Vocabulary Acquisition using Mnemonics and Speech Recognition

Abstract

English is the gateway language to the academic world and provides an opportunity to work with top scholars in any field. Competitive examinations such as GRE, TOEFL, IELTS and SAT require students to test their English language proficiency. Having a strong vocabulary bolsters students ability to crack these exams. Our aim is to help English language learners across the globe in enhancing their vocabulary for everyday use or to prepare for competitive exams. Using the portability, affordability, multimedia functionality and ease of use features of a mobile application, we present Mnemonicizer, an Android application to facilitate vocabulary building. Our application is an attempt to build a vocabulary building tool that combines the best features of existing systems while introducing new features to our system to contribute to the language learning space. With emphasis on Mnemonics and Speech recognition as important techniques for vocabulary acquisition, we conduct a pilot study to examine the users' attitude towards English language learning.