FollowYou!: An Automatic Language Lesson Generation System

Abstract

For foreign language learners, there is a perennial gap between the textbook and the rich amount of language materials available today. Learners usually feel comfortable when studying texts in a textbook packaged with various supporting materials in the lessons. When faced with an authentic text learners explore at leisure, however, they are deprived of all forms of support and are often forced to abandon the idea of learning on their own. This article explores the idea of automatic generation of language lessons based on the authentic text the learner imports. The idea is to transform any text the learner would like to read into a format as the learner would have seen in a textbook, with similar supporting materials to help the learner digest the text. Currently the support is primarily given at the lexical level. The learner takes a diagnostic test to determine the functioning vocabulary level when first using the system. When a text is imported each time, the system determines which words are to be highlighted as new vocabulary to be learned according to the learner's proficiency level. The system then provides various information on the target words such as word definition, collocations, synonyms and example sentences to aid the learner in memorising the vocabulary and in decoding the text.