WO2008082110A1

WO2008082110A1 - Lesson-type method and system for learning foreign language through internet

Info

Publication number: WO2008082110A1
Application number: PCT/KR2007/006702
Authority: WO
Inventors: Kun Yong Lee
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2007-01-02
Filing date: 2007-12-20
Publication date: 2008-07-10
Anticipated expiration: 2009-07-02

Abstract

The present invention is about a foreign language learning method and system. It combines both on-line and off-line study method; it overcomes the problems of both methods of study: Online study has its limitation because it delivers the contents to the user only; Off-line study has its problems because of the restriction of time and place. Based on this idea that the learning of a foreign language is possible only through a lot of practice rather than understanding by the student of the study contents, this invention covers four different procedures the user gets through: At home the user practices a foreign language study through online lessons; he, then, visits the language institute and uses one of the terminals available at the institute to do preparation lesson which is followed by an actual lesson at the institute conducted by an instructor who gives the user corrections in his voice; after the class, the student does his review lesson. This method is based on the effective use of the home user terminal, the instructor terminal connected with the server: The study data of the user are delivered to the institute server, then the instructor can check the study data, and after correcting it send it back to the server, which the user logging into the server can find and learn about his mistakes. This way of learning through online is the same as learning from an instructor face-to-face.

Description

LESSON-TYPE METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR LEARNING FOREIGN LANGUAGE THROUGH INTERNET

Technical Field

[1] The present invention relates to a method and a system for learning a foreign language, and more particularly, lesson-type method and system through internet which requires both user's online study at home and the actual lesson at the institute. Background Art

[2] It is due to the rapid development of information communication technology that international trade and communication keep increasing these days, so in this atmosphere, the importance of foreign language skills as a means of communication is more stressed upon. That is why those who want to learn English as a foreign language keep increasing in their numbers; likewise, the foreign language institutes "offline schools"— that focus on English as a foreign language keep increasing in their numbers while the language schools existing online also keep increasing in their numbers.

[3] Formerly and even now, when people go and visit a language institute to take a lesson, they receive correction from an instructor about grammar and pronunciation within a classroom setting, but there is a disadvantage to the students that they must go to the institute and take a lesson there- which has its limitation in enhancing English skills of the student because the user cannot always stay and learn from the instructor at the institute.

[4] As a way to overcome the limitations of this condition, people developed online study method in which you, without having to worry about time, can practice foreign language lessons anytime by downloading student contents from other websites, insofar as the user's terminal remains connected to the internet.

[5] But this kind of online study method is just a simple listening to the downloaded contents by the user and it cannot provide 'real' feedback on the use's/student's study result, especially on the pronunciation which takes quite a good part in learning a foreign language.

Disclosure of Invention

Technical Problem

[6] The purpose of the present invention is to provide solutions to problems with the conventional foreign language learning methods by which user can study a foreign language through internet according to his/her own schedule at any time, send questions and homework regarding the online study contents, and receive feedback from an instructor as frequently as the user wants. Technical Solution

[7] According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a lesson type method for learning foreign language which involves a home user terminal, an institute user terminal, an instructor terminal and an institute server, comprising steps of (a) the home user terminal displaying a study contents to user which is downloaded from the institute server and transmitting the study data including voice data which is pronounced by the user during the language lesson performed using the study contents to the institute server; (b) the instructor terminal displaying the study data to instructor received from the institute server and transmitting the correction data inputted by the instructor to the institute server; (c) the institute user terminal receiving the correction data and preparation lesson contents for the class and displaying the correction data and the preparation lesson contents to the user; (d) the instructor terminal displaying the lesson contents received from the institute server to the user and the instructor and transmitting lesson data which is produced during the lesson to the institute server; and (e) the institute user terminal displaying the review lesson contents to the user and transmitting the answer data which is input by the user in accordance with the review lesson contents to the institute server.

[8] In the above aspect of the present invention, the method according to claim 1, wherein, in the step (a), the home user terminal receives the questions by the user regarding the study contents and sends the questions along with the study data to the institute server; in the step (b), the instructor terminal displaying the questions and the study data which is downloaded from the institute server to the instructor and transmitting to the institute server the answer data to the question received from the instructor, in the step (c), the institute user terminal further receiving the answer data and displaying the answer data to the user.

[9] In addition, the step (a) comprises steps of: (al) allowing the user to select the cyber character referring to the users and the cyber character referring to the instructor, presenting the study contents in the form of dialogues between two figures, and letting the users have a conversation with the cyber instructor by inputting the user pronunciation; (a2) performing the question type study by displaying subjective or multiple-choice questions to the user and receiving answer data regarding the questions from the user; (a3) sending the study data including the answer data and the voice data to the institute server.

[10] In addition, the step (al) comprises steps of: (al-1) the home user terminal displaying the cyber character and outputting the sound which is made by the cyber character's pronouncing a dialogue; (al-2) the home user terminal receiving the voice signal made by the user against the words and sentences pronounced by the cyber character and calculating a recognition ratio by recognizing the voice signal; (al-3) reading the cyber character's response data and displaying the cyber character with the facial expression corresponding to the response data when the recognition ratio is below the acceptance threshold; and (al-4) receiving the voice signal again made by the user and calculating a recognition ratio by recognizing the voice signal and performing from the step of (al-3) if the recognition ratio is below the acceptance threshold.

[11] In addition, the above method further comprising steps of: (al-5) allowing the cyber character to re-pronounce the sentence spoken by the user if the recognition ratio doesn't reach an acceptable threshold more than a predetermined amount of times, and performing the recognition regarding the voice signal made by the user after the cyber character's pronunciation; and (al-6) repeating the step of (al-5) until the recognition ratio become equal to or above the acceptance threshold.

[12] In addition, the step (a2) comprises steps of: (a2-l) displaying subjective or multiple-choice questions to the user and evaluating the answers for the questions inputted by the user; (a2-2) performing the voice recognition regarding the voice signal produced by the user's pronunciation of the sentence which is correct answer when the answer is correct and calculating the recognition ratio; and (a2-3) displaying the next question when the recognition ratio are equal to or above acceptance threshold, and performing from the step of (a2-2) when the recognition ratio is below the acceptable threshold.

[13] In addition, the step (a2) further comprises steps of: (a2-4) the home user terminal outputting pronunciation of correct sentence when the recognition ratio doesn't reach the acceptable threshold more than a predetermined amount of times and re-calculating the recognition ratio regarding the user's re -pronunciation; and (a2-5) repeating the step of (a2-4) until the recognition ratio calculated in the step of (a2-4) becomes equal to or above the acceptable threshold.

[14] According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer- readable medium having embodied thereon a computer program for the above method.

[15] According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a foreign language learning system including an institute server, a home user terminal, an institute user terminal, and an instructor terminal, wherein the home user terminal logs into the institute server, downloads a lesson contents for studying from the institute server, displays the contents to the user, and sends the results of lesson data which include voice signal of the user's pronunciation to the institute server; the instructor terminal displays the study data to the instructor which is downloaded from the institute server, transmits correction data input by the instructor regarding the study data the institute server, displays the lesson contents received from the institute server to the user and the instructor, and transmit the result of lesson which is produced during the lesson is performed using the lesson contents to the institute server; the institute user terminal displays the correction data and the preparation lesson contents to the user downloaded from the institute server, displays the review lesson contents regarding the lesson and transmits answer data inputted by the user regarding the review lesson contents to the institute server.

[16] In the above aspect of the present invention, the home user terminal receives the questions by the user about the study contents and transmits the questions with the study data to the institute server; the instructor terminal downloads the questions from the institute server along with the study data and transmits the answer data regarding the questions inputted by the instructor; and the institute user terminal further receives the answer data and displays the answer data to the user.

[17] In addition, the home user terminal calculate recognition ratio regarding voice signal input from the user responding to the sentence which is output to the user and re-receive a voice signal responding to the sentence when the recognition ratio is below the the acceptance threshold.

[18] In addition, the home user terminal outputs the sentence via cyber characters and displays the cyber character which expresses the user's pronunciation is incorrect if the recognition ratio is below the acceptance threshold.

[19] In addition, the system according to claim 11, wherein the home user terminal outputs correct pronunciation of the sentences again to the user and re-receives voice signal corresponding to the sentences from the user when the recognition ratio is below the acceptance threshold more than predetermined number of times.

[20] In addition, the home user terminal displays subjective or multiple-choice questions to the user, evaluate the answer to the questions input from the user, calculate the recognition ratio regarding the voice signal of the sentence corresponding to the correct answer made by the user if the answer is correct, displays the next questions when the recognition ratio is equal to or over the acceptance threshold and re-receive voice signal of the sentence made by the user when the recognition ratio is below the acceptance threshold.

Advantageous Effects

[21] The present invention, by combining online and offline language study methods, provides an advantage of overcoming the limitations and problems of the currently used online study method which doesn't give any feedback on the students and the limitations of the offline study method which brings time and place constraints.

[22] Based on the idea that learning a foreign language is possible only through practice and repetition on the part of a student and imitating words or sentences said by a native speaker, the present invention involves various activities such as the user's doing his online lesson at home or office, his visiting the foreign language institute before the class to do his preparation lesson using the institute user terminal, his receiving correction from the instructor in the actual lesson, his doing the review lesson using the institute user terminal in which repetition and practice of the same lesson is enforced, thus effectively perform a foreign language study that needs a lot of practice and repetition.

[23] The present invention shows us that the details of the performance of the lesson conducted online at home or office along with the user's questions are delivered to the server to be saved in there, and the instructor, especially assigned for the user, can check this out by visiting the server, correct student's work, answer questions and save these in the server again which the user, logging into the server, will confirm; thus the lessons conducted in this way is not only effective, but produces the same effects as learning from an instructor directly face to face.

[24] The present invention also claims that the online study contents exist in the form of dialogues and multiple and subject questions, besides it is different from other normal online methods in that it has the user speak out in a foreign language and puts to the test his pronunciation and measures up the accuracy of his pronunciation, and has him practice repeatedly until he reaches the accuracy of his pronunciation; unlike the previous models of online language lesson in which the user simply listens to the listening contents, it actually helps the user speak out.

[25] In the present invention, we present the picture of cyber characters on the screen and have the user having a conversation with the cyber character online, thus conduct the online lesson more effectively and interestingly compared to other programs.

[26] Furthermore, in between lessons, or in between each and every stage are there some common ground; through repetition, progress and development of the earlier or later lesson or parts of the stages, the effectiveness of repetition in language learning is achieved and the motivation and interest on the part of the user becomes increased. Brief Description of the Drawings

[27] Fig.l illustrates the entire construction of our foreign language study system upon enforcing desirable examples.

[28] Fig. 2 illustrates the construction of the server in Fig. 1 in detail.

[29] Fig. 3 illustrates a desirable example of the operation and construction of the personal terminal used by the user at home or at the institute.

[30] Fig. 4 is a flow chart which illustrates the stages of cyber lesson from the beginning to the end.

[31] Fig. 5 to Fig. 7 are flow chart which explains in minute detail the process of the cyber lesson in Fig. 4.

[32] Fig. 8 is a flow chart which explains in detail the entire process of S340 in Fig. 3a.

[33] Fig. 9 illustrates a desirable example of the process of selecting cyber teachers at the beginning of a lesson.

[34] Fig. 10 is a flow chart that illustrates in detail an example of conversational lesson in Fig. 8.

[35] Fig. 11 is a flow chart that illustrates in detail an example of problem- solving lesson of S344 in Fig. 8. Mode for the Invention

[36] Preferable embodiments of the present invention will now be described more fully with reference to FIGS. 1 to 9 of the accompanying drawings.

[37] Fig. 1 is a picture that shows the entire construction of our foreign language learning system, that illustrates the ideal operation of our invention or our study method. Referring to Fig. 1, the system for helping the user to study a foreign language through internet according to the present invention involves the connection between the institute server and three different terminals: the home user terminal 10, the institute user terminal (to be used by the user; 20), the instructor terminal 30, and the institute server 40.

[38] The home user terminal 10 downloads from the institute server 40 the information about the current status of study and the lesson contents, begins to perform an online lesson for the user, and sends information about the progress of study and questions to the server.

[39] Especially, the home user terminal 10 has a voice recognition engine installed in it, so through this device can it put the voice of the user to a test and see if it is recognizable; besides it can make the user keep trying to attain certain level of perfection in his pronunciation to get the reasonable scores of the recognition ratio. The home user terminal 10 also presents to the user the subject and multiple choice questions and receives an input from the user of the answers to the questions, so it checks the answers and sends this information to the institute server 40.

[40] The institute user terminal 20 provides information about study contents and the preparation lesson contents for the user by getting it from the institute server 40 so that the user can be prepared for the class that he takes by coming to the institute (from here below, this is to be called "lesson"). Besides, the institute user terminal 20, once the class with the instructor is over, provides the review lesson contents and other questions for the user by getting them from the institute server 40 and when the user puts in the answers to the questions, sends the data about these answers and other information to the institute server 40. [41] The instructor terminal 30 receives from the institute server 40 information about the study contents, lessons and questions of the registered user to display them on the screen for the instructor, and receives an input from the instructor of the answers to the questions and the corrections he's made on the work done by the student to send them to the institute server 40.

[42] The institute server 40 records and saves all the information about the user's registration, study progress, and questions, the instructor's answers to the questions, and if the user logs into it through either the home user terminal 10 or the institute user terminal 20, the server confirms the user's ID and provides information about the current status of the user's study and other lesson contents for him.

[43] Besides, the institute server 40, when the instructor terminal 30 requests, provides information about the user's study and questions to the instructor terminal 30, and also receives from the instructor terminal 30 the answers to the questions and the corrections he's made on the student's work to send them either to the home user terminal 10 or to the institute user terminal 20.

[44] Fig. 2 is a minute picture chart that illustrates the construction of the institute server

40. According to Fig. 2, the institute server 40 is made out of the following constituents: Upgrading unit 41, Contents providing unit 42, Web server 43, Voice registration unit 44, and the database 45.

[45] Upgrading unit 41: When the home user terminal 10, the institute user terminal 20, or the instructor terminal 30 logs into the web server, the upgrade function inquires after and gets the information about the (applied) program's version, and if the program version is low, provides the user's terminal (10, 20) (or the instructor terminal 30) with the upgrade program.

[46] Contents providing unit 42: In the database are many useful bits of information for the user to study a foreign language; in it are also found a lot of data concerning preparation and review lessons. The contents providing unit deciphers this data from the database 45 and sends it to the user's terminal (10, 20).

[47] The web server 43: When the user's terminal (10,20) (or the instructor terminal 30), connects through the internet to the web server of the institute, logs into it, the web server receives login information from it and compares it with the registration information of the user (or instructor) already existing as a file in the database 45.

[48] Voice registration unit 44: All the voice fragments recorded by the voice recognition engine during the online study session are sent as voice signals to the institute server. The voice registration unit in the institute server accepts these voice signals coming from the user's terminal (10, 20) and saves them as files in the database 45.

[49] Database 45 stores the following as data: the registration information about the user and the instructor, the data about the current condition of the user's study, the data concerning study contents, voice signals or the data concerning the user's pronunciations in the lesson. The data about the current condition of the user's study includes the progress of work by the student, the homework at home and the preparation and the review lessons at the institute, the questions that the user solved in the lesson and the answers to the questions, the questions by the user to the instructor and the answers by the instructor to the questions, the individual user's attitude.

[50] Fig. 3 is a picture that shows the entire construction of the home user terminal 10 or the institute user terminal 20, that illustrates the ideal operation of our invention or our study method. Fig. 3 demonstrates that the user's terminal (10, 20) consists of Input unit, output unit, communication unit, data storage unit, voice recognition engine, control unit.

[51] Input unit 11 are hardware devices like keyboard or mouse that fulfills its function, and is used by the user in his selection of certain menu or putting in right answers to the questions under the permission and control of the control unit 15.

[52] Output unit 12 is in the form of LCD or CRT monitor, and presents study contents for the user.

[53] The voice recognition engine 13 receives an input from the user through the mike when the user pronounces a sentence in a foreign tongue, and puts it to the test of the engine to calculate the recognition ratio by comparing it with the ideal, correct pronunciation of the sentence, and thus sends this information to the control unit.

[54] The communication unit 14 of the user's terminal connected through the internet to the institute server 40 logs into it and communicates with it.

[55] Data storage unit: When the user's terminal logs into the server of the institute, the data storage unit 16 of the user's terminal, through the function of the communication unit 14 that facilitates the process, receives from the institute server 40 the current information about the user's study, lesson contents and saves them, and at the beginning of the online lesson through the home terminal, renews the current information about the user's study with the new; it also receives voice signals from the voice recognition engine 13 and saves them, and when the study is completed, it sends the voice signals along with other data (about study contents) through the communication unit 14 to the institute server 40.

[56] Control unit 15 is responsible for controlling the transactions of input unit 11, output unit 12, voice recognition engine 13, communication unit 14, and data storage unit 16.

[57] By referring to the Fig. 4 to Fig. 11, we explain a foreign language learning method which is feasible on the basis of the ideal operation of our invention.

[58] From here below, we especially use the example of English, a representative foreign language, to illustrate how this learning method works, but we want to emphasize the fact that this method is equally applicable to the case of other foreign languages.

[59] Fig. 4 is a flow chart that illustrates the entire structure of our foreign language learning method which is feasible only on the condition of the ideal operation of the present invention. The foreign language study method of the present invention consists of five different stages.

[60] The first stage begins when the use's terminal at home or office (Or just any place away from the institute) logs into the institute server 40 to download study contents to start an online lesson, and sends the result of this lesson to the institute server 40 (S300). In this stage, voice signal or the recordings of the user's pronunciation, and other data concerning the answers to the questions the user solved and the user's questions are sent to the institute server 40 to be recorded at the data base 45.

[61] The second stage is a stage where the instructor (of the institute) examines the work done by the student at home or office (S400). At this stage, the instructor can listen to the voice signals or recordings of the user's pronunciation practice and correct his pronunciation, and answer his questions, and besides, these data files containing his corrections and answers can be sent to the institute server 40 to be recorded there.

[62] The third stage is a stage in which the user, prior to his study with the instructor at the institute, uses institute user terminal 20 to do a preparation lesson, a lesson he needs to do as a preparation for the class at the institute (S500). At this stage the user checks the corrections made by the instructor and his answers to his questions in his review of the work that he did at the stage of S300, and also downloads the contents of lesson from the server to do a preparation study.

[63] The fourth stage is a stage where the user and the instructor can perform the lesson together (S600). In this stage the instructor terminal 30 demonstrates the lesson contents on the screen for him and the user so that the instructor and the user face- to-face can perform the lesson together, and when the lesson is completed, the instructor terminal 30 receives an input from the instructor, a code which signifies the completion of the lesson, and sends this signal which indicates the finalization of the lesson to the institute server 40.

[64] In the fifth stage, after the lesson with the instructor is over, the user uses institute user terminal 20 at the institute to download study materials from the institute server 40 or review contents that he is supposed to do in relation to the lesson performed at the stage S600, and do the review lesson, then the user's terminal collects the data concerning the answers to the exam question and sends them to the institute server 40 to record them there in the data base (S700).

[65] When the user completes the stage of S700 using the institute user terminal 20, he will resume the process of the stage of S300 again at home or office. Fig. 5 to Fig. 7 is a detailed version of the Fig. 4, a flow chart that explains the stage of S300 and of S700 in detail. By referring to the Fig. 5 to 7, a detailed explanation of our invention or our method of foreign language study is possible.

[66] According to Fig. 5, the user uses home user terminal 10 to log into the institute server 40. The home user terminal 10 uses the information put into the system by the user to log in, that is, sends the login information which includes the user's ID number and password to the institute server 40 in order to log into the server (S302).

[67] The institute server 40 can consult the data base 45 in terms of the login information to confirm the user (S304). Thus identifying the user in terms of his login information, the server deciphers the data concerning the present condition of the user's study from the data base 45 and sends them together with the result of confirmation of the user's ID to the home user terminal 10 (S306).

[68] The home user terminal 10 visually presents the information about the contents related to the user's study (S310), and when the user selects certain study contents, it locates a content code that corresponds to the study contents selected by the user and sends it to the institute server (S312).

[69] The information on the present condition of the user's study concerns the stages of lesson one must take in order to complete a whole course of study, so it includes information regarding the levels that the user has finished and those which he did not, yet, as among those stages of lesson he must finish in order to complete each level of lesson-the Table 1 indicates this— are there some that he has already finished.

[70] The institute server 40 receives this content code and sees if the exact study contents that corresponds to the content code was purchased by the user, and checks whether the user's finished the stages of lesson preceding the contents in question by looking into the data base 45 (S314).

[71] The foreign language study method of this invention requires the user to do his study according to each level already defined by the system, so as the Chart.1 indicates, only when the part 1 is completed, the user can download the part 2, and even within part 1, only when 1. conversation is completed, the user can download 2. line by line. If the user wants to review those contents he studied before, he can freely download them again.

[72] When the purchase of the study contents was not yet made, the institute server 40 sends information about the products to the home user terminal 10 (S316), and the home user terminal 10, consulting this information about the products, purchases them (S318).

[73] When the purchase was made, the institute server 40 sees whether the user completed the previous lessons to the one he is purchasing now (S320), and if it sees the user didn't finish the previous lessons to this one, it sends a notice to home user terminal 10 to forbid his downloading the contents (S322), so the home user terminal presents a notice to the user to forbid his downloading the contents.

[74] But when it confirms the fact that the user did finish all the previous work before this one, the institute server 40 locates the contents of this one in the data base 45 and sends them to the home user terminal 10 (S330), so the user using home user terminal 10 gets to study the downloaded contents, and when the work is done, he through home user terminal 10 sends the data concerning the result of study (i.e. study data) and questions by him to the institute server 40 (S340); as a result the institute server 40 records this information about the result of the study and questions by the user in the database 45 (S350).

[75] Here the data concerning the result of the study (i.e. study data) include the voice signal or the recordings of the user's pronunciation practice, the answers to the questions entered by the user information regarding the attitude of the user.

[76] Fig. 8 is a flow chart that explains in detail what is happening in the stage of S340.

The Table 1 presents an example of the lesson the flow chart of Fig. 8 is concerned about.

[77] Table 1

[78] If we refer to Fig. 8 and Table 1, it is revealed that the user, prior to his study, selects a cyber teacher to lead him in part 1 (CHT: Cyber Homeroom Teacher) and selects another cyber teacher to lead him in part 2 (CLT: Cyber Language Trainer) and selects his own cyber character (S341).

[79] Fig. 9 is a picture that explains the process of selecting a cyber instructor up to the model way of operating the invention. As illustrated in Fig. 9, the cyber instructor character selected in the stage of S341 is either female character or male character, leads the class in American, British or Australian accent, and the cyber instructor character selected in the stage of S341 can be altered according to the selection of the user.

[80] This study of our invention performed by the home user terminal 10 is ideally conducted through the dialogue between these two cyber characters, that is, the user's cyber character and the cyber instructor character or between two cyber characters arbitrarily decided.

[81] After the cyber instructor is selected, the home user terminal 10 downloads study contents from the institute server 40 to show them on the screen (342), and initiates a type of lesson in the form of dialogues (S343). In the Table 1 describe above, the first and the fourth lesson in part 1 and the first and the third lesson in part 2 are a form of lesson in dialogues, and the fifth and seventh lesson in the part 1 and the fourth and fifth lesson in part 2 are multiple and subjective questions. The contents of pronunciation that the user made during the lesson of dialogues are sent as voice signals to the data storage unit 16. [82] When the stage of lessons in the form of dialogue is completed, the stage of subjective and multiple choice questions is to be performed (S344). This stage of lessons which is in the type of multiple choice questions belongs to the fifth and the seventh stage in part 1 in the Chart 1, and the data concerning the answers provided by the user for the questions becomes recorded in the data storage unit 16.

[83] If a series of lessons described in the Table 1 are performed, the user will enter questions about the process of lessons (S345), and the home user terminal 10 will send voice signals and other data concerning the answers to the questions as are recorded in the data base 16 to the institute server 40 (S346).

[84] Fig. 10 is a flow chart which explains the conversational lesson unique to the stage of S343. If you consult the Fig. 10 to explain this, first of all, the cyber character (cyber instructor or any cyber character) will pronounce some sentences according to the data contents (S343-1), and then the voice recognition engine 13 will be operated to indicate that the user's voice is now being recorded (S343-2).

[85] Then, if the user pronounces the sentence the cyber character has said, the home user terminal 10 receives the voice of the user through a mike or the voice signals and have the voice recognition enginel3 test and recognize the voice of the user (S343-3).

[86] Control unit 15 controls the operation of the voice recognition engine to see if the score is beyond the acceptance threshold, so if the pronunciation of the user is held to be accurate, then the whole process goes back to the stage of S343-1 and resumes the conversation of the lesson (S343-4).

[87] If the recognition ratio is below the acceptance threshold, or if the user's pronuncia tion is inaccurate, control unit 15 withdraws a data from the data storage unit 16 to demonstrate a negative response of cyber character who through gestures indicates his inability to understand voice (S343-5), and if it is proven that the times when the recognition ratio gets below the acceptance threshold were not more than designated times (for example, less than three times), then, the engine leads the user back to the stage of S343-2 and receives an input of the user's voice signal (S343-6).

[88] But if the user failed more than designated times, cyber character will say the sentence that the user pronounced (S343-7), and the home user terminal 10 will receive an input through the mike the voice signals or the user's pronunciation of the sentence of the cyber character, calculating the recognition ratio (S343-8), and in its check whether the recognition ratio is beyond the acceptance threshold, it continuously repeats the process of S343-7 and S343-9 until the recognition ratio gets beyond the acceptance threshold (S343-9).

[89] Fig. 11 is a flow chart which explains the stage of S344 which concerns a type of lesson such as multiple choice questions. If you consult the Fig. 11 and explain about it, the home user terminal 10 will get subjective and multiple choice questions from the downloaded contents and presents them on the terminal screen for them (S344-1), receives an input from the user of the answers to the questions (S344-2), examines if the answers entered by the user are correct, and if the answers are not correct, go back to the stage of S344-2 and receives from the user the answers again (S344-3).

[90] But if the entered answer is correct, the user's terminal indicates that it is correct, operates the voice recognition engine for the user (S344-4) and receives an input from him of his pronunciation of the answer sentence to do the voice recognition test and calculate the recognition ratio (S344-5).

[91] The home user terminal 10 sees if the recognition ratio is above the acceptance threshold, and if indeed the recognition ratio is beyond the acceptance threshold, it goes to the stage of S344-1 above described to present the next question (S344-6), but if the recognition ratio is below the acceptance threshold, and if the times when the recognition ratio is below the acceptance threshold are more than designated times, it goes to the stage of S344-4 to perform a voice recognition test again of the answer sentence (S344-7).

[92] If the times when the recognition ratio is below the acceptance threshold are more than designated times, cyber character (cyber instructor or any cyber character arbitrarily chosen) will produce a correct pronunciation of the sentence in question (S344-8) for the user, so the voice recognition engine is again operated to do the voice recognition test of the user's sentence (S344-9).

[93] The home user terminal 10 compares both the recognition ratio and the acceptance threshold, and if the recognition ratio is below the acceptance threshold, it goes to the stage of S344-8 to receive an input of the user's voice (S344-10), and if it turns out that the recognition ratio gets beyond the acceptance threshold, it checks the information and see if the user finished all the questions in the lesson and, if not, send him back to the stage of S344-1 (S344-11) to make him solve the next question (S344-11).

[94] Until now, we explained the sample procedures of home study lesson illustrated by the flow chart, Fig. 5. As said before, when the user gets through all the process from S302 to S350 in the Fig. 5, he will see that all the information about the progress of his study, his questions are preserved in the data base 45 of the institute server 40.

[95] If you refer to Fig. 6, however, after the data concerning the result of the user's study and questions become recorded in the data base 45, the instructor, using his terminal 30, logs into the institute server 40 to do the log in (S410), and at the moment the institute server 40 confirms the identity of the instructor using the login information (S420).

[96] Once the confirmation by the server of the user's ID is done, the instructor terminal

30 asks information from the institute server 40 about the condition of the user's study (S430), then the server reading information from the server about the result of the user's study and questions sends the information to the instructor terminal 30 (S440).

[97] At the moment, the data concerning the result of study now sent to the instructor terminal include the user's voice signal, and the data about the answers to the multiple choice and subjective questions.

[98] The instructor terminal 30 that has received the result of the user's study and his questions demonstrates the information to the instructor, and receives an input data from him of the corrections he has made on the user's work, especially regarding his pronunciation and answers to the questions, and his answers to the questions, and sends them to the institute server 40 (S450). The institute server 40 receives from the instructor terminal 30 the data concerning the corrections and answers he provides for the student's work and saves them in the data base 45 (S460).

[99] Once the data concerning the correction and answers of the instructor becomes entered into the system, the stage of S500 in the Fig. 4 is to be performed. If the Fig. 6 is consulted, it reveals that the user who did the lesson at home in the stage of S300 visits the institute to get a lesson from the instructor. When this happens, the user, before his getting his lesson from the instructor, uses the institute user terminal 20 to contact the institute server 40 and log in (S510), so the institute server 40 using the login information confirms the ID of the user (S520), and reading information about the condition of the user's study sends the information to the institute user terminal 20 (S530).

[100] The institute user terminal 20 demonstrates the information about the condition of the user's study on the screen for the user (S540). The condition of the user's study now presented thus on the screen, as described above, includes information about the lesson contents of each level that the user is currently taking and information about whether he finished the lessons he ought to take at each level.

[101] After the information about the condition of the user's study becomes released, the institute user terminal 20, because of his choice, asks for information about the contents he is studying now and the preparation lesson contents from the institute server 40 (S550), so the institute server 40 not only sends this, but sends the data concerning the instructor's corrections on the study done at the stage of S300 and his answers to the questions of the user to the institute user terminal 20 by reading this information from the data base 45 (S560).

[102] The institute user terminal 20 displays all this information from the server on the monitor screen - the preparation lesson, preview lesson contents, instructor's revised contents and responses to questions (S570).

[103] Before taking the lesson directly from the instructor at the institute, thus, the user uses a institute user terminal to do an online lesson - all the stages of work from the S510 to S570; by doing so, the student can not only do a preparation lesson for the offline class that the user is about to take; but can still view comments made by the user instructor on his or her work done previously.

[104] By explaining level S600 and S700 with reference to figure 7, in the case where the instructor meets the user face to face for a conversation class, the instructor logins into the server (S610), the institute server 40, then, confirms the instructor ID, and then sends out the student list that the instructor is currently in charge of to instructor terminal 30 (S620).

[105] The instructor terminal 30 displays the lists of users on the screen; the instructor selects the one who is now going to receive a lesson, and the terminal, getting this information from the instructor - i.e. the name of the user, and will be sent immediately to the institute server 40 (S640).

[106] The institute server 40, identifying the information about the user, sends information about the user's study progress - the current condition of the user's study, the lesson and lesson contents the user must study - to the instructor terminal 30 (S640).

[107] The instructor terminal 30, receiving the current condition of the user's study, displays the lesson and lesson contents to instructor and user on the monitor. Using the lesson contents now available, the instructor teaches the user free topic discussion style, reproduces pre- structured dialogue (S650).

[108] Once the class is done, the instructor submits information regarding the ending of the class into the system; the instructor terminal 30 sends a code - which indicates the ending of the class - to the institute server (S660), and upon receiving this information from the instructor terminal, the server saves the code - which informs it of the ending of the class - in the server; the sever also updates all the previous information about the condition of the user's study and the lesson contents with the new information (S670).

[109] Once the lesson is over, the user uses institute user terminal 20 to log into the institute server 40; entering into the system by putting in the login information (S710), and the institute server 40 confirms the user ID, reads the information recorded in the database 45 about the current condition of the user's study, then sends this information to the institute user terminal 20 (S720).

[110] Institute user terminal 20 receives this information from the institute server 40, di splays it for the user; then, the user indicates review lesson, in the form of a code, and sends out to the institute server (S730).

[I l l] The institute server 40 reads from the database 45 the study material for the user or the review lesson contents - i.e. this is for the review of what the user studied at the level of S600, then sends this information to the terminal for the user at the institute (S740). The review lesson contents include various types of questions - multiple- choice and subjective questions - which test the user's understanding of the lesson the user got from the instructor.

[112] The institute user terminal 20 displays all the study contents and the review lesson contents on the screen for the user (S750), and sends out the information about the answers to the questions to the institute server. 40 (S760).

[113] The institute server 40 preserves all the answers as data in a database 45, and all the data about the answers can be sent to the instructor terminal for review and correction, as indicated in the description of stage 440 (S770).

[114] All kinds of files and recordings distributed among the terminals to be recorded, or to be downloaded from the database can exist as codes in recordable media such as ROM, RAM, CD-ROM, magnetic tape, floppy disk, DVD, or carrier wave, and these recorded media can be read by the terminal. Recorded media can be distributed among the terminal system network to help the opening and transaction of these files.

[115] Until now, we have fully explained our invention or our foreign language study method involving the server and three terminals. This invention can be applied even to those situations that don't fit our description of the invention. For example, if the user that uses our system is a teenager, his parents' cell phone numbers and email addresses need to be registered, and when the teenage user finishes doing all the lessons described in Fig. 4, this information can be delivered to the parents of the teenage users/students.

[116] The examples performed above should be taken into consideration not in a limitative perspective but in an explanatory perspective. The exact description of this invention in simple forms is summarized in the next section in the claims of the patent document, and all differences within the same scope must be interpreted as being included in this invention.

Claims

Claims [1] A lesson type method for learning foreign language which involves a home user terminal, an institute user terminal, an instructor terminal and an institute server, comprising steps of: (a) the home user terminal displaying a study contents to user which is downloaded from the institute server and transmitting the study data including voice data which is pronounced by the user during the language lesson performed using the study contents to the institute server; (b) the instructor terminal displaying the study data to instructor received from the institute server and transmitting the correction data inputted by the instructor to the institute server; (c) the institute user terminal receiving the correction data and preparation lesson contents for the class and displaying the correction data and the preparation lesson contents to the user; (d) the instructor terminal displaying the lesson contents received from the institute server to the user and the instructor and transmitting lesson data which is produced during the lesson to the institute server; and (e) the institute user terminal displaying the review lesson contents to the user and transmitting the answer data which is input by the user in accordance with the review lesson contents to the institute server. [2] The method according to claim 1, wherein, in the step (a), the home user terminal receives the questions by the user regarding the study contents and sends the questions along with the study data to the institute server; in the step (b), the instructor terminal displaying the questions and the study data which is downloaded from the institute server to the instructor and transmitting to the institute server the answer data to the question received from the instructor, in the step (c), the institute user terminal further receiving the answer data and displaying the answer data to the user. [3] The method according to claim 1, wherein the step (a) comprises steps of: (al) allowing the user to select the cyber character referring to the users and the cyber character referring to the instructor, presenting the study contents in the form of dialogues between two figures, and letting the users have a conversation with the cyber instructor by inputting the user pronunciation; (a2) performing the question type study by displaying subjective or multiple- choice questions to the user and receiving answer data regarding the questions from the user; (a3) sending the study data including the answer data and the voice data to the institute server. [4] The method according to claim 3, wherein the step (al) comprises steps of:

(al-1) the home user terminal displaying the cyber character and outputting the sound which is made by the cyber character's pronouncing a dialogue;

(al-2) the home user terminal receiving the voice signal made by the user against the words and sentences pronounced by the cyber character and calculating a recognition ratio by recognizing the voice signal;

(al-3) reading the cyber character's response data and displaying the cyber character with the facial expression corresponding to the response data when the recognition ratio is below the acceptance threshold; and

(al-4) receiving the voice signal again made by the user and calculating a recognition ratio by recognizing the voice signal and performing from the step of

(al-3) if the recognition ratio is below the acceptance threshold.

[5] The method according to claim 4, further comprising steps of:

(al-5) allowing the cyber character to re-pronounce the sentence spoken by the user if the recognition ratio doesn't reach an acceptable threshold more than a predetermined amount of times, and performing the recognition regarding the voice signal made by the user after the cyber character's pronunciation; and (al-6) repeating the step of (al-5) until the recognition ratio become equal to or above the acceptance threshold.

[6] The method according to claim 3, wherein the step (a2) comprises steps of:

(a2-l) displaying subjective or multiple-choice questions to the user and evaluating the answers for the questions inputted by the user; (a2-2) performing the voice recognition regarding the voice signal produced by the user's pronunciation of the sentence which is correct answer when the answer is correct and calculating the recognition ratio; and

(a2-3) displaying the next question when the recognition ratio are equal to or above acceptance threshold, and performing from the step of (a2-2) when the recognition ratio is below the acceptable threshold.

[7] The method according to claim 6, wherein the step (a2) further comprises steps of:

(a2-4) the home user terminal outputting pronunciation of correct sentence when the recognition ratio doesn't reach the acceptable threshold more than a predetermined amount of times and re-calculating the recognition ratio regarding the user's re-pronunciation; and

(a2-5) repeating the step of (a2-4) until the recognition ratio calculated in the step of (a2-4) becomes equal to or above the acceptable threshold.

[8] A computer-readable medium having embodied thereon a computer program for the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

[9] A foreign language learning system including an institute server, a home user terminal, an institute user terminal, and an instructor terminal, wherein: the home user terminal logs into the institute server, downloads a lesson contents for studying from the institute server, displays the contents to the user, and sends the results of lesson data which include voice signal of the user's pronunciation to the institute server; the instructor terminal displays the study data to the instructor which is downloaded from the institute server, transmits correction data input by the instructor regarding the study data the institute server, displays the lesson contents received from the institute server to the user and the instructor, and transmit the result of lesson which is produced during the lesson is performed using the lesson contents to the institute server; the institute user terminal displays the correction data and the preparation lesson contents to the user downloaded from the institute server, displays the review lesson contents regarding the lesson and transmits answer data inputted by the user regarding the review lesson contents to the institute server.

[10] The system according to claim 9, wherein the home user terminal receives the questions by the user about the study contents and transmits the questions with the study data to the institute server; the instructor terminal downloads the questions from the institute server along with the study data and transmits the answer data regarding the questions inputted by the instructor; and the institute user terminal further receives the answer data and displays the answer data to the user.

[11] The system according to claim 9, wherein the home user terminal calculate recognition ratio regarding voice signal input from the user responding to the sentence which is output to the user and re-receive a voice signal responding to the sentence when the recognition ratio is below the the acceptance threshold.

[12] The system according to claim 11, wherein the home user terminal outputs the sentence via cyber characters and displays the cyber character which expresses the user's pronunciation is incorrect if the recognition ratio is below the acceptance threshold.

[13] The system according to claim 11, wherein the home user terminal outputs correct pronunciation of the sentences again to the user and re-receives voice signal corresponding to the sentences from the user when the recognition ratio is below the acceptance threshold more than predetermined number of times.

[14] The system according to claim 9, wherein the home user terminal displays subjective or multiple-choice questions to the user, evaluate the answer to the questions input from the user, calculate the recognition ratio regarding the voice signal of the sentence corresponding to the correct answer made by the user if the answer is correct, displays the next questions when the recognition ratio is equal to or over the acceptance threshold and re-receive voice signal of the sentence made by the user when the recognition ratio is below the acceptance threshold.