Abstract:

Intelligent Computer-Assisted Language Learning (ICALL) is a relatively young field of interdisciplinary research exploring the integration of natural language processing in foreign language teaching. The course will introduce both the theoretical issues and the practical system development aspects of ICALL and provide the student with a firm basis for understanding the current research issues. Key questions discussed include the following: Where does ICALL fit into foreign language teaching? Why are notions such as noticing and awareness from cognitive psychology important for second language acquisition and ICALL research? How can natural language processing (NLP) be adapted to process learner language? What are the challenges for NLP in detecting properties of learner language and what is know about presenting feedback to learners? What are learner models and what roles do they play in ICALL systems? And last but not least, how can shallow semantic NLP analysis be used to provide feedback on meaning in addition to feedback on form, and why is this important?

Slides of the Lectures:

• Intruduction
• Intelligent Tutoring Systems: Individualized feedback
• Learner Modeling
• How about Meaning?
• On the Annotation and Use of Learner Corpora
• Automatic analysis of native texts for language learning

Organizations focusing on ICALL research:

• CALICO ICALL SIG http://purl.org/calico/icall,
• EUROCALL NLP SIG http://siglp.eurocall-languages.org/