The invention extends the capability of conventional computer speech recognition programs to reliably recognize and understand large word and phrase vocabularies for teaching written language skills. At each step of a teaching program, information is supplied to the user such that some responses in the language being taught are correct (or appropriate) and some are incorrect (or inappropriate), with these respective sets of responses judiciously selected to teach some language aspect (i.e., vocabulary, sentence structure). A subset of allowable correct and incorrect responses is selected such that a speech recognition subprogram readily discerns certain allowable responses from other allowable responses, including each incorrect response being discriminable from each correct response. The meanings of at least the correct allowable responses are made clear by aural or visual information, such as graphic images, printed text, or translations into the user's native language. The invention may be used for the effective teaching of reading skills. This method pertains to children learning to read in their native language, as well as to adults that have learned only the spoken form. The method encourages a user into pronouncing the words and phrases being used, the letter-sound relations will be reinforced much more strongly than if the student's response is just a mouse click indicating correct comprehension.
SPEECH RECOGNITION APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR LEARNING