Patent Application
20120288833
The present invention relates generally to teaching machines and, more particularly, concerns a system and method for teaching a language.
Traditional methods for teaching a language, in particular a foreign language, are far from enjoyable for students. Students spend a great deal of time learning rules of grammar and syntax and generally learn by memorizing words in the target language (the language being learned) that are translations of corresponding words in a source language. The only exposure to correct pronunciation might be on a recording or during discussions in a classroom. On such occasions, the student finds himself mentally composing his recitation in his native language and then translating it. The usual result is a halting, stilted recital, replete with grammatical and syntactic errors introduced by the translation process. The foregoing approach generally does not enable the language learner to converse fluently in the target language.
In contrast, upon first learning a language, young children are fully immersed in a natural learning process in which they learn words, grammar and syntax interactively through deductive reasoning, in context, and by emulating others. In time, children develop a flowing communication style, without the need to translate or to be concerned about rules. It would be desirable to be able to emulate this kind of learning process in learning a second language.
Systems of teaching a user language using immersion are known to some extent in the prior art. However, to best measure the user's progress, the language student should be prompted to speak naturally. Simply showing the user target language text to be read aloud is less than optimum, because read speech is not spoken the same way as natural speech not being read. Thus, attempting to gauge student progress by measuring an ability to read prepared text is generally not effective.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an improved system and method for language instruction that better emulates the immersion environment in which children typically learn their first language.
According to one aspect, the invention is directed to a method of teaching a language to a student, wherein the method may include the steps of the instructor uttering a first prompting phrase to the student; receiving a first response from the student in response to the first prompting phrase; modifying at least one characteristic of the first prompting phrase to generate a second prompting phrase; and the instructor uttering the second prompting phrase to the student, wherein at least one of the above steps is performed using a computer.
The method is preferably used to assist students who already have a basic knowledge of a target language in becoming more fluent in that target language. In this regard, the modification of the at least one characteristic is preferably done in a phased and structured manner, with more and more modifications being possible as fluency or other measure of user progress warrants.
In a preferred aspect, a specific set of phrases is to be practiced by a student. Initially, a computer generated utterance is used to cause the student to respond with a phrase to be practiced. As the student progresses, the computer generated utterances used to cause the student to respond with a practice phrase may vary more and more, and the set of such computer generated utterances may also get larger. As a result, the student does not get used to responding to a sound with a particular response, losing the meaning and context. Instead, the student gradually is taught usage of, and fluency with, the response in a greater number of, and a greater diversity of, contexts.
Other aspects, features, advantages, etc. will become apparent to one skilled in the art when the description of the preferred embodiments of the invention herein is taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
For the purposes of illustrating the various aspects of the invention, there are shown in the drawings forms that are presently preferred, it being understood, however, that the invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown.
In the following description, for purposes of explanation, specific numbers, materials and configurations are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. It will be apparent, however, to one having ordinary skill in the art that the invention may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known features may be omitted or simplified so as not to obscure the present invention. Furthermore, reference in the specification to phrases such as “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the invention. The appearances of phrases such as “in one embodiment” or “in an embodiment” in various places in the specification do not necessarily all refer to the same embodiment.
The computer 150 and audio equipment shown in
In one embodiment, software for enabling computer system 150 to interact with student 102 may be stored on volatile or non-volatile memory within computer 150. However, in other embodiments, software and/or data for enabling computer 150 may be accessed over a local area network (LAN) and/or a wide area network (WAN), such as the Internet. In some embodiments, a combination of the foregoing approaches may be employed. Moreover, embodiments of the present invention may be implemented using equipment other than that shown in
At step 206, the instructor may modify an aspect of the prompting phrase, while still attempting to elicit the same target phrase from the student 102. Aspects of the prompting phrase which can be modified may include, but are not limited to: the wording of the prompting phrase, the location of the prompt within text uttered to the student, the accent with which the prompt is uttered, and/or various prosodic characteristics of the prompting phrase. The prosodic characteristics that may be modified include, but are not limited to: volume, pitch, the speed with which the prompt is spoken, the number of syllables in the prompt, the time lapse in between syllables, and/or the levels of emphasis employed for the respective syllables. Once the characteristics of the modified prompting phrase have been selected, the instructor preferably utters the modified prompting phrase to the student in step 208. In turn, the student preferably responds to the modified prompting phrase.
At step 210, the instructor receives the student response to the modified prompting phrase. System 100 may then evaluate the student response to determine whether it matches the target phrase. System 100 may update its database to evaluate the student's effectiveness in providing the same target phrase in response to a different prompt, thereby providing a score of sorts for the student. Additionally or alternatively, the system 100 may use the proximity of the student response to the target phrase to aid in evaluating the effectiveness of the algorithm for modifying the prompting phrase currently in use by the system 100. In the above manner, method 200 preferably causes the student 102 to think about the content of the prompting phrase and provide response that corresponds logically to the content of the prompting phrase, rather than merely provide a rehearsed response to a prompting phrase that the student 102 has memorized.
Turning to
In the conversation depicted in
This inventive procedure of slight variations in the prompting phrase or question causes the user to practice the same or substantially similar response to increase fluency, and use of the various terms.
The auditory attributes of the prompting phrase used by the instructor may be varied in place of, or in addition to, variation of the wording of the prompting phrase. More specifically, the auditory attributes that could be changed may include the accent the instructor speaks with. Other auditory attributes of the prompting phrase that can be modified may include the pitch, the volume, the rhythm, the number of syllables, the degree of emphasis employed for the various syllables, and/or the speed with which the prompting phrase is uttered by the instructor.
In statement 502, the instructor recites “There are a lot of activities available in town today. What will you do this evening?” In statement 504, the student 102 responds with “I'll go to the Baseball game at six o'clock”. It is noted that in statement 502 an affirmative statement appears first, followed by a question related to the statement. In statement 506, the question has been changed so as to be the first and only sentence in the instructor's prompting phrase 506. Specifically, the instructor asks “Have you chosen an activity from all the activities that are going on in town today?” The student 102 responds with “I'll go to the baseball game at six o'clock”. Asking questions in the above manner preferably encourages the student 102 to heed the meaning and content of the question wherever the question is located within the query text in order to answer meaningfully.
In statement 602, the instructor begins the first of two interleaved conversations, by asking the student 102 “Do you plan to take Tom to any music shows this season?” The answer of student 102 to this first query of the first conversation is “We plan to attend piano recitals at the auditorium” (statement 604). In the first query of the second conversation, in statement 606, the instructor asks student 102 “Will Tom be getting any formal music instruction?” In reply in statement 608, student 102 says “Tom will be taking music lessons at the academy.”
A second question, in statement 610, within the first conversation picks up the first conversation where statement 604 left off, in which the instructor asks student 102 “Are any recitals coming up soon?” In statement 612, the student 102 replies “We will be going to the piano recital tonight at the auditorium.” In statement 614, the instructor picks up the second conversation where statement 608 left off, asking “Have you made any specific plans regarding musical instruction?” In statement 616, the student 102 replies “Tom will begin taking piano lessons at the academy beginning in the Fall semester.”
In an embodiment, RAM 706 and/or ROM 708 may hold user data, system data, and/or programs. I/O adapter 710 may connect storage devices, such as hard drive 712, a CD-ROM (not shown), or other mass storage device to computing system 600. Communications adapter 722 may couple computing system 700 to a local, wide-area, or global network 724. User interface adapter 716 may couple user input devices, such as keyboard 726, scanner 728 and/or pointing device 714, to computing system 700. Moreover, display adapter 718 may be driven by CPU 702 to control the display on display device 720. CPU 702 may be any general purpose CPU.
In one preferred embodiment, the permissible computer generated utterances that induce the target response vary more greatly with continued use of the system. That is, initially, there is a single permissible computer generated utterance that causes the target response or a substantially similar target response. As use of the system by the student progresses, or as progress is otherwise measured, an additional one or more permissible computer generated utterances which invoke a similar target response are introduced.
At first, these one or more additional permissible computer generated utterances vary from the first computer generated utterance only slightly. One example is where the additional computer generated utterances may have the same meaning and may only vary in syntax slightly. The first one is “What time does the movie start?” and the additional permissible one may be “What is the start time for the movie?”, or “Do you know what time the movie starts?” All of these phrases have substantially the same meaning, but vary slightly in syntax and structure. This variation assists the user in thinking about the meaning of the phrases prior to answering. However, each of the latter two phrases only varies slightly from the original phrase, and all have substantially the same meaning. Yet, once the two additional permissible variations are introduced, whenever the system is to invoke the desired response—“six o'clock” the computer generated utterance that causes the user response is chosen from one of the three.
As the student becomes more fluent and progresses, and additional computer generated utterance may be introduced. Staying with the above example, another permissible computer generated utterance may now be introduced, this one varying even more from the first one by having a different meaning. For example, another set of such utterances may be “What time is the appointment with the real estate broker?” and “What time will we meet with the real estate broker?” With these additional permissible computer generated utterances, the user may get any of six different utterances intended to cause the “6 o'clock” response, wherein the first three have completely different meanings from the second three.
As other variations are introduced, the difference between the original permissible computer generated utterance, and the additional permissible ones, may get greater. Regardless however, as use of the system progresses, there are a larger number of utterances that are intended to elicit a substantially similar phrase. Hence, the user if forced to practice that phrase in the context in which it is used, causing greater understanding and fluency.
Direction 801 represents changing of the same dialog to a different place in the audio stream, as indicated by the dialog being located at 808 or 807 as shown. By altering the position of the same specific audio, the goal of a user not giving an automatic response without understanding the context is avoided, as the user must increase his concentration and understanding of the specific audio because it could may appear at random places throughout a training dialog.
The rightward direction 804 represents the inventive system prompting a user to practice the audio at issue by altering the prompting syntax. That is, the user can not automatically respond to a sound because the sound that prompts the phrase to be practiced will vary, as shown at 804. Similarly, the direction 803 will also vary prompting semantics to ensure the user is gaining understanding of the phrase before he responds. Further, direction 802 allows a change in response variables, based upon images or text displayed, for example.
The diagonal directions, 820 and 810, represent further possible variations in the audio interaction. Specifically, direction 820 shows the role of the same speaker changing, although the speaker himself may remain the same. The lower right direction 810 depicts a change in the speaker.
Generally, there are multiple dimensions in which the system may vary, and the type and extent of variation may optionally be based upon a user's progress, as measured by his pronunciation, speed, other parameters, or a combination of both. Additionally, the type of variation may be selected randomly, with the amount of variation being dependent upon progress of the user.
It is noted that the methods and apparatus described thus far and/or described later in this document may be achieved utilizing any of the known technologies, such as standard digital circuitry, analog circuitry, any of the known processors that are operable to execute software and/or firmware programs, programmable digital devices or systems, programmable array logic devices, or any combination of the above. One or more embodiments of the invention may also be embodied in a software program for storage in a suitable storage medium and execution by a processing unit.
Although the invention herein has been described with reference to particular embodiments, it is to be understood that these embodiments are merely illustrative of the principles and applications of the present invention. It is therefore to be understood that numerous modifications may be made to the illustrative embodiments and that other arrangements may be devised without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.
