Techniques for measuring pronunciation accuracy have lagged far behind measuring competence in other areas. It is argued that pronunciation is an important aspect of second language proficiency and just as it is important to have reliable measures of competence in such areas as listening comprehension, grammar, reading and writing, so it is important to have reliable measures of pronunciation accuracy. This paper discusses several computerized techniques which measure pronunciation accuracy. They have the advantage over other methods because they rigorously control for such factors as sequence effects and length of utterance. These techniques are applicable in a number of areas, including basic research, measuring proficiency gains in students, comparing different methods and measuring comprehensibility and language attitudes.
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