Character input device, character input method, and recording medium

Abstract

Provided are a character input device, a character input method, and a recording medium that enable appropriate judgment and evaluation of a user's knowledge, abilities, etc., in a written test administered using CBT. A first character string acquisition unit acquires a first character string based on an input character string. A similar character extraction unit extracts similar characters with similar character shapes from characters belonging to the first character string. A second character string generation unit generates a second character string by replacing some or all of the characters belonging to the first character string with the similar characters extracted by the similar character extraction unit. A conversion candidate output unit then outputs the first character string and the second character string as conversion candidates for the input character string.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a technology for a computer to judge or evaluate the academic ability, ability, etc. of a user. Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, CBT (Computer Based Testing), in which a computer conducts an exam for judging or evaluating the knowledge, ability, etc. of a user (examinee), has been widespread. In CBT, questions are displayed on the display of a terminal (computer). The user operates an input device such as a mouse or a keyboard provided in the terminal to answer the questions displayed on the display.

[0003] In addition, Patent Document 1 describes a system for conducting a written exam by CBT using a tablet terminal capable of handwriting input.

[0004] Prior Art Documents

[0005] Patent Documents

[0006] Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2011-81024 Summary of the Invention

[0007] Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0008] However, in the case of conducting a written exam by CBT, a handwriting input device for enabling a user to input characters by handwriting is required.

[0009] In addition, depending on the recognition accuracy of the characters handwritten by the user, a correct answer may sometimes be judged as a wrong answer, or conversely, a wrong answer may be judged as a correct answer. For example, when the correct answer is "Toyotomi Hideyoshi", even if the characters handwritten by the user are legitimate, "臣" may sometimes be misrecognized as "巨", resulting in a wrong answer being judged. Conversely, even if the characters handwritten by the user are "丰巨秀吉" as a wrong answer, "巨" may sometimes be misrecognized as "臣" and judged as a correct answer. If misrecognition of the characters handwritten by the user occurs, the judgment and evaluation of the knowledge, ability, etc. of the user cannot be appropriately performed.

[0010] In addition, in the case of a written test using CBT, if a well-known kana-kanji conversion function is used, the above problems will not occur. However, if the kana string input by the user as pronunciation is "とよとみひでよし", "豊臣秀吉" will be output as a conversion candidate, and "豊巨秀吉" will not be output. Therefore, even a user who misrecords the kanji representation of "とよとみひでよし" as "豊巨秀吉" will select "豊臣秀吉" as the answer. Therefore, in the case of a written test using CBT, even if a well-known kana-kanji conversion function is used, it is sometimes impossible to appropriately judge and evaluate the knowledge, ability, etc. of the user.

[0011] An object of the present invention is to provide a technique that can appropriately judge and evaluate the knowledge, ability, etc. of a user as a test taker in the case of a written test using CBT.

[0012] Means for Solving the Problem

[0013] In order to achieve the above object, the character input device of the present invention is configured as follows.

[0014] The first string acquisition unit acquires a first string based on the input input string. The similar character extraction unit extracts similar characters with similar character shapes for the characters belonging to the first string. The second string generation unit generates a second string in which a part or all of the characters belonging to the first string are replaced with the similar characters extracted by the similar character extraction unit. Then, the conversion candidate output unit outputs the first string and the second string as conversion candidates for the input string.

[0015] In this structure, the first string whose pronunciation is the kana string (input string) input by the user operating a keyboard or the like as a test taker of CBT (Computer Based Testing), and the second string obtained by replacing a part of the characters of the first string with characters having a shape similar to that character are output as conversion candidates. Regarding the second string, there are cases where the pronunciation is the kana string input by the user, and cases where it is not that pronunciation. For example, when the first string input by the user is "とよとみひでよし", candidates such as "豊臣秀吉", "豊巨秀吉", "豊臣莠吉", "豊臣秃吉", "豊巨秃吉", "豊巨莠吉" are output. In this example, "豊臣秀吉" is the first string, and "豊巨秀吉", "豊臣莠吉", "豊臣秃吉", "豊巨秃吉", "豊巨莠吉" are the second strings.

[0016] Thus, if the user misremembers the Chinese characters corresponding to the input pseudonym string (pronunciation), although the correct conversion candidate (the first string) may be accidentally selected sometimes, in most cases, the incorrect conversion candidate (the second string) is selected. Therefore, in the case of a written test using CBT, it is possible to appropriately judge and evaluate the knowledge, ability, etc. of the user as a test taker.

[0017] In addition, in this structure, since the user as a CBT test taker does not perform handwritten input, there is no need to prepare a handwritten input device.

[0018] In addition, for example, an arrangement adjustment unit may be provided, which adjusts the arrangements of the first string and the second string output by the conversion candidate output unit as conversion candidates for the input string. Thus, it is possible to change the position of the correct answer among the conversion candidates output for each question, and it is possible to more appropriately judge and evaluate the knowledge, ability, etc. of the user.

[0019] In addition, the first string acquisition unit may be configured to acquire a predetermined string as the first string if the input string is a specified string, and acquire a string with the input string as the pronunciation as the first string if the input string is not a specified string.

[0020] For example, when the first string input by the user is not the correct answer "とよとみひでよし" but the incorrect answer "おだのぶなが", "织田信长" is acquired as the first string. In addition, in this case, as the second string, "职田信长", "职田佶长", "织田佶长", "织田俥长", "职田俥长", etc. are generated. That is, in this structure, the user is not made aware that the incorrect answer "おだのぶなが" has been input. Thus, it is possible to more appropriately judge and evaluate the knowledge, ability, etc. of the user.

[0021] In addition, a scoring unit may be provided, which scores the selected conversion candidate among the conversion candidates output by the conversion candidate output unit as the answer.

[0022] Advantages of the Invention

[0023] According to the present invention, in the case of a written test using CBT (Computer Based Testing), it is possible to appropriately judge and evaluate the knowledge, ability, etc. of the user as a test taker. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of a network system implementing CBT (Computer Based Testing) in a written test.

[0025] Figure 2 This is a block diagram showing the configuration of the main parts of a server device.

[0026] Figure 3 This is a block diagram showing the configuration of the main parts of a user terminal.

[0027] Figure 4 This is a flowchart showing the operation of the server device.

[0028] Figure 5 This is a flowchart showing the operation of the user terminal.

[0029] Label Description

[0030] 1: Server device; 2: User terminal; 5: Network; 11: Control unit; 11a: First character string acquisition unit; 11b: Similar character extraction unit; 11c Second character string generation unit; 11d Adjustment unit; 11e: Scoring unit; 12: Similar character database (similar character DB); 13: Dictionary database (dictionary DB); 14: Communication unit; 21: Control unit; 22: Display; 23: Operation unit; 24: Communication unit. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0031] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described.

[0032] <1. Application Examples>

[0033] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram showing a network system for conducting written tests using CBT (Computer Based Testing). Figure 1 As shown, the network system of this example is a structure in which a plurality of user terminals 2 and a server device 1 are connected via a network 5 so as to be capable of data communication.

[0034] Each user terminal 2 is a personal computer or tablet terminal operated by a user who is a CBT examinee. The server device 1 issues questions for a written test conducted in CBT to the user terminal 2 and scores the answers sent from the user terminal 2.

[0035] In this example, the character input device of the present invention is applied to the server device 1 .

[0036] The server device 1 issues questions for a written test to be conducted using CBT to the user terminal 2 .

[0037] The user terminal 2 displays the question issued from the server device 1 on the display screen. The user operates the input device, that is, the keyboard, to input the answer to the question. Here, the user inputs the answer in kana character strings.

[0038] For example, the server device 1 will

[0039] Which person's character is represented by the limerick "If the cuckoo won't sing, coax it to sing"?

[0040] Such a question is issued to the user terminal 2.

[0041] As a test taker, the user inputs kana strings such as "とよとみひでよし" and "おだのぶなが" in the user terminal 2. The user terminal 2 outputs the input kana string to the server device 1.

[0042] The server device 1 generates conversion candidates based on the kana string received from the user terminal 2. The server device 1 returns the generated conversion candidates to the user terminal 2. For example, if the kana string received by the server device 1 from the user terminal 2 is "とよとみひでよし", the server device 1 generates "Toyotomi Hideyoshi", "Toyotomi Hideyoshi", "Toyotomi Hidemochi", "Toyotomi Yoshiaki", "Toyotomi Hidetoki", "Toyotomi Hidemochi", "Toyotomi Yoshiaki", etc. as conversion candidates. "Toyotomi Hideyoshi" is the correct answer to this question. "Toyotomi Hideyoshi" corresponds to the first string described in the present invention. In addition, "Toyotomi Hidemochi", "Toyotomi Yoshiaki", "Toyotomi Hidetoki", "Toyotomi Hidemochi", "Toyotomi Yoshiaki", etc. are conversion candidates obtained by replacing some characters of the correct answer "Toyotomi Hideyoshi" with characters of similar shapes. "Toyotomi Hidemochi", "Toyotomi Yoshiaki", "Toyotomi Hidetoki", "Toyotomi Hidemochi", "Toyotomi Yoshiaki", etc. correspond to the second string described in the present invention.

[0043] In addition, the server device 1 can also create conversion candidates by replacing all characters of the correct answer "Toyotomi Hideyoshi" with characters of similar shapes.

[0044] In addition, if the kana string received by the server device 1 from the user terminal 2 is "おだのぶなが", the server device 1 returns "Oda Nobunaga", "Shokuda Nobunaga", "Shokuda Nobuchika", "Oda Nobuchika", "Oda Hashinaga", "Shokuda Hashinaga", etc. as conversion candidates to the user terminal 2. "Oda Nobunaga" is not the correct answer to this question, but a conversion candidate with the pronunciation of the kana string input by the user. "Oda Nobunaga" corresponds to the first string described in the present invention.

[0045] In addition, "Shokuda Nobunaga", "Shokuda Nobuchika", "Oda Nobuchika", "Oda Hashinaga", "Shokuda Hashinaga", etc. are conversion candidates obtained by replacing some characters of "Oda Nobunaga" with characters of similar shapes. "Shokuda Nobunaga", "Shokuda Nobuchika", "Oda Nobuchika", "Oda Hashinaga", "Shokuda Hashinaga", etc. correspond to the second string described in the present invention.

[0046] User terminal 2 displays the conversion candidates returned from server device 1 on a display screen. The user operates an input device, such as a mouse or keyboard, to select their own answer from the displayed conversion candidates. User terminal 2 outputs the conversion candidate selected by the user to server device 1 as the user's answer.

[0047] The server device 1 scores each user terminal 2 (ie, each user) to determine whether the user's answer to the question is a correct answer or an incorrect answer.

[0048] Thus, in this network system, if a user misremembers the kanji notation for an input kana character string (pronunciation), they may occasionally select the correct conversion candidate, but in most cases, they will select the wrong conversion candidate. Therefore, when a written test is conducted using CBT, the knowledge and ability of the user as the examinee can be appropriately judged and evaluated.

[0049] In addition, in this network system, since the user is not required to input the answer by handwriting, the user's knowledge, ability, etc. will not be incorrectly judged or evaluated due to the recognition accuracy of the handwritten characters. In addition, the user does not need to prepare a tablet that can perform handwriting input.

[0050] <2. Example of structure>

[0051] Figure 2 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a main part of the server device of this example. The server device 1 includes a control unit 11 , a similar character database 12 (similar character DB 12 ), a dictionary database 13 (dictionary DB 13 ), and a communication unit 14 .

[0052] The control unit 11 controls various components of the server device 1. Furthermore, the control unit 11 includes a first character string acquisition unit 11a, a similar character extraction unit 11b, a second character string generation unit 11c, an alignment unit 11d, and a scoring unit 11e. The first character string acquisition unit 11a, similar character extraction unit 11b, second character string generation unit 11c, alignment unit 11d, and scoring unit 11e included in the control unit 11 will be described later.

[0053] The similar character database 12 groups and stores characters with similar shapes. For example, in character recognition using a well-known OCR (Optical Character Reader), the similar character database 12 groups and stores character groups extracted as candidates for a particular character (character groups with similar shape features). The dictionary database 13 registers corresponding pronunciations (in kana notation), parts of speech, and converted character strings (in kanji notation). The communication unit 14 communicates data with the user terminal 2 connected via the network 5.

[0054] The similar character DB 12 and the dictionary DB 13 may be, for example, a hard disk drive (HDD), a solid state drive (SSD), or other storage media. Furthermore, the similar character DB 12 and the dictionary DB 13 may be composed of a single storage medium with divided storage areas, or may be composed of different storage media.

[0055] Next, the first character string acquisition unit 11 a , the similar character extraction unit 11 b , the second character string generation unit 11 c , the arrangement adjustment unit 11 d , and the scoring unit 11 e included in the control unit 11 will be described.

[0056] The first character string acquisition unit 11a acquires a conversion candidate using the kana character string received from the user terminal 2 as its pronunciation. If the kana character string received from the user terminal 2 is the pronunciation of the correct answer to the question, the first character string acquisition unit 11a acquires the Kanji representation of the correct answer to the question as the first character string. If the kana character string received from the user terminal 2 is not the pronunciation of the correct answer to the question, the first character string acquisition unit 11a acquires a conversion candidate using the received kana character string as its pronunciation as the first character string.

[0057] The similar character extraction unit 11b extracts characters having a similar shape to each character belonging to the first character string acquired by the first character string acquisition unit 11a. The similar character extraction unit 11b refers to the similar character DB 12 to extract characters having similar shapes.

[0058] The second character string generator generates a second character string by replacing some or all characters in the first character string acquired by the first character string acquirer 11a with characters extracted by the similar character extractor 11b. The second character string generator generates one or more second character strings.

[0059] The arrangement adjustment unit 11 d adjusts the arrangement order of the first character string acquired by the first character string acquisition unit 11 a and the second character string generated by the second character string generation unit 11 c when they are displayed as conversion candidates on the user terminal 2 .

[0060] The scoring unit 11 e performs scoring including the correctness of the answer based on the conversion candidate selected in the user terminal 2 .

[0061] The control unit 11 of the server device 1 is composed of a hardware CPU, memory, and other electronic circuits. When executing the character input program of the present invention, the hardware CPU functions as a first character string acquisition unit 11a, a similar character extraction unit 11b, a second character string generation unit 11c, an arrangement adjustment unit 11d, and a scoring unit 11e. Furthermore, the memory includes an area for expanding the character input program of the present invention and an area for temporarily storing data generated when executing the character input program. The control unit 11 may also be an LSI that integrates the hardware CPU, memory, and other components. Furthermore, the hardware CPU is a computer that executes the character input method of the present invention.

[0062] Figure 3 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the main parts of the user terminal of this example. The user terminal 2 includes a control unit 21, a display 22, an operation unit 23, and a communication unit 24. The user terminal 2 is a general personal computer or a tablet terminal.

[0063] The control unit 21 controls the operation of each part of the user terminal 2 .

[0064] The display 22 displays a screen corresponding to the status of the user terminal 2. The operation unit 23 includes input devices such as a mouse, keyboard, and touch panel. The operation unit 23 accepts user input operations on the user terminal 2. The communication unit 24 performs data communication with the server device 1 connected via the network 5.

[0065] The control unit 21 of the user terminal 2 is composed of a hardware CPU, a memory, and other electronic circuits. Alternatively, the control unit 21 may be an LSI integrating the hardware CPU, the memory, and the like.

[0066] <3. Action Example>

[0067] Hereinafter, the operations of the server device 1 and the user terminal 2 when the written test is conducted using CBT will be described. Figure 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the server device. Figure 5 This is a flowchart showing the operation of the user terminal.

[0068] The server device 1 issues the written test questions to the user terminal 2 in the communication unit 14 (s1). The questions issued by the server device 1 are received by the communication unit 24 of the user terminal 2 via the network 5. For example, the server device 1

[0069] Whose character is expressed in the doggerel "The cuckoo doesn't sing, but you can lure it into singing"?

[0070] Such questions are issued to the user terminal 2.

[0071] When the user terminal 2 receives a question published from the server device 1 in the communication unit 24, the received question is displayed on the display 22 (s21, s22). The user operates an input device such as a keyboard provided in the operation unit 23 to input the answer to the question displayed on the display 22 in a pseudonym string (pronunciation). For example, the user inputs "とよとみひでよし", "おだのぶなが", etc. In this example, "とよとみひでよし" is the correct answer, and "おだのぶなが" is the wrong answer.

[0072] The user terminal 2 sends the input pronunciation to the server device 1 in the communication unit 24 (s23, s24). The user terminal 2 waits to receive conversion candidates from the server device 1 (s25).

[0073] If the server device 1 has published a question to the user terminal 2 in the above s1, it waits to receive the pronunciation from the user terminal 2 (s2). When the server device 1 receives the pronunciation sent by the user terminal 2 in s24 in the communication unit 14, it obtains the first string (s3). If the pronunciation received in s3 is the pronunciation of the correct answer to the question published in s1, the server device 1 obtains the Chinese character notation of the correct answer as the first string. On the other hand, if the pronunciation received in s3 is not the pronunciation of the correct answer to the question published in s1, the server device 1 obtains the Chinese character notation of the pronunciation received this time as the first string. For example, if the received pronunciation is "とよとみひでよし" as the correct answer, the server device 1 obtains "丰臣秀吉" as the Chinese character notation of the correct answer as the first string. On the other hand, if the received pronunciation is "おだのぶなが" which is not the correct answer, the server device 1 obtains any one of the Chinese character notations such as "织田信长", "小田信长", "织田信永", etc. of the pronunciation received this time as the first string. When the received pronunciation is not the correct answer, the server device 1 uses the dictionary DB 13 to obtain the first string. The first string acquisition unit 11a performs the process of s3.

[0074] For each character belonging to the first string obtained in s3, the server device 1 extracts characters with similar shapes (s4). For example, if the first string obtained in s3 is "丰臣秀吉", it extracts characters with shapes similar to "丰", characters with shapes similar to "臣", characters with shapes similar to "秀", and characters with shapes similar to "吉". If the first string obtained in s3 is "织田信长", it extracts characters with shapes similar to "织", characters with shapes similar to "田", characters with shapes similar to "信", and characters with shapes similar to "长". The server device 1 uses the similar character DB12 to extract the similar characters in s4. The similar character extraction unit 11b performs the process of s4.

[0075] The server device 1 generates a predetermined number (predetermined number) of second character strings (s5) by replacing some or all of the characters in the first character string obtained in s3 with characters of similar shape extracted in s4. For example, if the first character string obtained in s3 is "Toyotomi Hideyoshi" and the predetermined number is five, the server device 1 generates "Toyotomi Hideyoshi," "Toyotomi Yakichi," "Toyotomi Tukichi," "Toyotomi Tukichi," and "Toyotomi Yakichi" as the second character strings. Alternatively, if the first character string obtained in s3 is "Oda Nobunaga" and the predetermined number is five, the server device 1 generates "Joda Nobunaga," "Joda Jichang," "Oda Jichang," "Oda Shichang," and "Joda Shichang" as the second character strings. The second character string generation unit 11c performs the process in s5.

[0076] The server device 1 uses the first character string obtained in s3 and the predetermined number of second character strings generated in s5 as conversion candidates for the answer to this question. If the user inputs an incorrect pronunciation, the correct answer is not included in the conversion candidates for the answer to this question.

[0077] The server device 1 adjusts the order of the conversion candidates for the answers to the current question (s6). The order here refers to the order in which the answers are displayed on the display 22 of the user terminal 2. In s6, the order is adjusted for each question so that the order in which the correct answers are displayed randomly changes. The order adjustment unit 11d performs the process in s6.

[0078] The server device 1 transmits the conversion candidates of the answer to the current question to the user terminal 2, which is the source of the pronunciation received in s2 (s7). At this time, the server device 1 instructs the user terminal 2 to display the conversion candidates of the answer to the current question in the order adjusted in s6.

[0079] When the communication unit 24 of the user terminal 2 receives the conversion candidates for the answer to the current question, the user terminal 2 displays the received conversion candidates on the display 22 in the arrangement order instructed by the server device 1 (s25, s26). When the operation unit 23 of the user terminal 2 receives an operation to select one of the conversion candidates displayed on the display 22, the user terminal 2 transmits the selected conversion candidate as the answer to the current question to the server device 1 (s27, s28), and then returns to s21.

[0080] Upon receiving the answer from the user terminal 2 , the server device 1 performs scoring for the current question ( s8 , s9 ) and returns to s1 .

[0081] Therefore, in this network system, when a user misremembers the Kanji representation of a pronunciation inputted into the user terminal 2, even if the user occasionally selects a correct conversion candidate, in most cases the user selects an incorrect conversion candidate. Therefore, when a written test is conducted using CBT, the knowledge and abilities of the user as the examinee can be appropriately judged and evaluated.

[0082] In addition, in this example, the network system does not require the user to input the answer by handwriting, so the recognition accuracy of handwritten characters will not lead to incorrect judgment or evaluation of the user's knowledge, ability, etc. In addition, the user does not need to prepare a tablet that can perform handwriting input.

[0083] In addition, in the above description, the case where the server device 1 publishes questions one by one to the user terminal 2 is taken as an example, but the server device 1 can also be configured to publish multiple questions to the user terminal 2 at the same time, and perform the processing of receiving the pronunciation and answer from the user terminal 2 for each question.

[0084] <4. Modifications>

[0085] The first character string acquisition unit 11a, similar character extraction unit 11b, second character string generation unit 11c, arrangement adjustment unit 11d, and scoring unit 11e components of the control unit 11 of the server device 1, as shown in the above example, can also be incorporated into the control unit 21 of the user terminal 2. With this configuration, the user terminal can also be used as a learning terminal for the user to preview and review.

[0086] In addition, in the above example, the similar character extraction unit 11b is configured to extract characters with similar shapes from existing characters, but for example, it can also be configured to extract characters (which may also be non-existent characters) generated by replacing the radicals of characters, or adding or deleting points or adding or deleting horizontal or vertical lines in the structure of characters as characters with similar shapes.

[0087] Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to specific types of level tests or subject tests, and written tests can be implemented using CBT.

[0088] In addition, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment itself, and in the implementation stage, the constituent elements can be deformed and concretized within the scope of its main purpose. In addition, various inventions can be formed by appropriate combinations of multiple constituent elements disclosed in the above-mentioned embodiment. For example, several constituent elements can also be deleted from all the constituent elements shown in the embodiment. Furthermore, the constituent elements in different embodiments can also be appropriately combined.

[0089] Furthermore, the correspondence between the configuration of the present invention and the configuration of the above-described embodiment can be described as in the following supplementary notes.

[0090] <Note>

[0091] A character input device (1) comprising:

[0092] a first character string acquisition unit (11a) for acquiring a first character string based on an input character string;

[0093] a similar character extraction unit (11b) for extracting similar characters with similar character shapes from the characters belonging to the first character string;

[0094] A second character string generating unit (11c) generating a second character string by replacing a part or all of the characters belonging to the first character string with the similar characters extracted by the similar character extracting unit; and

[0095] A conversion candidate output unit (14) outputs the first character string and the second character string as conversion candidates for the input character string.

Claims

1. A character input device comprising: a first character string acquisition unit for acquiring a first character string based on an input character string; a similar character extraction unit for extracting similar characters having similar shapes from the characters belonging to the first character string; a second character string generating unit for generating a second character string by replacing a part or all of the characters belonging to the first character string with the similar characters extracted by the similar character extracting unit; a conversion candidate output unit configured to output the first character string and the second character string as conversion candidates for the input character string; as well as A scoring unit scores whether the user's answer to the question is a correct answer or an incorrect answer, using the selected conversion candidate from among the conversion candidates output by the conversion candidate output unit as an answer.

2. The character input device according to claim 1, wherein The character input device includes an arrangement adjustment unit that adjusts the arrangement of the first character string and the second character string output by the conversion candidate output unit as conversion candidates of the input character string.

3. The character input device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: If the input character string is a predetermined character string, the first character string acquisition unit acquires a predetermined character string as a first character string. If the input character string is not a predetermined character string, the first character string acquisition unit acquires a character string read with the input character string as a first character string.

4. A character input method, which causes a computer to execute the following steps: a first character string obtaining step of obtaining a first character string according to the input character string; A similar character extraction step of extracting similar characters having similar shapes from the characters belonging to the first character string; a second character string generating step of generating a second character string by replacing a part or all of the characters belonging to the first character string with the similar characters extracted in the similar character extracting step; a conversion candidate outputting step of outputting the first character string and the second character string as conversion candidates for the input character string; as well as A scoring step is to score whether the user's answer to the question is a correct answer or an incorrect answer, using the selected conversion candidate from among the conversion candidates outputted in the conversion candidate outputting step as an answer.

5. A recording medium having a character input program recorded thereon, the character input program causing a computer to execute the following steps: a first character string obtaining step of obtaining a first character string according to the input character string; A similar character extraction step of extracting similar characters having similar shapes from the characters belonging to the first character string; a second character string generating step of generating a second character string by replacing a part or all of the characters belonging to the first character string with the similar characters extracted in the similar character extracting step; a conversion candidate outputting step of outputting the first character string and the second character string as conversion candidates for the input character string; as well as A scoring step is to score whether the user's answer to the question is a correct answer or an incorrect answer, using the selected conversion candidate from among the conversion candidates outputted in the conversion candidate outputting step as an answer.

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