Learn English for free: this is Microsoft’s artificial intelligence that will make it possible

The completely free tool. (Microsoft)

It’s no secret that knowing languages ​​is a highly valued skill today. Microsoft has unveiled a new AI-powered tool that helps improve English reading and pronunciation.

Reading Coach is designed for use on both the web and Windows applications. Furthermore, it is free and has different teaching plans, both in a school environment and at home.

The tool uses artificial intelligence to help users identify pronunciation errors as it indicates which words were pronounced incorrectly and also what the reading speed was.

The name of the platform translates as “reading coach”, which sums up its goal very well. In the following way, educators, parents or anyone else can use it to perfect their English:

It is not necessary to belong to these three types of audience to register. (Microsoft)

1. Sign in to the Microsoft Reading Coach website

2. Choose the type of plan you want. There are three: for parents, teachers, technological administrators of institutions. If an individual wishes to use Reading Coach, he must select the first option.

3. Sign in with a Microsoft account.

4. Once you do this, the platform will show you different ways to practice reading. The user will have to select the one that catches his attention the most and start his training.

Reading Coach uses artificial intelligence to power the creation of readings. (Microsoft)

This Microsoft tool features three ways to practice reading and pronouncing English:

– Create a story using artificial intelligence

By selecting this module, the user has the possibility to choose the protagonist, the environment and the difficulty level of the story. An AI-generated story is then presented, which must be read aloud and with the device’s microphone activated, so that the platform gives feedback.

– Read a text from your libraries

Reading Coach has a catalog of stories that it calls a library. They are classified into eight difficulty levels and in each level there are 12 to 16 stories.

Once the story has been chosen, the person must read it, giving permission to the site to activate their microphone.

It is essential to activate the microphone so that the instrument can hear the pronunciation. (Microsoft)

– Write your own text

In the last option, the user can write their own story. However, the tool does not provide indications if there are grammatical errors in the writing.

After writing the story, what follows is to turn on the microphone and read it aloud.

At the end of each reading session, Reading Coach offers an evaluation, indicating the percentage of pronunciation accuracy, reading time and mispronounced words.

Likewise, the platform has a tab which shows the results obtained in all sessions and keeps a history of the readings carried out.

Each session offers feedback to the student. (Microsoft)

Microsoft is clear about its goal: Copilot will be part of users’ daily activities. To achieve this, it has made several decisions, such as modifying the computer keyboard to include a hotkey for the chatbot, and recently announced that it is testing its automatic launch when people turn on their PCs.

According to a recent company post, aimed at Windows Insiders, the company is testing Copilot to automatically open on “widescreen devices.”

This test is carried out among some users of the Windows 11 development channel and the final implementation will depend on the results obtained in that testing phase.

Microsoft’s AI assistant will be integrated into several Windows 11 services. (Microsoft)

Specifically, the chatbot’s automatic opening is being tested on devices with a minimum screen diagonal of 27 inches and a pixel width of 1920. Additionally, this functionality will be limited to primary displays in multi-monitor setups.

It is important to note that these tests carried out by Microsoft in the Windows Insider development channel do not guarantee the final implementation of this new feature or that the option is close to arriving, as for now it is only in the testing phase.

Users who have access to the new feature can disable it at any time by going to Settings > Personalization > Copilot from their PC and clicking the disable autostart button.

2024-01-20 14:44:00
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