Systems and methods for assessment of non-native spontaneous speech

A computer-implemented system for assessing speech pronunciation, comprising:

• a processor;
• a non-transitory computer-readable memory comprising instructions for causing the processor to perform steps including:
• receiving speech for analysis via a computer-readable storage medium;
• performing automatic speech recognition on speech using a processor to generate word hypotheses for the speech, the word hypotheses identifying a set words recognized by an automated speech recognizer in the speech using one or more data processors;
• performing time alignment between the speech and the word hypotheses using the automatic speech recognizer to associate the word hypotheses with corresponding sounds of the speech;
• calculating statistics regarding individual words and phonemes of the word hypotheses using the processor based on said alignment;
• calculating a plurality of features for use in assessing pronunciation of the speech based on the statistics using the processor;
• and
• calculating an assessment score based on one or more of the calculated features.

A non-transitory computer-readable memory comprising computer-readable instructions, which when executed cause a processor to perform steps comprising:

• receiving speech for analysis via a computer-readable storage medium;
• performing automatic speech recognition on speech using a processor to generate word hypotheses for the speech, the word hypotheses identifying a set words recognized by an automated speech recognizer in the speech using one or more data processors;
• performing time alignment between the speech and the word hypotheses using the automatic speech recognizer to associate the word hypotheses with corresponding sounds of the speech;
• calculating statistics regarding individual words and phonemes of the word hypotheses using the processor based on said alignment;
• calculating a plurality of features for use in assessing pronunciation of the speech based on the statistics using the processor;
• and
• calculating an assessment score based on one or more of the calculated features.