Abstract:

The evaluation of wrong answers in CAI programs for language teaching is the basis for all remedial or review branching, but before an intelligent decision can be made on how to treat the answer, the program must first make sure that the wrong answer is not in fact a typographical error or a reasonable misspelling of the right answer. Techniques that have been proposed for detecting misspellings fall under any of three major criticisms: they permit answers they should not permit, they do not permit answers that they should permit, or they are not practicable on a microcomputer. An alternative is proposed that combines very sensitive letter frequency tables with variables for teacher judgment, an alternative that permits much closer and more accurate assessment of the degree to which the student's answer approximates a correct answer.

Author: Herbert F. W. Stahlke