Two Models of Computer-Based Drill: Teaching Russian with APL

Abstract

Computer-assisted has come a long way since its early days. As an instructional medium it now has little in common with the teaching machines and instruction of a decade ago.' With systems currently available a computer can be programed to distinguish among various kinds of correctness and error, rather than simply insisting upon letter-for-letter perfection; it can construct unique reactions to a student's responses; it can keep sensitive statistics of the student's progress, changing the tactics of as the need arises; it can control and selectively introduce ancillary instructional media such as audio systems and color slides; it can conduct sophisticated games and simulations; and most importantly, it allows the teacher and student to remain significantly in control.2 Among the languages whose has been touched by the new medium is Russian. A number of projects have been developed in the past few years. Many are described in print (see citations in the sources listed in note 1); doubtless many more are not.3 In my comments below I should like first to summarize two working computer-based drills for Russian which I have developed, then to examine the different strategies which they exemplify with their advantages and disadvantages for various tasks, and finally to discuss a few criteria by which such pedagogical materials may be evaluated.4 Our two drills cover the genitive plural of Russian nouns and the passives of agent-object sentences. They are programed in the interactive computer language APL,5 a computer language which is at once simple enough so that novices can begin elementary programing almost immediately and concise enough to permit experienced programmers to achieve in a single line what it may take dozens of lines to accomplish with another programing language. It was developed for many applications including computer-assisted itself;' it is gaining greater and greater acceptance in the U.S. and is currently available in many educational institutions across the country. The mechanics of use may vary somewhat from institution to institution, but a session at the terminal is likely to have much in common with one at Southern California as described by