"Reading Progress" in Microsoft Teams

 Thanks to the generous help of Kelvin Kan Ka Hei, I had the chance to test-drive the new AI-assisted Pronunciation Assessment function within Microsoft Teams, called Reading Progress. 

Under Reading Progress, the teacher uploads a reading passage to Teams, and assigns it as a Reading-Aloud assignment. Afterwards, the programme will (a) return a percentage grade for each submitted assignment, and (b) provide a diagnostic report on the performance (i.e.., words highlighted showing mispronunciations, omissions, insertions, etc.). The teacher does not have to listen to each recording, as the assessment is all done by the AI programme. 

My own test-drive shows that the AI programme is quite reliable in terms of assessing the pronunication of individual words, but still has to do further 'learning' in terms of listening for features of connection speech, such as weak forms, linking, elision, and assimilation.