JP2836653B2 - Language teaching equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a language education apparatus for learning a language using a computer system, and more specifically, to improve the learning effect of a grammatical error in a sentence created by a learner. The present invention relates to a new language teaching device improved so that a correct sentence can be generated and output.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The present applicants have developed the following techniques (1) and (2) as techniques for detecting grammatical errors in a computer system or the like for processing a natural language.

(1) Technology described in Japanese Patent Application No. 01-045499.

(2) Technology described in Japanese Patent Application No. 01-168051.

[0005] Further, when analyzing an input sentence containing a derivative word or an inappropriate term, conventional techniques for detecting a derivative word in the input sentence as a candidate or correcting an inappropriate term include the following. The one described in JP-A-1-265359 is known.

In the technique (1), a phrase structure rule corresponding to an incorrect grammar is added in advance to a phrase structure rule which is data for performing a syntax analysis, and as a result of the syntax analysis, an incorrect If a phrase structure rule is used, the part corresponding to the incorrect phrase structure rule is recognized as a grammatically erroneous phrase. In the case of (1), the patent also describes a method of detecting a grammatical error by executing an error detection program described in pairs with the phrase structure rules while performing syntax analysis. .

In the method (1) for finding a grammatically erroneous phrase, information necessary for finding a grammatical error and a process for finding a grammatical error are as follows. First, each word in the dictionary is configured to have a headword, a part of speech name, and information necessary for finding a grammatical error.
Regarding the grammar, in each phrase structure rule, the process of checking whether the part to which the phrase structure rule is applied is grammatically correct, and checking that the node is not a node higher than the part to which the phrase structure rule is applied. The process of passing necessary information to a node at the time when it becomes necessary to check for an invalid grammatical error is described in the form of a program. Then, a grammatical error is found by executing a process described in the phrase structure rule as a grammar while performing syntax analysis.

The method (2) separates the parsing process from the process for finding a grammatical error, and the process for finding a grammatical error involves accessing the parse tree for each grammatical error and accessing the grammatical error. It is described as a program that discovers.

The method (3) corrects a candidate word by generating a derivative word and correcting an inappropriate term according to a specific rule without registering the derivative word or an inappropriate term in a word dictionary. It enables correct sentence analysis. That is, in the case of (3), in the analysis of the input sentence, an affix word and an auxiliary verb “re” in each candidate word extracted from the input sentence are detected, and the detected affix word is determined according to the derivative word generation grammar. A derivative word is generated by being connected to another candidate word to be a candidate word, and the affix is deleted from the candidate word. When the auxiliary verb "re" is detected, if the candidate word ending with the character preceding the preceding character is an inflected form connecting the auxiliary verb "re", the auxiliary verb "re" is changed to "re". The proofreading is configured as a candidate word.

[0010]

However, in the above cases (1) and (2), both of them merely detect a grammatical error in an input sentence, and when an error is detected, the error is detected. Since it was unresolved how to use it in the subsequent learning, it was difficult for the learners to understand their mistakes and to enhance the learning effect.

In the case of (3), detection of a candidate for a derivative word and correction and indication of an error for an inappropriate term are performed, but no further processing is performed.

However, in general, when learning conversations and the like in a natural language interactively, there are many cases in which the system provides only one correct answer to one question provided to the learner, and the system asks questions. Even if the learner inputs a grammatically incorrect answer to, the form of the grammatical error depends on the grammatical structure (syntax) of the sentence created by the learner.
It may change slightly in close proximity to.

Therefore, as in the case of (3), only a portion of a grammatical error in a learner's input sentence is extracted and displayed, or a standard answer prepared in advance in the system is displayed. Although it is possible for the learner to recognize that there was an error in the input sentence, it is not easy for the learner to understand the grammatical error he has implicated by relating it to the syntax adopted by him, and this point of improvement Was desired.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and when a learner has made a grammatical error, the learner has made what and what grammatical error in a sentence he has created. It is an object of the present invention to provide a language teaching device that can easily understand the language and can expect an excellent learning effect.

[0015]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a learner input system.
Error detection to detect grammatically incorrect words and phrases from sentences
Processing, and then the error detection processing detects the error phrase.
If it is issued, as a process following this process,
Correct the erroneous phrase and convert the input sentence to a grammatically correct sentence
In a language education apparatus that executes an error correction sentence generation process of outputting a learning phrase (1)
Variants of practice words are arranged in a predetermined sequence according to the type of learning phrase
The written list of inflections / derivatives is provided for each learning phrase.
And (2) the error detection processing
When a spelling error is detected, for each erroneous word,
The form of the error and the error
And the form of the error.
The grammatically correct form of the erroneous phrase is stored.
Error information including the arrangement position of the inflection / derivative list
And (3) the error information stack that stores
When information is read from this error information stack,
The error information stored in the error information stack
That is, using at least the headword and the arrangement position
The dictionary for the correction sentence generation dictionary is searched, and (4)
Said learning corresponding to the headword by dictionary lookup
Detects a phrase and, based on the information indicated by the sequence position,
Select the correct form from the list of inflections and derivatives, and
It is characterized by being replaced with a phrase.

[0016]

[0017]

[0018]

[0019]

[Action] errors from input sentence of learners of grammatical errors
When a phrase is detected, the learner's expression is used,
Since the learner can be notified of the erroneous phrase as a corrected grammatical sentence, for example, the learner can use the grammatical term, etc., rather than simply pointing out the error location. what kind of committed a grammatical error can be easily understood, moreover, error information scan
According to the timing of reading error information from the tack,
You can also know your grammar mistakes in real time
It is also possible to know at a later time, so that an excellent learning effect can be expected.

[0020]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of an error correction sentence generation process in one embodiment of a language education apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a specific example of a correction sentence generation dictionary in the one embodiment. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a specific example of information stored in an error information stack according to the embodiment; FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an outline of a hardware configuration of the embodiment; FIGS. It is explanatory drawing of the example of a dialog at the time of English learning.

The language teaching apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention is for learning English conversation, and has a syntax analysis process for parsing a sentence input by a learner and a phrase having a grammatical error from the input sentence of the learner. Error detection processing that detects grammatical errors, and when a grammatically incorrect word is detected in this error detection processing, corrects the erroneous word and turns the learner's input sentence into a grammatically correct sentence. And an error correction sentence generation process. The dictionary includes a correction sentence generation dictionary and an error information stack in order to execute the error correction sentence generation process.

In terms of hardware, as shown in FIG.
CPU, which is a central processing unit that executes the various processes described above
1, a main memory 2 on which a program for various processes executed by the CPU 1 is loaded or used as a work area at the time of processing, a display 3 used for displaying learning contents, etc. It is composed of a keyboard 4 as a means, a magnetic disk device 5 for storing programs and other data for the above-described processes.

The syntax analysis program used for the above-described syntax analysis processing, the error detection program used for the error detection processing, and the correction sentence generation program used for the error correction sentence generation processing are loaded from the magnetic disk 5 into the main memory 2. Executed. The dictionaries used for learning (including the corrected sentence generation dictionary) and the data relating to the grammar used for parsing and finding grammatical errors are loaded into the main memory 2 if the main memory 2 has room. However, when the capacity of the main memory 2 is insufficient, the main memory 2 is used while being stored in the magnetic disk device 5.

Hereinafter, features of the embodiment will be described in detail.

FIG. 2 shows a concrete example of the configuration of the correction sentence generation dictionary. This dictionary for generating corrected sentences contains
As shown in the figure, a headword 6, which is a phrase used in learning,
A part-of-speech name 7 indicating the type of word and a list of inflection / derivative words 8 are included.

The inflection / derivative word list 8 is used to correct a grammatically erroneous phrase in a learner's input sentence, and for each phrase used in the learning, to change the variant form of the phrase (headword) (part of speech) For example, if the headword 6 is a verb, the first variation described in the inflection / derivative word list 8 is the original verb, 2
The third is the form with an s of the triad, the third is the past, the fourth is the past participle, and if the headword is a noun,
The first of the variants described in the inflection / derivative word list 8 is a singular form of the noun, and the second is a predetermined form such as a plural form. In FIG. 2, "I", "wan"
The configuration of the correction sentence generation dictionary is specifically shown for four headwords “t”, “a”, and “room”.

In the case of this embodiment, the procedure up to error detection is described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 1-168 filed by the present applicant.
It is the same as that described in No. 051. That is, also in this embodiment, the syntax analysis processing and the error detection processing are completely separated, and the error detection processing accesses the parse tree for each grammatical error, thereby enabling Detect grammatical errors. However, when a grammatical error is detected, the error detection process in this embodiment includes:
Unlike the conventional processing, information on the grammatical error is recorded in the error information stack.

FIG. 3 shows a specific example of the configuration of the error information stack. When a grammatical error is detected from a learner's input sentence by the error detection process, the error information stack stores information about the grammatical error in the error detection process. Are formed on the main memory 2.

The error information stack contains, for each grammatically erroneous word, a grammatical error form 13 that the learner has affected.
And the surface layer of the erroneous part (that is, a phrase having a grammatical error and being a headword in dictionary lookup processing) 14
And information such as the error correction method 15.
Note that the error correction method 15 mainly includes information on the arrangement position in the inflection / derivative word list 8 in which the grammatically correct form of the phrase is stored according to the form of the error. If necessary, other grammatical correction contents (for example, adding “have”) may be added. When a plurality of grammatical errors are found in the input sentence, the above information is stacked on the error information stack by the number of found grammatical errors.

For example, if the learner says "I am the
e once. Is entered in column 1 of FIG.
As shown in FIG. 8, the grammatical error form 13 is “not complete form”, the error portion surface is “am”, and the error correction method 15 is “have + derivative list 4 (inflection / derivative list). 8 means that the fourth one is fetched)).

When the error detection processing is completed,
A series of processes shown in FIG. 1 are performed by the error correction sentence generation process. In this error correction sentence generation process, as shown in the figure, first, an error information stack is examined to determine whether or not a grammatical error is included in a learner's input sentence (step 19). If not included, the process ends. On the other hand, if there is a grammatical error (that is,
If information is recorded in the error information stack),
A series of information on one grammatical error is extracted from the error information stack (step 20).

Then, using the words described in the surface layer 14 of the erroneous portion in the extracted information as a headword, the dictionary for generating a corrected sentence (FIG. 2) is retrieved, and the error correction method 15 is obtained from the inflection / derivative word list 8. Then, a word at the arrangement position designated by is fetched, and a correct word or phrase in place of the erroneous portion is generated based on the description of the error correction method 15 (step 21).

Next, from the word string of the input sentence, the exact same portion as the surface layer 14 of the error part is removed, and the correct word generated in step 21 is inserted therein (step 2).
2). When this step 22 is completed, the error information stack is checked again to determine whether there is any other grammatical error information. If the error information stack is not empty, the above steps 20, 21 and 22 are repeated ( Step 23) When the error information stack becomes empty, a corrected sentence in which all grammatical errors in the input sentence have been corrected is displayed on the display 3 and the process is terminated (step 24).

The above error correction sentence generation processing can be used for interactive learning. FIG. 5 is a specific example of a case where dialogue control is performed in which a learner's grammatically incorrect utterance sentence (input sentence) is correctly rephrased and questioned. In this case, when the error detection process detects a grammatical error in the learner's utterance sentence 28 with respect to the utterance sentence 27 from the system, the error correction sentence generation process corrects the error.
Want two rooms ”is generated, and in the utterance sentence 29 from the next system, You mean“ Iwan ”
t two rooms ”? (you are“ I want ”
I want to say “two rooms”.) ”is displayed on the display.

FIG. 6 shows an example of dialogue in which control is performed such that only the sentence in which the grammatical error of the learner has been corrected is displayed and the flow of the dialogue is not affected. When a grammatical error is found in the utterance sentence 38 from the learner, the system displays the generated corrected sentence 40 as a KR message 36. In this case, learning can proceed without changing the flow of the dialog itself.

In the language teaching apparatus as described above, when a grammatically erroneous phrase is detected from a learner's input sentence, the grammatically erroneous phrase is corrected by utilizing the learner's expression. The learner can be notified as a grammatically correct sentence. It is possible to easily understand whether the user has affected the grammar, and also to know the grammatical error that the user has affected in real time, so that an excellent learning effect can be expected.

Although the above-described embodiment is for learning English conversation, the learning field in which the present invention can be effectively used is not limited to this embodiment, and other various fields can be used. It can be used for language learning and education.

[0038]

As is clear from the above description, in the language teaching apparatus according to the present invention, when a grammatically erroneous phrase is detected from a learner's input sentence, the learner's expression is expressed. By making use of this fact, the learner can be notified of the erroneous phrase as a corrected grammatically correct sentence.
Learners can easily understand where and what grammatical mistakes were made in their sentences,
Moreover, a readout timer for reading error information from the error information stack is provided.
Real-time grammar mistakes you have made
You can also get to know later
Therefore , an excellent learning effect can be expected.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of an error correction sentence generation process in one embodiment of a language education apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a specific example of a correction sentence generation dictionary in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a specific example of information stored in an error information stack in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an outline of a hardware configuration of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a dialogue example during English learning in the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a dialogue example during English learning in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 CPU 2 Main memory 3 Display 4 Keyboard 5 Magnetic disk

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Masaaki Kato 3-8-10 Uchiyama, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture Inside Oki Techno Systems Laboratory Laboratory (72) Inventor Teru Hirayama Hirano-cho, Chuo-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka 4-1-2, Osaka Gas Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Katsuya Oba 1-2-1, Shinsenri-nishimachi, Toyonaka-shi, Osaka Prefecture Aussie Information Systems Research Institute, Inc. (56) References JP-A-60-50573 ( JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G09B 5/00 G06F 17/00 G06F 17/27 G09B 19/06

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] (1) There is a grammatical error from a learner's input sentence
Performs error detection processing to detect erroneous phrases, and then
If the error phrase is detected in the detection process,
As a process subsequent to the above, correct the erroneous phrase and
Error-corrected sentence generation that converts a sentence into a grammatically correct sentence
Academic educational system for language for executing processing, and learning phrases used in the learning, the change shape of the learned words
Refraction / derivation described in a predetermined arrangement according to the type of mnemonic
Correction sentence generation term having a word list for each learning phrase
At the stage where the error phrase is detected in the error detection process,
For each erroneous phrase, the form of the error and the surface of the error
Entry words that become entry words for dictionary lookup processing
And the grammatical correctness of the erroneous phrase according to the form of the error.
Of the inflection / derivative list in which the new form is stored.
An error information stack for storing error information including a column position and
And the error information is read from the error information stack.
The error information stored in the error information stack
In the report, at least the headword and the arrangement position
Using performs dictionary of the correction sentence generation dictionary, the studies corresponding to the heading word by the dictionary
Detects the mnemonic and based on the information indicated by the sequence position,
Select the correct form from the list of
A language education device characterized by replacing words with phrases .