Practising speaking with an AI
Set up any voice-capable AI assistant as a patient tutor, ask it for useful corrections, and know when not to trust it.
PsychologyStudying in the age of AIAbout 5 min: 3 reading, 2 practiceUpdated
Educational, not medical or mental-health advice.
- Write a tutor prompt that keeps an AI at your level
- Ask for corrections you can use
- Practise shadowing with native recordings
- Say when an AI's feedback can and cannot be trusted
Studying in the age of AI: lesson 1 of 1
- Studying in the age of AI
- Practising speaking with an AI 5 min
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Pairs with Lyster and Ranta (1997) on corrective feedback; Hamada (2016) on shadowing
What it is
Studyfern has no AI of its own and cannot hear you. But many AI assistants can now hold a spoken conversation. Used well, one makes a patient practice partner: it never gets tired of the same five questions, and you can practise at midnight without feeling embarrassed.
Every language lesson here ends with a Practise speaking box: a ready-made prompt built from that lesson's words and grammar. Copy it, paste it into any voice-capable AI assistant, and start talking.
A good tutor prompt does four things:
- Gives the AI a role: "You are a patient French tutor."
- Limits it to your level: "Use only these words: …", "Speak slowly", "Keep replies under two sentences."
- Sets a task: "Ask me 5 short questions about …"
- Asks for one correction at a time: "After each answer, correct my grammar and tell me one thing to improve."
Quick check
Tap an answer to check it.
Which line keeps the AI at a beginner's level?
- A "natural" conversation pulls in words you haven't learned yet
Show answer
Use only these words: bonjour, je m'appelle, j'habite à.. Listing the words you know helps keep the AI at your level.
Why it matters
Speaking is a skill: you get better by doing it, not by reading about it. Many learners get less speaking time than reading time, and a practice partner can help make up the difference.
Feedback helps most when it is clear and you act on it. A classic study of French immersion classrooms found that learners more often fixed their own mistakes after a prompt to try again than after the teacher simply gave the right form (Lyster and Ranta, 1997). You can ask an AI to work the same way: "Don't give me the answer straight away; tell me what kind of mistake I made and let me try again."
Worked example
Setting it up. Paste the lesson's prompt, then say "Ready." If the AI talks too fast or too much, say so: "Slower, please. One sentence at a time."
Asking for corrections. Useful requests:
- "Repeat my sentence back to me, corrected."
- "Tell me what kind of mistake it was (word order, ending, gender), then let me try again."
- "Only correct one thing per answer."
Shadowing. Shadowing means playing a short native recording and speaking along with it, a moment behind, copying the rhythm and melody as closely as you can. Hamada (2016) studied shadowing for listening comprehension and reported gains, especially for learners at lower levels. Use real recordings for it, from the lesson or the free listening links, not the AI's voice. Then use the AI for conversation.
A 15-minute session might be: 5 minutes shadowing a native clip, 8 minutes answering the AI's questions, 2 minutes writing down the corrections you got.
Common mistake
Trusting the AI's verdict on your pronunciation. An AI assistant can be very good at grammar and vocabulary, but its feedback on sounds is hit and miss:
- Many assistants turn your speech into text first, so a sound you got slightly wrong may be "heard" as the right word, and you'll be told it was perfect.
- Some features can be hard for it to judge, such as Japanese pitch accent.
- Its own voice may mix accents or traditions, as with Latin's classical and Church pronunciations.
So use the AI for what you say, and native recordings for how it sounds.
And keep it private. Practice sentences like "My name is … I live in …" don't need your real name, town, school or workplace. Make them up. Check your assistant's settings to see whether it keeps recordings or conversations.
Key terms
- tutor prompt
- instructions that set the AI's role, level, task and kind of feedback
- corrective feedback
- being told about a mistake, ideally so you can fix it yourself
- shadowing
- speaking along with a native recording, a moment behind it
- voice-capable AI assistant
- an AI chat app you can talk to out loud
Practise the key terms
Tap a card to turn it over. 4 cards.
| Front | Back |
|---|---|
| tutor prompt | instructions that set the AI's role, level, task and kind of feedback |
| corrective feedback | being told about a mistake, ideally so you can fix it yourself |
| shadowing | speaking along with a native recording, a moment behind it |
| voice-capable AI assistant | an AI chat app you can talk to out loud |
Practice
Sort it
Good job for the AI, or check it against native recordings?
Was my verb ending right?
Grammar is usually a strength, but still check anything surprising.Show answer
AI is fine. Grammar is usually a strength, but still check anything surprising.
Did I say the vowel correctly?
It may have "heard" the word you meant.Show answer
Check with recordings. It may have "heard" the word you meant.
Ask me five questions using today's words.
Conversation practice is what it's good at.Show answer
AI is fine. Conversation practice is what it's good at.
Was my Japanese pitch accent right?
AI assistants are often unreliable on pitch accent.Show answer
Check with recordings. AI assistants are often unreliable on pitch accent.
Is this word order natural?
Word order is grammar.Show answer
AI is fine. Word order is grammar.
Quick quiz
Tap an answer to check it.
Which correction request helps you learn most?
- You hear the answer but don't have to produce it yourself
Show answer
Tell me what kind of mistake it was, then let me try again.. Fixing it yourself makes the correction stick.
For your introduction practice, what should you tell the AI?
- Practice doesn't need personal details; keep them private
Show answer
A made-up name and town. Never share personal details: the practice works just as well with invented ones.
What should you shadow?
- Its voice may be off, so copy the real thing
Show answer
A native speaker's recording. Shadowing copies rhythm and melody, so the model must be a real native speaker.
In short
- A tutor prompt gives a role, a level, a task and one kind of feedback.
- Ask the AI to name the mistake and let you try again.
- Shadow native recordings, not the AI.
- Trust the AI on grammar and words, not on how you sound.
- Use made-up personal details.
Mastery check
Answer without looking back. Score 80% or more and the lesson is marked done. Your result is kept only in this browser.
Check yourself
Answer in your head first, then open the answer. Nothing is saved.
Name the four parts of a good tutor prompt.
Show answer
A role, a level (words and speed), a task, and the kind of correction you want.
Why might an AI say your pronunciation was perfect when it wasn't?
Show answer
It often turns your speech into text first, so it may "hear" the word you meant.
What is shadowing?
Show answer
Speaking along with a native recording, a moment behind it, copying its rhythm and melody.
Further reading
- Lyster, R., & Ranta, L. (1997). Corrective feedback and learner uptake: Negotiation of form in communicative classrooms. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 19(1), 37–66.
- Hamada, Y. (2016). Shadowing: Who benefits and how? Uncovering a booming EFL teaching technique for listening comprehension. Language Teaching Research, 20(1), 35–52.
- More free resources: listening and shadowing, on this site.
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