NLP and CALL: integration is working
This addresses challenges in language education technology, but it is incremental as it builds on existing CALL frameworks.
The paper examines the integration of natural language processing (NLP) into computer-assisted language learning (CALL), highlighting that existing language activities have limitations that require NLP contributions, and argues that success depends on multidisciplinary collaboration among experts.
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.