Konferensartikel

Reading material that is of interest and at the right level for learners is an essential component of effective language education. The web has long been identified as a valuable source of reading material due to the abundance and variability of materials it offers and its broad range of attractive and current topics. Yet, the web as source of reading material can be problematic in low literacy contexts. We present ongoing work on a hybrid approach to text retrieval that combines the strengths of web search with retrieval from a high-quality, curated corpus resource. Our system, KANSAS Suche 2.0, supports retrieval and reranking based on criteria relevant for language learning in three different search modes: unrestricted web search, filtered web search, and corpus search. We demonstrate their complementary strengths and weaknesses with regard to coverage, readability, and suitability of the retrieved material for adult literacy and basic education. We show that their combination results in a very versatile and suitable text retrieval approach for education in the language arts.

information retrieval, low literacy, readability assessment, German