Quantifying the Effects of High Variability Phonetic Training (HVPT) and AI-Generated Elicited Imitation on EFL Speaking: Assessing Comprehensibility and Intelligibility with Human and AI Raters

Research Project

Project/Area Number	25K04269
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Section	一般
Review Section	Basic Section 02100:Foreign language education-related
Research Institution	Teikyo University
Principal Investigator	Robert Cvitkovic 帝京大学, 外国語学部, 准教授 (00412627)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	ボビーヒロユキ九州産業大学, 語学教育研究センター, 准教授 (20536247) 喜多容子京都ノートルダム女子大学, 国際言語文化学部, 准教授 (70805853) Praver Max 名城大学, 外国語学部, 教授 (60598712)
Project Period (FY)	2025-04-01 – 2030-03-31
Project Status	Granted (Fiscal Year 2025)
Budget Amount *help	¥6,110,000 (Direct Cost: ¥4,700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,410,000) Fiscal Year 2029: ¥910,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥210,000) Fiscal Year 2028: ¥1,170,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥270,000) Fiscal Year 2027: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000) Fiscal Year 2026: ¥1,430,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥330,000) Fiscal Year 2025: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000)
Keywords	HVPT / elicited imitation / AI language assessment / intelligibility / comprehensibility
Outline of Research at the Start	This study explores how sound discrimination training combined with AI-generated speaking tasks can improve the clarity and understandability of English among Japanese learners, using innovative methods and objective evaluations.