Re: [school-discuss] English teacher apps

[robin <robin@Bilkent.EDU.TR>]

Dennis Daniels wrote:
> Testing now, Robin. Wow. Thanks for such a quick response!  Did you 
> write it in perl? Do you have any intention of releasing the code for 
> it? Do you have any interest in developing this a bit further? Would you 
> like some help?
Yes to all questions!

> A big plus would be identifying which words that were used and allowing 
> the teacher to supply their own list of words. I'm an English teacher, 
> as you know, and so expect my students to use 'literary terms' while 
> discussing a text. Furthermore, we, in the course of discussion, spend 
> some time brainstorming words and phrases related to certain topics 
> which the students are to then write about in their papers. If a teacher 
> could supply that list to your AWL decoder then the teacher will be 
> better equipped to hold the students accountable for at least trying to 
> use the new terms in their papers. This of course applies to any domain, 
> not just English, the same could easily apply to papers in History, 
> Science etc.
This is possible - see below.

> Showing the English staff the types of data I can pull from student's 
> papers using style and diction has really increased the interest, at 
> least in my school, in better using technology to pinpoint strengths and 
> weaknesses in student's use of passive voice, reliance on pronouns, 
> length of sentences etc. Of course, with any discipline, vocabulary 
> development is critical but rather lacking in useful tools. Your tool 
> could provide teachers with an opportunity to discuss the proper use of 
> the terms as it relates to the grammar required to create a coherent 
> flow in the work itself.
>
> I'm very excited by your application! With your permission, I'd like to 
> have my students try it out, maybe this week. Would you be willing to 
> have your server hammered a bit with my students' work? Would you be 
> interested in finding some vector upon which we could collaborate?
Sure - it's a big university server, so I reckon it can handle it!

I've released the code at 
<http://www.bilkent.edu.tr/~robin/awlcheck.tar.gz>. Have a look at it, 
and let me know if you find any bugs, or if you have ideas for improving 
it. The package does not include the word lists. You can find the 
sublists of the AWL at 
<http://www.vuw.ac.nz/lals/staff/averil-coxhead/awl/frequent.html> or 
you can substitute your own lists. See the README file for how to do this.

I've also added an option to print out a list of all the words which 
were found.

Robin

--
"I'm very into Britney Spears' early work, before she sold out, so 
mostly her, um, finger painting and macaroni art."
Dawn - BtVS

Robin Turner
IDMYO
Bilkent Universitesi
Ankara 06533
Turkey

www.bilkent.edu.tr/~robin