Using Speech Recognition for an Automated Test of Spoken Japanese

Proceedings of PACLIC 19, the 19th Asia-Pacific Conference on Language, Information and Computation. Using Speech Recognition for an Automated Test of Spoken Japanese Masanori Suzuki Ordinate Corporation 800 El Camino Real Suite 400 Menlo Park, CA 94015, USA msuzuki@ordinate.com Yasunari Harada Institute for Digital Enhancement of Cognitive Development Waseda University 1-6-1 Nishi-Waseda, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-8050, Japan harada@waseda.jp Abstract Various kinds of IT and computer technology have enabled language tests to be delivered online or on computer, and to have much faster scoring time. Such computer-based tests can well assess three skill areas such as reading, writing, and listening comprehension. However, in many cases, speaking ability is still inferred by the scores obtained for those three skill areas. Ordinate Corporation and the Institute for Digital Enhancement of COgnitive DEvelopment (the Institute for DECODE) at Waseda University have been jointly working to develop a completely automated test of spoken Japanese, Spoken Japanese Test (SJT)1. SJT is intended to provide automated test administration and scoring service by delivering the test over the telephone and by scoring the test using speech recognition technology and other computerized systems. Ordinate and the Institute for DECODE are currently collecting speech data from native and non-native speakers of Japanese to develop a speech recognizer optimized for the Japanese language and for non-native speakers of Japanese. 1. Introduction Multimedia technology, IT, computers, and voice recognition systems have started to be widely used in foreign language education as instructional aids and as self-learning tools. Within foreign language education, language testing has begun to use these types of technology as well. The most common way to utilize technology in language testing is to develop Computer-Based Tests (CBT). One of the advantages of CBT is to be able to collect test-takers’ responses almost immediately and to return scores to the test-takers in a shorter period of time than ever before. Most CBTs assess learners’ Listening, Reading, and Writing skills, but they rarely test Speaking. It is still very challenging to test speaking remotely via technology. Therefore, the common format of testing one’s speaking ability is still a face-to-face interview format. More and more foreign nationals are coming to Japan for academic and business purposes. The Japan Foundation (2005) reported that the Japanese Language Proficiency Test was administered to more than 300,000 test-takers in 2004. As more people learn Japanese or as more people come to Japan to study or to work, demand for speaking tests that can measure Japanese learners’ speaking skills quickly and reliably is growing. However, few speaking tests are available in the field of teaching Japanese, and, not to mention, there is no speaking test that has utilized computer technology to efficiently test learners’ speaking ability. Ordinate Corporation has developed a language testing system using speech recognition and computerized scoring systems that can evaluate the spoken language skills of non-native speakers. The Spoken English Test (SET) and Spoken Spanish Test (SST) are currently delivered on this 1 The initial development process was reported at PACLIC 18 held in December …

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