This paper reviews traditional definitions and measures of oral proficiency, then explains a series of experiments and measurement methods that were used in the development of the PhonePass test of proficiency in spoken English. The PhonePass test is a standardized instrument that measures speaking, listening, and basic reading skills during a 10-minute telephone call. The PhonePass system calculates scores on five performance subscales from a set of more basic measures that are produced by modified speech recognition of examinee responses. Item response theory is used to analyze and scale examinee performance, which is then related to rubrics and scale definitions that were developed and used in human scoring of PhonePass responses. The scaling methods and validation process are described.
Cite as: Townshend, B., Bernstein, J., Todic, O., Warren, E. (1998) Estimation of spoken language proficiency. Proc. ETRW on Speech Technology in Language Learning (STiLL), 179-182
@inproceedings{townshend98_still,
author={Brent Townshend and Jared Bernstein and Ognjen Todic and Eryk Warren},
title={{Estimation of spoken language proficiency}},
year=1998,
booktitle={Proc. ETRW on Speech Technology in Language Learning (STiLL)},
pages={179--182}
}