It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it

Correctly producing the intonation, rhythm, and word stress of a language is crucial to reducing a foreign accent, avoiding social stigma, and effectively being understood by mother-tongue speakers. Therefore, it is astonishing that we currently have no way of assessing these language features, which together are called prosody, in foreign-language education and research. This project will address this important gap in research and practice by creating the Prosodic Proficiency Test Battery, an online tool that allows researchers, teachers, and students to quickly and automatically assess specific elements of prosodic accuracy, which in turn can inform the next steps in learners’ foreign-language development.