In the pursuit of a remedy for the poor spelling of dyslexic writers, a software system has been developed which features centrally a user model of the writer’s spelling error patterns. Dyslexic writers are poorly catered for by most spelling programs because of their diverse errors. In this system, Babel, a user model directs the search towards likely corrections considering the writer’s commo...

The “ten-year rule” suggests that it takes about 10 years of preparation to reach “expert” status. How long does it take, however, for someone to reach a level of creative greatness? Through an analysis of 215 contemporary fiction writers, we found that these writers took an average of 10.6 years between their first publication and their best publication, although there was a high degree of var...

This article is concerned with the computational treatment of Appraisal, a Systemic Functional Linguistic theory of the types of language employed to communicate opinion in English. The theory considers aspects such as Attitude (how writers communicate their point of view), Engagement (how writers align themselves with respect to the opinions of others) and Graduation (how writers amplify or di...

Molara Ogundipe-Leslie (1987) challenged African women writers to be committed about and their biological experiences in wife repudiation widowhood her article entitled “The Female Writer Her Commitment”. In view of this challenge, examined Adichie’s portrayal female Purple Hibiscus, Half a Yellow Sun, Americanah, the short story Imitation The Visit. theoretical framework used is Feminism. It e...

Motivated by the concept of Communicative Language Ability and the eminence of the IELTS exam, this study intended to scrutinize the representation of functional knowledge (FK) and socio-linguistic knowledge (SK) as sub-components of pragmatic knowledge in the writing performances of both tasks of the online General IELTS-practice resources across three band scores. This quantitative inter-scor...

Writing assistance systems, from simple spelling checkers to more complex grammar and readability analyzers, can be helpful aids to nonnative writers of English. However, many writing assistance systems have two disadvantages. First, they are not designed to encourage skills learning and independence in their users; instead, users may begin to use the system as a crutch. Second, they use a “one...