Norgesuniversitetets høstseminar, september 2010 Computer-Assisted Listening and Speaking Tutor Jacques Koreman & Åsta Øvregaard Dept. of Language and Communication Studies

Norgesuniversitetets høstseminar, september 2010 Outline •Hva er CALST? •Hvorfor brukes IKT? •Hvorfor trengs det tverrfaglig samarbeid? •Hvorfor trenger utlendinger uttale- og lyttetrening? •Hvorfor er norsk uttale vanskelig? •Hvorfor er norsk spesielt? •DEMONSTRASJON •Hva er planen for veien videre?

Norgesuniversitetets høstseminar, september 2010 Foredraget i dag DEMONSTRASJON Hva er CALST? Hvorfor brukes IKT? Hvorfor trengs det tverrfaglig samarbeid? Hvorfor trenger utlendinger uttale- og lyttetrening? Hvorfor er norsk uttale vanskelig? Hvorfor er norsk spesielt? CALST Computer-Assisted Listening and Speaking Tutor Veien videre

Norgesuniversitetets høstseminar, september 2010 Hva er CALST? •Computer-Assisted Listening and Speaking Tutor •Bruker bilder for å lære basisvokabular for enkel kommunikasjon •Viser forskjeller mellom lyder gjennom minimale par •Gir mulighet til å sammenligne egen uttale med den virtuelle lærerens uttale •Eksisterer ikke for norsk •Baseres på VILLE for svensk (

Norgesuniversitetets høstseminar, september 2010 Hvorfor brukes IKT? •Norsklærende kan bruke systemet når og hvor det passer •Individualisert læring •avhengig av morsmål •avhengig av måldialekt •Prestige (uttalefeil) •Kombinasjon med klasseromsundervisning viktig!

Norgesuniversitetets høstseminar, september 2010 Hvorfor trengs det tverrfaglig samarbeid? CALST VOX IMDi Norgesuniversitet HF, NTNU PRAKSIS FORSKNING TEKNOLOGI

Norgesuniversitetets høstseminar, september 2010 Hvorfor uttale- og lyttetrening? •Uttale og forståelse veldig viktig for kommunikasjon •...utover det bare å benytte norske ord •Faglig kommunikasjon •Læring •Sosiale kontakter •Effekter av dårlig uttale utover selve budskapet som kommuniseres

Norgesuniversitetets høstseminar, september 2010 Hvorfor er uttale vanskelig? •Språkproduksjons- og –persepsjonsystemet bygges opp og spesialiseres for morsmål over mange år •f. eks. ”blue eyes” > ”blue ice” •Noen typiske problemer i norsk for utlendinger: •”tak” > ”takk” •”bi - by – bu - bo” •”har det” > ”ha det” •p h, t h, k h > p, t, k •Avhengig av morsmål

Norgesuniversitetets høstseminar, september 2010 Hvorfor er norsk spesiell? •Norsk har mange dialekter (som alle andre språk) •Norsk har ikke akseptert standard: •Br.E.: Received Pronunciation/Standard Southern English •Tysk: Hochdeutsch •Nederlandsk: Algemeen Beschaafd Nederlands •Utlendinger må kunne forstå alle dialekter •... og velge en variant som talemål •Denne mulighet bygges inn i CALST

Norgesuniversitetets høstseminar, september 2010 Demonstrasjon av CALST demonstrasjon

Norgesuniversitetets høstseminar, september 2010 Veien videre? •Opptak av flere dialekttalere •Detaljert kontrastiv analyse norsk versus utvalgte kildespråk •Utvidelse av CALST-prosjektet (med støtte fra HF, NTNU): automatisk kontrastiv analyse for 450 språk i UPSID databasen •Utvikling av øvelser med utgangspunkt i kontrastiv analyse

Norgesuniversitetets høstseminar, september 2010 CALST work packages 1.Development of basic lexicon for Norwegian 2.Contrastive listening: 3.Self-monitoring of pronunciation •Phonological contrastive analysis (what phonemes) and phonetic analysis (how realized) for several L1 •Depends on dialect •First learn to hear, then learn to speak •Recordings of one male/one female speaker for 4 Norwegian dialects (Østlandet, Vestlandet, Trøndelag and Nord-Norge): role model, no single standard •Alignment of talking face with speech signal •Selection and creation of pictures

Norgesuniversitetets høstseminar, september 2010 Basic vocabulary learning •First step towards communication •Simple and intuitive user interface •Train and test mode •Extra information on flash cards: •English translation •Declinations and inflexions

Norgesuniversitetets høstseminar, september 2010 Basic vocabulary: selection criteria A1Has a basic vocabulary repertoire of isolated words and phrases related to particular concrete situations. A2Has a sufficient vocabulary for the expression of basic communicative needs. Has a sufficient vocabulary for coping with simple survival needs. Has sufficient vocabulary to conduct routine, everyday transactions involving familiar situations and topics. Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment, Portfolio/documents/Framework_EN.pdf, p Portfolio/documents/Framework_EN.pdf

Norgesuniversitetets høstseminar, september total n = På vei (n = 1485) Ny i Norge (n = 1579) euroFluent (n = 1541) Basic vocabulary Ellingsen og Mac Donald (2004), På vei. Oslo: J. W. Cappelens forlag A/S. euroFluent (2008), Manne og Nilsen (2004), Ny i Norge. Bergen: Forlaget Fag og Kultur AS.

Norgesuniversitetets høstseminar, september 2010 Basic vocabulary •Comparison with basic vocabulary og Lexin, a web- based dictionary developed specially for immigrants under the auspices of Utdanningsdirektoratet: 349 additional words. •Some lacking cardinal and ordinal numbers 1-20, all tens up to 100, etc. •Words from this total word set were used to build up semantic categories. •Within a semantic category, the grammatical category of the words was the same. •Additional (non-semantic) categories for strong verbs, weak verbs, years (numbers) and phrases.

Norgesuniversitetets høstseminar, september 2010 Semantic categories (16-32 words) 1.Animals32 2.Emotions30 3.Family Family Colours16 6.Geography (topography)24 7.Houses (buildings) 23 8.Household 1 (living room, etc.) 18 9.Household 2 (kitchen, etc.) Clothing32 11.Countries and continents24 12.Body27 13.Health16 14.Food 1 (elementary)32 15.Food 2 (expanded) Mathematics19 17.Nationality25 18.Plants19 19.Position and direction 1 (adv.)16 20.Position and direction 1 (prep.)16 21.Tools 1 (personal belongings)32 22.Tools 2 (kitchen, workshop) Travel20 24.Sport and sparetime28 25.Numbers 1 (cardinal) Numbers 2 (similar-sounding)42 27.Numbers 3 (similar-sounding)38 28.Numbers 4 (ordinal)32 29.Time 1 (weekdays, months)23 30.Time 2 (time of day)18 31.Education24 32.Weather and climate20 33.Work25 34.Economy30 35.Years (culturally relevant)18 36.Weak verbs32 37.Strong verbs27 38.Phrases16 39.Pronouns21

Norgesuniversitetets høstseminar, september 2010 Basic vocabulary selection •All words were given priority 1-3 on the basis av pedagogical considerations (cf. CEF A1 and A2 criteria): 1. necessary (1200 words), 2 useful (700 words), 3. nice to have (1200 words). → 1000-word basic vocabulary Category:UtdanningFamilieDyr Priority 1skolemorfisk Priority 2fagsamboertorsk Priority 3opplæringekteparbikkje Category:UtdanningFamilieGeografi Visualizability 1tavlebarnøy Visualizability 2naturfagslektkyst Visualizability 3utdanningskilsmisseområde •All words were given a visualizability value 1-3 by the person who was hired to produce the pictures.

Norgesuniversitetets høstseminar, september 2010 Visualizing words •Simple, stylized pictures for quick perception. •Taken from UVic’s Language Teaching Clipart Library database, and expanded by the project (310 drawn by hand, computer drawn). •First drawn on paper, scanned in and coloured using Paint and PhotoFiltre. •Neutral to gender and culture – if possible. •Drawn on transparent background to allow green (“correct”) or red filling (“incorrect”). •Some categories not use individual pictures for each word, but instead use a composite picture, e.g. to express family relationships in a family tree or to visualize states in a map of the world.

Norgesuniversitetets høstseminar, september 2010 Norwegian dialects •Norwegian has a large number of different dialects (so what, so do other languages) •And no real standard pronunciation variant (e.g. English, German and Dutch do) •There is no tradition in Norway to accommodate to problems in understanding dialects (overstatement!) •Learners of Norwegian have to deal with this in everyday communication situations •Standard classroom situation: training in listening to and speaking Urban East Norwegian (østlandsk) •CALST: choice between 4 main dialect regions with a male and a female speaker (role model) for each, or combination of dialects

Norgesuniversitetets høstseminar, september 2010 Next step: contrastive listening training •What is easy for a Norwegian speaker/listener, may be difficult for an L2-learner: •“bi-by-bu” •Retroflexion: “har det” (“ha det”) •Aspiration: [p h, t h, k h ] •And do Norwegians have a pronunciation problem in Norwegian: “7.” = “20.”? (The loss of this opposition means one problem less for foreigners! – but at the expense of many misunderstandings) •We’re all foreigners, almost everywhere: •“blue eyes” or “blue ice”? •“very well”

Norgesuniversitetets høstseminar, september 2010 Selecting target groups •Original proposal: contrastive analysis of most frequent and problematical foreign languages in comparison to Norwegian •Analysis of exam results for Norwegian courses in last 5 years underway: test results and pronunciation grade analyzed for •native language background •gender •age •position (exchange student, Ph.D., NTNU employee) •study program or institute •Also based on data/experience from UiO and EVO •(UPSID: contrastive analysis of Norwegian compared to

Norgesuniversitetets høstseminar, september 2010 Contrastive analysis: thinking big? •UPSID: UCLA Phonological Segment Inventory Database contains phonemic inventory of Norwegian compared to 450 (!) other languages •Can we derive an automatic analysis for each of this automatically? web.phonetik.uni-frankfurt.de/upsid.html •Other information on the web: syllable structure, word stress, tone, … (SOWL) •Use L1-L2 differences to guide users of the CAPT system through exercises …or let them also do “easy” exercises for familiar contrast for motivation?

Norgesuniversitetets høstseminar, september 2010 Possible follow-ups 1.CALST follow-up programmed •Test data from CALST on server (also after project!) •logged together with student background data: gender, age, language background, length of residence, drop-out rate, grade, etc. •new project on Comparative Analysis of various L1? 2.CAPT’N •Cross-disciplinary project submitted to NFR in 2008: technology + phonetics •Aim: automatic analysis of learners’ pronunciation of problematical sound contrasts + phonetic feedback. •Project rejected: “too applied” + cross-disciplinary project possibly difficult to review •IET resubmitting the technological part of this project.

Norgesuniversitetets høstseminar, september 2010 Takk for oss! Computer-Assisted Listening and Speaking Tutor