Practical application and validation of a computerized automatic scoring Japanese speaking test

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26244026
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Japanese language education
• Research Institution: University of Tsukuba
• Principal Investigator: IMAI Shingo 筑波大学, 人文社会系, 教授 (50346582)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 西村 竜一 和歌山大学, システム工学部, 助教 (00379611) ; 山田 武志 筑波大学, システム情報系, 准教授 (20312829) ; 赤木 彌生 山口大学, 大学教育機構留学生センター, 准教授 (30346580) ; 中園 博美 島根大学, 外国語教育センター, 准教授 (40314611) ; 伊東 祐郎 東京外国語大学, 大学院国際日本語研究院, 教授 (50242227) ; 菊地 賢一 東邦大学, 理学部, 教授 (50270426) ; 中村 洋一 清泉女学院短期大学, 国際コミュニケーション科, 教授 (70326809) ; 本田 明子 立命館アジア太平洋大学, 言語教育センター, 准教授 (80331130) ; 篠崎 隆宏 東京工業大学, 大学院総合理工学研究科, 准教授 (80447903) ; 家根橋 伸子 東亜大学, 人間科学部, 教授 (80609652)
• Research Collaborator: ISHIZUKA Kenkichi
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: スピーキングテスト / CAT / 日本語能力 / 自動採点

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We developed a testing system called SJ-CAT (Speaking Japanese Computerized Adaptive Test), which is accessible on the Internet. The test automatically measures the speaking ability of non-native speakers of Japanese language. SJ-CAT consists of four types of questions, i.e., reading a sentence, reading a correct sentence from three choices, making a sentence, and expressing one's opinion. The system evaluates one's speaking ability based on acoustic feature value (e.g. prosodic patterns, acoustic likelihood, and several kind of speaking rates) and keywords. Scores are calculated by means of a polytomous Item Response Model. Comparison between SJ-CAT and another speaking test, which is evaluated by trained human raters, showed high correlation, which indicates the practicality of SJ-CAT.

Free Research Field

日本語教育