Papers by William Charpentier
Comunicación, Dec 8, 2023
The possible role of text-to-speech (TTS) audio for pedagogical purposes has not been fully explo... more The possible role of text-to-speech (TTS) audio for pedagogical purposes has not been fully explored. This study examines ESL students' perceptions of artificial intelligence and human voices. It also explores students' opinions on listening instruction. The investigation was conducted from April to September 2022 and involved 36 TESOL students enrolled in a BA in English or English teaching at a Costa Rican public university. It used a quantitative survey design. The researcher gathered student responses through a survey designed to collect students' perceptions of computer-generated voices, human voices, and listening instruction. The data were quantitatively analyzed using descriptive statistics. Data analyses indicate that: 1) students find human voices more appealing than artificial intelligence voices; 2) students find female voices more appealing than male voices when a computer generates them; 3) artificial intelligence voices share some characteristics that students find more appealing; and 4) current listening instruction policies and materials should be reexamined in the language program. Consistent with the reviewed literature, these findings demonstrate that although TTS does not appeal to students as much as human voices, a part of the population finds computergenerated voices appealing. The analysis also suggests that some students cannot fully discern between computer-generated and human voices; thus, their use may be appropriate in some contexts. Finally, these findings confirm that listening instruction policies and materials should be revised to improve students' language acquisition processes.
Actualidades Investigativas en Educación, Dec 31, 2023
Actualidades Investigativas en Educación, Nov 18, 2022
Revista Actualidades Investigativas en Educación Disponible en revista.inie.ucr.ac.cr Students' P... more Revista Actualidades Investigativas en Educación Disponible en revista.inie.ucr.ac.cr Students' Perceptions of Ethics in Applied Linguistics Research at a Costa Rican Public University Percepción del estudiantado sobre la ética en la investigación de la lingüística aplicada en una universidad pública costarricense
Revista Educación, Jan 26, 2023
Revista de Lenguas Modernas, 2019
This article examines the amount of academic vocabulary used by fourth year students in a B.A. in... more This article examines the amount of academic vocabulary used by fourth year students in a B.A. in English and B.A. English Teaching. The writer explains how academic vocabulary can be measured and the benefits it provides. This article contains a brief analysis of academic vocabulary used in 46 final research papers. Based on these results, the writer explains that, although students display a good range of academic vocabulary, curriculum programs should incorporate a tangible and substantial vocabulary teaching component.
Actualidades Investigativas en Educación, 2019
Actualidades Investigativas en Educación, Apr 1, 2014
Revista Educación, 2019
This article looks at how EFL university students understand the pronunciation of adjectives that... more This article looks at how EFL university students understand the pronunciation of adjectives that end in -ed. The goal is to determine the extent to which students are able to follow pronunciation rules and exceptions of -ed inflections when used as adjectives. The quantitative study presents data gathered from a 20-item multiple choice test that was taken by 61 students. Overall results reveal that students obtained low scores (M = 7.33, SD = 1.51, n = 61) and even lower scores (M = 2.00, SD = 2.33, n = 61 for non-governed-rule -ed endings) with regards to following rule-governed pronunciation patterns. On average, students were able to identify -ed endings pronounced /ɪd/ 8.2% of the times, followed by /d/ (7.31%) and /t/ (6.49%). Students scored lowest for non-standard pronunciation of participial adjectives (2.72%). The results reveal that students have not yet mastered the rules for the pronunciation of participial adjectives ending in -ed. The author proposes that changes be ...
Revista De Lenguas Modernas, 2013
This article examines the role of the ICTs in language teaching. The writer explains that informa... more This article examines the role of the ICTs in language teaching. The writer explains that information and communication technologies play an essential role in the acquisition of a language. This article contains a brief analysis of the results of a survey questionnaire that was given to English teachers. Based on these results, the writer explains that, despite their importance, ICTs are not being fully incorporated in schools and high schools in Costa Rica.
Este número se publicó el 30 de enero de 2014
This article explores students’ perceptions on the use of certain mobile devices in an oral, Engl... more This article explores students’ perceptions on the use of certain mobile devices in an oral, English course. Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) has not been widely used in language settings in the Costa Rican context. The main objective of this paper is to understand students’ ideas about activities that include MALL. Results were deduced from a 10-point survey answered by students enrolled in an oral course from a major in English. The quantitative data was gathered through a survey, following survey research methods. Based on these results, the writer concludes that students consider activities using MALL a valuable asset in the learning process.
This article studies students’ use of sentence variety in an ESL writing course. The study includ... more This article studies students’ use of sentence variety in an ESL writing course. The study includes three sentence features: (a) sentence types, (b) sentence combining, and (c) sentence patterns. Although sentence variety is part of the curriculum, the actual use of sentence structures has not been measured so far. By understanding students’ use of sentence structures, it is possible to propose valid curricular changes in the language program. This quantitative project has been carried out by analyzing 36 paragraphs written by students in the first writing course of a B.A. in English. The study included 433 sentences. Each sentence was examined individually. Data shows that 14.54% of the sentences presented a type of error. The types of errors included were the following: 12 fragments (2.77%), 29 fused sentences (6.69%), and 22 comma splices (5.08%). The remaining number of traditional sentences studied was 370 (85.45%). Results demonstrate that students favor certain types of struc...
Revista Educación, 2020
This article looks at how EFL university students understand the pronunciation of adjectives that... more This article looks at how EFL university students understand the pronunciation of adjectives that end in -ed. The goal is to determine the extent to which students are able to follow pronunciation rules and exceptions of -ed inflections when used as adjectives. The quantitative study presents data gathered from a 20-item multiple choice test that was taken by 61 students. Overall results reveal that students obtained low scores (M = 7.33, SD = 1.51, n = 61) and even lower scores (M = 2.00, SD = 2.33, n = 61 for non-governed-rule -ed endings) with regards to following rule-governed pronunciation patterns. On average, students were able to identify -ed endings pronounced /ɪd/ 8.2% of the times, followed by /d/ (7.31%) and /t/ (6.49%). Students scored lowest for non-standard pronunciation of participial adjectives (2.72%). The results reveal that students have not yet mastered the rules for the pronunciation of participial adjectives ending in -ed. The author proposes that changes be m...
Actualidades Investigativas en Educación, May 1, 2019
Revista Actualidades Investigativas en Educación Disponible en revista.inie.ucr.ac.cr University ... more Revista Actualidades Investigativas en Educación Disponible en revista.inie.ucr.ac.cr University students´ perception of exposure to various English accents and their production Percepción de la exposición a acentos del idioma inglés y su producción por parte de estudiantes universitarios William Charpentier-Jiménez 1 Resumen: This article presents students' perception of English accent varieties in a BA in English and a BA in English Teaching, both of the University of Costa Rica (UCR). The purpose of this study was to find out higher education students' opinions on the incorporation of further English accents in their major. Until now, this topic has not been deeply studied in the Costa Rican context. Results were obtained from a 16-point survey answered by 77 participants. Based on these results, the writer explains that a need to include a variety of native and non-native English accents exists and that a language program would benefit from it. The results demonstrate that 76.6% of students consider being able to imitate several types of English accents important, while 93.5% believe that what is important is being able to recognize and understand several accents. Data show that the majority of students consider the incorporation of various types of accents in their major essential. In practical terms, these results should promote a curricular change where several types of English accents should be incorporated.
Actualidades Investigativas en Educación, Jan 27, 2014
How to cite Complete issue More information about this article Journal's homepage in redalyc.org ... more How to cite Complete issue More information about this article Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Scientific Information System Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative
Actualidades Investigativas en Educación, 2014
How to cite Complete issue More information about this article Journal's homepage in redalyc.org ... more How to cite Complete issue More information about this article Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Scientific Information System Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative
Matices en Lenguas Extranjeras
Este artículo pretende diagnosticar las condiciones institucionales, docentes, estudiantiles y de... more Este artículo pretende diagnosticar las condiciones institucionales, docentes, estudiantiles y de plan de estudios para analizar la posibilidad de ofertar un curso de la malla curricular en el idioma inglés ubicado en los planes de las carreras de las Facultades de Ingeniería y Artes en la Sede Rodrigo Facio de la ucr. La investigación, completada durante el segundo semestre del 2016, se ha llevado a cabo dada la necesidad de mejorar la formación profesional con destrezas avanzadas en un segundo idioma (inglés) a estudiantes de educación superior. Se sigue un método cuantitativo en el cual se emplea la encuesta electrónica y la entrevista como las principales técnicas para recolectar la información. Los datos demuestran que el 66% de los directores de las diferentes escuelas ha considerado ofertar un curso de su carrera en inglés mientras que el 94% de los estudiantes estaría dispuesto a matricular un curso de su carrera en inglés. En cuanto a los docentes, más del 60% tiene la capa...
Matices en Lenguas Extranjeras
Este artículo pretende diagnosticar las condiciones institucionales, docentes, estudiantiles y de... more Este artículo pretende diagnosticar las condiciones institucionales, docentes, estudiantiles y de plan de estudios para analizar la posibilidad de ofertar un curso de la malla curricular en el idioma inglés ubicado en los planes de las carreras de las Facultades de Ingeniería y Artes en la Sede Rodrigo Facio de la ucr. La investigación, completada durante el segundo semestre del 2016, se ha llevado a cabo dada la necesidad de mejorar la formación profesional con destrezas avanzadas en un segundo idioma (inglés) a estudiantes de educación superior. Se sigue un método cuantitativo en el cual se emplea la encuesta electrónica y la entrevista como las principales técnicas para recolectar la información. Los datos demuestran que el 66% de los directores de las diferentes escuelas ha considerado ofertar un curso de su carrera en inglés mientras que el 94% de los estudiantes estaría dispuesto a matricular un curso de su carrera en inglés. En cuanto a los docentes, más del 60% tiene la capa...
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Papers by William Charpentier