A web-feed based asynchronous dictionary service and its applications to mobile learning

Abstract

隨著地球村的時代來臨，英文早已成為重要工具之一，而在閱讀或是溝通上，經常遇到不熟悉的單字，需要藉由字典來查詢了解其單字解釋。然而，查字典的過程卻相當瑣碎且耗時，尤其是當需要查多個單字的時候，其繁雜的過程容易使人放棄。有鑑於此，如何使查字典的過程更有效率，且更符合使用者的需求成為本系統的主要目的。本研究架構運用Web 2.0的觀念，結合Mashup、螢幕擷取、網路摘要等技術實作一個非同步的字典服務。該系統改變了傳統查詢字典的步驟，以文章為基本單位一次查詢多個單字，使用者不僅可利用個人電腦透過網路瀏覽查詢結果，更可利用行動裝置例如智慧行手機等等進行瀏覽RSS feed 格式的查詢結果，提供另一種行動學習的方式。此外，本系統亦提供了其他附加功能，例如允許與他人共享文件、個人單字表、個人單字列表等，以字典的服務作為核心，更將系統擴充成為一個線上語言學習的協作平台。實驗的結果顯示，使用本系統查詢英文單字，與傳統的紙本字典以及其他的線上字典相比，能節省超過百分之五十的花費時間；而問卷調查的結果也顯示，使用者相信使用本系統能提升工作效率，並且是容易使用的，整體來說對於系統的使用意願相當高。以上結果均證實了本研究架構確實能提供使用者一種創新的查字典方式以及學習平台，可以有效率的完成查詢單字的步驟，幫助語言學習者更快速的取得所需的資訊內容。

Dictionaries are essential tools for looking up words people do not know when they read. This is especially true for non-native English speakers who do not have enough vocabulary, and for whom reading an English article can be a difficult task. Moreover, it could be time consuming to do the same thing when there are too many new words for them, consequently reducing the willingness to read or learn in the end. Therefore, a Web enhanced asynchronous dictionary service was developed in our project for automating the repetitive look-up tasks. The system implemented the concept of the Web 2.0, and using mashup and screen scraping technique to provide an efficient and easy way to search for vocabulary automatically by the system. The result is formed in both HTML and XML format, which allowed users to use Really Simple Syndication (RSS) readers to get the result on PCs or mobile devices, so the results can be read and studied anytime, anywhere. Moreover, the results can be easily shared to targeted groups of subscribers and the provided additional services such as archived word list and document list extend the dictionary service into a language learning platform. The experiment of the performance evaluation showed that the Innovative dictionary can save more than 60 percent of the spending time compared to the printed dictionary and the traditional dictionary services. More than that, the result of the survey indicated that the perceived usefulness and ease of use of this system had significant difference with the paper dictionary and the other online dictionary services. These results confirmed that the Web-feed based dictionary service can actually make the look-up process faster and provide an easy to use m-learning and e-learning platform for the language learners.