Paper Info
Title
Speech-enabled card games for incidental vocabulary acquisition in a foreign language
Abstract
In this paper, we present a novel application for speech technology to aid students with vocabulary acquisition in a foreign language through interactive card games. We describe a generic platform for card game development and then introduce a particular prototype card game called Word War, designed for learning Mandarin Chinese. We assess the feasibility of deploying Word War via the Internet by conducting our first user study remotely and evaluating the performance of the speech recognition component. It was found that the three central concepts in our system were recognized with an error rate of 16.02%. We then turn to assessing the effects of the Word War game on vocabulary retention in a controlled environment. To this end, we performed a user study using two variants of the Word War game: a speaking mode, in which the user issues spoken commands to manipulate the game cards, and a listening mode, in which the computer gives spoken directions that the students must follow by manipulating the cards manually with the mouse. These two modes of learning were compared against a more traditional computer assisted vocabulary learning system: an on-line flash cards program. To assess long-term learning gains as a function of time-on-task, we had the students interact with each system twice over a period of three weeks. We found that all three systems were competitive in terms of the vocabulary words learned as measured by pre-tests and post-tests, with less than a 5% difference among the systems' average overall learning gains. We also conducted surveys, which indicated that the students enjoyed the speaking mode of Word War more than the other two systems.
Year
DOI
Venue
2009
10.1016/j.specom.2009.04.011
Speech Communication
Keywords
Field
DocType
foreign language,card game development,speech recognition,average overall learning gain,interactive card game,intelligent computer assisted language learning,deploying word war,incidental vocabulary acquisition,long-term learning gain,word war game,game card,word war,speech-enabled card game,speaking mode,user study,computer aided vocabulary acquisition,error rate,mandarin chinese,game development
Speech processing,Computer science,Video game development,Word error rate,Active listening,Speech recognition,Vocabulary,Speech technology,Foreign language,The Internet
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
51
10
Speech Communication
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
10
0.88
11
Authors
3
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Ian McGraw125324.41
Brandon Yoshimoto2141.30
Stephanie Seneff32075364.35