License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (CC BY 3.0)
When quoting this document, please refer to the following
DOI: 10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2013.271
URN: urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-40433
URL: http://dagstuhl.sunsite.rwth-aachen.de/volltexte/2013/4043/
Go to the corresponding OASIcs Volume Portal

Freitas, Tiago ; Baptista, Jorge ; Mamede, Nuno

Syntactic REAP.PT: Exercises on Clitic Pronouning

pdf-format:
18.pdf (1.0 MB)

Abstract

The emerging interdisciplinary field of Intelligent Computer Assisted Language Learning (ICALL) aims to integrate the knowledge from computational linguistics into computer-assisted language learning (CALL). REAP.PT is a project emerging from this new field, aiming to teach Portuguese in an innovative and appealing way, and adapted to each student. In this paper, we present a new improvement of the REAP.PT system, consisting in developing new, automatically generated, syntactic exercises. These exercises deal with the complex phenomenon of pronominalization, that is, the substitution of a syntactic constituent with an adequate pronominal form. Though the transformation may seem simple, it involves complex lexical, syntactical and semantic constraints. The issues on pronominalization in Portuguese make it a particularly difficult aspect of language learning for non-native speakers. On the other hand, even native speakers can often be uncertain about the correct clitic positioning, due to the complexity and interaction of competing factors governing this phenomenon. A new architecture for automatic syntactic exercise generation is proposed. It proved invaluable in easing the development of this complex exercise, and is expected to make a relevant step forward in the development of future syntactic exercises, with the potential of becoming a syntactic exercise generation framework. A pioneer feedback system with detailed and automatically generated explanations for each answer is also presented, improving the learning experience, as stated in user comments. The expert evaluation and crowd-sourced testing positive results demonstrated the validity of the present approach.

BibTeX - Entry

@InProceedings{freitas_et_al:OASIcs:2013:4043,
  author =	{Tiago Freitas and Jorge Baptista and Nuno Mamede},
  title =	{{Syntactic REAP.PT: Exercises on Clitic Pronouning}},
  booktitle =	{2nd Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies},
  pages =	{271--285},
  series =	{OpenAccess Series in Informatics (OASIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-939897-52-1},
  ISSN =	{2190-6807},
  year =	{2013},
  volume =	{29},
  editor =	{Jos{\'e} Paulo Leal and Ricardo Rocha and Alberto Sim{\~o}es},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl--Leibniz-Zentrum fuer Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{http://drops.dagstuhl.de/opus/volltexte/2013/4043},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-40433},
  doi =		{10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2013.271},
  annote =	{Keywords: Intelligent Computer Assisted Language Learning (ICALL), Portuguese, Syntactic Exercises, Automatic Exercise Generation, Clitic Pronouning}
}

Keywords: Intelligent Computer Assisted Language Learning (ICALL), Portuguese, Syntactic Exercises, Automatic Exercise Generation, Clitic Pronouning
Collection: 2nd Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies
Issue Date: 2013
Date of publication: 05.06.2013

DROPS-Home | Fulltext Search | Imprint | Privacy Published by LZI