NLP and CALL: integration is working

TL;DR

This paper reviews the historical development of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) and discusses how integrating natural language processing (NLP) can overcome existing limitations through multidisciplinary collaboration.

Contribution

It highlights the importance of multidisciplinary work between NLP experts, linguists, teachers, and didacticians for successful NLP integration into CALL.

Findings

NLP can enhance language activities in CALL.

Multidisciplinary collaboration is crucial for effective NLP integration.

Historical overview of CALL development.

Abstract

In the first part of this article, we explore the background of computer-assisted learning from its beginnings in the early XIXth century and the first teaching machines, founded on theories of learning, at the start of the XXth century. With the arrival of the computer, it became possible to offer language learners different types of language activities such as comprehension tasks, simulations, etc. However, these have limits that cannot be overcome without some contribution from the field of natural language processing (NLP). In what follows, we examine the challenges faced and the issues raised by integrating NLP into CALL. We hope to demonstrate that the key to success in integrating NLP into CALL is to be found in multidisciplinary work between computer experts, linguists, language teachers, didacticians and NLP specialists.