讲座题目：Integrated Writing Assistants and their Possible Consequences for Foreign-Language Writing and Learning

主讲人：Prof. Sven Tarp（斯宛·塔普教授）

讲座时间：2018年6月6日14:30~16:00

讲座地点：外语学院3008会议室

主办单位：外语学院外国语言所

讲座摘要：

作为重要学习资源，词典在当今互联网及大数据时代正历经从纸本媒介到网络媒介的快速转变。在辅助二语写作方面，传统纸本词典的发展方向是转型为二语写作助手。本讲座将介绍一款最新研发的高科技二语写作助手的设计理念及主要功能，探讨写作过程中二语写作者即时获取大数据（含语料库和词典）支持的可能途径，并基于对丹麦员工使用该款写作助手的初步实证研究，探究其对二语写作能力提升及教学法革新的启示。

主讲人介绍：

Sven Tarp，丹麦籍，国际知名词典学和术语翻译研究学者，现代功能词典学理论创始人，现任丹麦奥胡斯大学（University of Aarhus）词典学中心主任，曾获南非斯特伦布什大学南非荷兰语学院“杰出教授”、西班牙巴利亚多利德大学国际词典中心“杰出成员”、古巴圣地亚哥“杰出访问学者”等荣誉头衔。Tarp教授精通多门语言，长期从事词典编纂实践，主编及参编词典17部，积累了非常丰富的词典编纂经验，著述丰厚，在International Journal of Lexicography、Lexikos、Lexicographica等SSCI、A&HCI期刊以及重要学术会议文集上共发表论文140余篇，主编或参编学术著作13部，代表作为Lexicography in the borderland between knowledge and non-knowledge: General lexicographical theory with particular focus on learner's lexicography（《界于知识与非知识之间的词典学：学习型词典通论》）。近年来，Tarp教授积极致力于中-丹两国词典学界的学术交流，助力中国词典学研究者的国际化发展。

Sven Tarp教授讲座英文摘要

Integrated Writing Assistants and their Possible Consequences

for Foreign-Language Writing and Learning

During the past decades, disruptive computer and information technologies have made their way into lexicography. Dictionaries have increasingly migrated from the printed to the digital media,and users can now access online dictionaries almost anywhere by means of a variety of devices.

Recently, the traditional stand-alone dictionary has experienced growing competition from dictionaries integrated into other tools designed to assist reading, writing, translation, and learning in general. The latest additions are “intelligent”, context-aware dictionaries that provide specially designed solutions adapted to their user’s particular needs in each situation.

Writing assistants work on laptops, tablets and smartphones where most writing takes place today. They connect the writer to big data (digital corpora and dictionaries) that are processed in order to provide instant assistance without the user having to consult external sources. These tools, which are still in embryo, have the potential to completely revolutionize L2 writing, speed up the writing process, improve the quality of the written text, and encourage weak writers and learners.

Existing writing assistants have four main functions: 1)detective, where the tool calls the writer's attention to various problems; 2)corrective, where the tool performs autocorrection or proposes alternative solutions; 3)predictive, where the tool suggests word completions and next words; and 4)consultative, where users are allowed to perform lookups in order to clarify doubt, look for alternative solutions, or go into depth with specific problematics.

In this respect, the ideal L2 writing assistant for learners would be one that is integrated into a text processing program, contains bilingual context-aware dictionaries, and displays all four functions.

There is little doubt that technology is here to stay. Just as L2 learners used bilingual dictionaries for decades against their teachers’ advice, it is predictable that they will now use writing assistants on their digital devices whatever they are told. This suggests that they will become increasingly dependent on such tools. This may have both positive and negative impact on their writing skills.

The paper will briefly present an EFL Write Assistant. It will look at some of the consequences for L2 writing based on a preliminary study of users of this tool, among them Danish school children. It will then discuss the future perspectives, the new possibilities to enhance L2 learning and stimulate the students’ immersion in their new language, as well as some of the new challenges to L2 didactics.

The paper will argue that a combination of improved technology (including neural networks), especially adapted dictionaries and new didactic methods will be the best way to meet the present and future challenges.