EDUCATING IMMIGRANT POPULATIONS IN THE U.

EDUCATING IMMIGRANT POPULATIONS IN THE U.S. IS A MAJOR CHALLENGE TO OUR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM. SPEECH RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY IS NOW CAPABLE OF HELPING IMMIGRANTS, E.G. ASIANSAND HISPANICS, LEARN TO SPEAK AND UNDERSTAND ENGLISH. PHONETIC LEVEL ANALYSIS AND FEEDBACK IS NECESSARY IN THE APPLICATION OF SPEECH RECOGNITION TO ESL. COMMERCIAL SPEECH INPUT DEVICES ARE INCAPABLE OF PROVIDING PHONETIC FEEDBACK. THESE DEVICES DO NOT PERFORM PHONETIC ANALYSIS IN THE RECOGNITION PROCESS. THE SPEECH SIGNALS ARE NOT PROCESSED IN A MANNER WHICH PRESERVES PHONETIC INFORMATION OR PHONEMES. SCOTT INSTRUMENTS CORPORATION (SCOTT) HAS A NEW SIGNAL PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY EMBODIED IN THE CORETECHS TM INTERGRATED CIRCUIT. A NEW SPEECH INPUT DEVICE BASED ON THISTECHNOLOGY IS AVAILABLE. THIS DEVICE IS CAPABLE OR IDENT IFYING PHONETIC UNITS, OF MAKING FINE PHONETIC DISTINCTIONS ,E.G. STOPS, FRICATIVES,AFFRICATES, LIQUIDS, GLIDES, VOWELS,NASALS, AND TONALITY AND INTONATION. THIS TECHNOLOGY CAN, THEREFORE, PROVIDE PHONETIC ANALYSIS AND FEEDBACK, EVEN IN TONAL LANGUAGES, E.G. CHINESE. SCOTT PROPOSES TO RESEARCH PHONETIC ANALYSIS ALGORITHMS AND FEEDBACK DISPLAYS APPROPRIATE TO THE ACQUISTION OF ENGLISH BY IMMIGRANT POPULATIONS. THE RESEARCH WILL RESULT IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF SPEECH PROCESSING ALGORITHMS AND GRAPHIC REPRESENTATIONS OF SPEECH WHICH CAN HELP IMMIGRANTS SPEAK AND UNDERSTAND ENGLISH BY CONVERSING WITH THEM AND CORRECTING MISPRONUMCIATIONS.