Speak & Improve, a tool to improve spoken English and pronunciation Tool to improve spoken English and pronunciation
Autonomous learning
Description: Speak & Improve helps users improve their speaking and pronunciation skills in English. It works by providing users with speaking prompts or topics to talk about, recording their responses, and providing feedback on pronunciation, fluency, and accuracy. In this way, users engage in a conversation with an AI-powered robot. Speak & Improve is free and does not require having an account for use, although having an account provides access to more functionalities. It is a research project developed by Cambridge Assessment English. It is being developed by the University of Cambridge and is currently a research project.
Evaluation: Speak & Improve is a useful tool to encourage students to practise their spoken English and help them gain confidence. A suggestion for use would be to ask students to record a conversation with Speak & Improve, to then listen to themselves, paying attention to mistakes . Speak & Improve also provides a grade of the students’ CEFR speaking level by analysing their responses, although this is not always accurate.
Cost: Free
Type Of Interaction:
Individual work,
Skills:
Speaking,
Pronunciation,
Content:
Website/other users supply,
Usability and tech notes ▼
Time efficiency 
Time needed to learn how to use a tool and its time-saving potential: Medium. The software needs some time to process the responses.
Interface language(s) The number of languages in which the tool is currently available/adaptable to: English
Respect for privacy What data does the tool collect and why? What security measures are there? GDPR compliant? : Medium. Speak & Improve collects no personal data for use but it records users' submissions to improve the software. For users who create an account, Speak & Improve collects various types of personal information, including information provided by users. This includes email addresses, passwords, levels of study, mother tongue, and additional personal information, such as biographical details, personal opinions, likes, and dislikes. Speak & Improve also collects technical information, such as IP addresses and browsing data, together with cookies, which can nonetheless be deactivated. It also shares data with third parties for purposes such as providing services, research, analytics, and advertising. It stores on secure servers, and payment transactions are encrypted using SSL technology. It also acknowledges users’ rights to access their data, request copies, make changes, correct, delete, limit or stop data usage, move data to a third party, or change their consent. Speak & Improve does not explicitly state compliance with the GDPR. See more here.
Saving work for future use Can work be saved for future use?: