Supporting the translation and authoring of test items with techniques of natural language processing

Abstract

Using techniques of natural language processing to assist the preparation of educational resources for language learning has become an important field. We report two software systems that are designed for assisting the tasks of test item translation and test item authoring. We built a software environment to help experts translate the test items for the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). Test items of TIMSS are prepared in American English and will be translated to traditional Chinese. We also built a software environment for composing test items for introductory Chinese courses. The system currently aids the preparation of four important categories of test items, and the resulting test items can be administrated on the Internet.