Ensuring that students have equitable access to assessments and learning resources while using read-aloud and screen reader technologies, such as text-to-speech synthesis (TTS), is a priority when authoring and developing digital resources. Even with the growth of AI and other standards in the edtech market, there is still a need for a standardized machine-readable format, particularly for high-stakes assessments.
1EdTech assessment and accessibility experts advocated for leveraging the W3C Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) standard and expanding upon it to create a new standard specification that guides how to add instructions in the text for markup HTML content—providing pronunciation cues to screen readers for both 1EdTech QTI and HTML. 1EdTech Support for Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) Using the 'data-ssml' Property Version 1.0 specification describes a method to add instructional cues to a text-to-speech tool so it will pronounce the text correctly in assessments and learning content in both the QTI® 3 standard and HTML.
Nicknamed “Data-SSML” within the community, this standard defines a custom data-dash attribute (data-ssml) that utilizes JSON to encapsulate the SSML attributes and values that allow for easy consumption by assistive technologies.
EdTech's Question & Test Interoperability (QTI)® standard is a way of packaging and securely moving accessible tests, questions, and learning resources from one application to another, making them portable. The QTI 3 format complies with federal accessibility requirements (Section 508 and WCAG 2.1 AA) and ensures that the tests and learning resources created using this standard are accessible to all, regardless of their abilities. It also provides standardized presentation consistency across applications, further enhancing the user experience.
The Data-SSML specification is an additional technical guide that can be used with QTI 3 content and applications to help when implementing text-to-speech cues in both QTI and HTML environments.
Educators, instructional designers, and developers will now have a standardized format to add instructions to the TTS tool to pronounce the text correctly in QTI 3 and HTML.
Technical Overview
The 1EdTech Support for Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) Using the 'data-ssml' Property Version 1.0 specification defines a data-attribute (data-ssml) that utilizes JSON to encapsulate SSML functions, attributes, and values in a manner that allows for easy consumption by assistive technologies. It is one of the ancillary specifications related to the QTI 3 standard.
The 'data-ssml' attribute can be applied to text container elements in QTI 3 and HTML to allow content authors to control the pronunciation and presentation of content by text-to-speech synthesizers, helping students understand text via inline text-to-speech technologies. The 1EdTech specification expands on W3C’s specification regarding this idea to include QTI 3's, Assessment Test, Section, and Item (ASI) Information Model definition, and JSON.
1EdTech's QTI 3 specification describes a data model for representing question (qti-assessment-item) and test (qti-assessment-test) data and their corresponding results reports. The QTI 3 specification enables the exchange of item, test, and results data between authoring tools, item banks, test construction tools, learning systems, and assessment delivery systems.
- 1EdTech QTI’s: Assessment, Section, and Item (ASI) Information Model 3.0 Specification is part of the full QTI 3 Specification. In the ASI documentation, there is the definition of the 'data-ssml' property that is used to enable information to be passed to an SSML-based processor. (TTS)
- The 'data-ssml' attribute, pronunciation, and presentation guidance can be applied to text in content in both QTI 3 and HTML, which enables enhanced accessibility and improved learning experiences for students who rely upon TTS.
The 1EdTech Data-SSML specification:
- Describes a format for the data passed in the data-ssml attribute
- Assumes the permitted content is derived from the W3C Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) Version 1 Specification
- Defines the information permitted inside the data-ssml property
- Expects that JSON is the technology binding for the information in the data-ssml property
- Defines the JSON format and expresses this in the machine readable JSON-Schema
Get Started
Start implementing Data-SSML Support for Speech Synthesis in HTML using the materials below.
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