A method and system for teaching a language and evaluating language comprehension in a digitally synthesized, interactive three-dimensional graphical representation of an environment. Within the environment, the user is given opportunities to practice language skills by interacting with digital videos of people. As the user walks through the environment and encounters various people therein, the people set forth challenges in the form of scripted questions and tasks that require the user to comprehend the language in order to correctly respond. A speech recognition engine interprets verbal responses of the user, thereby further simulating a real-world environment. A set of one or more scripts controls various aspects of the environment while testing and evaluating the user's comprehension of the language.

Virtual challenge system and method for teaching a language

A method of computerized language instruction for a student. Based on data regarding past performance of the student, an adjustable speech recognizer is adjusted. An utterance is received from the student, and the utterance is processed using the adjusted adjustable speech recognizer. The adjustable speech recognizer may comprise an Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) engine. A set of contexts is created. Each context includes a set of words and utterances selected to allow recognition of the words and utterances by a speech recognizer. For each context, a set of subcontexts is created. Each subcontext includes the words and utterances of the context and selected mispronunciations or misarticulations of the words and utterances of the context. Recursively passing a portion of a received utterance to an ASR engine is described. According to one embodiment, a context includes a set of words and utterances selected to allow recognition of the words and utterances by a speech recognizer, and a set of distracters, which comprise sets of syllables used less frequently in the context, the sets of syllables not forming words or utterances in the context. Systems based on the described methods are disclosed.

Method and system for computer assisted natural language instruction with distracters

To provide a method of education, and an electronic device for implementing the method of education.SOLUTION: A method of education is to be implemented by a processing unit of an electronic device which includes an input unit and an output unit, and the processing unit is capable of accessing a lexical database that includes a plurality of terms. The method includes: controlling the output unit to output a question; in response to receipt of a user answer to the question from the input unit, determining whether or not the user answer matches a correct answer to the question; when it is determined that the user answer does not match the correct answer, determining whether or not the user answer corresponds to one of the terms in the lexical database; and, when it is determined that the user answer corresponds to one of the terms in the lexical database, controlling the output unit to output a definition of the term.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Method of education and electronic device

A system and method for language instruction for implementation on a language instruction system that includes a computer system, is disclosed, wherein the method may include identifying a speech segment in a target language, that is susceptible to mispronunciation by language learners; selecting an auditory attribute for use in playing the identified speech segment by the language instruction system; altering a level of the auditory attribute to differ from a naturally occurring level of the attribute; and playing a first text sequence by the language instruction system, including at least one instance of the identified speech segment, using the altered level of the auditory attribute.

System and method for language instruction using visual and/or audio prompts

A foreign spoken language instructional method for use by a student utilizing a multi-media computer in which the computer is programmed to display virtual settings that would be encountered by the foreign student in everyday life in the country for the foreign language being learned is spoken. For example, one of the settings could be a fast food restaurant. The computer is also programmed to create a virtual host that is appropriate for that setting, and to allow, through the use of automatic speech recognition and natural language understanding technologies, a real-life conversation to occur between the student and the host that is appropriate to the setting. The computer will have stored or have access to a vocabulary and library of possible responses and statements by both the host and the student, along with a conversational tree utilizing those vocabularies and libraries that will enable the conversation to follow any of several twists and turns, and not a precise, pre-set, structured command-response protocol.

David Lawrence Topolewski

Papers

Method for computer-aided foreign language instruction