Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) for Dyslexic Students

1. Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) for Dyslexic Students Cara N. Greene National Centre for Language Technology (NCLT) Dublin City University (DCU), Ireland. Supervisor: Prof. Josef van Genabith ICCHP Main Conference University of Linz, Austria, 12.07.06

2. Presentation Layout • Research Overview • Research Methodology • Colpaert’s RBRO Model • Analysis Phase Findings • Design Phase Findings • Conclusions

3. Research Overview

4. CALL • Coputer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) software is language-learning software (e.g., web-based, CD-ROM) that has lessons and exercises designed and developed for the particular needs of a target group • Tutor or Tool (Levy 1997) • L2 acquisition, L1?

5. Dyslexia “The word dyslexia is derived from the Greek "dys" (meaning poor or inadequate) and "lexis" (words or language). The word dyslexia therefore means 'difficulty with words'. Dyslexia manifests itself as a difficulty in reading, in writing and spelling and expressing your thoughts on paper. It can affect memory and concentration, and sometimes maths, music, foreign languages and self-organisation.” (Hornsby 1995)

6. Motivation • Dyslexia in Ireland (8%) • Support in primary schools • Less support in secondary schools • Teaching experience • Lack of age-appropriate materials for teenage dyslexic students

7. State of the Art • General-purpose ICT tools • Word processors, PowerPoint etc. • Text-to-Speech • Kurzweil (Kurzweil Ed. Systems 2005) • Speech Recognition • Dragon Naturally Speaking (Scansoft 2005)

8. Research Questions • How can we address this lack of continuing support for secondary school dyslexic students? • What types of CALL materials & technology are needed & are appropriate for deployment with dyslexic teenagers in the Irish Ed. System? • How can age-appropriate CALL courseware be successfully deployed to cater to the needs and goals of dyslexic students and their teachers?

9. Research Methodology

10. Design And Methodologies • Design • Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) & Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG - W3C 1999) • Human-Computer Interaction (Rainger 2003) • Dyslexia design guidelines (ADO 2005) • Interface design for dyslexic people (Dickinson et al. 2003) • CALL Methodologies • Chapelle (1995), Hubbard (1996), Levy (1999b) • Colpaert’s RBRO Model (2004) • ADDIE Model

11. Colpaert’s RBRO Model

12. Colpaert’s RBRO Design Model Adapted from Figure 4.1 Language Courseware Engineering Loop (Colpaert 2004)

13. Analysis Phase Findings

14. Analysis Phase Findings • Evaluation of existing ICT and CALL courseware and research in this area • Needs analysis • Matching CALL functionalities against dyslexic learner needs • Dyslexia training • Curriculum analysis using Computational Linguistics (CL) technology • GLTD grid (Colpaert 2004)

15. Needs Analysis • Teaching experience • Literature review • CALL, CAL, Dyslexia, Special Needs, HCI, Interface Design, government policy, reading stages & methods • Collaboration with the DAI & training • Teachers & students • Qualitative questionnaires • Key features for dyslexia-friendly materials

16. Needs Analysis - Dyslexia • Neurologically-based (IDA 2002) • Most common learning disability • 8% of the Irish population (Skoool.ie*) • Boys to girls ratio of 2:1 (Hornsby 1995) • Language areas - Richards et al. (1999), Serafini et al. (2000) • Dyslexia as a difference in cognition & learning (Singleton 2000) * source:http://www.skoool.ie

17. Surveys and Collaboration 11 15 5 5 32

18. Survey Findings • Lack of age-appropriate software • Word processing, text-to-speech, summarisation, voice-record • Web-based environment • Teacher access • Multi-modal capability • Authentic texts

19. Feature Who Why CALL? Present text in digestible chunks 85% of learning support (LS) teachers Short term memory and sequencing difficulties Dyslexia-focused design and layout Pictures, audio, video, TTS systems 96% of students & 100% of LS teachers Poor symbol-sound meaning,grapheme – phoneme linking Multi-modal activities (audio & video) Manipulate text like word processor 95% of LS teachers & 93% tutors Defective fine motor skills,energy Mind map, click &drag capabilities Language quizzes & games 100% of students, 90% LS teachers, 100% tutors Thinking in pictures, ADD, concentration Colour, graphics, kinaesthetic features Manual text summarisation 73% of dyslexia tutors Organisation, STM, thinking in pictures Multi-modal capabilities Automatic text summarisation 26% of dyslexia tutors Organisation, STM, thinking in pictures Multi-modal capabilities Authentic texts 93% of tutors Need real texts Exam materials Memory games 46% of tutors STM, sequencing Multi-modal games

20. Design Phase Findings

21. Colpaert’s RBRO Design Model Adapted from Figure 4.1 Language Courseware Engineering Loop (Colpaert 2004)

22. Design • Conceptualisation • From problems in Analysis Phase to solutions in Design Phase • Specification • Front-end and back-end • Prototyping

23. Design: System Description • Web-based environment • Dyslexia-friendly design (ADO 2005) • Teenage learners • School work / hobbies • Modules • Comprehension • Vocabulary • Newsgroup & pinboard

24. Comprehension Module • Age-appropriate authentic texts • Curriculum texts / exam papers – history • Levels of readability - levels denoted by dyslexia teachers/tutors • Teenage topics • Audio, graphics, video, voice-record, summarisation • Talking Dictionary 8 (2005), Logox Webspeech (2003), Copernic summariser (2005) • Linguistic analysis of difficult words within texts • Morphology – prefixes, suffixes • Length of words

25. Design Flow Diagrams • Front-end design flow diagram • Back-end design flow diagram

26. Future Work

27. Implementation (Deployment) • Secondary school students & teachers • Students & tutors from the DAI • In the DAI and at home • Control groups • One group using, others not • Comparison of results • Confidential comparison betw’ the groups

28. Evaluation • Formative evaluation • Prototyping phase • Summative evaluation • 2 implementations & summative evaluations • Full system implementation & summative evaluation • Quantitative & Qualitative evaluation

29. Conclusions • Research overview • Design and methodologies • Colpaert’s RBRO model • Analysis Phase results • Design Phase results • Web-based curriculum-focused software • Authentic texts

30. References (1) ADO (2005) http://www.adultdyslexia.org/index.php?id=36 Chapelle , C. A. (1995) A framework for the investigation of CALL as a context for SLA. CAELL Journal, 6(3), 2-8. Colpaert, J. (2004)Design of Online Interactive Language Courseware: Conceptualization, Specification and Prototyping. Research into the impact of linguistic-didactic functionality on software architecture. Doctoral dissertation. University of Antwerp, Belgium Dickinson et al. (2003)Ongoing investigation of the ways in which some of the problems encountered by some dyslexics can be alleviated using computer techniques. Scotland: University of Dundee. Dragon Naturally Speaking (2005) http://www.scansoft.com Elkind, Jerome; Cohen, Karen; Murray, Carol. (1993) Using Computer-Based Readers to Improve Reading Comprehension of Students with Dyslexia. Annals of Dyslexia, v43 Hornsby, B. (1995) Overcoming Dyslexia, The Alden Press: Oxford, England. Hubbard, P. (1996)Elements of CALL Methodology: Development, Evaluation, and Implementation, The Power of CALL, Houston. Kurzweil (2005) http://www.kurzweiledu.com/

31. References (2) Levy, M. (1997)Computer-Assisted Language Learning. Clarendon Press: Oxford, England Levy, M. (1999b)Design processes in CALL: Integrating theory, research and evaluation. In Keith Cameron, editor, Computer-Assisted Language Learning. Swets & Zeitlinger, Lisse. Richards, T., Dager, S., Corina, D., Serafini, S., Heide, A., Steury, K., Strauss, W., Hayes, C., Abbott, R., Craft, S., Shaw, D., Posse, S., Berninger, V., 1999.Dyslexic Children Have Abnormal Brain Lactate Response to Reading-Related Language Tasks. American Journal of Neuroradiology, 20: 1393 - 1398. Serafini S, Steury K, Richards T, D, Abbott R, SR, Berninger V, Comparison of fMRI and PEPSI during language processing in children, Magn Reson Med 45, 217-225, 2001. Singleton, C. (2000)Understanding Dyslexia. Available from: http://www.portobello.edin.sch.uk/LSSN/LSSN2.html Talking Dictionary 8 (2005) www.download.com W3C (1999) http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/

32. Thank you Cara Greene cgreene@computing.dcu.ie