EduLab Co., Ltd., which develops education service business and AI business, and Zoshinkai Holdings Inc. (Z-kai Group) signed a capital and business alliance in December 2018.As the first step in that effort, we will start joint research on automatic scoring of English speaking ability using AI.
With the reform of university entrance examinations in 2020 and the next course of study, the education and ability measurement of the four English skills "speaking," "writing," "reading," and "listening" will be emphasized.On the other hand, in particular, it is costly to measure and evaluate "speaking" ability, and there is concern that the results are likely to vary depending on the evaluator.
Therefore, the answer voice data of the English 4 skill test "English CAN-DO test" (2018 test taker record: about 8,000 people) by Z-kai group, evaluation data by viewpoint, test technology possessed by EduLab and automatic scoring by AI Utilizing the technology, it was decided to start research and development of automatic speaking scoring.
In the joint research, Professor Yukio Tono of Tokyo University of Foreign Studies Graduate School, who is the developer of CEFR-J *, will be the supervisor.We will receive advice on the validity and reliability of automatic speaking evaluation, and jointly disseminate research results at academic societies.
In the future, both companies will combine the high-quality learning content and correction guidance know-how of the ZKAI Group with the test technology of EduLab and IT technology such as AI to discover various needs of educational sites and learners, and are at the cutting edge. We will cooperate widely to provide educational opportunities.
* CEFR-J is a new English proficiency achievement index built for use in Japanese English education based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).
