Demonstrator
Project: LE4-8353
Deliverable: D2.3
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Version |
1 |
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Date |
01.03.2000 |
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Project Number |
LE4-8353 |
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Project Title |
Interactive Spoken Language Education [ISLE] |
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Deliverable Type |
Prototype, Report |
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Distribution |
Public |
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Deliverable ID |
D2.3 |
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Expected Delivery Date |
T21 |
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Actual Delivery Date |
01.03.00 |
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Title of Deliverable |
Demonstrator (final version) |
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Author(s) |
Daniel Herron (UHamburg) |
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OT |
RE |
SP |
PR |
TO |
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Other |
Report |
Specification |
Prototype |
Tool |
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C |
P |
R |
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Consortium |
Public |
Restricted |
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Version |
Date |
Status |
Author(s) |
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1 |
01.03.00 |
Final |
UHamburg [DTH] |
Summary
Deliverable 2.3, "Demonstrator (final version)" accompanies the software installer of the final ISLE Demonstrator. This report includes installation and usage instructions.
ISLE Deliverable *
Revision History *
Summary *
Contents *
Introduction *
Installation *
Running the Demonstrator *
The ISLE system provides learners of English the possibility of improving their speech production skills by taking part in interactive spoken language exercises in a computer-aided language learning environment. The role of the teacher or conversation partner is taken by the ISLE system, which defines what the user can say, listens and provides pronunciation diagnosis feedback. The Demonstrator is shipped as a (possibly compressed) installer for Windows (95, 98, or NT) PC’s.
The Demonstrator requires at least a Pentium 100 with 64 MB of RAM and 50 MB free hard-disk space. A significantly faster machine will, however, be necessary for near real-time processing. Additionally, a sound card and microphone are required. If possible, a high-quality close-talking headset microphone should be used.
If the Demonstrator has been shipped as a compressed archive, you must first unpack it in order to proceed (although some compression programs may allow one to install directly from with the compression program.) Run the "setup.exe" application, and follow the prompts on-screen. It is suggested that you use the default install location of
C:\Program Files\ISLE offered to you by the installer. After installation, you will be given the option of reading the documentation and/or launching the Demonstrator.When you installed the ISLE Demonstrator, an ActiveX control, also called an OCX, was installed on your system. The ISLE Demonstrator uses the OCX in order to handle all speech- and diagnosis-related tasks. You will always be able to see the status of the system by looking at the icon that represents the OCX. You will see at most times an icon on the bottom on the screen, near the middle, that will have either an "ear" (see Figure 1) or a green "wave" (Figure 2). This is the OCX, telling you that it is currently "listening to you" (the ear) or else that it is idle and ready (the green wave.) When the wave turns red, it means the system is busy (processing).
The most important thing to remember when using this system is that you must only speak when you see the "ear" icon. You will always be prompted to click a speak button before talking; make sure to wait until you see the "ear" icon appear. If you make a mistake, simply stop talking and wait for the system to stop listening. As long as you are making noise into the microphone, the system will continue to listen. This will take some getting used to, but it is very important.
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Figure 1: the green wave |
Figure 2: the ear |
There will usually be an exit button on the bottom left, sometimes bottom right. It looks like Figure 3. It usually means "exit ISLE", but in sub-dialogs it means "return to the exercises".
Figure 3: the exit button
When you enter a ‘dialog’, you will hear an introduction to the dialog, and see the buttons in Figure 4 on the upper-right side. They are, in order, the ‘hear the dialog’ (as opposed to the introduction), pause/play, and stop the audio buttons. If you click ‘hear’, the first button will change into the ‘eye’, meaning ‘see the text of the dialog’. You can click on the lines in the text to hear just that part. There is a small crescent shape on the lower-right/upper-left of the dialog to page through the various pages of the text, as in Figure 5.
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Figure 4: the audio & dialog controls |
Figure 5: dialog paging tabs |
Once you are listening to/seeing the dialog, the two buttons on the right-side/middle (Figure 6) will become active. They allow you to enter the exercises (text or oral, respectively.) Each type of exercise (standard/text and oral) has 5 sub-types (repeat the setence, listen and repeat, etc). You can click on a sub-type to try it. Then you can use the exercise-changing arrows (Figure 7) to move between the several examples of each type of exercise. The single-arrows go the the next example of that sub-type. The double arrows go to the next sub-type.
The two buttons on the bottom-right are ‘jump’ buttons (Figure 8). The round one should take you back to the main menu (the colorful page where you can choose from areas 1 to 5, but only 1 is allowed.) This is so that you can change to a different dialog. The other curved-shape allows you to jump from a particular exercise back to the dialog (so that you can find the answer to the question.) Then you can click it again to go back to the same oral exercises you were on.
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Figure 6: exercise selection |
Figure 7: exercise-changing arrows |
Figure 8: 'jump' buttons |
The controls on the bottom left (Figure 9) are, in order: exit ISLE, set the recognition / localization / diagnosis parameters, and ‘see what sounds I have trouble with’. If you enter the settings dialog (which you are forced to do at least once), you can change the three parameters that control (a) how often the system says "I’m sorry, I didn’t understand."; (b) the localization threshold that determines how many words are flagged as having errors; and (c) the diagnosis threshold that determines how hard the system tries to come up with an explanation for the alleged mistake. Try to set (a) as low (as far to the low as possible) as possible so that the system still recognizes you. Set (b) and (c) in the middle. If the system seems to find too many or not enough errors, adjust (b). Move (c) to the right if it is not very specific in the diagnosis.
Figure 9: bottom-left controls
Once the system has recognized, it will try to localize (find errors.) Localized words will turn red and become active (Figure 10). If you click on a word, you will get a menu with three options: (a) hear this word as said by the ‘teacher’(actually, you hear the word plus a word of context on the left and on the right); (b) hear it as you said it; (c) diagnose this error (tell me what I did wrong.) You only need to click the ‘diagnose’ button once—after that the system will already have diagnosed each of the other red-colored words, and the ‘diagnosis’ will appear automatically. If you click on the box with the sentence, but not on a red word, you hear your whole sentence.
Figure 10: localization
A diagnosis (explanation) usually involves coloring some part of the word (as shown alone in the white box in Figure 11) red. That means that that portion of the word ‘sounded wrong’ (the ‘G’ in this figure.) There will then probably be a more detailed explanation in the box below, something like "that should sound like XXX, not YYY". Notice that the example words are ‘hot’, meaning you can click on them to hear the word, or even click on just the colored letters to hear the phone that ISLE is referring to. This ‘green box’ always means that ISLE plays something –it works also for most of the prompts in the exercises.
The ‘improve’ button (Figure 12) means ‘offer me some exercises for this particular error’. The three types implemented are: (a) repeat that same word 5 times correctly; (b) say a list of words to practice that phone; and (c) repeat a list of minimal pairs that contrast those two phones.
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Figure 11: diagnosis |
Figure 12: improve-exercise selection |
In the ‘improve’ section there is, of course, a speak button (this one will look slightly different, but functions in the same way—click it, wait for the ear to appear in the OCX, then speak the word that you are instructred to repeat; Figure 13.) You can adjust the sensitivity of the system using the slider. If you have difficulty, the system will automatically make it easier for you.
Figure 13: word/phone practice
When you are practicing a word, a progress bar (Figure 14) shows how many correct you’ve gotten. Otherwise, there will be one or two lists of words. Say the word that is colored blue. When you get it correct, it turns grey. If the system gives up on the word, it turns grey and gets a line through it (Figure 15).
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Figure 14: word repetition |
Figure 15: phone practice |
