Designing a TTS(text-to-speech) E-book app

Abstract

Recently, technology is developing so fast. Now, almost everyone uses high technology products, such as smart phones and Tablet PC. Nowadays, children's learning tools are not just hard copy books. Children can use smart phones and Tablet PC which can download e-book applications. Children can learn diverse things and enjoy various entertainments. We follow this trend. We designed an application of TTS (text-to-speech) story e-book and it can be put on the platform that can be downloaded and used. In our story content, special festivals from different countries were integrated into the story. By reading this TTS e-book, children can raise their interests in understanding different special festivals and culture from different countries as well as learning English. After finishing our application of audio e-book, we did a survey toward a TTS e-book acknowledgement and the acceptability of our app. Thirty fifth and sixth grade students filled out the surveys. Results of this survey showed that most students thought this TTS e-book APP was a wonderful and good tool for learning. To conclude, we hope this application can motivate more children to read and expose children to interesting festivals in the world. More technical breakthrough in reading need to be put into consideration in order to obtain more optimal outcomes in language learning. © 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.