, sort of. It’s AI, which is getting close.
EAP Talk was developed by Dr Bin Zou along with researchers at the Department of Applied Linguistics at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University in Suzhou, China, in a bid to create a new way to practise speaking English without another human present.
It comes at a particularly useful time, as the pandemic has made international travel so difficult. This has created a shortage of English language teachers in China, where speaking English is a desirable skill for many.
With EAP Talk, students can speak into their phone or laptop and receive instant feedback on their speaking skills, highlighting where grammar or pronunciation has been correct or gone wrong, using colours to indicate which is which.
“The idea is that EAP Talk can be a 24-hour standby teacher for students to practise English whenever and wherever they want,” Dr Zou says. “The system can accurately identify common problems in spoken English, such as pronunciation and grammar, right down to a single word in a sentence.”
While Dr Zou doesn’t believe AI can ever replace a human teacher, he does think it offers some useful benefits that a classroom lesson may not be able to deliver. For instance, for students too shy or unsure enough of their ability to speak English in class, it offers a judgement-free experience. After all, so far anyway, AI can’t roll its eyes or titter.
