Detection of Focus for Importance of Words: Toward Computer-Assisted Learning for Improving Presentation
Hosei University Tokyo, Japan
ABSTRACT
This study introduces a presentation practice system, which enables a presenter to emphasize important words. The system indicates specific words emphasized by the user during a presentation. Based on knowledge of Japanese phonetics and language education, we focused on accent pitch, intensity, pauses, the position of a word in an utterance, and speech rate. When a presenter uses the system, they utter a sentence including a word to be emphasized in their presentation. They confirm detected results on all words in the utterance and repeat it until the word they wish to emphasize is detected as the focus. In an evaluation experiment, three students used the system until they could emphasize the focus correctly in their presentation relating to their own researches. Three other students allotted scores to each word given emphasis according to three grading levels. In the results, the mean value of the emphasis given to the chosen words by the presenters was higher by one grade after the practice system than before. This demonstrates that the feedback obtained facilitated the acquisition of speaking skills in relation to emphasizing important words in a presentation.
KEYWORDS
focus, prosody, focus detection, presentation, focus education, CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning)