Terminological Grid and Free Text Repositories in Computer-Aided Teaching of Foreign Language Terminology

This paper describes the language resources used in the project Larflast and their role in the Web-based prototype STyLE (Scientific Terminology Learning Environment) which supports adaptive learning of English financial terminology with a target group of adults, non-native speakers with intermediate level of English proficiency. Larflast attempts to improve the language learning process by intelligent integration of advanced natural language technologies (deep semantic analysis of free utterances and personalised information retrieval) into a single coherent system. The learning environment STyLE is implemented as a self-tuition workbench which offers a number of drills testing learner's comprehension of financial terminology and assessing his/her knowledge. User evaluation showed the positive and negative features of our approach in general and STyLE in particular. The conclusion is that language technologies have a long way to go, until they find the proper wrappings for integration of advanced applications and the necessary resources into useful systems. 1 Learning Foreign Language Scientific Terminology, a Copernicus'98 Joint Research Project, funded by the European Commission in 1998-2001, with partners CBLU Leeds, UK; UMIST Manchester, UK; LIRM Montpellier, France; Academy of Sciences, Romania; Simferopol University, Ukrain; Sofia University and Virtech Ltd., Bulgaria.