ABSTRACT
The BRIDGE project was a multiyear research and development effort encompassing the design, development, and evaluation of an adaptive tutor for foreign languages. The BRIDGE project had three interrelated goals. The first goal was technology demonstration: the integration of adaptive multimedia instruction with a natural language parser for analysis of grammatical errors in students, free text input, all on a portable computer platform with software running under Windows. Instructors may choose to develop lessons that adapt to the individual student's abilities. The BRIDGE tutor accomplishes this in two ways, forward progression and branching to focused practice sets. Forward progression is a way to move students through the lesson material automatically at a pace based on their performance. Students who demonstrate proficiency complete fewer exercises within sets; they graduate early. Those who make errors stay longer within sets for more practice. It is defined along three levels: satisfactory, intermediate, and accelerated.
