THE USE OF “SAY HEY GOOGLE” FOR PRONUNCIATION ACCURACY TO PRESENT DIALOGUES IN A SPEAKING CLASS

Abstract

Pronunciation has been always a problem especially for students of English as a foreign language. This
is because the phonological system of the native language differs significantly from that of the target language.
The current study offers a new way of pronunciation feedback by using “Say Hey Google”. On pronouncing a
particular word on the application (Smartphone), Hey Google will reproduce the word in writing. When Hey
Google writes the word correctly, it means that the pronunciation is correct and intelligible according to the
received standard of pronunciation. The findings show that the subjects (consisting of 22 students of Semester 1
FBIB, Unisbank) varyingly managed to use Hey Google as pronunciation feedback device. Some words which
they failed to correctly pronounce were pronounced by the lecturer to get the correct pronunciation.
Surprisingly, the majority of the students have positive attitudes and perception of the device (Hey Google).