A KNOWLEDGE-BASED TUTORING SYSTEM WITH STUDENT-DRIVER, GRAPHIC INTERFACE, FOR TEACHING ARABIC ON MICROCOMPUTER

NEW SAGE WILL DEVELOP SOFTWARE THAT CAN TEACH BEGINNING ARABIC (AND PERSIAN) SKILLS. THE SYSTEM WILL BE A RESPONSIVE, STUDENT-DRIVEN, INTERACTIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT USING MACINTOSH COMPUTERS. KEY TO THE DESIGN IS THE INTEGRATION OF SEVERAL KNOWLEDGE BASES INTO THE INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN: 1) A RICH (BUT NOT LARGE) DICTIONARY -- FOR KNOWLEDGE OF WORD MEANINGS, 2) LINGUISTIC RULES -- FOR GENERATION AND ANALYSIS OF CORRECT WORDS AND SENTENCES, 3) SEMANTIC REPRESENTATION -- TO APPROPRIATELY CONSTRAIN USE OF WORDS IN SENTENCES, 4) AN EXPERT TUTOR -- TO MAKE ADJUSTMENTS IN LESSONS DEPENDING ON THE NEEDS OF THE STUDENT.