Language skills teaching method and apparatus
View Patent ↗A student providing a multi-word response in a computerized language teaching system provides a manual input concurrently with each responsive word. For example, he might enter a keystroke correspondent to the first letter of each word. When using the teaching computer silently, a student will typically “speak” each word mentally as he enters a keystroke, so the limited experience is almost as effective as speaking out loud. When a student types one or more keystrokes concurrently with each word that he speaks, the computer will be able to detect when a student is responding with a correct word, but merely mispronouncing it. Also, since the computer will receive a keystroke as the student starts each new word, it is better able to distinguish the boundaries between words and recognize them more reliably.
1. A method for teaching a student a target language comprising:
presenting, on a display of a computer system, a query to the student requiring a response in the form of a sequence of responsive words in the target language and a series of physical responses;
accepting, via the computer system, a responsive sequence from the student made up of a spoken sequence of words in the target language and a single physical response corresponding to each word of the sequence of the responsive words; and
comparing, by the computer system, the responsive sequence to the sequence of responsive words and the series of physical responses to determine if a correct input was given;
wherein the physical response is a key activation on an input device of said computer system.
2. The method of claim 1 further comprising concluding that a word has been mispronounced when a spoken word fails to conform to the corresponding word of the sequence of responsive words, while the comparing step reveals that the physical response for the corresponding word of the sequence of responsive words was correct.
3. The method of claim 1 further comprising concluding that a students response to corresponding to a word in the sequence of responsive words is incorrect when a spoken word fails to conform to the corresponding word of the sequence of responsive words, and the comparing step reveals that the physical response for the corresponding word of the sequence of responsive words was incorrect.
4. The method of claim 1 further comprising inputting timing information of each physical response into a speech recognition algorithm in association with the corresponding word of the sequence of responsive words, to assist said speech recognition algorithm in ascertaining time boundaries of spoken words.
5. A method for teaching a target language to a student:
presenting, on the display of a computer system, a query to the student requiring a response in the form of a responsive multiword phrase of words in the target language and a series of physical responses;
accepting via the computer system, from said student a sequence of single actions, each single action being potentially representative of a respective word in the multiword phrase;
accepting, via the computer system, from the student spoken input as a response to the query;
comparing, by the computer system, words in the multiword phrase to portions of said spoken input based upon timing information derived from said sequence of single actions; and
outputting, by the computer system, a signal indicative of whether said user provided a proper response, wherein the physical response is a key activation on an input device of said computer system.
6. The method of claim 5 wherein the timing information is derived by signaling a start of a new word substantially at the time of input of said single action corresponding to each word.
7. An apparatus for teaching a target language to a student comprising:
a query generator presenting a query to the student requiring a response in the form of a sequence of responsive words in the target language and a series of physical responses;
an input device operated by the student to produce a responsive sequence made up of a single physical response, in the form of a key activation of the input device, corresponding to each word of the sequence of the responsive words;
a second input device programmed to accept spoken words from the student potentially corresponding to the words of the sequence of responsive words;
a comparator comparing the responsive sequence to the sequence of responsive words to determine if a correct input was given;
a second comparator programmed to compare each spoken word to respective words of the sequence of responsive words, and mispronunciation sensor jointly responsive to non- comparison in the second comparator and a comparison in the first comparator to indicate mispronunciation of the respective word in the sequence of responsive words.
8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the input device is a keyboard.
9. An apparatus for teaching a target language to a student comprising:
a query generator presenting a query to the student requiring a response in the form of a sequence of responsive words in the target language and a series of physical responses;
a first input device programmed to be operated by the student to produce a sequence of single actions, in the form of a key activation, each single action being potentially representative of a respective word in the multiword phrase;
a second input device programmed to accept from the student spoken input as a response to the query;
a comparator comparing words in the multiword phrase to portions of said spoken input based upon timing information derived from said sequence of single actions.
10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the timing information is derived by signaling a start of a new word substantially at the time of input of said single action corresponding to each word.
11. The apparatus of claim 9 further comprising a further comparator comparing each single action to the respective word in the sequence of responsive words, to indicate a comparison when the single action and respective word compare, and a mispronunciation indicator responsive a successful comparison in the further comparator and a failure to compare in the comparator, to indicate that the respective word has been mispronounced by the student.