GenERRate: generating errors for use in grammatical error detection

This paper explores the issue of automatically generated ungrammatical data and its use in error detection, with a focus on the task of classifying a sentence as grammatical or ungrammatical. We present an error generation tool called GenERRate and show how GenERRate can be used to improve the performance of a classifier on learner data. We describe initial attempts to replicate Cambridge Learner Corpus errors using GenERRate

Judging grammaticality: experiments in sentence classification

A classifier which is capable of distinguishing a syntactically well formed sentence from a syntactically ill formed one has the potential to be useful in an L2 language-learning context. In this article, we describe a classifier which classifies English sentences as either well formed or ill formed using information gleaned from three different natural language processing techniques. We describe the issues involved in acquiring data to train such a classifier and present experimental results for this classifier on a variety of ill formed sentences. We demonstrate that (a) the combination of information from a variety of linguistic sources is helpful, (b) the trade-off between accuracy on well formed sentences and accuracy on ill formed sentences can be fine tuned by training multiple classifiers in a voting scheme, and (c) the performance of the classifier is varied, with better performance on transcribed spoken sentences produced by less advanced language learners

Specification mining: Methodologies, theories and applications

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH