Empower Your English: Google’s Innovative Speaking Practice Feature

• Google is testing a “Speaking practice” feature in Search to assist English learners
• This feature provides interactive language-learning exercises powered by AI, encouraging users to engage in back-and-forth conversational practice and incorporate new words into daily scenarios.

Google is testing out a “Speaking practice” feature within Search that assists English learners from Argentina, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Mexico and Venezuela who have registered as Search Labs members to enhance their conversational English skills.

The goal of the experiment, according to the company, is to enhance English skills among users by inviting them to engage in interactive language-learning exercises powered by artificial intelligence that encourage them to incorporate new words in daily scenarios.

Speaking practice expands upon an initiative launched last October by Google that is meant to assist English learners. While that feature allows English learners to practice speaking sentences within context and receive feedback on grammar and clarity, Speaking Practice adds back-and-forth conversational practice for further development of skills.

Speaking practice involves providing users with conversational questions they must respond to with specific words, as seen on screen shots. A hypothetical scenario might include AI telling someone that they want to get into shape before asking: “What should I do?” and expecting them to give answers that include such terms as exercise, heart and tired.

The intent behind this feature is to assist English language learners in holding conversations in English while understanding how best to utilize specific words.

Google may be setting itself up to become an effective competitor to language learning apps with this recent launch of a feature allowing Search users to practice pronouncing words correctly. Back in 2019, they launched another similar feature which encouraged language education tools.