Using Automated Systems to Evaluate Spoken English R&D

Author(s):

Sandberg, Hans

Publication Year:

2018

Source:

Focus on ETS R&D, n9, Mar 2018

Document Type:

Periodical

Page Count:

7

Subject/Key Words:

English Language Learners (ELL), Spoken Language Assessment, Automated Scoring and Natural Language Processing, Large-Scale Assessment, Computer Delivered Assessment, Automated Scoring of Speech, Test Score Reliability

Abstract

How do you find out how well a language learner can speak English? One way is to give a test and then have a human expert evaluate the learner’s performance, but this method can be expensive if the number of test takers is large. Another way is to digitally record the spoken answers and let computers score them. Focus on ETS R&D asked ETS scientists Keelan Evanini, Spiros Papageorgiou and Klaus Zechner to share some of their thoughts on automated assessment of spoken English.