Designing, Implementing and Assessing an Smart System for Teaching Persian Language to English Speakers

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Abstract

Considering Teaching Persian by Safar Moghaddam (2012), the present research aimed to design an intelligent tutoring system based on two natural language processing engines in order to teach Persian to English speakers. The system basically works by comparing logical forms derived from both languages and reports anomalies in the system. To do so, 60 applicants were randomly selected through pedagogical websites and divided into control and experimental groups, each of which included 30 applicants. Learners in control group were exposed to Persian grammar via teachers in an online class while learners in experimental group were exposed to English translations through software and they were asked to translate the sentences as well as verify their accuracy. In addition, learners in control group presented their translations to online tutors and received corrective feedback. Data analyses revealed a significant difference between learners in both groups, i.e., experimental group outperformed control group. In addition, learners’ attitudes gathered through questionnaire and interview toward the system were reported positive. Finally, learners’ interaction with the system and their common mistakes were reported.

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