[Corpora-List] 2nd Call: 3rd workshop on NLP for computer-assisted language learning

Thu Aug 14 13:59:41 UTC 2014

  3rd workshop on NLP for computer-assisted language learning

      SLTC <http://www2.lingfil.uu.se/SLTC2014/> workshop, November, 13,
      2014, Uppsala, Sweden

*2nd Call for papers*

Intelligent Computer-Assisted Language Learning (ICALL), i.e., the 
integration of Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Speech Technologies 
(ST) in language learning applications, is a rapidly developing area 
which has started to attract increased attention from the Language 
Technology (LT) community. ICALL research has generated a number of 
successful applications for alleviating a variety of (mechanical) tasks 
that teachers face daily in their work, for example grammar or spelling 
error marking, essay grading, preparation of text questions for reading 
activities, creating tests and exercises, etc.

However, reusing NLP/ST methods or tools (developed for other than 
pedagogical purposes) in pedagogical applications is not always 
pedagogically justifiable since they need to be adapted to the 
educational tasks, e.g. readability measures for legal texts adapted to 
the second language learning context. Thus, LT researchers who intend to 
re-use their algorithms and techniques in CALL applications need new 
datasets, specifically designed corpora, databases, etc. to fine-tune 
their tools for new target groups -- the design and compilation of which 
are both critical for achieving good results and time-consuming.

There are other challenges that the area of NLP-based CALL faces: re-use 
and sharing of existing NLP/ST components, copyright issues, 
standardization of pedagogical framework, lack of collaboration with 
end-users -- to name just a few. Probably the most significant challenge 
is to make sure that the research results reach actual end-users in the 
form of tools which can become a part of the educational process, and 
which are both easy of use and have a pedagogically sound basis.

This workshop aims to bring together (computational) linguists involved 
in research aiming at integrating NLP/ST in CALL systems and exploring 
the theoretical and methodological issues arising in this connection, 
with the purpose to share experiences, achievements and setbacks, and to 
discuss potential ways of addressing the challenges that need to be 
overcome.

This year we welcome papers

  * that describe research directly aimed at ICALL
  * that demonstrate actual or discuss potential use of existing NLP/ST
    tools or resources for language learning
  * that describe ongoing development of resources and tools with
    potential usage in ICALL, either directly in interactive
    applications, or indirectly in materials, application or curriculum
    development, e.g. collecting and annotating learner corpora;
    developing tools and algorithms for readability analysis, selecting
    optimal corpus examples, etc.
  * that discuss challenges and/or research agendas for ICALL
  * we are also interested in software demonstrations

We especially invite submissions describing the above-mentioned themes 
for the Nordic languages.

*Submission information*

We are using Nodalida 2013 template <http://emmtee.net/oe/nodalida13/> 
for the workshop this year. Authors are invited to submit papers between 
7 and 14 pages of content, excluding title, abstract, references and 
author affiliations. Only pdf files will be accepted. Submissions will 
be managed through the electronic conference management system EasyChair 
<https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=nlp4call>. Final 
camera-ready versions of accepted papers will be given an additional 
page to address reviewer comments.

Papers should describe original unpublished work or work-in-progress. 
Every paper will be reviewed by at least 2 members of the program 
committee. As reviewing will be blind, please ensure that papers are 
anonymous. Self-references that reveal the author's identity, e.g., "We 
previously showed (Smith, 1991) ...", should be avoided. Instead, use 
citations such as "Smith previously showed (Smith, 1991) ...". 
Submissions will be judged on appropriateness, clarity, 
originality/innovativeness, correctness/soundness, meaningful 
comparison, significance and impact of ideas or results. Accepted papers 
will be published in a NEALT Proceeding Series and, additionally, made 
available through ACL anthology.

Please note that NoDaLiDa 2013 format adopts a single-column, smaller 
page format, optimized for on-screen reading. In terms of actual word 
counts, the above page numbers correspond to approximately 4-8 pages, in 
a 'classic', two-column conference proceedings layout.

*Important dates: *

  * *June, 16*: first call for papers
  * *August, 8*: EasyChair
    <https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=nlp4call> opens for
    submissions
  * *August, 14*: second call for papers
  * *September, 14*: final call for papers
  * *September, 25*: paper submission deadline, via EasyChair
    <https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=nlp4call>
  * *October, 16*: notification of acceptance
  * *October, 30*: camera-ready papers for publication. You are also
    required to submit the *NEALT transfer of copyright agreement*
    (signed at least by the corresponding author and scanned) with your
    final submission.
  * *November, 13*, 9.00-12.00: workshop date

*Invited speaker*

We are happy to announce that our invited speaker will be

*Prof. Detmar Meurers <http://www.sfs.uni-tuebingen.de/%7Edm/>*, 
University of Tübingen, Germany

*Program committee: *

  * Lars Ahrenberg, Linköping University, Sweden
  * Lars Borin, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
  * Antonio Branco, University of Lisboa, Portugal
  * Simon Dobnik, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
  * Robert Eklund, Linköping University, Sweden
  * Katarina Heimann Mühlenbock, DART, Sahlgrenska
    Universitetssjukhuset, Göteborg, Sweden
  * Thomas Francois, UCLouvain, Belgium
  * Arne Jönsson, Linköping University, Sweden
  * Sofie Johansson Kokkinakis, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
  * Ola Knutsson, Stockholm University, Sweden
  * Chris Koniaris, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
  * Peter Ljunglöf, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
  * Hrafn Loftsson, Reykjavik University, Iceland
  * Montse Maritxalar, University of the Basque country, Spain
  * Detmar Meurers, University of Tübingen, Germany
  * Martí Quixal, The Universty of Texas at Austin, US
  * Mathias Schulze, University of Waterloo, Canada
  * Joel Tetreault, Yahoo! Labs, US
  * Trond Trosterud, Universitetet i Tromsø, Norway
  * Cornelia Tschichold, Swansea University, UK
  * Francis Tyers, The Arctic University of Norway, Norway
  * Elena Volodina, University of Gothenburg, Sweden

*Workshop organizers*

  * Elena Volodina <http://spraakbanken.gu.se/eng/personal/elena>,
    Språkbanken, Department of Swedish, University of Gothenburg; elena
    dot volodina at svenska dot gu dot se (Organizing chair)
  * Lars Borin <http://spraakbanken.gu.se/eng/personal/lars>,
    Språkbanken, Department of Swedish, University of Gothenburg; lars
    dot borin at svenska dot gu dot se
  * Ildikó Pilán <http://spraakbanken.gu.se/eng/personal/ildiko>,
    Språkbanken, Department of Swedish, University of Gothenburg; ildiko
    dot pilan at svenska dot gu dot se

For all inquiries, please email Elena Volodina <*elena dot volodina at 
svenska dot gu dot se*>
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