ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the design of ALICE-chan, Automated Language-Instruction/Curriculum Environment (ALICE); Chan is a diminutive suffix in Japanese. A version of the ALICE system for use with first- and second-year Japanese instruction. ALICE-chan is a language-training environment for Japanese that uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) as a basis both for assisting instructors in preparing exercises and for evaluating student responses to exercises. In developing ALICE-chan concentrated on basic NLP capabilities for error analysis and have employed a modular design that can easily be adapted to other languages. The ALICE-chan Japanese grammar consists of about a hundred rules written in a pseudo-unification formalism, with some calls to Lisp functions. The grammar covers basic mono-clausal sentences and some sentences involving embedded complement clauses, gerund clauses, and sentential modifiers of nouns. Finally, the design of ALICE-chan is modular so that it can easily be adapted to different languages and different levels of instruction.
