Let's play with proverbs? NLP tools and resources for iCALL applications around proverbs for PFL

Proverbs are an important form of cultural expression of a society and are related to various areas of knowledge and human experience (González Rey, 2002). While linguistic elements in widespread use, proverbs are very rich structures both from a cultural and from a linguistic point of view and can therefore contribute significantly to the teaching of languages, both native and foreign (Council of Europe, 2001). However, though there are extensive collections of Portuguese proverbs with tens of thousands of forms and its variants (Reis, in preparation), its automatic identification in texts is quite difficult, given its formal variation, both lexical and syntactic (Chacoto, 1994). Nevertheless, using real examples, where proverbs are used in a natural or spontaneous discourse context, is a more natural way to learn and teach the complex conditions and communicative situations that determine the use and meaning of these expressions. On the other hand, frequency indices associated with proverbs and its variants would allow one to select the most common expressions. These are precisely the most interesting forms from the point of view of their teaching/learning and could serve as a basis for the construction of educational games, particularly for learning Portuguese autonomously as a foreign language (PFL) assisted by computer. To make this possible, it is necessary, first of all, be able to recognize the occurrence of proverbs in the texts (Rassi et al. 2014), including the instances where these expressions are presented in a truncated or creatively modified form, for example, to better suit the communicative situation or to produce new and more expressive meanings. In this paper, we present an on-going project, which aims at automatic identification of proverbs in texts. In this interdisciplinary study, we combine natural language processing tools with questionnaires construction techniques for teaching purposes (Hoshino and Nakagawa 2005, Correia et al. 2010). This is illustrated here with different sets of formats that can be built based on the knowledge of the form and variation of proverbs, as well as their frequency in corpora.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Redesign da interface de utilizador do REAP.PT

Dissertação de mest., Produção, Edição e Comunicação de Conteúdos Multimédia, Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais, Univ. do Algarve, 2012O presente relatório discute o processo de redesign da interface de utilizador do REAP.pt, que é uma plataforma de ensino de línguas assistido por computador (Computer Assisted Language Learning [CALL]) para o curso de ensino de português para estrangeiros. O principal objetivo foi o de criar um design esteticamente mais agradável, uniforme, funcional e de acordo com as regras da usabilidade, conferindo um visual adequado aos objetivos de uma plataforma de ensino online, de forma a proporcionar uma experiência agradável e facilitar o estudo da língua portuguesa aos estrangeiros utilizadores desta plataforma. Não efetuámos quaisquer alterações em termos de design instrucional. A investigação empírica incidiu na análise de literatura diversa sobre design, web design, usabilidade e cibercultura. Numa primeira parte, faz-se um enquadramento teórico onde se abordam temas como: Teoria dos Jogos, Cibercultura, Tecnologia e Educação e Ensino à Distância. Na segunda parte, faz-se um estudo de caso sobre o processo de redesign da interface de utilizador do REAP.pt. Os factos identificados na investigação indicam que os problemas sentidos pelos utilizadores quando lêem através de um ecrã de computador resultam de más escolhas em termos de tipografia, cores, layout e usabilidade. As conclusões apuradas levaram à apresentação de uma plataforma que, em parte respeita as escolhas de diversos autores, e por outro lado acrescentámos uma latitude mais alargada em termos de criatividade. Tivemos principal preocupação com a estética, usabilidade, legibilidade e leiturabilidade

Expressões proverbiais do português - usos, variação formal e identificação automática

Os provérbios são uma expressão da cultura de uma sociedade e estão ligados às mais diversas áreas da experiência humana. Este tipo de expressões surge nos mais variados tipos de texto e desempenha diferentes funções retóricas no discurso, nele se integrando por meio de diferentes mecanismos, nem sempre fáceis de detetar formalmente. A interferência nos processos de coerência e de coesão discursivas, p. ex., a referência, e a sua variação formal, constituem sérios desafios ao processamento da linguagem natural (PLN), exigindo a sua identificação e delimitação precisas. Este projeto visa a identificação automática de provérbios portugueses (e as suas variantes) em textos, a fim de melhor caracterizar a sua utilização, tanto qualitativa como quantitativamente. Tal permitirá a definição de índices de frequência e, a partir destes, bem como de outros critérios, a determinação da disponibilidade lexical das unidades paremiológicas (o provérbio e as suas variantes). Estas informações são elementos relevantes a considerar, por exemplo, no desenvolvimento de instrumentos complementares de diagnóstico ou terapia de determinadas patologias da linguagem; ou mesmo para a construção de jogos didáticos para o ensino-aprendizagem de português, língua materna e língua não materna, eventualmente assistido por computador.Proverbs are an expression of the culture of a society and are connected to the most diverse areas of human experience. This type of expression occurs in the most diverse types of text and performs different rhetorical functions in the discourse, integrating it through several mechanisms, not always easy to detect formally. Interference in the processes of discursive coherence and cohesion, e.g. reference, and its formal variation, constitute serious challenges to Natural Language Processing (NLP), requiring its precise identification and delimitation. This project aims at the automatic identification of Portuguese proverbs (and their variants) in texts, to effectively characterize their use, both qualitatively and quantitatively. This will allow the definition of frequency indices and, from these, as well as other criteria, the determination of the lexical availability of the paremiological units (the proverb and its variants). This information is relevant elements to consider, for example, in the development of complementary diagnostic or therapeutic instruments for certain language pathologies; or even for the construction of didactic games for the teaching-learning of Portuguese, either as a Mother Tongue or as a Foreign Language, eventually assisted by computer

Proceedings of the International Congress on Interdisciplinarity in Social and Human Sciences

Interdisciplinarity is the main topic and the main goal of this conference. Since the sixteen century with the creation of the first Academy of Sciences, in Napoles (Italy) (1568), and before that with the creation of the Fine Arts Academies, the world of science and arts began to work independently, on the contrary of the Academy of Plato, in Classical Antiquity, where science, art and sport went interconnected. Over time, specific sciences began to be independent, and the specificity of sciences caused an increased difficulty in mutual understanding. The same trend has affected the Human and Social Sciences. Each of the specific sciences gave rise to a wide range of particular fields. This has the advantage of allowing the deepening of specialised knowledge, but it means that there is often only a piecemeal approach of the research object, not taking into account the its overall complexity. So, it is important to work for a better understanding of the scientific phenomena with the complementarity of the different sciences, in an interdisciplinary perspective. With this growing specialisation of sciences, Interdisciplinarity acquired more relevance for scientists to find moreencompassing and useful answers for their research questions.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Proceedings of the International Congress on Interdisciplinarity in Social and Human Sciences

Interdisciplinarity is the main topic and the main goal of this conference. Since the sixteen century with the creation of the first Academy of Sciences, in Napoles (Italy) (1568), and before that with the creation of the Fine Arts Academies, the world of science and arts began to work independently, on the contrary of the Academy of Plato, in Classical Antiquity, where science, art and sport went interconnected. Over time, specific sciences began to be independent, and the specificity of sciences caused an increased difficulty in mutual understanding. The same trend has affected the Human and Social Sciences. Each of the specific sciences gave rise to a wide range of particular fields. This has the advantage of allowing the deepening of specialised knowledge, but it means that there is often only a piecemeal approach of the research object, not taking into account the its overall complexity. So, it is important to work for a better understanding of the scientific phenomena with the complementarity of the different sciences, in an interdisciplinary perspective. With this growing specialisation of sciences, Interdisciplinarity acquired more relevance for scientists to find moreencompassing and useful answers for their research questions.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio