SBIR PHASE I: Automatic Spoken Language Assessment by Telephone

小伯恩斯坦9561577 口语能力的评估对于未来的职业（如护士或空乘人员）至关重要，如果他们不是英语母语，但需要在快速，准确的沟通是一个至关重要的问题的情况下工作。 口语能力的评估也可以用于许多其他职业的资格，例如教师。 这个小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目将调查语音识别在语言测试中的使用。 指导性的目标是展示技术，表明一个可行的系统自动口语电话评估（ASLAT）可以产生的熟练程度分数是可靠的，有效的参考良好的当前测试。 第一阶段的研究将实施一个以电话为基础的系统，以试点测试与母语和非母语人口的各种互动。 直接的目标是确定几个互动的任务，行使一系列的接受性和生产性的语言技能，可靠地预测考生的英语功能性口语水平。 首先，这些自动化的交互对于北美英语的母语人士来说应该非常简单。 也就是说，无论母语者的方言或其他人口统计特征如何，ASLAT系统都应该返回高分。 与此同时，ASLAT应该将非母语考生分布在一个广泛的分数范围内，以反映他们对英语口语的功能性掌握。 有充分的理由相信，先进的语音识别系统适用于语言评估和操作的电话将能够实现项目的目标，提供有效和可靠的口语评估，在低成本的用户。 目前的口语能力测试通常由人工操作员进行管理、评分和报告。 管理一个典型测试的劳动力成本从10美元到60美元不等。 以计算机为基础的口语能力测试可能可以管理，评分和报告之间的1美元和2美元的测试，留下另外3美元或4美元的利润时，测试提供了5美元的测试在大批量的测试。

9561577 Bernstein The assessment of spoken language proficiency is essential for prospective professions (such as nurses or flight attendants) if they are not native speakers of English but need to work in situations where rapid, accurate communication is a vital concern. Assessment of spoken language proficiency can also figure in the qualification for many other professions, for example for teachers. This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will investigate the use of speech recognition in language testing. The guiding objective is to demonstrate techniques that suggest that a feasible system for Automatic Spoken Language Assessment by Telephone (ASLAT) can produce proficiency scores that are reliable and valid with reference to good current tests. Phase I research will implement a telephone-based system for pilot testing various interactions with populations of native and non-native speakers. The immediate objective is to identify several interactive tasks that exercise a range of receptive and productive language skills which reliably predict a test-taker's level of functional oral proficiency in English. These automated interactions should, first of all, be quite simple for native speakers of North American English. That is, regardless of dialect or other demographic characteristics of a native speaker, an ASLAT system should return a high score. At the same time, the ASLAT should distribute non-native test-takers over a wide range of scores that reflect the range of their functional command of spoken English. There is good reason to believe that advanced speech recognition systems adapted for language assessment and operating over the telephone will enable the achievement of the project goal of offering valid and reliable spoken language assessments at low cost the user. Current tests of spoken language proficiency are usually administered, scored, and reported by human operators. The labor cost to administer a typical test ranges from $10 to $60. Computer-b ased tests of oral proficiency can probably be administered, scored, and reported for between $1 and $2 per test, leaving another $3 or $4 per test in margin when tests are offered at $5 per test in large volumes.