WRITING AND THE COMPUTER - AN INTELLIGENT TUTORING SYSTEMS SOLUTION

The open-ended nature of writing at university level constitutes a problem for traditional frame-based CALL. Traditional CALL cannot cope well with open ended language use since it relies on being able to recognise fixed expressions. The types of such systems are mentioned, and the fact that writing cannot be satisfactorily handled in such a way is illustrated by examining an eclectic model of writing. This examination provides us with a set of objectives to meet. Having highlighted the nature of the writing problem and exposed the problems inherent for CALL systems developers, we present a solution based on intelligent tutoring systems technology. LICE is an intelligent tutoring system to aid students writing in German. It acts as a backend to a wordprocessor and is able to detect errors and provide tutoring as required. The system's architecture is described and the operation of the system is illustrated by examples in which LICE's key features are emphasised. We conclude by examining the success of the LICE project and gauging the extent to which it has met objectives. This discussion is then used to motivate further research.