Over the last decade, Alternate Reality Games (ARGs), a form of narrative often involving multiple media and gaming elements to tell a story that might be affected by participants' actions, have been used in the marketing and promotion of a number of entertainment related products such as films, computer games and music. This paper discusses the…

As Virtual Learning Environments (VLE) supported by synchronous technologies such as Synchronous Learning Management Systems (SLMSs) are still new to distance language professionals, criteria guiding the evaluation of the appropriate SLMSs for Distance Language Education (DLE) are urgently needed. This article proposes and discusses such criteria.…

Collocations are of great importance for second language learners, and a learner's knowledge of them plays a key role in producing language fluently (Nation, 2001: 323). In this article we describe and evaluate an innovative system that uses a Web-derived corpus and digital library software to produce a vast concordance and present it in a way…

"QuickAssist," the program presented in this paper, uses natural language processing (NLP) technologies. It places a range of NLP tools at the disposal of learners, intended to enable them to independently read and comprehend a German text of their choice while they extend their vocabulary, learn about different uses of particular words,…

This paper presents an empirical evaluation of automated writing evaluation (AWE) feedback used for L2 academic writing teaching and learning. It introduces the Intelligent Academic Discourse Evaluator (IADE), a new web-based AWE program that analyzes the introduction section to research articles and generates immediate, individualized, and…

In this article, we set out to assess QuADEM (Quality Assessment of Digital Educational Material), one of the latest methods for evaluating online language learning courseware. What is special about QuADEM is that the evaluation is based on observing the actual usage of the online courseware and that, from a checklist of 12 different components,…

As Japanese uses three writing systems (hiragana, katakana, and the ideograms known as kanji), and as materials in the target language include all three, it is a major challenge to learn to read and write quickly. This paper focuses on interactive multi-media methods of teaching Japanese reading which foster learner autonomy. As little has been…

Self-testing is a means to check learning effect. Besides time-space restriction, there are many deficiencies in traditional offline self-testing. With the development of information technology, learners can have self-testing on the Internet. Self-testing on Internet, namely, web-based self-testing, overcomes time-space limitation of traditional…

Learning a second language is very difficult, especially, for the disabled; the disability may be a barrier to learn and to utilize information written in text form. We present the SignMT, Thai sign to Thai machine translation system, which is able to translate from Thai sign language into Thai text. In the translation process, SignMT takes into…

This study reports on the development of ESP (English for specific purposes) courseware for semiconductor technology and its integration as a "silent partner" into instruction. This kind of team-teaching could help overcome current problems encountered in developing ESP in Taiwan. The content of the material under discussion includes…

Reports on the development and evaluation of "Practicing Spoken French," a multimedia HyperCard-based program designed to assess the effects of subtitled video on oral communicative performance of undergraduate students of French. Implications for computer-assisted language learning design and research are suggested. (Contains 31…

Describes the evaluation of Computronics Corporations'"Targumatic" (Hebrew into English), a PC-based machine translation system running under DOS, and shows how each problem and potential obstruction to learning can be overcome through discovery procedures using a set of tools and procedures called the "learning algorithm." (22…

The developments of new technologies over the last decades provide some answers to the limited exposure imposed on second/foreign language (L2) learners, who study a target language in an academic setting in countries where that language is not actively used. Not only are such learners restricted in their exposure to the L2 in the formal academic…

A case is made against the use of computer-assisted text analysis, including style analyzers and grammar checkers, with nonproficient second-language or basic-skills student writers. The inaccuracy of analysis, limited feedback, and type of revision behavior encouraged are cited. (33 references) (Author/LB)

Examines and compares five available computer programs intended for self-instruction in Italian, focusing on their attention to learning strategies and personalized learning pace. Content, format, and other features of each are noted. General issues discussed include overall organization, cultural content, sequencing, exercise types, and ancillary…