[CL+NLP Lunch] Tuesday 2/8: Na-Rae Han on ESL Error Correction Models

[Nathan Schneider]

A reminder that Na-Rae Han will be speaking tomorrow at noon in GHC 4405.

Hope to see you there!
Nathan & Ben

On Wed, Feb 2, 2011 at 5:15 PM, Nathan Schneider <nathan at cmu.edu> wrote:
> We are pleased to announce February's CL+NLP lunch:
>
> Tuesday, Feb. 8 @ noon
> GHC 4405
> Lunch will be provided.
>
> Na-Rae Han
> Lecturer, Linguistics; Director, Robert Henderson Language Media Center,
> University of Pittsburgh
>
> Building ESL (English as a Second Language) Error Correction Models
>
> Abstract:
> For many ESL (English as a Second Language) and EFL (English as a Foreign
> Language) students, interacting with computerized applications is an
> integral part of their learning experience. NLP-based language models can be
> a valuable tool in assisting teachers and students alike by providing prompt
> feedback on certain aspects of language. Recent research in this area has
> been towards the development grammar correction applications specifically
> targeting learners of English.
>
> In this talk, I will first present work on determiner correction using a
> statistical model trained on well-formed texts written by native English
> speakers. However, such an approach is limited in that constructing a large
> enough error-annotated corpus to support a statistical approach is
> time-consuming and labor intensive. I will therefore describe a newer study
> focusing on preposition errors in which error correction models are trained
> exclusively on an error-annotated corpus produced by ESL learners. We
> address the design issues and the logistical problems that arise from the
> partially annotated nature of our data set.
>
> Bio:
> Na-Rae Han is currently Lecturer in the Linguistics department and Director
> of Robert Henderson Language Media Center, which promotes use of technology
> in language instruction, at the University of Pittsburgh. She received her
> Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania in 2006 after
> completing her M.S.E. in Computer and Information Science there. She has
> previously worked as a researcher in the Automated Scoring and Natural
> Language Processing Group of Educational Testing Service (ETS) in Princeton,
> NJ, and as a research professor at Korea University in Seoul, Korea.
>
>
> See you on Tuesday,
> Nathan & Ben
>