CAI with a restricted vocabulary

✍ Scribed by Norman F. Salt

• Book ID: 104139676
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1977
• Weight: 602 KB
• Volume: 9
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0020-7373
• DOI: 10.1016/s0020-7373(77)80004-7

✦ Synopsis

Text compression techniques can be applied to computer assisted instruction (CAI) text to reduce both computer storage requirements and volume of transmission between the computer and student terminals. One of the more efficient text compression algorithms requires a large dictionary containing all the words in the text. Unfortunately, the use of a large dictionary is not feasible with many current CAI systems. This study investigates some implications of authoring CAI te~t using words from a short dictionary established prior to writing the text. A dictionary of approximately one thousand words was defined. Author subjects wrote two sets of CAI text: one in natural English and one using words from the short dictionary. The natural English text was compressible to about two-thirds of the normal computer storage requirements; the restricted English, to less than one-third. There was no significant difference in the instructional value of the different types of text.