Speech Processing Technology in Second Language Testing

The purpose of the study described in this article was to investigate the effectiveness of one application of speech recognition technology in the assessment of spoken English and overall English proficiency. The application referred to is called Versant and is a fully automated test of English as a second language, a test which utilizes speech recognition technology rather than a human rater. The use of this technology could lead to considerably reduced cost of testing as well as to the reduction of test anxiety. Especially the developing world might benefit from these two improvements. This paper uses the correlation between Versant and another established English proficiency test (TOEFL) to assess the effectiveness of speech recognition technology in large-scale second language testing. The results of the study suggest that Versant scores compare well with TOEFL scores, even in different educational contexts.

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