Choi, Jung-Yoon

Mackey, Alison

English

ScholarSpace at University of Hawai'i at Manoa

Language Learning & Technologyhttp://llt.msu.edu/vol2num1/reviews/tripleplay.htmlJuly 1998, Volume 2, Number 1pp. 19-20(page numbers in PDF differ and should not be used for reference)Copyright © 1998, ISSN 1094-3501 19REVIEW OF TRIPLEPLAY PLUS! ENGLISHProgram title: TriplePlay Plus! EnglishDistributor: Syracuse Language Systems, Inc.5790 Widewaters ParkwaySyracuse, NY 13214-2845Phone: (315) 449-4500Fax: (315) 449-4585Program information: http://www.syrlang.com/E-mail: customerservice@syrlang.comSystem requirements: IBM 486 DX 2/66 or faster with 8 MB RAM, Windows 3.1 or 95,256-color display, CD-ROM drive, 16 bit sound card, speakers orheadphones, mouse, 9.5 MB free hard disk space (standard install).Price: US $49.95; for a site license: $250.00 for 5 users, $450 for 10 users.Reviewed by Alison Mackey and Jung-Yoon Choi, Michigan State UniversityOVERVIEWTriplePlay Plus! English is a CD-ROM-based multimedia package designed for beginning to intermediateESL learners, ages 8 to adult. The program comes with a user's guide, plug-and-play microphone, andtechnical manual. TriplePlay Plus! is claimed to assist learners in developing three skills: listening,speaking, and reading. Vocabulary development, and a few other areas such as verb tenses andprepositions, are also targeted through a variety of games. This multimedia language learning programcan be used by learners for self-study, by teachers in classroom settings (in computer labs), and also bysecond language acquisition (SLA) researchers. The software, which includes automatic speechrecognition and 32 separate games, covers six main topics or themes. These include food, numbers, homeand office, people, activities, and places and transportation. The current version under review hereexpands the activities and material from previous versions. The software is also available for Spanish,French, German, English, Hebrew, Japanese, and Italian.DESCRIPTIONFrom the first screen, the Main Menu, learners can click on: (a) theSoundStart, which allows them to practice pronunciation of 50 words usingthe Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) and Record/Playback; (b) theLetters & Sounds, which demonstrates through the use of examples howEnglish letters correspond with the various sounds of the language; or (c)the Language Connect, which gives them access to language learningresources on the Internet.A remarkable feature in the SoundStart is that the ASR provides immediate feedback on pronunciationafter learners select a word from the list and say it into the microphone. Learners can also record theirvoices and compare their production to that of a native speaker's by using the Record/Playback. The ASRfeedback is provided visually as well as aurally. For example, when the software finds the pronunciationacceptable, learners hear a distinct "bink" (pronunciation is OK) or if it is not, they are provided withReviewed by Alison Mackey & Jung-Yoon Choi Review of Tripleplay Plus! EnglishLanguage Learning & Technology 20"bonk" (pronunciation is not correct). In the current version, visual feedback is shown through lights onthe Speech Recognition Meter. The number of lights indicates how well learners pronounced the word;when they see all of the lights on the meter, their pronunciation is near native-like.The ASR feature represents a considerable bonus for the current generation of CALL software. Indeed, itshows how far the field has come from the days when native speaker production of "recognize speech"was understood by the software to be "wreck a nice beach."The Main Menu presents other options for a number of games. First, learners select one of the threemodes: listening, reading, or speaking. If they choose the speaking mode, they also choose a voice typefrom "child, female, and male" options. The speaking mode also contains the ASR feature, again givinglearners feedback whenever they speak words, phrases, or sentences into the microphone. However,unlike the SoundStart mode, the feedback in the speaking mode is provided only as an aural type (thesound of either "bink" or "bonk") without the option of visual lights. After choosing a mode, learners thenselect one of the six subjects: Food, Numbers, Home and Office, People, Activities, or Places andTransportation. Within each topic, several of the 32 available games become active. Games are alsoarranged by incremental developmental level.In the first level, games such as Concentration, Bingo, and People Puzzle allow users to learn individualwords and simple phrases. In Level 2, learners can practice the vocabulary learned in Level 1 throughusage of complete phrases and sentences. Level 3 represents the most complex language usage. At thisstage, learners can extend Level 1 and 2 skills through conversations in a colorful comic strip format. Insome games, learners can also choose a skill degree, depending on the cognitive as well as linguisticchallenges of the game. Regular game-users will be familiar with the criteria of many of the games, andwith determining skill-levels.ADVANTAGES OF TRIPLEPLAY PLUS! ENGLISH• The software is easy to use. We tried it out in two different universities with 14 people, includingESL learners, ESL teachers who were taking introduction-to-CALL classes, and second languageresearchers. Most people were able to switch between modes and try out the ASR within 15minutes. Beginners, while supported by their teachers, seemed particularly enchanted. Theprogram is CD-ROM-based, and can be easily and quickly run in Windows. The interface isgraphical and intuitive (green for go, red for stop, and a large help button). It also comes completewith a well-written user's guide which explains in detail how to use the software and play eachgame, and gives clear instructions which help learners easily move from game to game.• One of the best features of the program is the user-friendly ASR technology which evaluateslearners' speech, indicating whether their pronunciation is acceptable and reasonably accurate(but see also the first point in our "less positive reactions" below). The usual benefits of CALLapply here: A motivated learner can repeat a word, phrase, or sentence and get feedback withoutthe necessity for a human interlocutor who usually would not have the patience or consistency ofthe software. Such instant feedback on speech may help some learners improve theirpronunciation. Pronunciation studies to date, however, have been inconclusive about theeffectiveness of teacher-delivered pronunciation instruction. See for example the article in theTESOL Research Interest Section Newsletter, February, 1998, Volume 5, Issue 1:http://pilot.msu.edu/user/polio/news2.htm#pro. Certainly, computer evaluation of pronunciationis also open to empirical investigation, and TriplePlay Plus! would be easy to use as a treatmenttool.• In keeping with current approaches to ESL material design, TriplePlay Plus! represents a goodattempt at contextualizing the dialogues, even if the speech itself is highly scripted. The programpresents learners with the option of hearing native speaker conversations in "real world"environments using natural speech rates, reductions, contractions and other features of authenticReviewed by Alison Mackey & Jung-Yoon Choi Review of Tripleplay Plus! EnglishLanguage Learning & Technology 21spoken English. In the reading mode, learners' attention is also drawn to some of these features:They have the option to click and get further information about how contractions are made, forexample. They also can control the speed of the dialogue. Depending on their listeningcomprehension ability and perceived needs, learners are able to play entire conversations orsingle sentences at a slower rate, and even hear sentences word by word. Obviously, they canrepeat utterances as many times as they want. That TriplePlay Plus! is clearly targeted at a rangeof levels can also be seen by the fact that learners may select the level of the games. The softwarelets learners control the sequencing and pacing of their learning, offering contextualized native-speaker dialogues and complex games at one end of the spectrum, to simplified learner-friendlylanguage at the other. This fine-grained targeting is obviously beneficial for second languagelearners, particularly in a classroom context where there may be a range of sub-levels within oneclass designated "lower-intermediate."• The program is fun, probably motivating for learners (especially in the "play against the machine"game mode), and seems like a good learning tool. For example, the variety of games may keeplanguage learning, particularly vocabulary acquisition, interesting. Many of the games aretargeted at vocabulary, introducing learners to what may be new words and encouragingproductive and receptive practice. Words and phrases are well matched with pictures, so thatlearners can easily comprehend the meanings and associations of the vocabulary. The bells andwhistles are very professional (graphics and sound effects together with the ASR) and suggestthat learners might remain stimulated by this software long after traditional lessons or previousgeneration CALL programs have become boring. Again, there is potential for SLA research usingthis software, perhaps to explore the outcomes of vocabulary learning in a CALL environment.DISADVANTAGES OF TRIPLEPLAY PLUS! ENGLISH• At the more advanced levels (e.g., Level 3 games in conversations), the ASR technology is lesssensitive. Users' speech is not always accurately rated. For example, the ASR made the "bink"sound, meaning the pronunciation was acceptable, during testing when our non-native speakerscut off the final syllables of words, saying into the microphone "Playing ten," "I can't find mytennis rac," and "We'll also be going swim." The target forms were obviously "Playing tennis," "Ican't find my tennis racquet," and "We'll also be going swimming," respectively. That the ASRsystem can be fooled into "binking" is a serious issue, and calls into question the usefulness ofrelying too heavily on the ASR.• The program claims to help learners improve not only listening and speaking skills but alsoreading skills. However, this claim is not easy to substantiate since the text consists of mostlyshort conversations and the reading mode is similar to that of the listening mode.• Some less significant issues:o We were surprised that learners cannot resume games from their last point if they stop forthe end of class, for example. If learners stop a game in the middle of playing, they haveto start it from the beginning, which can be a lengthy process. It would be useful if therewas a feature by which learners could save their previous work.o Another frustrating point was that there is no "undo" feature when playing games in thereading/listening mode. Users need to click an option in order to move on. There is afeature, called "give up," but it is unfortunately only available in the speaking mode. It isan important feature because, for example, it is easy to click accidentally on a word whenrearranging scrambled words. Even if the user realizes it is a mistake, they can't go back.Also, there was no "I don't know" feature; all the questions required yes/no answers.o It was also disappointing to hear that the company does not have plans for a Macintoshversion. While we do not wish to begin subscribing to the platform wars, this did seemrather limiting.Reviewed by Alison Mackey & Jung-Yoon Choi Review of Tripleplay Plus! EnglishLanguage Learning & Technology 22o As a final gripe, a site licence for five users is the same price ($250.00) as buying fiveindividual copies. When we pointed this out to the company's education representative,they suggested we buy a licence for ten users to get the discount. With today's tightbudgets in many language laboratories, the site licence discount and overall software costdoes not represent a good deal.CONCLUSIONIn the opinion of these reviewers,  TriplePlay Plus! English is a good software program for a variety ofcontexts. Individual learners, ESL teachers instructing at the beginning to higher intermediate levels, andothers interested in CALL as a learning tool can all use this program and find something useful.ABOUT THE REVIEWERSAlison Mackey is Assistant Professor in the Department of Linguistics at Georgetown University. Herresearch interests include second language acquisition, research methodology, and CALL. She recentlyguest-edited a special issue of the Modern Language Journal (with Susan M. Gass) on the role of inputand interaction in second language acquisition to appear in Fall 1998.E-mail: mackeya@gusun.georgetown.eduJung-Yoon Choi received her MA in TESOL from Michigan State University. Her research interestsinclude computer-assisted language learning and curriculum design. She currently teaches English as asecond language in Korea.

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