A SPEAKER-INDEPENDENT CONTINUOUS SPEECH RECOGNITION SYSTEM USED AS INPUT DEVICE FOR AN ENGLISH LANGUAGE COMPETENCY ASSESSMENT PROGRAM USING TEST ITEM RESPONSE THEORY

AUTOMATION OF TEST METHODS HAS RESULTED IN TREMENDOUS INCREASES IN EFFICIENCY AND RELIABILITY, AND HAS BEEN DRIVEN BY THE INCREASING DEMAND FOR LARGE-SCALE TESTING. UP TO NEW, THIS TESTING MODALITY HAS BEEN LIMITED TO STANDARDIZED TESTS WHICH FOR THE MOST PART USE MULTIPLE CHOICE, PAPER AND PENCIL TECHNIQUES, SINCE COMPUTERS HAVE HISTORICALLY BEEN FUNCTIONALLY BOTH DEAF AND DUMB. PROBLEM-ATICALLY, THESE TECHNIQUES DO NOT TEST VERBAL LANGUAGE COMPREHENSION OR PRODUCTION, THE MOST COMMON AND CRITICAL TYPES OF HUMAN COMMUNICATION. THE ALTERNATIVES IN ASSESSINGLANGUAGE COMPETENCY REQUIRE COSTLY, LABOR INTENSIVE INTER- ACTION AND MANUAL SCORING, WHICH ARE NEITHER COST EFFECTIVE THE GOAL OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH IS TO DEVELOP A TESTING SYSTEM INCORPORATING BOTH SPEECH-TO-TEXT AND TEXT-TO-SPEECH CAPABILITIES. THE SYSTEM WILL THUS BE CAPABLE OF TESTING BOTH AUDITORY COMPREHENSION AND VERBAL PRODUCTION. THIS DEVELOPMENT IS ONLY NOW POSSIBLE, DUE TO THE RECENT BREAKTHROUGH IN SPEAKER-INDEPENDENT SPEECH RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY ACCOMPLISHED BY SPEECH SYSTEMS INC. IN ADDITION,THE TESTING SYSTEM WILL UTILIZE ADAPTIVE TESTING BASED ON TEST ITEM RESPONSE THEORY (IRT) METHODOLOGIES IN ORDER TO PRESENT MORE EFFICIENT AND RELIABLE TESTS.