Exploring Text Classification for Enhancing Digital Game-Based Language Learning for Irish

Leona Mc Cahill, Thomas Baltazar, Sally Bruen, Liang Xu, Monica Ward, Elaine Uí Dhonnchadha, Jennifer Foster


Abstract
Digital game-based language learning (DGBLL) can help with the language learning process. DGBLL applications can make learning more enjoyable and engaging, but they are difficult to develop. A DBGLL app that relies on target language texts obviously needs to be able to use texts of the appropriate level for the individual learners. This implies that text classification tools should be available to DGBLL developers, who may not be familiar with the target language, in order to incorporate suitable texts into their games. While text difficulty classifiers exist for many of the most commonly spoken languages, this is not the case for under-resourced languages, such as Irish. In this paper, we explore approaches to the development of text classifiers for Irish. In the first approach to text analysis and grading, we apply linguistic analysis to assess text complexity. Features from this approach are then used in machine learning-based text classification, which explores the application of a number of machine learning algorithms to the problem. Although the development of these text classifiers is at an early stage, they show promise, particularly in a low-resourced scenario.
Anthology ID:
2024.sigul-1.12
Volume:
Proceedings of the 3rd Annual Meeting of the Special Interest Group on Under-resourced Languages @ LREC-COLING 2024
Month:
May
Year:
2024
Address:
Torino, Italia
Editors:
Maite Melero, Sakriani Sakti, Claudia Soria
Venues:
SIGUL | WS
SIG:
Publisher:
ELRA and ICCL
Note:
Pages:
90–96
Language:
URL:
https://aclanthology.org/2024.sigul-1.12
DOI:
Bibkey:
Cite (ACL):
Leona Mc Cahill, Thomas Baltazar, Sally Bruen, Liang Xu, Monica Ward, Elaine Uí Dhonnchadha, and Jennifer Foster. 2024. Exploring Text Classification for Enhancing Digital Game-Based Language Learning for Irish. In Proceedings of the 3rd Annual Meeting of the Special Interest Group on Under-resourced Languages @ LREC-COLING 2024, pages 90–96, Torino, Italia. ELRA and ICCL.
Cite (Informal):
Exploring Text Classification for Enhancing Digital Game-Based Language Learning for Irish (Mc Cahill et al., SIGUL-WS 2024)
Copy Citation:
PDF:
https://aclanthology.org/2024.sigul-1.12.pdf