A Multimedia Database Supports English Distance Learning

This work presents a novel English distance learning system that was developed through multimedia database and Internet technologies called English multimedia corpus. The system includes English articles, dialogs, and videos. A student can study English writing and reading as well as view Web browser listings to connect the Corpus server. In the system, semantic query and ‘‘link grammar’’ are applied to construct the English multimedia corpus system. Furthermore, it promotes the query level from keyword-base and content-based query to a semantic level. The main function of this system is to query the English sentence pattern through keywords from the English multimedia corpus. The other function is to detect grammatical errors in written English. Thus, the system not only teaches English grammar, but also, due to its database, allows teachers to understand the most frequent mistakes. 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.