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The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into language education is rapidly transforming instructional practices and learner engagement. Within the domain of second language acquisition, pronunciation plays a crucial role in achieving communicative competence and intelligibility. Recent advancements in AI technologies offer promising opportunities to support pronunciation instruction by providing immediate, individualized, and low-anxiety feedback. This study investigated the effectiveness of AI-driven tools, specifically ChatGPT, in improving the pronunciation accuracy of Iranian EFL learners through a randomized controlled trial. Sixty intermediate learners were randomly assigned to either an experimental group, which practiced pronunciation using ChatGPT, or a control group, which relied on electronic dictionaries. Pronunciation performance was assessed over three phases: pre-test, post-test, and delayed post-test. A repeated measures mixed ANOVA was employed to evaluate group differences and changes over time. Results indicated that the ChatGPT group demonstrated significantly greater improvements in pronunciation accuracy, with gains sustained over time. These findings highlight the potential of interactive AI tools to support both immediate learning and retention in pronunciation instruction and offer pedagogical insights into how AI tools can be meaningfully integrated into EFL pronunciation instruction to promote learner autonomy and retention.
Xodabande et al. (Sat,) studied this question.