Method and System for Automatic Generation of Adapted Content to Facilitate Reading Skill Development for Language Learners

• US 20070238076A1
• Filed: 03/20/2007
• Published: 10/11/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/20/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Educational Testing Service
• Original Assignee: Educational Testing Service
• Inventors: Burstein, Jill, Sabatini, John, Ventura, Matthew, Shore, Jane
• Granted Patent: US 8,239,762 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 434/156
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/06 Foreign languages with audible presentation of material to be studied G09B5/04
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 7/00 Electrically-operated teaching apparatus or devices working with questions and answers mechanically operated G09B3/00; computing arrangements G06F

Abstract

Methods for automatically generating text modifications to assist language learners in understanding the content of text are provided.

Claims

1. A method for adapting a text, the method comprising:

electronically receiving an original text;

identifying at least one portion of the original text to adapt, wherein the adapted text will facilitate reader comprehension;

determining an adaptation to be applied to the at least one portion of the original text in order to generate adapted text;

analyzing the at least one portion of the original text based on the adaptation;

applying the adaptation to the at least one portion of the original text; and

providing the adapted text.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a native language to be used when applying the adaptation to the at least one portion of the original text.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the adaptation to be applied is a translation of the at least one portion of the original text into the native language.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein a machine translation program is used to translate the at least one portion of the original text into the native language.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the adapted text is a native language text.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining at least one portion of the original text comprises dividing the original text into sentences.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the at least one portion of the original text is determined based on selecting a percentage of the total number of sentences.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising determining a relevance value for each sentence, wherein a higher relevance value is assigned to each sentence with more relevance to the subject matter of the original text as a whole.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising selecting a sentence based on the relevance value.

10. The method of claim 2, wherein the adaptation to be applied is the creation of marginal notes based on the original text, wherein the marginal notes are summaries of the original text.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the marginal notes are provided in the margin of the original text.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the marginal notes are translated into the native language and provided in the native language in the margin of the original text.

13. The method of claim 2, wherein the adaptation to be applied is the identification of each cognate in the original text based on the native language.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the adapted text provided is a list of each cognate identified in the original text.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein each cognate is highlighted in the original text.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein each cognate is highlighted in the adapted text.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the adaptation to be applied is the determination of the frequency which one or more words appears.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the determination comprises identification of each word in the original text with a Standard Frequency Index (SFI) of less than or equal to a preselected value.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein at least one synonym is generated for each word identified.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the adapted text provided is a list of each word in the original text with an SFI of less than or equal to the preselected value, and its synonym.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein the preselected value is 60.

22. A system for automatically adapting a text comprising:

an input device for electronically receiving an original text;

a processor for identifying at least one portion of the original text to adapt, wherein the adapted text will facilitate reader comprehension; and

wherein the processor analyzes and applies an adaptation to the at least one portion of the original text in order to provide adapted text.

23. The system of claim 22, further comprising a display interface for displaying the adapted text in audio, graphic or alphanumeric format.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein the processor further determines a native language to be used when applying the adaptation to the at least one portion of the original text.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the adaptation is a translation of the at least one portion of the original text into the native language.

26. The system of claim 25, further comprising a machine translation program to translate the at least one portion of the original text into the native language.

27. A device for automatically adapting a text comprising:

an input device for electronically receiving an original text;

a processor for identifying at least one portion of the original text to adapt, wherein the adapted text will facilitate reader comprehension;

wherein the processor analyzes and applies an adaptation to the at least one portion of the original text in order to provide adapted text; and

a display interface for displaying the adapted text in audio, graphic or alphanumeric format.