Systems and methods for dynamic reading fluency proficiency assessment

• US 20040049391A1
• Filed: 09/09/2002
• Published: 03/11/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 09/09/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Fuji Xerox Company Limited (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Fuji Xerox Company Limited (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Polanyi, Livia, van den Berg, Martin Henk
• Application Number:
  US10/237,135
• Publication Number:
  US 20040049391A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/271
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/1807 using prosody or stress

Abstract

Techniques for dynamic personalized reading fluency proficiency assessment are provided by determining a user reading fluency level based on one or more spoken responses provided by the user during one or more reading aloud sessions of a text that has been evaluated for discourse structure and information structure of sentences.

Claims

1. A computer-assisted method of dynamic reading fluency proficiency assessment, comprising:

providing a text evaluated for discourse structure and information structure of sentences to a user; and

determining a user reading fluency level based on one or more spoken responses provided by the user during one or more reading aloud sessions of the evaluated text.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the user reading fluency level comprises:

determining one or more user speech prosodic measures provided in the one or more spoken responses; and

comparing the determined one or more user speech prosodic measures to one or more fluent readers speech prosodic measures.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining one or more user speech prosodic measures comprises determining one or more user speech prosodic measures using a speech analysis system.

4. The method of claim 2 further comprising determining a speech prosody match that approximates the one or more user speech prosodic measures to one or more fluent reader speech prosodic measures.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more fluent reader speech prosodic measures are selected from a predetermined group of fluent readers speech prosodic measures.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the user reading fluency level comprises:

determining one or more user speech intonation measures provided in the one or more spoken responses; and

comparing the determined one or more user speech intonation measures to one or more fluent readers speech intonation measures.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein determining one or more user speech intonation measures is performed using a speech analysis system.

8. The method of claim 6 further comprising determining a speech intonation measures match that approximates the one or more user speech intonation measures to the one or more fluent readers speech intonation measures.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the one or more fluent readers speech intonation measures are selected from a predetermined group of fluent readers speech intonation measures.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the user reading fluency level comprises:

determining one or more user speech prosodic measures provided in the one or more spoken responses;

determining one or more user speech intonation measures provided in the one or more spoken responses;

comparing the determined one or more user speech prosodic measures to one or more fluent readers speech prosodic measures; and

comparing the determined one or more user speech intonation measures to one or more fluent readers speech intonation measures.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein determining one or more user speech prosodic measures comprises determining one or more user speech prosodic measures using a speech analysis system.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising determining a speech prosody match that approximates the one or more user speech prosodic measures to one or more fluent reader speech prosodic measures.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein determining the user reading fluency level comprises:

determining one or more user speech intonation measures provided in the one or more spoken responses; and

comparing the determined one or more user speech intonation measures to one or more fluent readers speech intonation measures.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein determining one or more user speech intonation measures is performed using a speech analysis system.

15. The method of claim 13 further comprising determining a speech intonation measures match that approximates the one or more user speech intonation measures to the one or more fluent readers speech intonation measures.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the one or more fluent readers speech intonation measures are selected from a predetermined group of fluent readers speech intonation measures.

17. The method of claim 1 further comprising recording the one or more spoken responses provided by the user during the one or more reading aloud sessions of the evaluated text.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a user reading fluency level comprises displaying salient information from the grammatical tunable text summary based on at least one of a user request;

determined reading speed; and

determined comprehension level.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the text is evaluated based on at least one of a Discourse Structures Theory, a Linguistic Discourse Model, an Information Structure Theory, a Rhetorical Structure Theory, a Systemic Functional Grammar and Tagmemics.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein a user reading fluency level is determined based on at least one of age, academic grade and performance and interactive test performance.

21. A machine-readable medium that provides instructions for dynamic reading fluency proficiency assessment, which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

providing a text evaluated for discourse structure and information structure of sentences to a user; and

determining a user reading fluency level based on one or more spoken responses provided by the user during one or more reading aloud sessions of the evaluated text.

22. The machine-readable medium of claim 21, wherein the instructions for determining a user reading fluency level comprises:

instructions for determining one or more user speech prosodic measures provided in the one or more spoken responses;

instructions for determining one or more user speech intonation measures provided in the one or more spoken responses;

instructions for comparing the determined one or more user speech prosodic measures to one or more fluent readers speech prosodic measures; and

instructions for comparing the determined one or more user speech intonation measures to one or more fluent readers speech intonation measures.

23. The machine-readable medium of claim 21, wherein the instructions for determining one or more user speech prosodic measures comprise instructions for determining one or more user speech prosodic measures using a speech analysis system.

24. The machine-readable medium of claim 21, wherein the instructions for determining one or more user speech intonation measures comprise instructions for determining one or more user speech intonation measures using a speech analysis system.

25. The machine-readable medium of claim 21, wherein the instructions for determining one or more user speech prosodics measures comprise instructions for determining one or more of speech rhythm, speech stress and speech intonation.

26. The machine-readable medium of claim 21, wherein the instructions for determining one or more user speech intonation measures comprise instructions for determining one or more of pitch level, pitch range, speech rate and speech amplitude.

27. A dynamic reading fluency proficiency assessment system comprising:

a memory; and

a reading fluency proficiency assessment circuit, routine or application that determines a reading fluency level of a user by providing a text evaluated for discourse structure and information structure of sentences to the user, and that determines a user reading fluency level based on one or more spoken responses provided by the user during one or more reading aloud sessions of the displayed evaluated text.

28. The dynamic reading fluency proficiency assessment system of claim 27, wherein the dynamic reading fluency proficiency assessment system determines the user reading fluency level based on one or more of pitch level, pitch range, speech rate and speech amplitude.

29. The dynamic reading fluency proficiency assessment system of claim 27, wherein the dynamic reading fluency proficiency assessment system determines the user reading fluency level based on one or more of speech rhythm, speech stress and speech intonation.