Becoming literate while learning a second language – practicing reading aloud

Abstract

The DigLin project aims at providing concrete solutions for low-literate and illiterate adults who have to learn a second language (L2). Besides learning the L2, they thus also have to acquire literacy in the L2. To allow intensive practice and feedback in reading aloud, appropriate speech technology is developed for the four targeted languages: Dutch, English, German and Finnish. Since relatively limited resources are available for this application for the four studied languages, this had to be taken into account while developing the speech technology. Exercises with suitable content were developed for the four languages, and are tested in four countries: Netherlands, United Kingdom, Germany, and Finland. Preliminary results are presented in the paper, and suggestions for future directions are discussed.