26/10/2020
A Year of Milestones: NOVO Papers Selected to Feature at Interspeech 2020
2020 has been a year of firsts for NOVO: It was the year that we secured a partnership with one of the largest state-owned companies in Indonesia, published our Digital University Press with Banjarmasin’s Universitas Lambung Mangkurat, and the first time a NOVO paper was accepted at Interspeech.
Interspeech is described as “the world's largest technical conference focused on speech processing and application,” emphasizing “interdisciplinary approaches addressing all aspects of speech science and technology, ranging from basic theories to advanced applications.” This year’s conference, originally scheduled to take place in Shanghai, China, will be the first-ever fully virtual convention since the founding of the conference in 1994.
One of two NOVO papers submitted is titled “Mobile-Assisted Prosody Training for Limited English Proficiency: Learner Background and Speech Learning Pattern”. Written by a team of scientists* including NOVO co-founder Dr. Helmer Strik, who serves as Associate Professor in Speech Science and Technology at Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands, the paper explores the real-world application and efficacy of proprietary NOVO software as a language learning tool to help learners perfect their intonation, tone, stress, and rhythm when learning a new language.
One of the challenges encountered in mobile-assisted language learning is optimizing comprehensibility and minimizing accentedness as inherited from the learner’s native tongue. “Teaching speaking is difficult because it’s hard to give feedback on spoken utterances,” Dr. Strik explains. “To provide opportunities to train prosody and give feedback on it is difficult because it can only be done in one-on-one settings.”
Proprietary software was developed, making use of Automatic Speech Recognition to give direct and accurate feedback to correct the learner’s prosody.
“We have shown that NOVO software has worked for speech production, especially at the segmented levels (sounds). In this research, we have looked at prosody and have shown that through prosody exercises, we see significant gains for lexical stress, prominence, and comprehensibility,” Dr. Strik continues.
With COVID-19 presenting a global paradigm shift in the way learners and educators have begun interacting en masse through online-based distance learning, NOVO software offers a feasible teaching solution in circumstances where prosody is critical to the curriculum but one-on-one training is compromised.
This heralds a new era for language learning, bridging the gap between traditional in-person instruction and mobile-assisted learning. Despite the distance and lack of one-on-one contact with teachers, learners can still receive thorough language training through practice with proprietary and mobile-friendly NOVO technology. If you’re ready to unlock potential and partner with NOVO, get in touch with us today.
—
*Mobile-Assisted Prosody Training for Limited English Proficiency: Learner Background and Speech Learning Pattern” was co-written by Kevin Hirschi (Northern Arizona University, USA), Okim Kang (Northern Arizona University, USA), Catia Cucchiarini (Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands), John Hansen (University of Texas at Dallas, USA), Keelan Evanini (Educational Testing Service, USA), and Helmer Strik (Radboud University; NovoLearning B.V., Nijmegen, Netherlands).
