Intelligent computer-assisted language learning: A bibliography

This bibliography focuses on works discussing intelligent computer-assisted language learning (ICALL). It includes over 200 entries divided into three sections: (1) collections, special issues and bibliographies, (2) general/theoretical works, (3) specific applications.Alan Bailin (Ph.D., McGill) is Associate Editor ofComputers and the Humanities. He has participated in the field of Intelligent Computer-Assisted Language Learning as a writer, editor, and researcher. He has also published in the areas of linguistics and semiotics.     

The use of natural language processing in computer-assisted language instruction

This article describes the natural language processing techniques used in two computer-assisted language instruction programs: VERBCON and PARSER. VERBCON is a template-type program which teaches students how to use English verb forms in written texts. In the exercises verbs have been put into the infinitive, and students are required to supply appropriate verb forms. PARSER is intended to help students learn English sentence structure. Using a lexicon and production rules, it generates sentences and asks students to identify their grammatical parts. The article contends that only by incorporating natural language processing techniques can these programs offer a substantial number of exercises and at the same time provide students with informative feedback. Alan Bailin is director of the Effective Writing Program at the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. Philip Thomson is a programmer in the Faculty of Medecine, University of Western Ontario.     

The role of native grammars in correcting errors in second language learning

This paper describes VP², a system that has been implemented to tutor nonnative speakers in English. This system differs from many tutoring systems by employing an explicit grammar of its user's native language. This grammar enables VP² to customize its responses by addressing problems due to interference of the native language. The system focuses on the acquisition of English verb-particle and verb-prepositional phrase constructions. Its correction strategy is based upon comparison of the native language grammar with an English grammar. VP² is a modular system: its grammar of a user's native language can easily be replaced by a grammar of another language. The problems and solutions presented in this paper are related to the more general question of how modelling previous knowledge facilitates instruction in a new skill.     

自然语言生成综述

自然语言生成(NLG)技术利用人工智能和语言学的方法来自动地生成可理解的自然语言文本.NLG降低了人类和计算机之间沟通的难度,被广泛应用于机器新闻写作、聊天机器人等领域,已经成为人工智能的研究热点之一.首先,列举了当前主流的NLG的方法和模型,并详细对比了这些方法和模型的优缺点;然后,分别针对文本到文本、数据到文本和图...     

Natural language understanding within a cognitive semantics framework

The article argues that cognitive linguistic theory may prove an alternative to the Montague paradigm for designing natural language understanding systems. Within this framework it describes a system which models language understanding as a dialogical process between user and computer. The system operates with natural language texts as input and represent language meaning as entity-relationship diagrams.     

Enhancing web-based language learning through self-monitoring

Abstract  The present study investigated the effects of a self-monitoring strategy on web-based language learning. Both students' academic performance and their motivational beliefs were investigated. The interaction between the use of a self-monitoring strategy and the level of learners' English proficiency was also examined. A total of 99 college students who were enrolled in classes for Freshmen English participated in this study. The experimental group was led to a web page with self-monitoring form for recording study time and environment, learning process, predicting test scores, and self-evaluation while the control group was not. It was found that (1) the self-monitoring strategy had a significant main effect on students' academic performance and their motivational beliefs; students who applied the self-monitoring strategy outperformed students who did not apply the self-monitoring strategy on both academic performance and motivational beliefs regardless of their English proficiency level; and (2) the influence of self-monitoring was greater on the lower English level students than on the higher English level students. The positive findings suggest that encouraging students to develop self-monitoring could help increase the success of online learning. Thus, applying a self-monitoring strategy is strongly recommended for web-based instruction.     

Generating and evaluating evaluative arguments

Evaluative arguments are pervasive in natural human communication. In countless situations people attempt to advise or persuade their interlocutors that something is desirable (vs. undesirable) or right (vs. wrong). With the proliferation of on-line systems serving as personal advisors and assistants, there is a pressing need to develop general and testable computational models for generating and presenting evaluative arguments. Previous research on generating evaluative arguments has been characterized by two major limitations. First, researchers have tended to focus only on specific aspects of the generation process. Second, the proposed approaches were not empirically tested. The research presented in this paper addresses both limitations. We have designed and implemented a complete computational model for generating evaluative arguments. For content selection and organization, we devised an argumentation strategy based on guidelines from argumentation theory. For expressing the content in natural language, we extended and integrated previous work in computational linguistics on generating evaluative arguments. The key knowledge source for both tasks is a quantitative model of user preferences. To empirically test critical aspects of our generation model, we have devised and implemented an evaluation framework in which the effectiveness of evaluative arguments can be measured with real users. Within the framework, we have performed an experiment to test two basic hypotheses on which the design of the computational model is based; namely, that our proposal for tailoring an evaluative argument to the addressee's preferences increases its effectiveness, and that differences in conciseness significantly influence argument effectiveness. The second hypothesis was confirmed in the experiment. In contrast, the first hypothesis was only marginally confirmed. However, independent testing by other researchers has recently provided further support for this hypothesis.     

基于WEB的多媒体课件开发

本文详细介绍了如何使用Flsh、Authorware和Director开发可实现流式传播的多媒体课件的设计方案及实现过程。还通过比较的方式确定以Windows Media配合Dreamweaver开发以视频为主的多媒体课件具有相对的优越性，更适合制作网上课件的发展。     

Computers and translation: integrating IT into undergraduate foreign language learning

Abstract There are still many institutions of higher education in the UK, both universities and polytechnics, that have not taken on board the application of information technology to foreign language learning. Apart from considerations of cost, there is also the problem of time—deciding how best to use the limited time at one's disposal for exploring computer applications to foreign language learning. Both problems may be compounded by the mistaken belief that effective use of this 'new' technology necessarily involves learning one or more programming languages. This paper endeavours to show that recent advances in both software and hardware have produced computing tools of particular interest to translation and the translator, and that, since translation is a reality for large numbers of undergraduates in the UK, such tools represent an obvious starting point for the introduction of IT into the undergraduate curriculum.     

The impact of computer‐based instruction on the development of EFL learners' writing skills

The current study investigated the application and effectiveness of computer assisted language learning (CALL) in teaching academic writing to Iranian EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners by means of Microsoft Word Office. To this end, 44 sophomore intermediate university students majoring in English Language and Literature at an Iranian university who had enrolled in a course called Advanced Writing were randomly divided into two groups. As a pre‐test, a pen‐and‐paper writing task was given to both groups at the beginning of the semester. The control group including 24 male and female students was taught based on traditional approach while the experimental group including 20 male and female students was taught based on CALL. At the end of one semester, a pen‐and‐paper writing task was given to both groups. The results of the post‐test revealed that the students who were exposed to computer‐based instruction outperformed their counterparts in terms of using appropriate articles, tense, plural forms and spelling. Moreover, the students in the experimental group produced paragraphs of higher quality. The findings of this study confirmed the efficacy of computer‐based instruction in the development of EFL learners' writing skills.     

Developing Language Technologies with the Support of Language Resources and Evaluation Programs

The role of language resources and language technology evaluation is now recognized as being crucial for the development of written and spoken language processing systems. Given the increasing challenge of multilingualism in Europe, the development of language technologies requires a more internationally distributed effort. This paper first describes several recent and on-going activities in France aimed at the development of language resources and evaluation. We then outline a new project intended to enhance collaboration, cooperation, and resource sharing among the international language processing research community.     

基于XML的在线多媒体课件设计与实现

简要分析了现有的课件存在的问题,提出了一种可扩展的基于XML的在线多媒体课件层次信息模型,利用XML语言定义了课件标记语言对该模型进行XML绑定,通过ASP代码成功把XML引入了课件标记文档中,并利用XSL的解析器来解析转换,实现了能在浏览器中表现的在线多媒体课件库系统.通过现有的技术可实现基于XML的在线多媒体交互教学是行之有效的,而且符合CELTS内容包装规范.从而有效地解决了多媒体课件网络化过程中出现的一些问题.     

A Partial Evaluator for A Parallel Lambda Language

This paper describes theoretical and practical aspects of a partial evaluator that treats a parallel lambda language.The parallel language presented is a combination of lambda calculus and message passing communication mechanism.This parallel language can be used to write a programming language‘s denotational semantics which extracts the paallelism in the program.From this denotational definition of the programming language,the partial evaluator can generate parallel compiler of the language by self-application. The key technique of partial evaluation is binding time analysis that determines in advance which parts of the source program can be evaluated during partial evaluation,and which parts cannot,A binding time analysis is described based upon type inference.A new type chcode in introduced into the type system,which denotes the type of those expressions containing residual channel operations.A well-formedness criterion is given which ensures that partial evaluation not only doesn‘t commit type errors but also doesn‘t change the sequence of channel operations.Before binding time analysis,channel analysis is used to analyze the communication relationship between send and receive processes.     

Enacting artifact-based activities for social technologies in language learning using a design-based research approach

This paper presents the results of a three-year design-based research (DBR) study on the use of social technologies for collaborative construction of shareable artifacts by groups of learners. The study builds on the learning theory of constructionism which assumes that knowledge is better gained when students find this knowledge for themselves while engaging in the making of concrete and public artifacts. In an attempt to infuse elements of constructionism in the use of social technologies, we tasked groups of learners in language learning courses with collaborative construction of an artifact using social technologies. A unique characteristic of our approach is that the process that students adopted and the way technology and context fostered this procedure was analyzed. The cycle of DBR fueled deep insights into the learning processes that emerged through the construction of an artifact, thus deepening our understanding of the multimode and multi-trajectory relationship between theory, artifact construction and social technologies. For sustaining and orchestrating social construction of artifacts by groups of learners, a set of instructional elements emerged, as well as implications for enacting social technology innovations in real-life classrooms.     

Extraction of Robot Primitive Control Rules from Natural Language Instructions

A support vector rule based method is investigated for the construction of motion controllers via natural language training. It is a two-phase process including motion control information collection from natural language instructions, and motion information condensation with the aid of support vector machine (SVM) theory. Self-organizing fuzzy neural networks are utilized for the collection of control rules, from which support vector rules are extracted to form a final controller to achieve any given control accuracy. In this way, the number of control rules is reduced, and the structure of the controller tidied, making a controller constructed using natural language training more appropriate in practice, and providing a fundamental rule base for high-level robot behavior control. Simulations and experiments on a wheeled robot are carried out to illustrate the effectiveness of the method.     

基于规范的可共享智能型Web课件的制作

提出了一种基于IMS与SCORM远程教育技术规范的可共享智能型Web课件的制作方法。该方法首先将课程的教学内容进行分类,设计出各种类型的学习单元与测试单元;然后依照IMS的内容包装规范、简单顺序规范与SCORM的运行时环境,在一个XML的内容包装清单文件中,以一种可互操作的方式,描述课件内容的组织结构与智能化教学策略。     

一种面向组合攻击效能评估的Enhanced LAMBDA描述语言

利用描述语言进行攻击建模能够更有效地刻画攻击细节。通过对网络攻击效能进行评估,可以对网络攻击的效果给出定性和定量的评价,检验攻击行为的有效性,有助于制定有效的网络安全策略。基于LAMBDA语言,扩充了时间约束和效能约束方面的描述能力,提出了一种增强的攻击描述语言Enhanced LAMBDA,并给出了Enhanced LAMBDA的应用实例。最后,利用DARPA数据集LLDOS1.0构造了网络组合攻击的测试场景,基于Enhanced LAMBDA对其进行效能评估。实验结果表明,Enhanced LAMBDA能有效支持网络组合攻击的效能评估。     

The systems programming language,Malus

This paper reports on the design and development of a high level language, Malus, for use in implementing a time-sharing system. Emphasized are the ways that the language and its compiler accommodate the specialized requirements of systems programming and programmers. Among these are the need to generate highly efficient object code, to allow inter-programmer communication by program self-documentation, and to define and organize system tables and data. In addition, the Malus compiler is highly modular; thus the language may be modified or augmented in response to user needs unforeseen during langauge design. Systems programs cannot be machine independent and Malus allows explicit control of emitted code when an application requires particular efficiency or use of privileged instructions. There is also a facility allowing nested redefinition of identifiers. Efficient storage management and data access is effected by the availability of based structures, a register storage class and built-in functions to facilitate their use. Malus is evaluated both in terms of some general criteria for systems implementation languages and by an appraisal of user reactions. While this assessment shows a few areas where the language might be improved, it is felt that Malus is a valuable and effective tool for systems implementation.     

Bootstrapping in a language learning environment

Abstract   This paper addresses a fundamental dilemma in the design of intelligent language learning environments: the more freedom a system offers to learners in the use of the target language, the more unwieldy the data is which the learners produce and the less able the system is to support inferences about learners from that data. It is shown how in a platform where learners and teachers interact, the teachers' feedback which is archived in the system and indexed to the learners' target language production can constitute affordances that support a process of bootstrapping from raw language output to potential insights into the learners' interlanguage and gaps in their grasp of the target language. The approach is illustrated with three types of learner errors uncovered in the corpus of learner English through this bootstrapping heuristic.