Google ASR Live Transcribe Benefit to Indonesian Accented

Google ASR Live Transcribe Benefit to Indonesian Accented English (IAE) Intelligibility as part of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) ABS-CONAPLIN-20179 Andy, SS, M. App. Ling Universitas Kanjuruhan Malang

ABS-CONAPLIN-20179 The ownership of English is shifting, due to steady growth of NNSs which eventually outnumber NSs. This position is termed by Seidlhofer (2001) that is English as a Lingua Franca (ELF). Indonesian Accented English (IAE), like other NNs Accented English tend to deviate from standard norm (NSs). In ELF, Zhou, Deterding and Nolan (2019) state that the central focus has been adjusted from NSs perfectness to intelligibility.

ABS-CONAPLIN-20179 To encourage mutual understanding among NNSs, more effort need to be done to avoid deviation being too far from NSs norm since this may impede message transfer. In this global pandemic era with stay-at-home policy and digital life by way of widespread available smartphone, the build-in android system along with its freeware application should be explored positively. One if which is Live Transcribe.

ABS-CONAPLIN-20179 Live Transcribe is a freeware state-of-the-art automatic speech recognition (ASR) application by Research in Google in collaboration with Gallaudet University, it automatically does ASR real time transcription. (app info in playstore) With Live Transcribe, NNSs Accented English particularly IAE speakers can do self practice to increase their intelligibility score, i. e. counting the number of words that are correctly transcribed/recognised by Live Transcribe.

ABS-CONAPLIN-20179 Jenkins (2000)’ Lingua Franca Core (LFC) features are outlined by Deterding and Mohamad (2016, 64) as follows: • All consonants, except /θ/, /ð/ and [ɫ] • The mid-central NURSE vowel • Vowel length distinctions • Nuclear stress • Initial consonant clusters How Live Transcribe can be of benefit to show what to focus on to gain higher intelligibility score?

ABS-CONAPLIN-20179 The North Wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger, when a traveller came along wrapped in a warm cloak. They agreed that the one who first succeeded in making the traveller take his cloak off should be considered stronger than the other. Then the North Wind blew as hard as he could, but the more he blew the more closely did the traveller fold his cloak around him; and at last the North Wind gave up the attempt. Then the Sun shone out warmly, and immediately the traveller took off his cloak. And so the North Wind was obliged to confess that the Sun was the stronger of the two. (IPA, 1999: 39) Thirty five English Education and Literature students at Universitas Kanjuruhan Malang were recorded with their smartphone reading NWS passage, the passage was sent in Whatsapp later on the voice note of their reading was sent back for data analysis. The students are from various parts of Indonesia, i. e. Papua, West and East Java, Sulawesi, Kalimantan, Maluku, and both EAST and West Nusa Tenggara.

ABS-CONAPLIN-20179 Discussion and Findings Low intelligibility score is mainly caused by two factors: • Vowel length distinctions • Nuclear stress

ABS-CONAPLIN-20179 The North Wind and The Sun Was not given appropriate nuclear stress, therefore it was recognised as did not win.

ABS-CONAPLIN-20179 the traveller take his cloak off Was not given appropriate vowel length distinction therefore it was recognised as Take his glucose

ABS-CONAPLIN-20179 Conclusion By focusing the practice more on vowel length distinctions and nuclear stress, Indonesian Accented English (IAE) speakers can be able to gain better intelligibility score in Live Transcibe ASR. With higher recognition score of this Google ASR app, among NNSs, there will be more mutual understanding among them and there will be less chance for deviation from NSs form being too far that can impede the success of message transfer.

ABS-CONAPLIN-20179 References Deterding, D. , & Mohamad, N. R. (2016). The lingua franca core and Englishes in East and Southeast Asiatic: IIUM Journal of English Language and Literature, 10(2). International Phonetic Association, & International Phonetic Association Staff. (1999). Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet. Cambridge University Press. Jenkins, J. (2000). The phonology of English as an international language. Oxford university press. Seidlhofer, B. (2001). Closing a conceptual gap: The case for a description of English as a lingua franca. International journal of applied linguistics, 11(2), 133 -158. Zhou, W. , Deterding, D. , & Nolan, F. (2019). Intelligibility in Chinese English Spoken in Central China. Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics, 42(4), 449465.