Gunma JALT:

Assessing English Proficiency by Computer: Call Software and Prosody Analysis

Date: Sunday, June 18th, 2006 Time: 2:00 PM - 4:30 PM

Speaker: Hiroyuki Obari, Aoyama Gakuin University

Description:
This presentation is about effectiveness of the Computed Assessment System for English Communication (CASEC) as a means of assessing EFL learner's fluency in communication. The speaker and his associates compared the CASEC scores with the prosody analysis of the subjects' oral presentations. He will discuss the results of the comparison as well as some of the findings they have made on the prosody of Japanese speakers of English. Then, in addition, the latest software developed by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) will be demonstrated to show how to automatically correct the pronunciation of Japanese speakers of English.

Hiroyuki Obari, Professor, Aoyama Gakuin Univ., MA in TESOL from Columbia Univ., PhD in Computer Science from Tsukuba University; Hiroaki Kojima, Senior Researcher at AIST, PhD in engineering from Kyoto Univ.; Machi Okamura, President of Prontest.

Organization: Gunma Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching (Gunma JALT)

Cost: JALT Members: free
Non-members: 1000 yen

Venue: Maebashi Kyoai Gakuen College, 1154-4 Koyahara-machi, Maebashi, Gunma (tel: 027-266-7575)

Location: Maebashi City, Gunma Prefecture, Japan

Contact Gunma JALT

Website: sites.google.com/site/gunmajalt/