General Recommendations [SLE = Spoken Language Engineering]

We recommend Motivation
  • The introduction and the extension of curricula on SLE  in universities to fulfill strategic needs.
 The technological break-through and the market demands in speech technology reached a point where the education and training of a growing number of employees is time consuming. It may be considered to introduce spoken language technology at universities in different ways: the extension of existing curricula with few basic courses, a full SLE curriculum in a dedicated program, through ODL, by a European Masters, etc.
  • To improve and to strengthen the links between industry (research and development laboratories) and universities in the area of SLE.
 With the rapid development of computing, SLE has a significant role in Human-Computer Interface applications, mobile communications and multimedia products. The university-industry links are important in the definition of the job profiles, to increase the quality of the training process, to obtain feed-back from real-life applications or to benefit of industry’s support (development, training and mobilities sponsoring).
  • The definition of a coherent system for acquisition of competencies and skills through dedicated training models addressed to various job profiles and to expected changes in the SLE market.
 The SLE graduates are educated with very specific knowledge and skills which they may use in a wide range of fields of professional career. The job market covers a large area from R&D in SLE, from application development and marketing to support for channel suppliers and users. Therefore, the relative importance of SLE skills or educational background vary largely.
  • The creation of a European infrastructure for testing, evaluation, certification, quality assessment and dissemination of training resources in the area of SLE, in order to increase the quality of collaboration among different institutions across Europe.
 The rapid changes in the area of SLE (market, scientific results), and in Information Technology in general, impose efficient criteria for testing and evaluation of teaching materials. By the creation of specialized consortia at EU level  it is possible to have a continuous exchange of ideas on quality issues. The production of computer-based modules, software tools, best practice dissemination, technology transfer units, information collection and dissemination are some aspects that can contribute to a standard framework for progress and quality improvement.
  • The definition of a system for the accreditation of SLE courses and a validation procedure for that.
 Accreditation will improve the course content, the definition of practical skills. It will ensure a common methodology for evaluation and it will create more confidence among institutions for research co-operation, and will stimulate student and staff exchanges, etc.
  • Continuous interdisciplinary professional development for teaching staff in speech technology in the context of life long learning and modern teaching methodologies.
 Latest theoretical and practical developments in a changing field such SLE should have the attention of the lecturers. A flexible system is needed which allows access to information or retraining in different ways: educational networks, summer schools, practical placements in industry.
  • The adaptation of educational technology infrastructure to current innovations imposed by the market or research imperatives.
 Information processing in the field of SLE needs not only theoretical background or programming skills, but also considerably computing resources.
  • For universities in Central and Eastern Europe it is imperative to strengthen the links with similar institutions from EU in order to set up new curricula, to retrain the staff and to develop the educational and research infrastructure according to recognized standards.
 In CEEC, the SLE subject is taught in different ways, but at few universities, and hardly adapted to new technologies. Eastern countries can benefit from know-how transfer from western universities or can join educational/research networks to develop the training infrastructure in SLE area. Teaching staff retraining is needed in various ways. Dedicated joint west-east educational programmes will be to the benefit of speech technology research and market purposes (speech technology market in CEEC is just emerging!).
  • Larger coordinated efforts are needed to continue the promotion of research and innovations in SLE for the development of new applications based on integration of speech and language.
 The theory of speech processing, from one side, and computational linguistics, on the other side, are in a tremendous progress. Putting them together in new information technology applications could be to the benefit of economic progress and could act as an incentive for renewal of education. Research tools should be made available for educational reuse.
  • Building professional competencies through training mobilities in the EU frame by different programmes and according to a common accreditation system (ECTS).
 On a European scale, the educational institutions can not always offer tailored training for individual students. Coordinated efforts are needed to promote student mobilities through international recognition of credits and commonly agreed degree requirements.
  • That industry, national and international bodies continue to support projects for the development, testing and evaluation of advanced training modules for SLE, including ODL and LLL. ISCA-SIG. 
 Since the field of SLE is high technology, while at the same time the paedagogical methodology and technical demands are increasing, the elaboration of training materials and tools should be supported by funded programmes. Research projects should deliver their results for educational purposes.
  • To continue the organisation of summer schools based on the idea of the integration of speech and language.
 Summer schools are very important meetings for undergraduates, graduates, post-graduates or specialized researchers to gather information and skills and to exchange experiences on state of the art topics in language and speech technology. They open different ways of collaborations and are a meeting place for people with complementary backgrounds from different regions across Europe.
  • More phonetics and computational linguistics in technical university education could better prepare students for the professional jobs in SLE.
 According to the survey made by the TNP SLE Working Group, computing skills, signal processing, speech production, speech analysis, statistics are well represented in SLE curricula. Education in phonetics, linguistics, and dialogue modelling  should wait until job training or personal efforts.
  • The contents of curricula in SLE should reflect the multidisciplinarity of this field. Development of a selection of tutorial modules which reflect this character is recommended, including software resources.
 See the results of SLE WG in SCS (Vol. II, p.32, Vol. III, P.23).

 

Responsible author: Mircea Giurgiu 20.10.2000

 

 

RECOMMENDATIONS ON

SPOKEN LANGUAGE ENGINEERING