Powerful ideas in computational linquistics - Implications for problem solving, and education

Powerful ideas in computational linquistics Implications for problem ,solvinq, and education Abstract Gerhard Fischer, Institut fuer Informatik Universitaet Stuttgart, West-Germany It is our firm belief that solving problems in the domain of computational linguistics (CL) can provide a set of metaphors or powerful ideas which are of great importance to many fields. We have taught several experimental classes to students from high schools and universities and s major part of our work was centered around problems dealing with language. We have set up an experimental Language Laboratory in which the students can explore existing computer programs, modify them, design new ones and implement them. The goal was that the student should gain a deeper understanding of language itself and that he/she should learn general and transferable problem solving skills. exercise in pattern matching and symbol manipulation, where certain keywords trigger a few prestored answers. It may also serve as an example for how little machinery is necessary to create the illusion of understanding. [n our interdisciplinary research project (KLING eL el, 1977) we have tried to overcome these problems by providing opportunities for the student to explore powerful ideas in the context of non-trivial problems and by showing that the computer prescence can do much more for education than improve the delivery system for curricula established independently of it. I . Introduction Problem solving with the computer for the non-computer expert is slowly recognized as an important activity in our educational system. It is done best in a project-oriented course in which the student learns to solve problems in different domains. In the past, activities of this sort have been centered around numerical problems, physics problems and the standard computer science problems (eg like writing a sorting procedure). 2. The state of the art The relevance of problems from linguistics has been ignored. The reasons for this fact are easy to explain: I) the educational community in the language-oriented fields has very little knowledge about using a computer to write interesting programs to gain a deeper understanding of the problems in their domain 2) the computer experts were not familiar with linguistics 3) the most commonly used programming lsnguegee end eyetemo ere inadequate to deal with the data structures and dialog requirements which are relevant for language processing 4) new fields like artificial intelligence, cognitive science end computational llnguletlee were not widely known The level of ignorance can best be seen by using ELIZA as an example: many people thought that it was a program which would "understand" the contents of a dialog. It was not evident to them that ELIZA represents nothing more than an ~. Coqnitive Science and Proqrammin~ In recent years the view has emerged that the language of computation is the proper dialect to describe basic issues in psychology, linguistics and education. Research in Cognitive Science has demonstrated that the phenomena surrounding computers are deep and obscure, requiring much experimentation. Cognitive Science theories about problem solving, representation of knowledge and other cognitive abilitiesprovide the foundation for …

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