The Design and Evaluation of an Web-Based Self-Learning System to

Support Phonetic Transcription Learning in Birmingham City University.

A study submitted in partial fulfillment

of the requirements for the degree of

Master of Science in Information Systems

at

THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD

By

LINHAO FANG

September 2010

2

Abstract

The department of Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) in Birmingham City

University (BCU) holds a course to students who will be trained to speech and

language therapists. The SLT course provides a module of learning in

phonetic transcriptions. The module is in demand of a self-learning system

which can provide customised self tests to students for fulfilling their learning

needs. This research is aiming to provide an effective and efficient web based

self-learning system to support the learning of phonetic transcriptions. A

design science research methodology is adopted in this research. Then the

development of the system is done by adopting the approach of iterative and

participative prototyping. The research method is participant observation for

gaining the feedbacks in the evaluation phase of the prototyping process.

Three participants possess three different perspectives contribute to the

research. The resulting information system generally achieved the aim of this

research. The innovative further researches of this academic domain is

predicted finally.

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ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................. 2

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 6

1.1 BACKGROUND INFORMATION OF THE PROJECT ................................................................... 6

1.2 RESEARCH QUESTION .......................................................................................................... 9

1.3 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES ....................................................................................................... 9

1.4 GENERAL OUTLINE ............................................................................................................. 10

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................................... 12

2.1 BLENDED LEARNING ........................................................................................................... 12

2.1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 12

2.1.2 Significances ........................................................................................................... 13

2.1.3 Approaches of blended learning ........................................................................ 14

2.1.4 Generating Blending Model ................................................................................. 18

2.1.5 Summary and Conclusion .................................................................................... 21

2.2 WEB BASED SELF-LEARNING IN BLENDED LEARNING ...................................................... 22

2.2.1 Introduction of Web based Self-Learning ........................................................ 22

2.2.2 Advantages and Drawbacks ................................................................................ 23

2.2.3 "Drill and Practice" ................................................................................................ 26

2.2.4 Summary and Conclusion .................................................................................... 33

2.3 LEARNING OF PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION ......................................................................... 34

2.3.1 Introduction of Phonetic Transcription ............................................................ 34

2.3.2 "Phonological Awareness" and "Phonemic Awareness" ............................ 35

2.3.3 A Example of Phonetic Transcription Self-Learning System ...................... 37

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2.3.4 Summary and Conclusion .................................................................................... 40

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................... 42

3.1 BACKGROUND INFORMATION OF THE RESEARCH .............................................................. 42

3.2 THE DESIGN SCIENCE RESEARCH ...................................................................................... 44

3.2.1 DEFINING RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ........................................................................... 44

3.2.2 The Procedure and Outputs of DSR .................................................................. 45

3.2.3 The Reasoning Approach of DSR ...................................................................... 48

3.2.4 Outputs of DSR ....................................................................................................... 50

3.3 PRACTICAL RESEARCH IMPLEMENTATION .......................................................................... 51

3.3.1 The Research Method: Participative Observation ......................................... 51

3.3.2 Process Steps: The Research Circles .............................................................. 53

3.4 LIMITATIONS OF METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................ 56

CHAPTER 4: PROTOTYPING ............................................................................................. 57

4.1 FIRST PROTOTYPE .............................................................................................................. 58

4.1.1 Identification of Needs .......................................................................................... 58

4.1.2 Initial Design ............................................................................................................ 60

4.1.3 Development ............................................................................................................ 61

4.1.4 Evaluation ................................................................................................................ 67

4.2 SECOND PROTOTYPE .......................................................................................................... 67

4.2.1 Suggestions of Solutions ..................................................................................... 68

4.2.2 Development before Sub-Prototypes ................................................................ 69

4.2.3 Sub-Prototypes ....................................................................................................... 71

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Three sub-prototyping circles were delivered in collaboration of Dr. Miguel. As mentioned

in the methodology chapter, the system is then examined from an information scientist

perspective. Thus these prototyping circles contribute mainly on the user interface

refinement and technical corrections. Thereby the changes between each sub-prototype

are all relatively slight. Because of that the examining perspective is presented from the

view of information system, the discussions of feedbacks were made during the

sub-prototype meetings. For that reason, each circle of sub-prototyping was composed

by only development step and feedback/discussion step. On this basis, the descriptions

of sub-prototyping circles are laid below. ............................................................................... 71

4.2.4 Evaluation of the Second Prototype ................................................................. 75

4.3 THIRD PROTOTYPE .............................................................................................................. 75

4.3.1 Suggestions of Solutions ..................................................................................... 75

4.3.2 Development ............................................................................................................ 76

4.3.3 Debugging Sub-Prototyping ................................................................................ 83

4.3.4 Evaluation ................................................................................................................ 83

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION ................................................................................................... 84

5.1 SUMMARY OF RESEARCH ACHIEVEMENTS ..................................................................... 84

5.2 IMPLICATIONS OF THE RESEARCH ................................................................................. 87

5.3 LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH ................................................................................... 87

5.4 FURTHER WORKS ........................................................................................................ 88

BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................... 89

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Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Background Information of the Project

The information system that this project is going to generate, which is

originally proposed by Dr. Christel de Bruijn who is a senior lecturer in the

Department of Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) of Birmingham City

University (BCU). The department of SLT in BCU provides a course to

students who will be trained to speech and language therapists (Faculty of

Health in BCU, 2009). The SLT course provides a module of learning in

phonetic transcriptions. The primary purpose of generating this system that is

to support the learning of phonetic transcription on the module of the SLT

course. Some general information is described as follow.

The phonetic transcription is "the visual system of symbolization of the sounds

occurring in spoken human language" (Wikipedia, 2010). The standardized

representation of phonetic transcription which is most commonly used in the

world is the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). The IPA was founded

originally in 1886 by the International Phonetic Association, which is

described as comprehensive enough to manage with the broad variety of

sounds within the worldwide human languages (International Phonetic

Association, 1999). Within various languages in the world, there is not always

a one-to-one relationship between a character and the pronunciation of it. The

7

same character situated in different words may be pronounced differently.

Phonetically, a single soud within spoken language is termed a "phoneme".

The IPA is a system of phonetic transcription which consists of a set of

symbols, where each symbol represents one (and only one) phoneme (ibid).

The course of Speech and Language Therapy at BCU provides instruction

and practice of phonetic transcription in order to enable the students the

ability of recognising phonetic transcriptions which can represent the speech

while listening. Furthermore, the instruction of pronouncing the phonetic

transcriptions is expected to be delivered to the students as well, which is in

order to let the students feel more familiar with the sounds and transcriptions

by their own experience and that may also enhances their ability of identifying

phonetic transcriptions. Currently, the students taking the course receive

practice in the classroom and online. The real-time practice is delivered as

dictation of phonetic transcriptions, which is delivered by the lecturer orally.

The exercises put online consist of sound files provided by the lecturer, which

provide in a similar format as in the lectures. The problem here is that, within

both ways of testing, the questions are chosen by the lecturer which depends

on the common confusion and mistakes of the most students. Nevertheless,

the difficulties of the transcriptions are diverse among different students.

Therefore the demand of learning here is different tests which are fitting in

with various students. In order to achieve the demand above and optimize

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the students' learning, the system should be generated which provides

students exercises in accordance with their particular learning needs.

This project of Phonetics Student Self-Learning Tests (PSST) is divided into

three parts, namely: 1. a database and the interface for teachers to update it;

2. an application of dictation self-test of phonetic transcriptions; 3. an

application of pronunciation training of phonetic transcriptions. The 1st and 2nd

part of the project will be done by my two colleagues. The database stores the

materials requisite for the self test procedure, such as speech sounds and

phonetic transcriptions information. The interface allows teachers to update

the materials within the database and to tag the attributes of the items (such

as "bilabial", "vowel" etc.). And the application of dictation self-test should

allow students to create an exercise tailored to address their own needs. This

kind of tests provides students either words or phoneme dictation on where

they may find difficult. For instance, the student can create an exercise that

contains only words with some specific sounds. Additionally, the system can

also generate a test of random sequence of sounds between which the

student would find difficult to distinguish (such as /i/ and /j/).

Apart from the function of dictation tests, a bidirectional learning approach is

proposed to be adopted here as the pronunciation training. Namely, by

accessing the database of transcriptions and words, student could be tested

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by the application from a converse approach. The tool shall generate a test

question which shows a phonetic transcription, then the student is requested

the pronunciation of the questioned transcription. The student then

pronounces the sound independently, and the sound will be recorded by the

application and stored in a temporary database within the user's local disk.

Which will be played to the user following that are the sound students

pronounced and the standard pronunciation (iterative playing of these sounds

would be available). Further consideration could be taken on the feedback

that would be given to the student by the application.

1.2 Research Question

How to provide an effective and efficient web based self-learning system

to support the learning of phonetic transcriptions?

1.3 Research Objectives

Concerning the overall aim of this research – the production of the web based

self-learning system, the specific research objectives are derived from

breaking down the aim as:

1. To investigate the comprehensive needs in learning phonetic

transcriptions and be aware of the problems engendered correspondingly.

2. To investigate what theories grounded can be useful for improving the

design of a web based self-learning system.

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3. To design a suitable conceptual prototype, which is expected to satisfy the

learning needs and address the main problems.

4. To develop the system in order to technically realise the designed

conceptual prototype.

5. To observe participants in order to gather feedback for improving the

system in prototyping process.

6. To continuously correct and refine the system into a satisfactory version

how is in accordance with participants' feedback.

7. To accomplish the dissertation comprises detailed description,

interpretation and implication of the project.

1.4 General Outline

The overall outline of this dissertation is briefly introduced as follow:

Chapter 1: Introduction

In this chapter, the background information of the research is introduced.

Then the research question is defined from the background research.

Following research objectives indicates the specific purposes the research

should address.

Chapter 2: Literature Review

In this chapter, on the purpose and methods of supporting phonetic

e-learning by the product, the scholarly literatures of a series of aspects

11

surrounding e-learning will be reviewed to deliver a gradually specifying

perception.

Chapter 3: methodology

This chapter aims to find a valid research methodology for this research

process, which followed by the reason choosing it on the basis of recalled

research question and objectives. Then the methodology should be

described in details, along with the explanation of adopted methods for

gathering data in the process. Finally the actual implementation of this

methodology is introduced according to the theories.

Chapter 4: Prototyping

This chapter provides the description of the prototyping process

implementation, which is followed by the findings discovered and the

discussion of such findings.

Chapter 5: Conclusion

This chapter summarises the entire research process and examines

whether the goals have been fulfilled. Then the implication gained from the

research is interpreted, which is following by the limitation of the research.

And finally a prediction on future works is stated.

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Chapter 2: Literature Review

On the purpose and methods of supporting phonetic e-learning by the product,

the scholarly literatures of a series of aspects surrounding e-learning will be

reviewed to deliver a gradually specifying perception.

2.1 Blended Learning

2.1.1 Introduction

The landscapes of education and training have varied inherently in the past

one or two decades. By reasons of the forceful impact of information and

communication technologies, the concepts of E-learning and more

sophisticated Blended Learning are introduced to the public. E-learning is

generally defined as a learning approach which based on the Internet,

multimedia, and other information technologies in a formal context (Garrison

& Anderson, 2003). The highlighted characteristics of e-learning: asynchrony

and collaboration, are considered to be the main significances differ

e-learning from traditional learning. As it is agreed by many other scholars,

these distinctive aspects of e-learning are based on the nature of internet, and

result in a considerable flexibility to learners (Clark & Mayer, 2007; Bates,

2005). Considering many limitations of e-learning approaches, the concepts

of blended learning are introduced for bridging e-learning and traditional

learning. Rosenberg (2006) delivered a popular definition of blended learning

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in his well-known publication as "the integration of group and self-paced

instruction, usually manifested through classroom and online delivery". This

view recognised the limitations of both e-learning and classroom teaching.

And more significantly, blending basically is for the sake of optimising the

learning environment, from a number of aspects (Rosenberg, 2006). There is

a view well worth notice, which mentioned by Graham et al. (2003): the

definitions of blended learning actually have various appearances among

different researchers. Graham et al. (2003) synthesised a collection of the

most frequently mentioned definitions, where 3 main aspects of blending were

distinguished: (1) blending instructional modalities (e.g. delivery media); (2)

blending instructional methods; (3) blending online and face-to-face

instruction. The first two positions were considered to be too broadly defined

in Graham's (2006) later paper. In this view, the blended learning was defined

more accurately as the combination of instruction from traditional face-to-face

learning systems and distributed (e.g. computer-mediated) learning systems.

In spite of that emphasis is more laid on the internet, the first two aspects still

reflected a general understanding of blended learning, which could help the

blending model generation in following sections.

2.1.2 Significances

As which was mentioned above, the purpose of blending is essentially a

situation where the traditional learning and e-learning environments are

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expected to collaborate together, and perfectly. With regard to this point, the

significances of blended learning have been widely summarised into following

two aspects: 1. the extension of the reach; 2. the optimisation of the

deployment time and cost (Singh, 2003). Other typical advantages of blended

learning were introduced by Allan (2007) by emphasising the customisability

and flexibility of particular blending methods. He mentioned that the blending

of specified time and space and technologies can help specified learning

circumstance greatly. Concerning this project, the significances of blended

learning can be materialised obviously. Firstly, the self-training system would

be expected to provide customised exercises which should cater to the

students' specific needs. Secondly, simple face-to-face instructions and

exercises could consume tutor immense time and labour; on the other hand, a

pure web-based self learning system may be too costly to be competent.

Consequently, an optimised collaboration of traditional teacher centered

instruction and the online self-learning environment, does seem to be the

most appropriate solution this way. As a result, how to blend for optimisation is

the coming question.

2.1.3 Approaches of blended learning

Although the term of Blended Learning(BL) is commonly referred as the

combination of real-life learning in classrooms and internet based e-learning,

many much more complex approaches in this area are still reflecting the

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expansive potential of blended learning (Singh, 2003). The Blending Models,

or also called "Dimensions", is defined to explain that what are the blended

elements and how they work together in BL. Which "provide the essential

methodological scaffolding needed to effectively combine face-to-face

instruction, online instruction, and arrays of content objects and assets of all

form factors" (Wagner, 2006:44). The "objects" and "assets" here imply the

elements which are selected to be integrated in the BL process and the

"scaffolding" indicates the way how these elements are blended. For the sake

of optimising learning effect in different teaching fields, various blended

models are delivered by many researchers. A typical example of blending

approaches was presented by NIIT (the world's largest IT training and

education company). Three blended learning models have been categorised

clearly by their distinct purposes (Valiathan, 2002):

1) Skill-Driven Model: blending self-paced learning and instructor or others'

support to gain specific knowledge or skills;

2) Attitude-Driven Model: blending a range of interactive media and

approaches for building new attitudes and behaviours; and

3) Competency-Driven Model: blending online performance support tools,

resources and mentoring activities, for the purpose of capturing tacit

knowledge and workplace competencies.

These dimensions have an extensive coverage on almost all of the learning

fields. The Skill-Driven Model seems to be precisely fitting the phonetic

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transcription learning, which focus much on self-learning and practices.

However, this approach only differentiates the models by learning purposes,

which is considered to be relatively generic on ignoring details of blending

methods (Kerres & De Witt, 2003). In the interpretation of Kerres and De Witt

(2003), the ways of blending, in BL strategies, can be categorised into

blending "didactical methods" – which refer to different teaching and learning

approaches; or "delivery formats" – which refer to different interactive media;

or both. This point consequentially provides a much clearer method of how

boundaries between blending models can be defined. The didactical methods

and delivery media of a blended learning course could be decided

independently. Nevertheless the delivery media might be inapposite when it is

needed to match the didactical purposes and approaches. Therefore, in some

sense it could be dangerous to respectively select blends from the two

directions. In this case, the pedagogy is expected to be considered in

advance.

Allan (2007) explained two major and commonly accepted approaches of

didactics – namely, tutor-centred pedagogy contrasts with learner-centred

pedagogy. Traditional tutor-centred approaches generally refer to the

transmission of the knowledge from tutors to learners (Allan, 2007). Normally

this kind of knowledge, or skills, is acknowledged to a certain extent by the

public. Therefore the information can be transmitted without doubting and

17

discussing. On the other hand, the learner-centred pedagogy reflects the

distinct circumstances among learners. This approach places the emphasis

on individuals' specific needs, by which the teaching methods should be

adjusted (Mayes, 2004). Concerning this particular phonetics learning module,

the didactical method in classroom instruction is obviously tutor-centred, and

the core idea of "learner-centred" could still be referred in developing

customisation in self-learning section. To combine this with which is discussed

above, the NIIT's skill-driven model, the inspiration of self-learning is

proposed (Valiathan, 2002). In summary, classroom lectures could emphasis

the reproduction of knowledge and skills, and provides more direction for

specific knowledge like the phonetics learning. And the self-learning

component presents students a much more flexible and customised choice for

their personal needs, which saves tutors' time as well.

After identifying the pedagogy, the feasible delivery methods of the blended

learning module could be discussed. The reason this is of significance is that

– mixing the delivery media, in many cases, is considered to be the definition

of blended-learning indeed in a narrow sense (Oliver & Trigwell, 2005). There

is a variety of media the blended learning may concerns with, or be composed

by. A comprehensive survey of blended learning practice was accomplished

by Macdonald (2006) at the end of 2004, which reflected popularity of the

delivery tools commonly adopted in composing a BL course. The survey said

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that the commonest two components of blended learning were asynchronous

conferencing and face-to-face contact, of which more than 80% of college

level courses have adopted. Almost 60% courses have a website which

maintains the learning materials and resources (Macdonald, 2006). The

face-to-face and e-learning through course website were the main methods

adopted in the phonetic transcription module previously. However, one of the

essential delivery methods of blended-learning was missing in this survey.

Concerning many conditions, such as which suffer the lack in students'

personalisation and the time-consuming instructor-led exercise, web-based

self-learning tools are in demand. As Harriman (2004) mentioned, the

self-paced e-learning refers to a series of computer based activities including

self-training applications. The e-learning tool for supporting self-learning is

suggested in this particular course this way.

2.1.4 Generating Blending Model

After the previous discussion, the blending model of this course is composed

by three main domains: 1) Instructor-led face-to-face learning; 2)

Instructor-led e-learning; 3) Students' self-learning (Figure 2-1).

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Figure 2-1: Blending Model

Primarily, the instructor-led face-to-face learning is delivered in the format of

traditional classroom style. Although the role of classroom in blended learning

approach is less and less regarded, Rosenberg (2006) emphasised the

unique nature of classroom for providing "a place where people can interact,

experiment, collaborate, and create". Moreover, he also mentioned that "the

presence of a live, expert instructor or facilitator is essential to explain,

observe, guide, and give feedback". These aspects all reflect the

significances of the instructor-led classroom learning which is particularly

indispensable in phonetics learning. However, various limitations consist in

the synchronous face-to-face learning approaches. Bull and McKenna (2004)

claimed that the synchronous instructions are sometimes inefficient by lack of

interacting time and accessibility, especially when iterative and invariable

activities take places. Furthermore, the personal needs of students in learning

are difficult to be fulfilled, as it is discussed above. Consequentially, the rest

Instructor-Led Face-to-Face

Learning

Students' Self-Learning

Instructor-Led E-Learning

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two components in this model are in charge of solving these problems.

In the viewpoint of Wilson and Smilanich (2005), the e-learning is

distinguished into two categories: instructor-led and self-study. Nevertheless,

they only explained the instructor-led e-learning with regard to its

synchronous aspect. In a more broadly received sense, the instructor-led

e-learning contains much more approaches. Conceptually, the idea of

instructor-led e-learning is commonly adopted in blended-learning

approaches, which is in the interest of providing internet-based assistance for

further learning purposes (Horton, 2006). Practically, this portion in blended

learning could refer to many communicating media for presenting learning

materials, resources, expert supports and so on. In the forms of e-mail,

asynchronous on-line meeting and course website, this e-learning portion is

delivered by the tutor in this course. Horton (2006) explained the

characteristics of instructor-led e-learning on its high accessibility and

broadcast ability, which bring cost and time saving to tutors. Namely, the

learning assisting information can be transferred between tutors and students

as well as between students. However, many mentioned the limitations of

e-learning components. Such as the requirements of network speed and

technical expertise for both instructors and learners, in lack of which may

cause them consuming much more time and effort (Horton, 2006).

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Last but not least, a crucial role in this case is acted by the self-learning

component. Generally, self-learning refers to learning activities achieved on

one's own. In blended-learning concepts, the self-learning, also known as

self-paced learning, is emphasised on its asynchronous feature (Singh, 2003).

For the reason that self-paced learning provides learners the control and

management of their time on learning, the differing needs of them can be

addressed more efficiently without wasting others' time (Wilson and Smilanich,

2005). Both from traditional learning and e-learning approaches, the

self-paced learning could be supported by a variety of delivery media. In

Singh's (2003) summary, self-paced learning could be supported by

documents, web pages, computer/web based training modules, simulations,

Electronic Performance Support Systems (EPSS) and many so on. In the

phonetic transcription course, this self-learning portion contains many aspects,

both electronic ways and traditional ways. One major part of it is the

Phonetics Student Self-Learning Tests system, which supports students on

providing practices in phonetics learning. The web based self learning part of

this blending model will be further discussed in next section.

2.1.5 Summary and Conclusion

In this section, theories of blended learning are introduced to a certain extent.

Through placing the theories in the context of phonetics learning course, a

blended-learning model is identified. Although the primary component of this

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model is the instructor-led face-to-face learning, the web based self-learning

part is the key to succeed. Considering the target a blended learning model is

aiming to achieve – the optimisation for combining blended components, the

three sections are expected to cooperate with each other properly. As it shows

in Figure 2-1, the overlapping areas of components imply the cooperation.

Namely, the instructor provides lectures in classrooms to give students live

demonstration and explicit knowledge of the concepts; at the same time,

extended materials and resources are available online for students to review

and get broader understanding; basing on these knowledge delivered by the

instructor, students could learn and practice by selves via the self-learning

system. As the learning theory of Bersin (2004): mastery = proficiency +

retention, the retention is delivered mainly from instructor; and the more

important proficiency, is obtained by practices in self-learning. Further reading

is in demand for designing web based self-learning system. The theories of

web based self-learning in blended learning will be discussed in next section.

2.2 Web based Self-Learning in Blended Learning

2.2.1 Introduction of Web based Self-Learning

The self-learning, also known as self-paced learning, basically indicates

"solitary, on-demand learning at a pace that is managed or controlled by the

learner" (Singh, 2003:52). Literally, the self-learning is synchronous,

unstructured and user-customised. Concerning the nature of self-learning,

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some mention that the approaches like self-paced learning, online test and

online exercise are considered as typical learning activities those are fully

utilised through ICT in blended-learning (Schreurs & Al-Zoubi, 2007). Placing

self-learning in a blended-learning sense, the role of self-paced learning is

often regarded within an e-learning context. The circumstance where

self-paced e-learning exerts the most is suggested by Wilson and Smilanich

(2005):

1) Learners' comfort and capacity toward technology;

2) Stability of the learning content;

3) Motivation and intendment of learners for learning the content;

4) Various working time shifts of learners.

The reason these features are expected refers to the characteristics of

self-paced e-learning. More specifically, a web based environment of

self-learning can provide further supports. Regarding the feature of the

Internet, self-learning can be supported by more flexible, accessible, and

limitless resources (Bates, 2005). Advantage as well as drawbacks for

adopting web based self-learning can be defined while observing its

characteristics.

2.2.2 Advantages and Drawbacks

The advantages of web based e-learning are indicated from many aspects.

Firstly the power of internet is highlighted. Chou and Tsai (2002)

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characterised the web based learning environment as a constructive

surrounding which enhance students' independence and exploratory

capability. Moreover, the open environment provides the access to users

without time and space limitations. Secondly, students learn in different speed

and have behaviours. Not only optimises time scheduling among different

students, but the self-pacing also "reduces stress and increases satisfaction"

to students which motivate them in further self-learning (Kruse, 2004). Finally

and most importantly, the personal learning needs of distinct students are

various. Self-learning was adopted primarily for addressing learners'

particular learning requirements. Derouin et al. (2004) claimed the central

objective of providing self-learning is defined as that the amount of practice,

stressed parts and pace of accomplishment is controllable by the learners,

which means the learners can choose the ways that are most fitting

themselves. In addition, several more extra advantages of web based

self-learning are mentioned by many researchers as well. For example, many

remind that the implementing time and cost is much reduced by blending self

e-learning in (Kruse, 2004; Singh, 2003; Hall, 1997).

On the other hand, there are still limitations and potential drawbacks of the

web based self-learning approach. American Management Association (cited

in: Rosset & Frazee, 2006) summarised the major challenges facing self

e-learning, two of them which greatly worth notice are: 1) the requirement of

25

self-motivating energy produced by learners; 2) the lack of continuous

personalised support provided by instructors. These issues exist commonly in

self-learning senses. Wilson and Smilanich (2005) pointed the significance of

learners' motivation in self-study e-learning as well. They said the lack of

supervision of self-learning, especially in an e-learning context, could be the

main cause of this problem. Furthermore, sometime the specialised

equipments as well as the technical expertises are required during accessing

the support in these approaches (Wilson & Smilanich, 2005; Kruse, 2004).

For example, in phonetic transcription pronunciation tests, the equipments

like computer, internet connection, microphone, as well as the skills for

handling them, are relatively in demand. The importance of regarding this

problem is, sometime it may cause inequality among different users in

different circumstances.

In summary, the project aims to achieve the optimisation of adopting web

based self-learning, that is to say maximise the advantages and minimise the

drawbacks. The objective could be chased through both appropriate design of

self learning tool and enhancing the instructors' awareness of the problems

(Schreurs & Al-Zoubi, 2007). The matters of the design of self-learning tool

are discussed in next section by considering within the specific learning

concept where this project works in – "Drill and Practice".

26

2.2.3 "Drill and Practice"

There are various approaches of processing self-learning, especially in web

based senses. By placing it into a blended learning context which is adopted

particularly for this phonetic self test project, the self-learning blending method

is much fitted in Singh's (2003) model, which is "blending learning, practice,

and performance support". This approach emphasised the supplement of

self-learning with practice and performance support tools, which is considered

to be the finest form of blends by the time efficiency and facilitation it provides.

Brown and Ford (2002) also indicated that self-regulation and cognition would

be improved through giving practical self training tools to trainees. In this

sense, the idea this practice and performance supporting is based on - "Drill

and Practice" should be introduced.

Definition and Significance of Drill and Practice

The concept "Drill and Practice" was generally related to those learning

activities considered as physical or mental exercises, which are performed

regularly and with constant reiteration (Alessi & Trollip, 1991). However, in

recent works, especially in blended learning concepts, the term drill and

practice are often situated in a computer based context. As defined by Brock

(1994), it is computer-aided instruction for developing skills focusing response

speed and accuracy, self-pacing, and convergent question-answering

capacities. The standard drill and practice programme was explained by

27

Clarke (2001) with emphasising feedback given by instructor. The suggested

process is shown in Figure 2-2 as follow.

Figure 2-2: Drill and Practice Process (Clarke, 2001:47)

Namely, learners receive tutorial from instructor in the instructor-led

face-to-face learning portion of the blended learning model, and then practice

and get feedback from the self-learning system. As it is widely accepted, drill

and practice processes normally follow a stable and relatively simple mode

(Geisert & Futrell, 1990). The generally chosen question-answering approach,

which is considered to be the most typical drill and practice mode, dominates

in this field by its effectiveness and efficiency. Depending crucially on the

power of computer and internet, feedback is given immediately, which usually

in forms of automatic correction or remediation of incorrect responses

(Hannafin & Peck, 1988).

Tutorial can form part of the

system or be experienced

elsewhere.

A database of practice items

which are randomly presented

to users.

Feedback relates to learners’

solutions and in some cases

can influence the choice of the

next practice item.

Tutorial

Practice

Feedback

28

The critical role of drill and practice in web-based self-learning is indubitable.

The ease and fixedness of implementing and using drill and practice make it

the main approach for practical subjects. Clarke (2001) pointed that

computer-based drill and practice tools are greatly suitable for assisting

subjects which aim fluency and identification skills. The examples of subjects

usually adopt this kind of tools are language learning, social studies,

mathematics and computer input devices (Clarke, 2001; Brock, 1994). The

reason these kinds of subjects are in demand of drill and practice is the

benefits provided by the tools. Immediately and individually generated

feedback for different students not only gives the opportunities which human

instructors cannot reach, but also encourage students on learning by

enhancing their confidence with answers (Nguyen & Kulm, 2005). Brock also

emphasised that a well designed drill and practice tool almost does not

require computing skills to users at all. Apart from other computer-based tools,

this aspect addresses the lack of technical expertise easily. There are still

many reasons why drill and practice tool is necessary in this case. However

the stress is laid on the design and implementation. Theories for

implementing effective drill and practice self-learning tool are introduced

following.

Theories of Designing Drill and Practice

29

Many theories have influenced the design of drill and practice approaches. A

widely adopted theory in traditional instructions here is the Behaviourist

Theory. In Duffy and Jonassen's (1992) view, behaviorism is based on an

objectivist perspective and lays stress on the mastery and replication of the

delivered knowledge or skills. Basing on this foundation, the traditional design

of a drill and practice learning system is explained by Niederhauser &

Stoddart (2001) as a structured loop of stimulus, response and reinforcement.

Specifically, "stimulus" indicates the question displayed by computer,

"response" is the answer responded by student and then "reinforcement" is

done by giving feedback to the student regarding if the correct answer is

provided. The behaviourist theory stands stably in traditional pedagogies with

its close-ended structure. It hides the opportunities of thinking and feeling

behind mechanical practice, which is actually sometimes good for students to

learn effectively (Duffy and Jonassen, 1992).

On the other hand, the drill and practice instruction seems can be designed in

an open-ended approach as well. The Constructivism is generally considered

as the incompatible approach against objectivism where behaviourism

situated in (Bednar et al., 1992). However, the main idea of constructivism,

which developed rapidly in the field of computer-based instructions, can be

considered in this circumstance. According to Loyens & Gijbels' (2008)

summary, the instructional constructivist theory is that, in general, learners

30

construct knowledge from instruction actively. By "actively", it is the core

element of this idea distinguishing behaviourist theories, which is that the

knowledge is not directly transmitted from tutorials, but is interpreted by

learners by knowledge they have gained previously (Loyens & Gijbel 2008). In

practice, differing from behaviourist settled questions and answers,

constructivism provides students ill-structured questions and expects

open-ended answers (Niederhauser & Stoddart, 2001). This approach

represents a much more flexible and customised view to students, which

allow the users to find the method how they can construct knowledge and

skills for their own demands. Like Duffy and Jonassen (1992) suggested, the

instruction does not mean to transmit the principles, rules and procedure of

teaching, but rather on "developing skills of the learner to construct (and

reconstruct) plans in response to situational demands and opportunities".

Implementation of Drill and Practice

In order to effectively implementing drill and practice in the self-learning tests

system, the theories regarding elements such as assessment, feedback,

interface design and so on, should be reviewed.

The role of assessment is vital in supporting students learning. Macdonald

(2006) elucidated the significances of assessment in blended-learning with

implications from three aspects:

31

1) Judging the quality of students' learning – By providing students

measurement of their ability can imply the efficiency of their learning and help

them to improve it.

2) Creating more learning opportunities – The process of assessment itself,

in some sense, is a type of learning activities, which could provide students

more practices and understanding.

3) Providing a vital chance for feedback – Basing on the assessment of a

student, feedback can be generated more specifically, which assist the

student's learning and encourages the student to continue.

Regarding these implications, the assessment could mean more than its

traditional meaning. There are numerous forms of assessment including

typical ones like: multiple-choice questions, open questions, matching,

true-or-false and so on (Clarke, 2001). However, for kinds of learning

objectives like communicating effectiveness, expression capacity or

complicated comparison, the power of assessment will be limited. Some

argue that, for these kinds of objectives above, there is not a "true"

assessment apart from self assessment (Reece & Walker, 1994). That is,

there is no one else except the individual himself/herself can make the

assessment on how well or competent he/she is on such aspects. Thus the

self assessment is crucial in these situations, especially when used with adult

students (Reece & Walker, 1994). This form of assessment gives learner a

chance to perceive the feedback given from the system. And if it is situated in

32

a constructivist consideration, the self assessing is positioned in the way of

constructing knowledge.

Feedback given by the computerised system, in computer-based drill and

practice processes, seems to be the most beneficial and important aspect

(Nguyen & Kulm, 2005). The term "feedback" does not seem to have a

consensus on its definition. Many researchers defined feedback from student

perspective, or teacher's, or system's, or blends of them (Bull & McKenna,

2004). However, the concept adopted in this research, which is widely

accepted as well, is the information generated by the system depending on

the response given by the student, which is in the interest of helping student

on learning (Clarke, 2001). There is a variety of types feedback can be formed

in. The usually adopted form of feedback is as introduced above, the

correction of remediation of incorrect responds (Hannafin & Peck, 1988).

However, sometimes the corrective feedback does not fit the circumstance. In

a constructivist perspective, where the question requires an open-ended

answer, there is no absolute "right" answer (Bednar, 1992). Therefore, the

feedback could even not be corrective. In addition, some claimed that the

corrective feedback which says "wrong" to learners may cause learners'

frustration which negatively influences learners' learning effectiveness (Wager

& Wager, 1985).

33

The HCI aspect of self-testing tool is still in need to be discussed. The

principle is described by Thorne (2003), that the presentation of learning tools

is expected to be engaging, well-structured and interactive. By "interactive", it

means the content should force the user to think through learning.

Furthermore, as one of the advantages of e-learning tools, the attractive

interface of software could positively influence students learning activities

(Horton, 2006; Wilson & Smilanich, 2005). In addition, Clarke (2001) also

mentioned that it is very useful to provide users the guidance to receive,

especially when the task to be undertaken is complex and multistep. The

guidance should be offered at each step, and in a human-instructor-like way.

2.2.4 Summary and Conclusion

In this sector, theories of web based self-learning is introduced as background

information. Then the focus is laid on literatures concerning the design of

self-paced e-learning system, which put a concentration on the term "Drill and

Practice". Within the main structure of drill and practice, the philosophical

approaches of Behaviourism and Constructivism are explained. Also the

behaviourism is inevitably linked to the drill and practice software, the core

idea of constructivism still influences the design. As a result, requiring

open-ended structure of response would help students construct the

assessment of themselves, as well as the knowledge. With the benefits

self-assessment provides in this area, the constructive feedback could also

34

give learner a great flexibility and is avoiding risks which might be produced

by corrective feedback. The design and development of the system still

require further conditions which could be specified by the particular context.

This context – learning of phonetic transcription, is discussed in next section.

2.3 Learning of Phonetic Transcription

2.3.1 Introduction of Phonetic Transcription

In linguistics, the sub-discipline dealing with sounds is named "Phonetics",

which provides objective methods for describing and analysing the sounds

within human speech (McMahon, 2002). Concerning the recording of speech

in written text, the difficulty is claimed on capturing the differences between

sounds by written language (Ball et al., 1996). In English, there is no

one-to-one correspondence between characters and sounds. The same

situation exists in other language as well (Ball et al., 1996). For example, the

words "mother" and "moral", although they both contain character "o", the

pronunciations are different. Therefore, it is necessary to use some special

symbols to record details of pronunciation in spoken language for the

identification. Such symbols are known as Phonetic Transcriptions (Ball et al.

1996). In order to record the distinct sounds of different languages, a

universally recognised transcription system is in demand. The International

Phonetic Alphabet (the IPA) was proposed in 1986 for addressing this kind of

issues (McMahon, 2002). The International Phonetic Alphabet is defined

35

officially as:

"A set of symbols which would be convenient to use, but comprehensive

enough to cope with the wide variety of sounds found in the languages of the

world; and to encourage the use of this notation as widely as possible among

those concerned with language."(International Phonetic Association, 1999:3)

The IPA is broadly used for a variety of purposes, such as showing

pronunciation in dictionaries, recording different languages in linguistics

studies, founding basis for written language and so on (International Phonetic

Association, 1999). The use of this universalised phonetic transcription is

emphasised on the ability of describing disordered speech by Ball et al.

(1996). They claimed that in this way the deviations of disordered speech

could be recorded in details. Therefore the transcription is essential in

performing a range of professional tasks involving careful analysis of

pronunciation like speech therapy (Ball et al. 1996). The principles of

mastering phonetic transcriptions

2.3.2 "Phonological Awareness" and "Phonemic Awareness"

A brief review is situated here on the terms: "Phonological Awareness" and

"Phonemic Awareness", which would lead better understanding for helping

students in the learning of phonetic transcriptions. From the aspect of

phonetics learning, many scholars mentioned the significance of the

36

"Phonological Awareness", which is defined by Goswami and Bryant (1990)

as the ability of phonetically breaking down words into separate units.

Concerning the situation this concept lays in, many previously emphasised

the importance of phonological awareness on recognition processes like

pronouncing and reading (Gillon, 2004). However, soon the concept was

more widely adopted in spelling as well. A more specific approach of

phonological awareness is delivered by Bernhardt and Stoel-Gammon (1994)

with a hierarchical structure of phonological awareness. This structure was

adapted by Gillon (2004:4) who represented the structure into five

layers/levels: word level, syllabus level, onset-rime level, skeletal level and

segmental level. By "segmental level", it means the word is finally decoded

into individual speech sounds, or also termed "Phoneme".

By definition, "A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound that can change the

meaning of a word"(Goswami and Bryant, 1990). It indicates the elemental

segment a phonetic transcription could be split into. Then, with regard to the

hierarchy theory of phonological awareness, the phoneme level is considered

to be the most crucial role played in learning to read and spelling, which is

also normally termed as: "Phonemic Awareness" (Goswami and Bryant,

1990). Phonemic awareness, therefore, is of great importance in the learning

of phonetic transcriptions.

37

A theory is widely recognised: the connection between phonetic transcriptions

and the corresponding pronunciation is difficult to be created by listening and

recognising the sounds. The more effective way to generate the awareness is

to read and pronounce the phonetic transcription in person (Ashby, 2005;

Gillon, 2004). Neri et al. (2002) also linked the phonemic awareness and the

training of pronunciation together by emphasising the positive influences from

both sides to each other. Basing on these theories reviewed, the inspiration of

designing self-learning system is stimulated by the hierarchical feature, and

more especially, on the phoneme level training.

2.3.3 A Example of Phonetic Transcription Self-Learning System

A familiar work in computer assisted phonetic transcription learning is

presented and criticised following for gaining implications. Comparison and

contrast between example system and this project are stated as well, which

could reflect the originality of this work. Situating the phonetics theories into

computer based self test, the implications can be generated according to

some current researches.

The computer assisted English learning system generated by Lai et al. (2009)

provided many functions on purpose of improving phonemic awareness. As it

is shown in Figure 2-3, the procedure of mastering pronunciation is situated in

an exercise loop.

38

Figure 2-3: The Strategy for Mastery Learning (Lai et al., 2009:268)

The system presents learner exercise opportunity in a form of formative

assessment and request for the answer. After the learner provides the answer,

the system would generate corrective feedback to the learner. The learner

fails in the assessment would be suggested taking some remedial activities

and then enter the assessment again. Once the unit is successfully completed,

the learner is permitted to enter the next loop. The details of the feedback

design can be illustrated in Figure 2-4 following.

39

Figure 2-4: Example Feedback of Pronunciation Test

As it shows, the system allows learner to record answering sound in person.

And the feedback will automatically processed by comparing answering

sound with standard pronunciation which is previously stored in the system.

The feedback contains the scoring of pronunciation, intonation, tempo and

volume. In addition, the waveform of answer is created by system with

separated sentence and phonetic transcription which recognised by system.

This gives student extra chance of comparing waveform and the

transcriptions with standard answer for gaining visualised difference. The

feedback is presented along with standard pronunciation which gives learner

40

the opportunity to listen the expected answer, whereby the remediation can

be undertaken.

According the theories reviewed, some implications can be produced. Firstly,

the system is aiming English language learning inherently. Correspondingly

the phonemic awareness is overlooked here. The provided categories of

example assessment are word, phrase and sentence. It makes much more

sense for providing phoneme as a category at the same time. Secondly, the

phonemes are classified into various categories basing on the distinct ways

for pronouncing (International Phonetic Association, 1999). For instance,

consonants contrast with vowels by narrowing or opening the vocal tract while

pronounce. For improving phonemic awareness, the system is expected to

provide the opportunity of selecting assessment from among different

categories. Then the learners could exercise themselves by group of

phoneme. Furthermore, there seems to be a widely discussed argument

against traditional corrective feedback on pronunciation test (Neri et al., 2002).

By reason of there is no consistently correct judgment on phonetic

pronunciation, the feedback given by system should avoid the form of positive

or negative evidence. Therefore for this kind of assessment, an open-ended

feedback which allows learner's self-assessing is suggested.

2.3.4 Summary and Conclusion

41

A brief introduction of phonetic transcription is presented concerning learning

and assessing activities. By highlighting the concepts "phonological

awareness" and "phonemic awareness", the approach by which this system

follows is directed. After the scanning of main theories concerning phonetics

learning, an example is reviewed in the interest of both generating notice

while criticising and claiming the originality.

On the basis of blended-learning and self-testing theories, the

recommendations can be outlined for an effective design of phonetic

transcription tests system. The assessment is expected to be formed in a

self-assessing approach, which presents the flexibility and cognitive

opportunity to users. Moreover, the delivery of feedback by the system should

be immediate, and the feedback is suggested as open-ended, which gives

more space to users rather than forcing them to perform convergent answers.

Also, a neutral feedback would avoid frustrating learners from activated self

learning. In addition, this loose-structured style of system, in some sense,

may provide much more opportunities to learners on finding the most effective

way of using it. The optimisation is greatly based on the customisable nature

of this system.

42

Chapter 3: Methodology

This chapter aims to find a valid research methodology for this research

process, which followed by the reason choosing it on the basis of recalled

research question and objectives. Then the methodology should be described

in details, along with the explanation of adopted methods for gathering data in

the process. Finally the actual implementation of this methodology is

introduced according to the theories.

3.1 Background Information of the Research

A widely cited definition of research, which is originally found in

Weidenbaum's (1961) work that is: "systematic intensive study directed

toward fuller scientific knowledge of the subject studied". The gaining of new

knowledge forms the research process, which involves the understanding of

specific research field, the establishment of significant research questions

and the implementation of a applicable methodology for addressing the

research questions (Nunamaker et al., 1991). Concerning this purpose of

research, the overall aim of the research can be broken down to several

research objectives which possesses higher practicality. March & Smith (1995)

reaffirmed the stress of objectives in information systems research. Namely,

the research methodology is chosen depending on different research

objectives directly. Basing on the mentions above, the research question and

43

objectives are supposed to be recalled here.

Research Question

How to provide an effective and efficient web based self-learning system to

support the learning of phonetic transcriptions?

Research Objectives

8. To investigate the comprehensive needs in learning phonetic

transcriptions and be aware of the problems engendered correspondingly.

9. To investigate what theories grounded can be useful for improving the

design of a web based self-learning system.

10. To design a suitable conceptual prototype, which is expected to satisfy the

learning needs and address the main problems.

11. To develop the system in order to technically realise the designed

conceptual prototype.

12. To observe participants in order to gather feedback for improving the

system in prototyping process.

13. To continuously correct and refine the system into a satisfactory version

how is in accordance with participants' feedback.

14. To accomplish the dissertation comprises detailed description,

interpretation and implication of the project.

The research is generally situated in a context of information systems studies.

With regard to information systems perspective, many methodology

44

approaches are proposed differ from each other by aspects like naming,

taxonomies, viewing points and so on. This creates difficulty on clearing

minds with the choice of methodology. Concerning among taxonomies and

approaches, the design-science approach is chosen to be the research

methodology, which is introduced in next sector.

3.2 The Design Science Research

There are different approaches of the research methodology in information

systems studies. Also, by different taxonomies, distinct methodologies are

classified according different indicators. Although the options are various,

there is still a certain extent of consensus among the theories.

3.2.1 Defining Research Methodology

Despite the confusing classifications of research methodologies, March and

Smith (1995) concluded that there are two distinct orientations of IS

researches: Natural Science and Design Science researches. They

distinguished the two contrasting concepts by different interests of IS

researches. That is, the natural science research reasons the reality for

achieving the understanding; and, the design science research devises

artifacts for serving human purposes. This generally received idea was later

be adapted by Hevner et al. (2004), who interpret the research concerning

information systems as a "complementary research cycle between

45

design-science and behavioral-science". These two types of IS research are

differing according to the objects researched. Namely, the design-science

research involves the creation and evaluation of an IT artifact for addressing

certain problems within a certain demand environment. In contrast, the IS

behavioral-science research mainly regards the theories describing

phenomenon and interactions within the operation of targeted artifact – the

information system (Hevner et al., 2004). Without reference to opposites, the

concepts of Design Science Research (DSR) are widely established.

According the particular objectives, the design science approach is adopted

as the research methodology of this research.

3.2.2 The Procedure and Outputs of DSR

Considering the final purpose of a research – generating knowledge, the

research activities should be defined in this sense. The activities in DSR are

generally classified into two portions: Build and Evaluate (March & Smith,

1995). Build indicates the construction of the artifact, along with the

demonstration; and Evaluate involves the generation of assessing criteria and

the assessment of the artifact. Comparing with that, in Simon's (1996) work,

similar concepts are named as Generate and Test. The difference is found in

the meaning of "generate", in where it does not only refer to the artifact, but

can also refers to the design alternatives of the artifact. The nature of DSR

process is described as circles of generation and test (Simon, 1996).

46

Combining this circle theory with Owen's (1997) model of knowledge flow in

DSR, which implies the creation and accumulation of knowledge in the

process, the process of DSR could be illustrated as Figure 3-1 following.

Figure 3-1: The Knowledge Flow in DSR Process Circles

According to this model, such research activities could be borrowed for

defining "ways of knowing", which implies the investigation method of

research (Owen, 1997).

A more specific analysis, which identified detailed objects and actions within

DRM, was presented in Figure 3-2 as following (Takeda, et al., 1990). This

circle of DSR can be explained as the further detailed procedure of Figure

3-1.

Generation Activities

(Knowledge Using Process)

Test Activities

(Knowledge Building

Process)

Knowledg

e

Artifact

47

Figure 3-2: The Detailed Procedure of DSR (Takeda, et al., 1990:43)

It is shown that the sequence of DSR processes is composed by 5 main steps.

From a perspective of typical prototyping processes, the procedure could be

explained as follow:

1) The step of the Awareness of Problem is making decision on solving

problems which are found in previous investigation.

2) Suggestion step means the conceptual design of the prototype

artifact which is expected to solve the problems found.

3) The Development of the artifact is the following step refers to the

technical realisation of the suggestion.

4) Evaluation is the last step closes the circle of prototyping. It does

either confirm the acceptability or define new problems by testing the

prototype.

5) Finally, in the Conclusion step, the decision of adopting the final

prototype, or the decision of rejection, could be made. Then the research

process could be finished or restarted from beginning alternatively.

48

3.2.3 The Reasoning Approach of DSR

Pertaining to this procedure, the reasoning approach of DSR is implied within

the actions. With reference to the traditional research approaches which are

introduced in the work of Cohen et al. (2007), namely Inductive approach and

Deductive approach, the research approach of DSR could be illustrated as it

shows in Figure 3-3 below. The figure is adapted from the paper of Takeda, et

al. (1990:45), which named suggestion phase as the "abduction" part of

reasoning.

Figure 3-3: Reasoning Approach in DSR Circle

To interpret the inductive and deductive portions of DSR, the comparison

between DSR and traditional researches is provided with reviewing the

interpretation of Cohen et al. (2007):

49

Inductive approach: In traditional researches, the deduction is the

process starts with a question or problem statement, and ends with

theoretical conclusion generated to address the objectives; In DSR, the

suggestion phase refers to the generation of theoretical suggestion or

assumption, on producing artifact, for solving the aware problems, which

is the inductive part of DSR approach.

Deductive approach: In traditional researches, the induction is the

process of testing an existed theory of assumption for gaining judgment

and new knowledge; In DSR, the development and evaluation of the

artifact are the processes which situate the theories or assumptions

produced by suggestion phase into practical testing and evaluation, and

then conclude with obtained judgment and knowledge. Therefore these

steps are the deductive part of DSR approach.

In addition, the Circumscription, which is named by Takeda (1990), is the

circumstances of problems found during deductive reasoning. It allows the

DSR to circulate again and again for addressing all of the problems.

In summary, the reasoning approach of DSR is the circles of alternatively

operating induction and deduction. The indicator of these research circles is

the circumscriptions encountered in the deduction part. Basing on the

understanding of reasoning approach, the outputs should be described in next

section.

50

3.2.4 Outputs of DSR

Aiming to achieve the research objectives, the outputs of DSR are various.

The most generally recognized theory of DSR outputs is proposed by March

and Smith (1995). As they classified in the paper, four types of products can

be derived from DSR, which are termed as: Constructs, Models, Methods and

Instantiations. To understand these concepts within an information system

prototyping process context, the techniques adopted to illustrate the abstract

outputs, and the instances of concrete outputs, are underlain (in bold fonts)

with the interpretations:

1) Constructs – basic vocabulary of single concepts.

Use Cases – technique for illustrating constructs.

2) Models – description of relationships among constructs.

Activity Diagrams – technique for illustrating models.

3) Methods – procedures operated to perform a task.

Prototype – conceptual design of operating processes

4) Instantiations – final actualisation of proposed artifact.

Final Delivered System – confirmed final prototype, the accepted

system.

Regarding to the procedure introduced in Figure 3-2 and 3-3, the different

outputs of DSR could be generated from different steps. Separately, the use

cases are produced from the process of awareness of problem; activity

51

diagrams are created by reason of illustrating the suggestion; then the

prototype is developed from development section; after evaluation of the last

prototype, the final accepter system is delivered.

The theory of four products derived out of DSR, however, is reconsidered by

Hevner et al. (2004). They claimed that the final developed artifact is the

prime or even only contribution of the DSR. Nevertheless, it is generally

acknowledged that those fundamental concepts, models and methods

contribute to the knowledge base of DSR as well. The design science

research is therefore meaningful by aiming these outcomes.

3.3 Practical Research Implementation

In this section, the practical implementation of DSR methodology in this

particular research is described. First of all, the method of data collection

should be defined.

3.3.1 The Research Method: Participative Observation

The investigation method directs the way data is gathered in a research

(Cohen et al., 2007). On the basis of the DSR objectives, procedure, and the

limitations of this research, the research method is specified as Participant

Observation (PO). The PO basically involves the processes of observing the

participants while they are naturally undertaking defined practices in order to

52

gain understanding and feedback (Cohen et al., 2007).

Because of the development of the PSST system is based on a prototyping

process, the POs are carried out as the evaluation and test steps within the

research circle (see Figure 3-2, 3-3). There are three representative

participants, who are in behalf of three different subjects, contribute to the

POs for detecting the feedback. Specifically, they are: Dr. Christel de Bruijn

stands for phonetician perspective; Dr. Miguel Nunes stands for information

scientist perspective; and Mr. Solomon Alexis stands for computer

technologist perspective. And more specifically, the feedback gained from

phonetician perspective could help the system to fulfill the specific needs of

phonetic transcription learning; the information scientist perspective feedback

could be used to improve effectiveness, efficiency, as well as the interface

presentation of the information system; then the computer technical feedback

could assist the technical test and detection of technical errors.

In summary, the PO strategy is highly strengthened by utilising the

triangulation of three views. Distinct perceptions could form a much more

comprehensive achievement out of the research. The feedback obtained from

the POs are analysed and discussed for the corrections or the development of

following prototypes. The details of prototyping process are depicted in next

section.

53

3.3.2 Process Steps: The Research Circles

Thinking about the procedure of DSR in accordance to the development

method – Prototyping, the circles of research correspond to the circles of

prototyping, depending on different basis. As it was planned to be three

prototypes for developing the system, the research was iterated three times

as well. On this basis, according to the procedure of DSR in Figure 3-2, the

activities undertaken to implement this research methodology are described

basing on those 5 typical process steps as follow.

1) Identification of Needs / Awareness of Problems

The first time of the problem awareness step in this particular project could be

formed as the identification of the learning needs on phonetic transcriptions.

The data for identifying these needs were gathered both from gathering

primary data from analysing the users' circumstances and reviewing

literatures of the particular domain. Meetings in person with Dr. Christel were

arranged in order to gain better understanding of current states. The

documental specification of the blended learning course was also reviewed as

background information. Meanwhile, the scholarly literature review was

carried out for providing comprehensive understanding of specific topic – web

based self-learning of phonetic transcription in a blended learning course. Use

cases were generated for illustrating the elemental concepts within certain

needs, which can be considered as the record of the needs. Consequently,

54

the problems within this project are defined basically from the general

investigation and literature review. In addition, in second and third prototyping

circles, this stage could be considered as awareness of problems. Because of

the activity in this stage then was only the decision on problems should be

solved.

2) Initial Design / Suggestion of Solutions

This initial design of the conceptual prototype was the suggestion phase in

DSR, which is at the first time. The design was precisely based on the data of

learning needs gathered from the first problem awareness step. After

analysing and discussing the data previously collected, the conceptual design

took place by suggesting possible solutions for addressing the learning needs

(solving the problems). The interaction and order of elemental concepts were

then described by activity diagrams created. It defined the abstract model of

this information system. Furthermore, in second and third prototyping circles,

this step could referred to the suggestion of problem solutions, which only

involved the activities of proposing solutions for corrections and

improvements.

3) Development

The development of prototype was consonant with technical realisation of the

suggestion in DSR. According to the suggested solutions of problems, thus

55

the system was developed. By adopting web technologies like PHP, HTML

and JavaScript, the prototype was partly completed in each circle according to

the prototyping plan, which was ready for testing and evaluation.

4) Evaluation

Evaluation is considered as the most methodologically important stage of the

prototyping circle. The system was tested and evaluated by adopting the

method participant observation. Observations were done in forms of either

face-to-face observing or online conference. The participants were requested

to test the system from their own perspective, naturally without a structured

format. Meanwhile the feedback is recorded as audio tracks for further

reviewing. And notes of details were recorded at the same time in case of the

sound file would be missing or unclear. Thus the qualitative data were

recorded. New problems were defined in this stage, which were needed to be

addressed in further prototypes. The last prototyping circle ended with the

close of evaluation, which means that the system was temporarily accepted to

allow the research to be accomplished.

5) Conclusion

The final prototype was generated to allow the research completing. The

output of the conclusion step – the accomplished system allowed the

research to check up the achievement of the original research objectives.

56

Comprehension and implications were derived from the research as well,

which suggested the further works on the system.

3.4 Limitations of Methodology

The choice of investigation method was originally decided as the combination

of qualitative PO to the instructor and quantitative survey of the students took

the phonetics course. It could deliver much more comprehensive and valuable

outcomes from both sides of instructor's perspective and students'

perspective. However, the limitation is that, the research was implemented

during the vacation of BCU therefore there is no student available for doing

the quantitative survey. Another limitation of methodologies could be the

speed of internet connection is relatively limited for online video conferences.

Therefore the observations as well as the data collection were implemented in

a relatively low quality. Although there were still several methodological

limitations concerning conditions like time and labour, the research was

successfully accomplished by adopting such methodology. The next chapter

is the findings and discussions of the research processes.

57

Chapter 4: Prototyping

This chapter provides the description of the prototyping process

implementation, which is followed by the findings discovered and the

discussion of such findings.

Regarding to this particular research, prototyping was adopted to be the

method for application development. Depending on the research objectives, a

plan of prototypes is formed. Thus, concerning the time limit of this project,

three prototypes were arranged on different levels of achievements. More

specifically:

Fist prototype aimed the accomplishment of the overall structure and basic

functions with the conceptually designed user interface;

Second prototype aimed the fulfillment of all of the functions and the

completed, consummate user interface;

Third prototype aimed the technical perfection with all predefined needs

addressed and problems and errors solved.

In addition, between the evaluations of second and third prototype, there are

three sub-prototypes which were undertaken for technical corrections and

interface refinements. Furthermore, before the delivery of the third prototype,

there was a sub-prototype for debugging the technical errors. The POs for

evaluations of all the prototypes and were carried by prototype meetings. The

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meetings for testing first prototype, third prototype and final debugging

sub-prototype were carried out through the form of online video conference.

The rest of prototype meetings were all tested in face-to-face meetings.

4.1 First Prototype

The first prototype is generated from the analysis of initially gathered data

which concerning the current circumstance of learning and existed theories in

this domain.

4.1.1 Identification of Needs

According to the data derived from the general investigation. The current

circumstance of the phonetics learning module is underlain.

The Current Circumstance of Phonetics Learning Module

The department of SLT in BCU provides a course to students who will be

trained to speech and language therapists (Faculty of Health in BCU, 2009).

The SLT course provides a module of learning in phonetic transcriptions. This

module currently adopts a blended learning model as the approach of

instruction, which combines the instructor-led face-to-face learning,

instructor-led e-learning and students' self-learning (see Figure 2-1 in Chapter

2). With regard to the learning of phonetic transcription, a great amount of

practice is in demand. The current instructional supports for such kind of

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practice are delivered by classroom exercises and students' self-testing which

is based on the material presented online. However, the classroom exercises

are limited concerning the time limitation. In addition, in both cases of

classroom and self-paced exercises, the items for exercise is chosen by the

lecturer, depending on where the lecturer believes the most of students would

benefit from. The equal treatment seems to lack of customised solutions for

students to fulfill their personal needs. The need of a web based self-learning

system is obvious.

From analysing the data gathered in general investigation in BCU, the

learning needs, along with the current learning problems, which the PSST

system should address are specified as follow.

1) Generally, the PSST system should provide student web-based exercises

in order to gain mastery of phonetic transcriptions.

2) The phonetic transcriptions are classified into four categories for practice:

phonemes, English words, non-sense words and connected speech.

3) Each category of the phonetic transcriptions is classified in to more

specific categories (which is shown in generated Use Case Diagram, see

Appendix – I) for practice.

4) The form of test should be remained which gives students opportunities to

test themselves and practice at the same time.

5) The problem of lacking customisation in fulfilling personal learning needs

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should be addressed properly.

6) The problem of lacking selection in practices should be addressed

properly.

With such specification of learning needs and aware problems, the initial

design of the conceptual prototype is carried out.

4.1.2 Initial Design

According to academic theories reviewed in the literature review (Chapter 2),

the keys of providing ideas on designing the web based self-testing system

are aware. Basing on both research and the investigation, the initial design of

PSST which composed by suggested solutions is presented. The suggestions

made are as listed as:

1) Basically, the system will provide students the opportunities to practice

their pronunciations of phonetic transcriptions. The practices of pronouncing

the transcriptions could enhance the phonemic awareness of student, which

would help them to gain mastery of the transcriptions.

2) The system will give the full selections on all of the categories defined in

the requirements in the form of a multi-layers hierarchy. This would allow

students to practice specific domain rather than practice without specific

purpose.

3) With regard to the practice method, a open-ended self-testing approach is

adopted according to the theories on assessments in learning. Namely the

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system will represent student a phonetic transcription and ask student to

pronounce it. Afterward the system provides student the chance to check

standard pronunciation which is recorded by instructor. Student then can be

aware with the correct pronunciation and get improved.

4) Specifying the solution of customisation, students are given choices

between randomly generated tests and the test generated by their own. By

the meaning of "by their own", that is the system will present students a chart

of phonemes and allow them to select items from it which they would like to

practice. By this approach, the individualised test can be created to achieve

customisation.

The chart of activity flows illustrates the sequences of possible activities'

flowing within the system (see Appendix – II).

4.1.3 Development

The primary development of the pronunciation exercise part in PSST system

is described following. Because of the backup of first prototyping is missing,

the interface is illustrated in conceptual pictures. Although the original

screenshots of the first prototype cannot be shown, the first version of

interface is quite simple, which is much like the conceptual pictures.

Additionally, since the aim of first prototype is basic functions with simple

interface, the emphasis is laid on the structures. Descriptions are organised

by different pages.

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Home page (*.html)

This home page of the pronunciation exercise system is generated by coding

in HTML. The main menu of four categories of phonetic transcription is

located in the home page, as shown in Figure 4-1-1 below.

Figure 4-1-1: Prototype 1 – Home Page

The page was purely programmed in HTML. Therefore it did not support

scripting activities. Only the "Phonemes" button links to the further page.

Because the phoneme part of test was considered to be the most complicated

portion of the system. Therefore it was decided to be completely finished

firstly. And the rest parts can be efficiently generated later. The last button is

the button provided to allow students linking to the homepage of entire PSST

system.

Phonemes

English Words

Non-Sense Words

Connected Speech

Go back to PSST Home

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Phonemes Menu (*.html)

The button "Phoneme" is set as a submit-type input in a HTML form

temporarily, which is expected to be changed in further prototypes by reason

of the cause of conflicts with other buttons. The button links to the page of

phonemes menu which is shown below (Figure 4-1-2). This page is

developed by using HTML and JavaScript.

Figure 4-1-2: Prototype 1 – Phoneme Menu

As it shows in is conceptual picture, the phoneme menu provides four kinds of

selections by using radio checkboxes. These selections are actually situated

in a multi-layered hierarchy, and some selections are exclusive from some

others. An algorithm is created in JavaScript for performing the exclusions

between the groups of radio checkboxes. For example, if the box

"consonants" is selected, the second and third layers of selections will be

• Vowels Consonants

Vowels or Consonants?

• English Cardinal

English or Cardinal?

• Monophthong Diphthon Both

Monophthong , Diphthong or Both?

• Select from list Random test

Random test or Select From List?

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disabled while the last selection is remained. There are still two buttons in this

page which are not shown in the conceptual picture. Namely "start test" and

"go back to PSST home". The "start test" button is embedded a JavaScript

confirmation function, which exams that if the user has made the selection

properly. If the button is clicked without all the selections are properly done, an

alerting dialog box will jump out reminding "please make valid selection".

Additionally, a judgment is embedded in the click-on event of the start button,

which is in order to judge if the test items are going to be picked randomly or

the test items are going to be selected from the phonemes list. In the first

prototype, the selective list of phonemes is not completely formed. Therefore

the demonstration is only presented on the randomly generated test page.

Test Page (*.php)

After proper selections toward random test is made in phoneme menu page,

the button "start test" will enable user linking to the test page shown below

(Figure 4-1-3). This page is generated by using HTML, JavaScript, PHP and

MySQL. Functionally, HTML portion is in charge of displaying; JavaScript

portion is in charge of buttons' click-on events; PHP portion is in charge of

linking to the database server and enabling MySQL to be ran in the page; and

MySQL queries takes the values of randomly picked items out of the database

to generate the test.

65

Figure 4-1-3: Prototype 1 – Test Page

The random test function is mainly realised by utilising PHP. Specifically, the

variables which store the selections of the phonemes categories are

transferred from the phoneme menu, through a page named "session", to this

test page. By adopting PHP random function, a random number is derived

and stored as an indicator. According to these variables, the MySQL query is

composed and a random item from selected domain is found. Taking the

value of phonetic transcription and the value of the path in where the

corresponding sound file is stored, the test page is finally produced. The

sound file is embedded in this page invisibly and controlled by a JavaScript

function which embeds the control of "play" button into the button "play

standard pronunciation". Once the user clicks on the button, the sound file will

be thereby played. The button "play answered pronunciation" is not defined in

Try to pronounce following phonetic transcription:

[ m ]

Play Standard Pronunciation Play Answered Pronunciation

Create Another Exercise Next Transcription

Exit the Exercise Go Back to PSST Home

66

this prototype because of the absence of function for recording the answering

sound from user. Technical solution for achieve this function will be discussed

in the second prototype. The "next transcription" button stands for the

regeneration of a new random question. By refreshing the current page, the

variable stores the random indicator is regenerated. Then the MySQL query is

changed correspondingly for picking up a new random item. However, the

variables storing user's selections are remaining by utilising PHP session. The

functions of the rest of buttons can be identified by their names, which are

simply enabled by JavaScript functions. In addition, the test page is basically

available to be linked from either random test or selected test. The technical

solution of saving user's selection will be demonstrated in the description of

next page – "session".

Session Page (*.php)

This page is purely coded in PHP without even embedded HTML. Therefore it

is invisible to users. The use of this page is to transfer the variables which

store the selections for identified user. The PHP session temporarily stores

variables from clients into server with a unique ID for user identification. In

practice, the phoneme menu page links firstly to this session page where a

new session is created storing user's selections, then the session page links

to the test page immediately with the variables reserved.

67

4.1.4 Evaluation

The evaluation of the first prototype is done through an online video

conference by using Skype. The feedbacks are recorded by recorder as well

as note taking. Concerning the time limitation, not all the details of the

feedbacks can be specified here. However, the important feedbacks from first

prototype meeting are still listed as follow.

1) The recording function is important to be addressed in next prototype.

2) The charts of phonemes under "pick from list" are needed to be

completed.

3) The buttons in test page is overlapping in some sense.

4) Simple guidelines and more considered naming of selections should be

added on for directing users properly rather than leave poor presentation

to untrained students.

To sum up, the aims of the first prototype – structure, main functions and plain

interface, in any case, are well achieved. The so far satisfying system is in

demand of an elegant interface.

4.2 Second Prototype

The second prototype starts from the analysis and discussion of aware

problems, where suggestions of solving such problems are made.

68

4.2.1 Suggestions of Solutions

After analysing and discussing the feedbacks given in the first prototype

meeting, the technical solutions for implementing required functions are

stated as follow.

In the interest of recording users' sound, there are several potential solutions.

Firstly, it can be done by using embedded recorder of Java Applet as an

add-on programme. Secondly, the Adobe Flash can be adopted for web

based recording, which requires coding in Adobe Action Script 3. Thirdly, the

PHP seems to possess the capacity of recording online. After researching the

three potential solutions, the second and third ones are finally rejected by

reasons following. The Adobe Flash is not a free source and the application of

AS3 requires mastery in this language, which is impossible to achieve

concerning the time limitation. And then, the PHP has no ability to record

sound from clients-side for the reason that it is a server-side only scripting

language. Therefore the Java Applet recorder is suggested as the solution of

recording sound.

The rest of feedbacks are received to adapt/accomplish the system in the

second prototype. The buttons' duplication could be solved by reorganising

the layout of the test page. And the guidelines for users would be added on.

Most of the names of options and buttons are suggested to be adapted for

69

presenting a clearer, elegant user interface. In addition, professional header

and footer are suggested to be included in every page to improve the

interface and to maintain the consistency.

4.2.2 Development before Sub-Prototypes

As it is mentioned in the methodology chapter (Chapter 3), there are three

sub-prototypes lays within the second prototyping circle. The development for

implementing the suggestions generated above is not entirely finished before

the first sub-prototype. However, the technical implementations are

undertaken from following aspects.

The seeking of a valid and available Java Applet recorder was carried out

firstly. After several attempts were failed on invalid applets, an available and

working recorder was found. The applet is produced and supported by Vimas

Technologies who provides this applet freely for un-commercial purposes.

The original working interface of the applet is shown in Figure 4-2-1.

Figure 4-2-1: Original Interface of the Java Applet Recorder

The applet provides a range of typical functions of recorder. Thus, the

70

components which could be used in PSST are: sound recording, stop

recording, playback of the last recorded sound, status display, timer and the

volume feedback bar. The embedding of the Java applet is done by use

Applet Object tag of HTML. The functions mentioned above are provided in

JavaScript, which is adapted into a redesign of recorder which meets the

specific needs of the PSST system.

Secondly, the selective charts of phonemes are generated in a PHP page.

The page contains all of the codes for displaying every chart of corresponding

phoneme category. However, only the selected category can be displayed.

This is achieved by involving a PHP judgment within the codes, which check

the variable stores selections and then choose a chart to display. After making

choices and clicking on "start test", the page then still submits and links to the

session page. That means the selection of phonemes in this page are stored

in the session as well, which allows users iteratively practice selected items.

That corresponds the drill and practice theories.

Other developments are not accomplished before the sub-prototypes.

However, the header and foot of the PSST system was included in every page,

which present the logos and links to the homepages of both BCU and

Sheffield University.

71

4.2.3 Sub-Prototypes

Three sub-prototyping circles were delivered in collaboration of Dr. Miguel. As

mentioned in the methodology chapter, the system is then examined from an

information scientist perspective. Thus these prototyping circles contribute

mainly on the user interface refinement and technical corrections. Thereby the

changes between each sub-prototype are all relatively slight. Because of that

the examining perspective is presented from the view of information system,

the discussions of feedbacks were made during the sub-prototype meetings.

For that reason, each circle of sub-prototyping was composed by only

development step and feedback/discussion step. On this basis, the

descriptions of sub-prototyping circles are laid below.

Sub-Prototyping Circle A: Feedback and Discussion

1) The three parts of the PSST system: pronunciation exercises, transcription

exercises and database administration, should hold a consistency on user

interface design. That means, the interface of three components should

follow an exactly same design style. A unified CSS file could address this

problem.

2) Explanations are required on every page and every step where user could

feel confused. It should hold a form of guideline.

3) The main menu of phoneme categories is very confusing because of its

multi-layered hierarchical structure and complex concepts. After

72

discussion, the suggestion is made as that to develop a dynamic

multi-layered menu which shows properly further selection after the

conditional option is selected.

4) The name of the system should be changed to the defined "PSST" in the

header, and the copyright announcement should be put in the footer of

every page.

5) The redesigned recorder does not work in the examiner's system. Analysis

of problem indicates that it is since the absence of Java Runtime

Environment. An automatic detection of JRE along with automatic

installation is expected.

Sub-Prototyping Circle A: Development

1) The unified Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) file is created and adopted in

three of the sub-systems. The CSS file provides the design of styling by

each of the constitutive element such as table, heading and button, which

easily achieves the consistency of the system.

2) The dynamic main menu of phoneme categories is finished by combining

the use of span tag in HTML and the use of function of showing inner page

in JavaScript. Bend the inner page showing function with the click-on

event of radio boxes, the ideal dynamic menu is done.

3) Explanations and guidelines are included in every page and on the main

steps.

73

4) Header and footer are both adapted for the changes.

5) After several failures of the attempts paid on the seeking of JRE automatic

detection and installation, this function is abandoned concerning the time

and labour limitation.

Sub-Prototyping Circle B: Feedback and Discussion

1) The explanations are not detailed and clear enough. They should be

located in every step of the professional system for guiding new users.

Also some of the concepts in the page are in demand to be explained.

2) Java Applet works fine in Microsoft Internet Explorer after manual

installation of JRE. However, running the applet on Mozilla Firefox browser

could cause unpredictable crash in some particular systems. The

suggestion is made as that to put a disclaimer on the home page of PSST,

which claim the optimisation is built on Microsoft IE 8.0. This disclaimer

should also mention the Java Applet in use and the required plug-ins for

playing sounds (Microsoft Windows Media Player and Apple Quicktime

Player).

3) The format of the copyright announcement should be adapted properly,

and shown with the designers' name and departments' name.

4) Icons of the entries of different area: Students' areas, tutor's area,

transcription home, pronunciation home are expected to imply the content

of each area, which enhance the elegancy of the presentation as well.

74

5) Details of the layout of the pages should be paid attention, such as the

alignment of text, font colour, spacing between selections and buttons and

so on. The little refinements of these details will lead to great

impressiveness of the presentation.

Sub-Prototyping Circle B: Development

All of the detailing and adaption on user interface design were undertaken.

Although some of them have not been finished before the next sub-prototype,

the change on interface design is obvious, which makes a much more

professional and elegant presentation of the PSST system. The icons of each

entry are putted on pages as well.

Sub-Prototyping Circle C: Feedback and Discussion

The remaining interface refinements are still needed to be finished. The icons

of entries were generally commented inappropriate. Discussion reveals that

the icons selected should be consistent on style and size. Other issue is worth

notice is that the icons found from internet should be free resources provided.

Sub-Prototyping Circle C: Development

This is the process of finishing the interface detailing. The icons of areas are

entirely changed into consistent standard, which possess same style, same

size and are freely provided by Microsoft.

75

4.2.4 Evaluation of the Second Prototype

The second prototype is generated through three times correction and

refinement, which is generally considered fulfilling the planned objective.

However, there are still several problems remaining, which are listed

following.

1) The correction of mistakes in provided development supportive documents

are told to be adapted.

2) The inappropriate statements and explanation concerning English should

be adapted slightly.

3) The sound file embedded in the test page are relatively lacking on volume.

4) Embedded sound files could not be played in some particular systems.

5) The quality of recorded answering sound is relatively low for matching the

standard pronunciation.

4.3 Third Prototype

Because of the time and labour limitation, the parts of English words and

nonsense words exercises were discussed to be abandoned in this research,

which would be further developed in future works.

4.3.1 Suggestions of Solutions

Concerning the lack of volume when playing standard pronunciation, a

76

statement of notice should be presented to remind user higher their system

volume for listening to the sounds.

The reason of why sound files are not properly played in particular systems is

found as the inappropriate embedding method. Instead of using object tag

alone, the direct embedding of the sound file should also be coded in case of

it is defined unidentifiable in some particular systems.

The low quality of recorded sound is basically ascribed to the sampling

frequency and bit rate of the recorded file. The solution is found in the settings

of the Java Applet. To higher the quality standard of sound recording, the

parameters of sampling frequency and bit rate could be changed to 44100Hz

and 16bits/mono which could be perfectly matching the quality of standard

pronunciation sound files.

4.3.2 Development

The adaption with regard to the second prototype meeting is completely done

during the final development phase. The sound recording parameters are

changed and the file embedding method is reinforced by adopting the

suggestion above. The development of the final prototype is implemented

through a long period with many changes made during prototyping and

sub-prototyping. The development of each prototype is described above.

77

Here for the finally accomplished system, screenshots are provided below for

every page along with the correspondingly referenced codes which can be

found in Appendix II attached.

78

Figure 4-3-1: Final Prototype – Pronunciation Exercises System Home Page

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Figure 4-3-2: Final Prototype – Main Menu of the Phoneme Exercises (Before Selecting)

80

Figure 4-3-3: Final Prototype – Main Menu of the Phoneme Exercises

(After Selecting)

81

Figure 4-3-4: Final Prototype –Phoneme Specific Selection Chart (Consonant Selected)

82

Figure 4-3-5: Final Prototype –The Exercise Page

83

4.3.3 Debugging Sub-Prototyping

This debugging sub-prototyping process is aiming to test the change of the

method for embedding sound file, as well as the debugging of all the potential

technical errors. The sound file embedding works very well in this test.

Therefore, concerning the pronunciation subsystem in PSST, there is no more

change has been made during this prototyping process.

4.3.4 Evaluation

Because of the evaluation is built on a system which is situated in the

limitations of time and labour, the rest parts of English words and nonsense

words exercises are not mentioned in the prototype evaluation. Therefore, the

evaluation is delivered on the prototype of current portion of the system.

Finally the evaluation is that the system is successfully accomplished.

However, further prototypes are required in PSST system's development,

which should fulfill the remaining portions of the pronunciation exercises

system.

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Chapter 5: Conclusion

5.1 Summary of Research Achievements

In this dissertation, the research achievements are gained from different

chapters by different ways. This chapter summarises the entire research

process and examines whether the goals have been fulfilled. The research

objectives are recalled following along with the addressing of the research

objectives:

1. To investigate the comprehensive needs in learning phonetic

transcriptions and be aware of the problems engendered

correspondingly.

The learning needs in phonetic transcriptions module have been specified by

reviewing the data collected from the general investigation. And the current

problems in the certain domain have been discovered from the analysis of

gathered data.

2. To investigate what theories grounded can be useful for improving

the design of a web based self-learning system.

The academic literatures of a series of aspects surrounding web based

85

phonetic transcriptions self-learning have been reviewed. This process has

delivered many significant theories which influence and support the design of

the system greatly.

3. To design a suitable conceptual prototype, which is expected to

satisfy the learning needs and address the main problems.

According to academic theories reviewed in the literature review and the

current learning circumstance obtained from general investigation, the

conceptual design of the PSST pronunciation exercises system has been

properly presented. It has addressed the main problems in current learning

and the specified needs of users are mostly fulfilled.

4. To develop the system in order to technically realise the designed

conceptual prototype.

The actual self-learning system has been primarily developed according to

the initial design. The main functions have been realised by using web based

technologies along with a clear user interface which has shown the physical

structure of the PSST system.

5. To observe participants in order to gather feedback for improving

86

the system in prototyping process.

A series of participant observations has been carried out as the evaluation

and test steps within the prototyping circle. The feedback has been given from

three distinct perspectives, which has contributed comprehensive

understandings for improving the PSST system.

6. To continuously correct and refine the system into a satisfactory

version how is in accordance with participants' feedback.

Three main prototyping circles and 4 sub-prototyping circles have been

implemented for correcting and refining the PSST system. The final prototype

of the PSST system has generally contented the examiners by the fulfillment

of learning needs it has provided.

7. To accomplish the dissertation comprises detailed description,

interpretation and implication of the research.

This dissertation has almost been finished by now. The description and

interpretation have been provided in previous chapters. The implication of the

research will be found in next section.

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5.2 Implications of the Research

This research involves a distinct research methodology from traditional

natural science and social science approaches. The design science research

represents the process of technical development, which reflects another

perspective of research. The outcome of DSR is not only the developed

artifact, but also the knowledge gained and implications discovered

throughout the entire research process. These kinds of outcome from DSRs

contribute to the domain even more than the artifact itself.

5.3 Limitations of the Research

The main limitations of this research are the time and labour limitations.

Within a limited time period, the comprehensiveness of the research is limited

as well. The research involves the labour requirements as well. Specifically,

the evaluation of the system could be done by gathering data from both

qualitative approach and quantitative approach at the same time to construct

a much more comprehensive view and understanding. However the limitation

is there explained in the methodology chapter.

There are still other limitations, such as the lack of money. Free resources are

generally poorer than commercial ones. The abundance of expense is, in

some sense, one of the key to gain success.

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5.4 Further Works

There are still many works remaining as the rest part of this research.

Practically, the English words and nonsense words parts of the pronunciation

exercises part in the PSST system are needed to be accomplished.

Theoretically, this open-ended approach of pronunciation in phonetics

learning could be an innovation in this particular academic field. It implies

much more than it is interpreted in this dissertation.

89

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96

Appendix – I

97

Appendix – II

Home.php

<?php

if(array_key_exists("width",$_POST)){

setcookie("resolution[width]", "768", time()-(24*60*60), "", ".phonetics.bcu.ac.uk");

setcookie("resolution[height]", "1024", time()-(24*60*60), "", ".phonetics.bcu.ac.uk");

setcookie("resolution", "0", time()-(24*60*60), "", ".phonetics.bcu.ac.uk");

$width=$_POST["width"]; $height=$_POST["height"];

setcookie("resolution[width]", "$width");

setcookie("resolution[height]", "$height", time()+(24*60*60), "", ".phonetics.bcu.ac.uk");

} else if(array_key_exists("resolution",$_COOKIE)){

$width=$_COOKIE["resolution"]["width"];

$height=$_COOKIE["resolution"]["height"];

} else{

header("Location: index.html");}

?>

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"

"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">

<head><title>PSST Home (BCU)</title>

<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" />

<meta name="By BCU in collaboration with Shef Uni" content="The Phonetics Student Self-Learning

Tests System (PSST) by BCU & Shef Uni" />

<!-- Link to the external Style sheet stored in the same folder as this file -->

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="bcu_phonetics_styles.css" />

<!-- Code for the Title and Address Bar BCU Icon -->

<link rel="shortcut icon" href="favicon.ico" >

<link rel="icon" type="image/gif" href="animated_favicon1.gif" >

<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">

/* Function to redirect to the Students' section (i.e.) Exercise Home Page */

function go_to_students_page(){window.location = "exercisehome.php";}

/* Function to redirect to the Teachers' (i.e. admin) section */

function go_to_teachers_page(){window.location = "adminhome";}

</script>

<!-- /* This script is part of the code copyrighted and provided by by Apple Computer, Inc */ -->

<script language="JavaScript">

var javascriptVersion1_1 = false;

</script><script language="JavaScript1.1">

javascriptVersion1_1 = true;

</script><script language="JavaScript">

var detectableWithVB = false;

var pluginFound = false;

98

function goURL(daURL) {

if(javascriptVersion1_1) {

window.location.replace(daURL);

} else {

window.location = daURL;

} return;

}

function redirectCheck(pluginFound, redirectURL, redirectIfFound) {

if( redirectURL && ((pluginFound && redirectIfFound) ||

(!pluginFound && !redirectIfFound)) ) {

goURL(redirectURL);

return pluginFound;

} else {

return pluginFound;

}}

function canDetectPlugins() {

if( detectableWithVB || (navigator.plugins && navigator.plugins.length > 0) ) {

return true;

} else {

return false;

}}

function detectFlash(redirectURL, redirectIfFound) {

pluginFound = detectPlugin('Shockwave','Flash');

if(!pluginFound && detectableWithVB) {

pluginFound = detectActiveXControl('ShockwaveFlash.ShockwaveFlash.1');

}

return redirectCheck(pluginFound, redirectURL, redirectIfFound);

}

function detectDirector(redirectURL, redirectIfFound) {

pluginFound = detectPlugin('Shockwave','Director');

if(!pluginFound && detectableWithVB) {

pluginFound = detectActiveXControl('SWCtl.SWCtl.1');

}

return redirectCheck(pluginFound, redirectURL, redirectIfFound);

}

function detectQuickTime(redirectURL, redirectIfFound) {

pluginFound = detectPlugin('QuickTime');

if(!pluginFound && detectableWithVB) {

pluginFound = detectQuickTimeActiveXControl();

}

return redirectCheck(pluginFound, redirectURL, redirectIfFound);

}

function detectReal(redirectURL, redirectIfFound) {

pluginFound = detectPlugin('RealPlayer');

99

if(!pluginFound && detectableWithVB) {

pluginFound = (detectActiveXControl('rmocx.RealPlayer G2 Control') ||

detectActiveXControl('RealPlayer.RealPlayer(tm) ActiveX Control (32-bit)') ||

detectActiveXControl('RealVideo.RealVideo(tm) ActiveX Control (32-bit)'));

}

return redirectCheck(pluginFound, redirectURL, redirectIfFound);

}

function detectWindowsMedia(redirectURL, redirectIfFound) {

pluginFound = detectPlugin('Windows Media');

if(!pluginFound && detectableWithVB) {

pluginFound = detectActiveXControl('MediaPlayer.MediaPlayer.1');

}

return redirectCheck(pluginFound, redirectURL, redirectIfFound);

}

function detectPlugin() {

var daPlugins = detectPlugin.arguments;

var pluginFound = false;

if (navigator.plugins && navigator.plugins.length > 0) {

var pluginsArrayLength = navigator.plugins.length;

for (pluginsArrayCounter=0; pluginsArrayCounter < pluginsArrayLength; pluginsArrayCounter++ ) {

var numFound = 0;

for(namesCounter=0; namesCounter < daPlugins.length; namesCounter++) {

if( (navigator.plugins[pluginsArrayCounter].name.indexOf(daPlugins[namesCounter]) >= 0) ||

(navigator.plugins[pluginsArrayCounter].description.indexOf(daPlugins[namesCounter]) >= 0) ) {

numFound++;

} }

if(numFound == daPlugins.length) {

pluginFound = true; break;

}}}

return pluginFound;

} // detectPlugin

if ((navigator.userAgent.indexOf('MSIE') != -1) && (navigator.userAgent.indexOf('Win') != -1)) {

document.writeln('<script language="VBscript">');

document.writeln('\'do a one-time test for a version of VBScript that can handle this code');

document.writeln('detectableWithVB = False');

document.writeln('If ScriptEngineMajorVersion >= 2 then');

document.writeln(' detectableWithVB = True');

document.writeln('End If');

document.writeln('\'this next function will detect most plugins');

document.writeln('Function detectActiveXControl(activeXControlName)');

document.writeln('on error resume next');

document.writeln('detectActiveXControl = False');

document.writeln(' If detectableWithVB Then');

document.writeln(' detectActiveXControl = IsObject(CreateObject(activeXControlName))');

100

document.writeln(' End If');

document.writeln('End Function');

document.writeln('\'and the following function handles QuickTime');

document.writeln('Function detectQuickTimeActiveXControl()');

document.writeln(' on error resume next');

document.writeln(' detectQuickTimeActiveXControl = False');

document.writeln(' If detectableWithVB Then');

document.writeln(' detectQuickTimeActiveXControl = False');

document.writeln(' hasQuickTimeChecker = false');

document.writeln('Set hasQuickTimeChecker =

CreateObject("QuickTimeCheckObject.QuickTimeCheck.1")');

document.writeln(' If IsObject(hasQuickTimeChecker) Then');

document.writeln(' If hasQuickTimeChecker.IsQuickTimeAvailable(0) Then ');

document.writeln(' detectQuickTimeActiveXControl = True');

document.writeln(' End If');

document.writeln(' End If');

document.writeln(' End If');

document.writeln('End Function');

document.writeln('</scr' + 'ipt>');

}

</script></head>

<body>

<!-- Add the page header with BCU logo -->

<?php include("header.html"); ?>

<div class="exercise_body" style="width:<?php echo $width*0.9;?>px;">

<h3>Welcome to PSST!<br/></h3>

<p><div style="width:<?php echo $width*0.6;?>px;">

<h4>This system has been designed to provide you a convenient and comfortable environment to

thoroughly practice your phonetics and transcriptions skills with complete independence.</h4>

</div><h3><i>Happy Learning!!</i></h3>

</p>

<form action="#" method="get">

<table border="0">

<tr><th width="8%">&nbsp;</th>

<th width="40%"><img src="students_icon.jpg" alt="" height="57%" width="47%" /><br /></th><th

width="4%">&nbsp;</th>

<th width="40%"><img src="tutor_icon.jpg" alt="" height="65%" width="45%" /><br /></th><th

width="8%">&nbsp;</th></tr><tr><th>&nbsp;</th>

<th>Students' Area</th><th>&nbsp;</th>

<th>Tutors' Area</th><th>&nbsp;</th></tr><tr><td>&nbsp;</td>

<td><input class="btn" type="button" name="students_section" id="students_section" value="Go to

Students' Area" onclick="go_to_students_page()" /></td><td>&nbsp;</td>

<td><input type="button" class="btn" name="teachers_section" id="teachers_section" value="Go to

Tutors' Area" onclick="go_to_teachers_page()" /></td><td>&nbsp;</td>

101

</tr></table>

</form><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>

<div style="width:<?php echo $width*0.85;?>px;">

<p style="text-align=left;font-size:small;">

This site has been optimised to work well with Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 and Mozilla Firefox Browsers

on Windows XP or Later versions of Windows.

<br/>You may be prompted to install the free Windows Media Player Plugin (for IE) or the free Quicktime

Player Plugin (for Firefox) to play the sound clips in the exercises.

<br/>For pronunciation exercise, when prompted, you will have to allow the the<i>VIMAS wave sound

recording applet</i> to run on your system in order to record your pronunciations. You may be prompted

to install the free Java Runtime Environment (JRE) if it does not exists already.

<br/>Please note that PSST has been designed for training only.

</p></div><br/></div>

<!-- Add the page footer with Shef Uni logo -->

<?php include("footer.html"); ?>

</body></html>

exercisehome.php

<?php

if(array_key_exists("resolution",$_COOKIE)){

$width=$_COOKIE["resolution"]["width"];

$height=$_COOKIE["resolution"]["height"];

}else{

$width=1024; $height=768;

} ?>

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0

Strict//EN""http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">

<head><title>PSST Exercises Home</title>

<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" />

<meta name="By BCU in collaboration with Shef Uni" content="The Phonetics Student Self-Learning

Tests System (PSST) by BCU & Shef Uni" />

<!-- Link to the external Styple sheet stored in the same folder as this file -->

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="bcu_phonetics_styles.css" />

<!-- Code for the Title and Address Bar BCU Icon -->

<link rel="shortcut icon" href="favicon.ico" >

<link rel="icon" type="image/gif" href="animated_favicon1.gif" >

<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">

/* Function to redirect to the Transcriptions Exercise Home Page */

function go_to_transcription_exercises()

{window.location = "./transcriptionexercise/";}

/* Function to redirect to the Pronunciation Exercises Home Page */

function go_to_pronunciation_exercises()

{window.location = "./pronunciation_test/";}

/* Function to redirect to the PSST Home Page */

102

function go_to_psst_home(){window.location = "./";}

</script></head><body>

<!-- Add the page header with BCU logo -->

<?php include("header.html"); ?>

<div class="exercise_body" style="width:<?php echo $width*0.9;?>px;">

<h3>PSST - Students' Exercises Home</i></h3>

<p><h4>You have the following two types of exercises to strengthen your skills.</h4></p>

<form action="#" method="get">

<table><tr><td width="15%">&nbsp;</td>

<td width="33%"><img src="./images/listen_icon.jpg" alt="Transcription Exercise Logo"

height="40%" width="40%" /></td><td width="4%">&nbsp;</td>

<td width="33%"><img src="./images/pronounce_icon.jpg" alt="Pronunciation Exercise Logo"

height="40%" width="40%" /></td><td width="15%">&nbsp;</td>

</tr><tr><th>&nbsp;</th>

<th>Transcription Exercises</th><th>&nbsp;</th>

<th>Pronunciation Exercises</th><th>&nbsp;</th>

</tr><tr><td>&nbsp;</td>

<td> <input class="btn" type="button" name="transcription_exercises" id="transcription_exercises"

value="Practice Transcriptions" onclick="go_to_transcription_exercises()"/></td><td>&nbsp;</td>

<td><input class="btn" type="button" name="pronunciation_exercises" id="pronunciation_exercises"

value="Practice Pronunciations" onclick="go_to_pronunciation_exercises()" /></td><td>&nbsp;</td>

</tr><tr><td>&nbsp;</td>

<td><h5 class="note"><i>Transcriptions Exercises</i> will provide you options to choose sounds from

various catagories for practicing their transcriptions.</h5></td><td>&nbsp;</td>

<td><h5 class="note"><i>Pronunciations Exercises</i> will provide you options to choose transcripts for

various catagories to practice their pronunciations.</h5></td><td>&nbsp;</td>

</tr><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr><t

r><td>&nbsp;</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>&nbsp;</td>

</tr><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr><t

r><td>&nbsp;</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>&nbsp;</td>

</tr><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td>&nbsp;</td>

<td><input class="btn" type="button" name="psst_home" id="psst_home" value="Back to PSST

Home" onclick="go_to_psst_home()"/></td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>&nbsp;</td>

</tr></table>

</form></div>

<!-- Add the page footer with Shef Uni logo -->

<?php include("footer.html"); ?>

</body></html>

103

Pronunciation_home.php

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"

"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">

<head>

<title>Ponetics Self-Test System - Pronunciation</title>

<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" />

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../bcu_phonetics_styles.css" />

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript" type="text/javascript">

//POP OUT WINDOW FOR EXERCISE APPLICATION

function goNewWin() {

window.open("pho_mainmenu.php",'TheNewpop','toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=1,menu

bar=no,scrollbars=1,resizable=1,width=750,height=650,top=50,left=100');

}

//Functions for directions of different choices

function pho_test(){

document.index.action="pho_mainmenu.php";

document.index.submit();

}

function eng_test(){

document.index.action="eng_mainmenu.php";

document.index.submit();

}

function non_test(){

document.index.action="non_mainmenu.php";

document.index.submit();

}

function con_test(){

document.index.action="con_mainmenu.php";

document.index.submit();

}

function psst_home(){

document.index.action="../index.html";

document.index.submit();

}

</script></head><body>

<!--HEADER-->

<?php include("../header.html"); ?>

<br /><h3 align="center">What would you like to pronounce?</h3>

<fieldset class="exercise_body"><legend>Please choose a catagory:</legend>

<table class="exercise_body"><form name="index"><tr height="90">

<td width="20%"><input type="button" value="Phonemes" onclick="pho_test()" /></td>

<td width="20%"><input type="button" value="English Words" onclick="eng_test()" /></td>

<td width="20%"><input type="button" value="Nonsense Words" onclick="non_test()" /></td>

104

<td width="20%"><input type="button" value="Connected Speech" onclick="con_test()" /></td>

</tr><tr ><td colspan="4">

<h5 class="note">You can select individual phonemes, english words,connected speech or nonsense

words to practice transcription...</h5>

</td></tr><tr height="60">

<td colspan="4"><input type="button" value="PSST Home" onclick="psst_home()" /></td>

</tr></form></table></fieldset>

<!--FOOTER-->

<?php include("../footer.html"); ?>

</body></html>

105

pho_mainmenu.php

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"

"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">

<head>

<title>Pronunciation Test Mainmenu</title>

<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" />

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../bcu_phonetics_styles.css" />

<script type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript">

//Disable and Enable the Start Button

function disable_start(){

document.getElementById("start_test").disabled=true;

}

function enable_start(){

document.getElementById("start_test").disabled=false;

}

//Reset Button

function reset_menu(){

document.getElementById('field_2').innerHTML='';

document.getElementById('field_3').innerHTML='';

document.getElementById('field_4').innerHTML='';

disable_start();

}

//Span Contents of Radio Checkboxes

var radio_2='<br /><fieldset class="exercise_body" text-align:center"><legend>Cardinal or English

Vowels?</legend><br /><label><input type="radio" name="select_2" id="cardinal" value="cardinal"

onclick="con_cardinal()" />Cardinal</label>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<label><input type="radio"

name="select_2" id="english" value="english" onclick="con_english()" />English</label><h5

class="note">Choose between Cardinal Vowel or English Vowel Phonemes.<br/>If you choose English

Vowels the below menu for them will be activated...</h5></fieldset>';

var radio_3='<br /><fieldset class="exercise_body" text-align:center"><legend>Monophthongs,

Diphthongs or Both?</legend><br /><label><input type="radio" name="select_3" id="monophthong"

value="monophthong" onclick="con_mdb()"

/>Monophthong</label>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<label><input type="radio" name="select_3"

id="diphthong" value="diphthong" onclick="con_mdb()"

/>Diphthong</label>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<label><input type="radio" name="select_3" id="both"

value="both" onclick="con_mdb()" />Both of them</label><h5 class="note">Choose only

Monophthongs, Only Diphthongs or both...</h5></fieldset>';

var radio_4='<br /><fieldset class="exercise_body" text-align:center"><legend>Select from List or Take a

Random Test?</legend><br /><label><input type="radio" name="select_4" id="specify"

value="specify" onclick="enable_start()" />Select from list</label>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<label><input

type="radio" name="select_4" id="random" value="random" onclick="enable_start()" />Random

selection</label><h5 class="note">Do you want to choose specific phonemes for the above selections that

you have made?<br/>Or you would like the system to randomly select them for you...</h5></fieldset>'

106

//Control radio checkbox innerpages

function con_consonant(){

document.getElementById('field_2').innerHTML='';

document.getElementById('field_3').innerHTML='';

document.getElementById('field_4').innerHTML=radio_4;

disable_start();

}

function con_vowel(){

document.getElementById('field_2').innerHTML=radio_2;

document.getElementById('field_3').innerHTML='';

document.getElementById('field_4').innerHTML='';

disable_start();

}

function con_cardinal(){

document.getElementById('field_3').innerHTML='';

document.getElementById('field_4').innerHTML=radio_4;

disable_start();

}

function con_english(){

document.getElementById('field_3').innerHTML=radio_3;

document.getElementById('field_4').innerHTML='';

disable_start();

}

function con_mdb(){

document.getElementById('field_4').innerHTML=radio_4;

disable_start();

}

//Different Actions for Different Buttons

function start_button(){

if(document.mainmenu.select_4[0].checked){

document.mainmenu.action="select.php";

document.mainmenu.submit();

}else if(document.mainmenu.select_4[1].checked){

document.mainmenu.action="session.php";

document.mainmenu.submit();

}else{

alert("Please make your selection.");

}}

function pro_home(){

document.mainmenu.action="index.html";

document.mainmenu.submit();

}

</script></head><body>

<!--HEADER-->

107

<?php include("../header.html"); ?>

<form method="POST" name="mainmenu">

<!--Vowel and Consonant Selection-->

<h3>Customise your phonemes exercise!</h3>

<fieldset class="exercise_body" style="width:450; height:35; text-align:center">

<legend>Vowels or Consonants?</legend><br />

<label><input type="radio" name="select_1" id="vowel" value="vowel" onclick="con_vowel()"

/>Practice Vowels</label>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

<label><input type="radio" name="select_1" id="consonant" value="consonant"

onclick="con_consonant()" />Practice Consonants</label>

<h5 class="note">Choose between Vowel or Consonant Phonemes.<br/>If you choose Vowels the

Vowels menu below will be activated...</h5>

</fieldset><span id='field_2'></span><span id='field_3'></span><span id='field_4'></span><br /><br

/><br /><br /><br />

<fieldset class="exercise_body" style="width:450; text-align:center; border:0px ">

<input type="button" value="Start Test" id="start_test" disabled="true" onclick="start_button()"

/>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

<input type="reset" value="Reset Fields" onclick="reset_menu()" />

<br /><input type="button" value="Pronunciation Home" onclick="pro_home()" />

</fieldset></form>

<!--FOOTER-->

<?php include("../footer.html"); ?>

</body></html>

108

Select.php

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"

"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">

<head>

<title>Pronunciation Self Test</title>

<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" />

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../bcu_phonetics_styles.css" />

<script type="text/javascript" LANGUAGE="JavaScript">

//fuction linking to pronunciation homepage

function pro_home(){

window.location = "pronunciation_home.php";

}

</script>

<?php

//CE_SHI: RECEIVED PARAMETER

//FUNCTIONS FOR DISPLAYING PHONEMES SELECTION TABLES

function table_pc(){

echo '<h3>Consonants Pick-up Table</h3>

<table class="pick_list" border="1" id="pulmonic_consonants"><caption><h4>Pulmonic

Consonants</h4></caption>

<tr id="pc_1">

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="p"/>p</label></td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="b"/>ƅ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="t"/>t</label></td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="d"/>d</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ʈ"/>ʈ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ɖ"/>ɖ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="c"/>c</label></td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ɟ"/>ɟ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="k"/>k</label></td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ɡ"/>ɡ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="q"/>q</label></td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ɢ"/>ɢ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

109

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ʔ"/>ʔ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

</tr><tr id="pc_2">

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="m"/>m</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ɱ"/>ɱ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="n"/>n</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ɳ"/>ɳ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ɲ"/>ɲ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ŋ"/>ŋ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ɴ"/>ɴ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

</tr><tr id="pc_3">

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ʙ"/>ʙ</label> </td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="r"/>r</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ʀ"/>ʀ</label></td>

110

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

</tr><tr id="pc_4">

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ѵ"/>ѵ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ɾ"/>ɾ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ɽ"/>ɽ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

</tr><tr id="pc_5">

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ɸ"/>ɸ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="β"/>β</label></td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="f"/>f</label></td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="v"/>v</label></td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="θ"/>θ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ð"/>ð</label></td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="s"/>s</label></td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="z"/>z</label></td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ʃ"/>ʃ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ʒ"/>ʒ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ʂ"/>ʂ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ʐ"/>ʐ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ç"/>ç</label></td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ʝ"/>ʝ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="x"/>x</label></td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ɣ"/>ɣ</label></td>

111

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="χ"/>χ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ʁ"/>ʁ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ħ"/>ħ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ʕ"/>ʕ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="h"/>h</label></td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ɦ"/>ɦ</label></td>

</tr><tr id="pc_6">

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ɬ"/>ɬ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ɮ"/>ɮ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

</tr><tr id="pc_7">

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ʋ"/>ʋ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ɹ"/>ɹ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ɻ"/>ɻ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="j"/>j</label></td>

112

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ɰ"/>ɰ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

</tr><tr id="pc_8">

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="l"/>l</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ɭ"/>ɭ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ʎ"/>ʎ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ʟ"/>ʟ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

</tr></table>';

}

function table_os(){

echo '<table class="pick_list" border="1" id="other_symbols">

<caption><h4>Other symbols</h4></caption>

<tr id="os_1">

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="w"/>w</label></td>

</tr>

</table>';

}

function table_cv(){

echo '<h3>Cardinals Pick-up Table</h3>

<table class="pick_list" border="1" id="cardinal_vowels"><caption><h4>Cardinal

113

vowels</h4></caption>

<tr id="cv_1">

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="i"/>i</label></td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="y"/>y</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ɯ"/>ɯ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="u"/>u</label></td>

</tr><tr id="cv_2">

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="e"/>e</label></td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ø"/>ø</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ɤ"/>ɤ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="o"/>o</label></td>

</tr><tr id="cv_3">

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ɛ"/>ɛ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="œ"/>œ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ʌ"/>ʌ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ɔ"/>ɔ</label></td>

</tr><tr id="cv_4">

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="a"/>a</label></td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ɶ"/>ɶ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list">&nbsp;</td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ɑ"/>ɑ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ɒ"/>ɒ</label></td>

</tr></table>';

}

function table_ev(){

echo '<table class="pick_list" border="1" class="vowels" id="eng_vowels"><caption><h4>English

Vowels</h4></caption>

<tr id="ev_0">

114

<th>&nbsp;</th>

<th>RP Keyword</th>

</tr><tr id="ev_1">

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ɪ"/>ɪ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">KIT</td>

</tr><tr id="ev_2">

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="e"/>e</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">DRESS</td>

</tr><tr id="ev_3">

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="æ"/>æ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">TRAP</td>

</tr><tr id="ev_4">

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ɒ"/>ɒ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">LOT, CLOTH</td>

</tr><tr id="ev_5">

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ʌ"/>ʌ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">STRUT</td>

</tr><tr id="ev_6">

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ʊ"/>ʊ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">FOOT</td>

</tr><tr id="ev_7">

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ɑː "/>ɑː</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">BATH, PALM, START</td>

</tr><tr id="ev_8">

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ɜː "/>ɜː</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">NURSE</td>

</tr><tr id="ev_9">

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="iː "/>iː</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">FLEECE</td>

</tr><tr id="ev_10">

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="eɪ"/>eɪ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">FACE</td>

</tr><tr id="ev_11">

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ɔː "/>ɔː</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">THOUGHT, NORTH, FORCE</td>

</tr><tr id="ev_12">

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="əʊ"/>əʊ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">GOAT</td>

115

</tr><tr id="ev_13">

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="uː "/>uː</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">GOOSE</td>

</tr><tr id="ev_14">

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="aɪ"/>aɪ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">PRICE</td>

</tr><tr id="ev_15">

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ɔɪ"/>ɔɪ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">CHOICE</td>

</tr><tr id="ev_16">

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="aʊ"/>aʊ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">MOUTH</td>

</tr><tr id="ev_17">

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ɪə"/>ɪə</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">NEAR</td>

</tr><tr id="ev_18">

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="eə"/>eə</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">SQUARE</td>

</tr><tr id="ev_19">

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ʊə"/>ʊə</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">CURE</td>

</tr></table>

<p>The above word list is based on the lexical set for RP and GenAM by Wells (1982).

The only adaptation that has been made is the symbol [eə] instead of [ɛə] for the SQUARE words.

This is, however, in correspondence with the notation used in the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary

(Wells, 2000).</p>

';

}

function table_ev_w(){

echo '<table class="pick_list" border="1" class="vowels" id="eng_vowels_weak"><caption><h4>Weak

Vowels</h4></caption>

<tr><th>&nbsp;</th>

<th>RP Keyword</th>

</tr><tr>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="i"/>i</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">HAPPY</td>

</tr><tr>

116

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="u"/>u</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">SITUATION</td>

</tr><tr>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ə"/>ə</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">ALLOW</td>

</tr></table>';

}

function table_ev_m(){

echo '<table class="pick_list" border="1" class="vowels"

id="eng_vowels_monophthong"><caption><h4>Monophthong Vowels</h4></caption>

<tr><th>&nbsp;</th>

<th>RP Keyword</th>

</tr><tr>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ɪ"/>ɪ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">KIT</td>

</tr><tr>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="e"/>e</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">DRESS</td>

</tr><tr>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="æ"/>æ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">TRAP</td>

</tr><tr>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ɒ"/>ɒ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">LOT, CLOTH</td>

</tr><tr>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ʌ"/>ʌ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">STRUT</td>

</tr><tr>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ʊ"/>ʊ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">FOOT</td>

</tr><tr>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ɑː "/>ɑː</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">BATH, PALM, START</td>

</tr><tr>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ɜː "/>ɜː</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">NURSE</td>

</tr><tr>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="iː "/>iː</label></td>

117

<td class="pick_list">FLEECE</td>

</tr><tr>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ɔː "/>ɔː</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">THOUGHT, NORTH, FORCE</td>

</tr><tr>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="uː "/>uː</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">GOOSE</td>

</tr></table>

<p>The above word list is based on the lexical set for RP and GenAM by Wells (1982).

The only adaptation that has been made is the symbol [eə] instead of [ɛə] for the SQUARE words.

This is, however, in correspondence with the notation used in the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary

(Wells, 2000).</p>';

}

function table_ev_d(){

echo '<table class="pick_list" border="1" class="vowels"

id="eng_vowels_diphthong"><caption><h4>Diphthong Vowels</h4></caption>

<tr><th>&nbsp;</th>

<th>RP Keyword</th>

</tr><tr>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="eɪ"/>eɪ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">FACE</td>

</tr><tr>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="əʊ"/>əʊ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">GOAT</td>

</tr><tr>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="aɪ"/>aɪ</label>

<td class="pick_list">PRICE</td>

</tr><tr>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ɔɪ"/>ɔɪ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">CHOICE</td>

</tr><tr>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="aʊ"/>aʊ</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">MOUTH</td>

</tr><tr>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ɪə"/>ɪə</label></td>

118

<td class="pick_list">NEAR</td>

</tr><tr>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="eə"/>eə</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">SQUARE</td>

</tr><tr>

<td class="pick_list"><label><input type="checkbox" name="selection[]" value="ʊə"/>ʊə</label></td>

<td class="pick_list">CURE</td>

</tr></table>';

}

?>

</head><body>

<!--HEADER-->

<?php include("../header.html"); ?>

<form action="session.php" method="POST">

<?php

//Specify Selected Table to Display

if($_POST[select_1]=="vowel"){ //filter by 1st selection

if($_POST[select_2]=="cardinal"){ //filter by 2nd selection

table_cv();

}elseif($_POST[select_2]=="english"){

if($_POST[select_3]=="monophthong"){ //filter by 3rd selection

echo "<h3>Monophthongs Only Pick-up Table</h3>";

table_ev_m();

}elseif($_POST[select_3]=="diphthong"){

echo "<h3>Diphthongs Only Pick-up Table</h3>";

table_ev_d();

}elseif($_POST[select_3]=="both"){

echo "<h3>Both Monophthongs & Diphthongs Pick-up Table</h3>";

table_ev();

}}}elseif($_POST[select_1]=="consonant"){

table_pc();

table_os();

}else{ //Case of Illegal Entrance

header('Location: ../index.html');

}

//PASS the parameters of previouse page

echo '<h5 class="note">Select one or more of the above phonemes that you wish to practice...</h5>

<fieldset class="exercise_body" style="width:550; border:0px">

<input type="button" value="Back to Pronunciation Home" onclick="pro_home()" />

&nbsp;&nbsp;

<input type="submit" name="submit" value="Start Exercise" />

&nbsp;&nbsp;

<input type="reset" name="reset" value="Reset Fields" />

119

<input type="hidden" name="select_1" value="'.$_POST[select_1].'" />

<input type="hidden" name="select_2" value="'.$_POST[select_2].'" />

<input type="hidden" name="select_3" value="'.$_POST[select_3].'" />

<input type="hidden" name="select_4" value="'.$_POST[select_4].'" />

</fieldset>'

?>

</form>

<!--FOOTER-->

<?php include("../footer.html"); ?>

</body></html>

120

test.php

<?php

//Access Session

session_start();

if(array_key_exists("submit",$_POST)){

switch ($_POST['submit']){

case 'Next Transcription':

//JUMP TO THE REST OF THIS PAGE

break;

case 'Restart Another Exercise':

session_destroy();

header('Location: index.html');

break;

case 'Exit the Exercise and Go Back to PSST Home':

default:

session_destroy();

header('Location: ../index.html');

}}

?>

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"

"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">

<head><title>Pronunciation Self Test</title>

<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" />

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../bcu_phonetics_styles.css" />

<script LANGUAGE="JavaScript" type="text/javascript">

//Function for Playing Standard Sound

function sound_play(soundobj){

var this_sound=document.getElementById(soundobj);

this_sound.Play();

}

function stop_confirm(){

var msg=confirm("Are you sure you want to exit the exercise?");

if (msg==true){

window.location = "index.html";

}else{

return false;

}}

</script></head><body><center>

<!--HEADER-->

<?php include("../header.html"); ?>

<br /><fieldset class="pronun_body" border='5' style='width:550; text-align:center; font-size:18pt;

border:3px solid;'><br />

<?php

121

//Display Random Test (1 time)

$dice = mt_rand(1,$_SESSION['dice_max'])-1;

//get transcription

$q_transcription = $_SESSION['source_table'][$dice]['PHO_PHONEME'];

//get sound file path

$s_path = $_SESSION['source_table'][$dice]['PHO_SOUND'];

//display transcription

echo "Try to pronounce following phonetic transcription:<br /><br

/>[&nbsp;".$q_transcription."&nbsp;]";

echo '<embed src="../'.$s_path.'" autostart=false width=0 height=0 id="s_sound" enablejavascript="true"

type="audio/x-wav" />

';

//RECORDED sound file

$r_path = 'voicefiles/miha/'.session_id().'.wav';

//direct embedding

echo "<embed src='../".$r_path."' autostart=false width=0 height=0 id='r_path' enablejavascript='true'

type='audio/x-wav'/>";

?>

<!--THE RECORDER-->

<?php include("answer.php"); ?>

<br />

<!--Generate Answers Play Button-->

<input class="pronun_bigbutton" type='button' style='width:250; height:40; font-size:16' value='Play

Standard Pronunciation' onclick="sound_play('s_sound')">

<input class="pronun_bigbutton" TYPE='button' style='width:250; height:40; font-size:16' VALUE="Play

Recorded Pronunciation" onClick="PLAYBACK_RP();">

<br /><br /></fieldset><br /><br />

<!--Buttons-->

<form action="test.php" method="POST">

<fieldset class="exercise_body">

<input class="pronun_button" style="width:180px;" name="submit" type="submit" value="Restart

Another Exercise" />&nbsp;&nbsp;

<input class="pronun_button" style="width:180px;" name="submit" type="submit" value="Next

Transcription" /><br /><br />

<input class="pronun_button" style="width:380px;" name="button" type="button" value="Exit the

Exercise and Go Back to PSST Home" onclick="stop_confirm()" />

</fieldset></form>

<?php //echo '<input type="hidden" name="transcription" value="'.$q_transcription.'" />'; ?>

<br /><p>Voice recording powered by VIMAS Technologies - <a

href="http://wwww.vimas.com/">http://wwww.vimas.com/</a></p>

<!--FOOTER-->

<?php include("../footer.html"); ?>

</center></body></html>

122

answer.php

<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" />

<?php

$USERDIR="miha";

$VoiceServerFolder = "/../voicefiles/";

?>

<SCRIPT type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript">

var optionNo = 0

var UserServerFolder = "<?php echo $USERDIR?>"

function vision(){

STOP_RP();

document.getElementById("loading").style.visibility="hidden";

document.getElementById("loaded").style.visibility="visible";

}

function fileLoaded(){

alert("Answer saved!");

}

function setRecordLevel(num){}

function report_RP(s,num){

alert(s);

}

function setStatus_RP(str,num){

document.Gui_RP.Status.value = str;

if(num==7) fileLoaded();

}

function setTimer_RP(s){

document.Gui_RP.Timer.value = s;

}

function confirmRecord(s,num){

if(confirm(s))

RECORD_RP();

else

STOP_RP();

}

function RECORD_RP(){

document.RPApplet.RECORD();

}

function PLAYBACK_RP(){

document.RPApplet.PLAYBACK();

}

function PAUSE_RP(){

document.RPApplet.PAUSE();

}

function STOP_RP(){

123

document.RPApplet.STOP_RP();

}

function UPLOAD_RP(){

document.RPApplet.UPLOAD(String(document.Gui_RP.FileName.value));

}

function WEBPLAY_RP(){

document.RPApplet.WEBPLAY(UserServerFolder + "/" + document.Gui_RP.VoiceItems.value);

}

//CE-SHI:REFRESH(EMBED) THE ANSWERED FILE WHEN IT IS UPLOADED

var embed_answer = "<?php

$r_path = 'voicefiles/miha/'.session_id().'.wav';

echo "<embed src='../".$r_path."' autostart=false width=100 height=1000 id='r_path' enablejavascript='true'

type='audio/wav'/>";

?>";

function refresh_answer(){

document.write(embed_answer);

}

</script></head>

<body onLoad="vision()">

<SPAN ID="loading" style="visibility:visible">

<TABLE border="0">

<TR><TD ALIGN=CENTER VALIGN=MIDDLE style="font-size:12pt;">Loading Java applet, please

wait...</TD>

</TR><TR>

<TD ALIGN=CENTER VALIGN=MIDDLE style="font-size:10pt;">(this process may take a few

minutes. If it takes longer, then please visit this website to dowload the latest version of JAVA: <a

href=www.java.com>www.java.com</a>)</TD>

</TR></TABLE>

</SPAN>

<SPAN ID="loaded" style="visibility:hidden">

<div class="pronun_note">(You could use the recorder below to record your pronunciation.)</div>

<FORM name="Gui_RP" onsubmit="event.returnValue=false;return false;">

<fieldset style="width:400; height:120; text-align:center" class="pronun_applet">

<TABLE CELLSPACING=1 style="color:#000000;font-family:Tahoma;font-size:10pt" border="0"

cellpadding="5" frame="box">

<!--1ST Row: Record & Stop Buttons-->

<TR align="center">

<TD width=180><input class="pronun_button" TYPE=button VALUE="Start Recording"

STYLE="width:180px;font-family:Tahoma;font-size:10pt" onClick="RECORD_RP();"></TD>

<TD width=180><input class="pronun_button" TYPE=button VALUE="Stop Recording"

STYLE="width:180px;font-family:Tahoma;font-size:10pt" onClick="STOP_RP();"></TD>

</TR>

<!--2ND Row: Volume Level Bar & Answer Button-->

<TR align="center">

124

<TD width=180>

<APPLET CODE="RPApplet.class"

ARCHIVE="RPAppletWav.jar"

CODEBASE="../recorder/"

ALIGN="MIDDLE" width=180 HEIGHT=20

NAME="RPApplet"

MAYSCRIPT>

<PARAM NAME = cabbase VALUE = RPAppletWav.cab>

<PARAM NAME = "Registration" VALUE = "demo">

<PARAM NAME = "ServerScript" VALUE = "http://phonetics.bcu.ac.uk/recorder/retrive.php">

<PARAM NAME = "VoiceServerFolder" VALUE = "<?php echo $VoiceServerFolder?>">

<PARAM NAME = "TimeLimit" VALUE = "1800">

<PARAM NAME = "BlockSize" VALUE = "10240">

<PARAM NAME = "Sampling_frequency" VALUE = "44100">

<PARAM NAME = "AudioFormat" VALUE = "PCM">

<PARAM NAME = "InterfaceType" VALUE = "JS">

<PARAM NAME = "UserServerFolder" VALUE = "<?php echo $USERDIR?>">

<PARAM NAME = "UserPostVariables" VALUE = "name,country">

<PARAM NAME = "name" VALUE = "miha">

<PARAM NAME = "country" VALUE = "Ukraine">

<PARAM NAME = "backgroudColor" value = "d4d0c8">

<PARAM NAME = "indicatorLevel1" value = "4664f0">

<PARAM NAME = "indicatorLevel2" value = "28c814">

<PARAM NAME = "indicatorLevel3" value = "f03250">

<PARAM NAME = "indicatorWidth" value = "374">

</APPLET>

</TD>

<?php echo '<input TYPE=hidden NAME="FileName" VALUE="'.session_id().'.wav">' ?>

<TD width=180 class="pronun_td">Timer: <input class="pronun_textarea" TYPE=text

NAME="Timer" SIZE=9></TD>

</TR>

<!--3RD Row: Status Field & Timer-->

<TR align="center">

<TD width=360 colspan="2" STYLE="font-size:9pt">Status: <input class="pronun_textarea"

TYPE=text NAME="Status" VALUE="" SIZE=45 MAXLENGTH=60

style="width:300;font-family:Tahoma;font-size:10pt"></TD>

</TR></TABLE>

</fieldset></FORM>

</SPAN></body></html>

125

header.html

<table class="bcu_header"><tr><td width="30%">

<a href="http://www.bcu.ac.uk" alt="Birmingham City University Home Page">

<img src="./images/bcu_logo.png" alt="The Birmingham City University Logo" width="100%"

height="100%"/></a></td>

<td width="70%">Department of Speech and Language Therapy

<br/><i style="font-size:large;">Phonetics Student Self-Learning Tests (PSST)</i></td></tr></table>

footer.html

<div class="shef_footer"><br/><hr/>

<table><tr><td width="80%">

<b>Designed and Developed by Fang Linhao, Rigved Pathak and Zhou Jingchao with Dr. Miguel Nunes

from the Department of Information Studies, University of Sheffield

<br/>and Dr. Christel de Bruijn from the Department of Speech and Language Therapy, Birmingham City

University.</b>

<br/>©2010 Department of Speech and Language Therapy, Birmingham City University.

</td><td width="20%">

<a href="http://www.shef.ac.uk" alt="Uniersity of Sheffield Home Page">

<img src="./images/shef_logo.gif" alt="The University of Sheffield Logo"

/></a></td></tr></table></div>

index.html

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"

"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"><head><title>PSST Home

(BCU)</title>

<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" />

<meta name="By BCU in collaboration with Shef Uni" content="The page to get the user screen

resolution. By BCU & Shef Uni" />

<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">

function get_resolution(){

document.getElementById("screen_width").value=screen.width;

document.getElementById("screen_height").value=screen.height;}

function submit_form(){ document.getElementById("resolution_form").submit();}

</script></head><body onload="get_resolution();submit_form()">

<form name="resolution_form" id="resolution_form" method="post" action="Home">

<input type="hidden" name="width" id="screen_width" value="1024">

<input type="hidden" name="height" id="screen_height" value="768">

</form></body></html>

126

bcu_phonetics_styles.css

.bcu_header

{

font-family:arial,sans-serif;

background-image:url('./images/header_bg.png');

background-repeat:repeat;

color:White;

font-weight:bold;

font-size:x-large;

text-align:center;

width:100%;

height:100%;

vertical-align:middle;

}

.shef_footer

{

font-family:arial,sans-serif;

background-color:white;

color:#413A6D;

font-weight:normal;

font-size:small;

text-align:center;

font-style:italic;

width:100%;

height:100%;

vertical-align:middle;

}

table

{

border-collapse:collapse;

empty-cells:show;

margin-left:auto;

margin-right:auto;

vertical-align:text-top;

}

.exercise_body

{

font-family:arial,sans-serif;

background-color:white;

color:black;

font-weight:normal;

127

font-size:normal;

margin-left:auto;

margin-right:auto;

text-align:center;

}

form

{

color:black;

font-weight:bold;

font-size:large;

margin-left:auto;

margin-right:auto;

text-align:center;

}

.pick_list

{

border-style:solid;

border-width:1px;

border-collapse:collapse;

border-color:black;

font-weight:normal;

font-size:large;

text-align:left;

padding:10px;

border-spacing:10px;

font-family:'Doulos SIL',arial,sans-serif;

}

th

{

border-collapse:collapse;

font-weight:bold;

font-size:normal;

text-align:center;

font-style:italic;

color:grey;

padding:10px;

border-spacing:10px;

}

span.transcript

{

128

font-family:'Doulos SIL',arial,sans-serif;

color:#DDBB55;

font-weight:normal;

font-size:xx-large;

text-align:center;

font-style:normal;

}

.data

{

font-family:'Doulos SIL',arial,sans-serif;

border-collapse:collapse;

font-weight:normal;

font-size:small;

text-align:center;

font-style:italic;

color:black;

padding:10px;

border-spacing:10px;

}

legend

{

color:#002970;

font-weight:bold;

font-size:normal;

text-align:left;

font-style:italic;

}

fieldset

{

width:70%;

height:100%;

border:0;

}

h3

{

color:#DDBB55; /*yellow colour*/

}

h4

{

129

color:#002970;

}

p

{

font-weight:normal;

font-size:normal;

margin-left:auto;

margin-right:auto;

}

img

{

border:0px;

}

h5.note

{

color:grey;

text-align:center;

font-style:normal;

}

EMBED

{

margin-left:auto;

margin-right:auto;

}

OBJECT

{

margin-left:auto;

margin-right:auto;

}

.pronun_body

{

font-family:'Doulos SIL',arial,sans-serif;

font-style:normal;

text-align:center;

width:550px;

font-size:18pt;

border:3px solid;

}

130

.pronun_note

{

font-size:12pt;

color:rgb(240,128,128);

}

.pronun_applet

{

width:420px;

height:145px;

margin-left:auto;

margin-right:auto;

text-align:center;

vertical-align:middle;

border:1px solid gray;

font-size:12pt;

font-style:normal;

}

.pronun_textarea

{

height:18px;

font-size:10pt;

font-style:inherit;

color:#000000;

font-family:arial,sans-serif;

}

.pronun_td

{

font-size:10pt;

font-style:inherit;

color:#000000;

font-family:Tahoma;

}

.pronun_button

{

height:30px;

width:180px;

text-align:center;

vertical-align:middle;

font-size:11pt;

}

131

.pronun_bigbutton

{

height:35px;

width:230px;

text-align:center;

vertical-align:middle;

font-size:12pt;

}

.phoneme

{

font-weight:normal;

font-size:normal;

text-align:center;

font-style:normal;

color:black;

}

div

{

margin-left:auto;

margin-right:auto;

}

input.btn

{

font-weight:normal;

font-size:normal;

text-align:center;

font-family:arial,sans-serif;

}