Teaching a Foreign Language Lexicon: A Rationale for Hypertext
Abstract
Acquiring and retaining a large foreign language lexicon is difficult for military linguists, especially if the lexicon contains technical and military terms used on the job. The shortage of instructors to teach job- specific foreign language, as well as demonstrated shortcomings of available paper-and-pencil methods, has stimulated exploratory development of computer- based programs for foreign language learning. This report analyzes the problem of learning job-specific lexicons in a foreign language, addressing both practical and cognitive-theoretical aspects. It describes the U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences' (ARI'S) in-house development of a series of computer programs for learning foreign language vocabulary, justifying the structure of each program in terms of cognitive needs identified in the problem analysis. In particular, the report shows how the choice of hypertext software as a learning environment and development tool supports the structure of expert and emerging lexical knowledge as demonstrated in cognitive and psycholinguistic research. Keywords: Artificial intelligence, Computer-based instruction, Intelligent tutoring systems.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 1990
- Accession Number
- ADA228374
Entities
People
- V. M. Holland
Organizations
- U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences