## The hypertext-based grammar - or the grammar of tomorrow

## Background

Over the past couple of years we have witnessed an enormous increase in the availability of electronically stored  information  resources relevant  to  the  teaching  of  foreign  languages  at  all  levels  in  the educational system: electronic dictionaries,  terminological  databases, interactive language learning programmes, machine readable corpora, online services, etc.

Many of these information resources are hypertext-based . Hypertext may  be  described  as  a  technology  or  medium  for  organizing  and presenting electronically stored information elements or documents in a network of information nodes. There are several reasons why hypertext is increasingly used in educational contexts. One of the main reasons is flexibility. Firstly, hypertext means that authors are relatively unconstrained by structural form. Besides employing traditional forms such  as sequence,  hierarchy and  grid, authors are free to link information  items  in  an  associative  fashion  (see  Horton  (1994)). Secondly, hypertext may provide the reader with a number of ways of accessing information more effectively. Query functions facilitate the retrieval  of  specific  information  items  while  various  navigation  and orientation tools make it possible for the reader to traverse (parts of) the hypertext  network  in  a  non-linear  manner.  Thirdly,  hypertext  offers alternative  ways  of  conveying  information.  Compare,  for  instance, Whalley (1993:12) who says:

The most significant pedagogic feature of hypertext is its malleability : it  may  change  over  time  and  it  is  capable  of  offering  multiple perspectives on a particular domain. It is possible to use hypertext to present, and then represent, ideas in ways that are difficult to achieve in print.'

* Lars Johnsen Handelshøjskole Syd Institut for Erhvervssprog og Sproglig Informatik Engstien 1 DK-6000  Kolding

Perhaps the most interesting example of hypertext today is the World Wide Web, a rapidly growing global network of information resources accessible on the Internet.

## Aims

The present article discusses the potential of hypertext in relation to one of  the  classical  tools  in  language  learning  environments,  namely  the grammar  book.  The  aim  of  the  article  is  two-fold.  One  aim  is  to demonstrate  how  the  functionality  of  hypertext  might  be  used  to support, and even optimize, certain activities and tasks associated with the acquisition of grammatical content. Another aim is to sketch how the technology of hypertext may contribute to more efficient, effective and  innovative  management  of  language  resources  in  educational settings.

## Access to information

Grammars are, among other things, works of reference. The point is made quite neatly by Jensen (1990:13) in the preface to his book on Spanish grammar entitled Spansk basisgrammatik :

'Only grammarians would ever dream of reading a grammar like a novel, from cover to cover. To everyone else a grammar is a handbook, a work of reference in which one can quickly find the information one needs.'

(my translation)

How quickly and effectively an end user may retrieve information in a traditional grammar is contingent on the quality of the access structure of  the  document.  The  access  structure  consists  of  a  number  of  text elements which,  to varying degrees, determine the accessibility of the individual information items:

* the  macro-structure  of  the  text  (the  way  information  units  are organized)
* the micro-structure of the text (the internal structure of information units)
* information design (typography, layout and the use of visuals such as tables, lists, tree structures, etc.)

* headings (position, font type and size, verbal content)
* meta-information (table of contents, index, headers and footers)

In a hypertext-based grammar, more interactive information retrieval tools can be made available. These include query functions , navigation tools and orientation facilities .

A query function is a facility which makes it possible for the end user to search for certain key terms, examples or phrases - or combinations of these - in the grammar. Queries may apply to the entire document or to certain parts of the text and scopes may be set to limit the search even further. Thus, scopes can be defined in terms of the structural elements of the text or its content elements. For example:

- i) find all occurrences of transitive or intransitive in subheadings in the chapter entitled Verbs
2. ii) find all occurrences of provided that in the examples given in the text

Navigation  tools allow the  reader  to  move  non-linearly  among information units in the text ('browsing'). The most typical example of a  navigation  tool  in  a  hypertext  is  the  link,  a  clickable  text  element connecting two or more information units. The activation of a link may either result in the reader actually 'hopping' from one place to another in  the  network  or  the  display  of  one  or  more  information  units  in  a separate window. Links may be classified as intra-hypertextual , interhypertextual or extra-hypertextual depending  on  whether  they  link information segments in the same information unit, the same document or in different documents (Kuhlen (1991:107)).

Links can be used in various ways in a hypertext-based grammar. The most obvious idea is to implement cross references as links. With a click on a cross reference the user gains access to the section referred to by  the  cross  reference.  Links  may  also  be  used  to  create  paths  to supplementary information such as explanations, examples and translations. Grammatical terms might be linked to definitions, footnotes to information units and authentic examples might be shown in their full context.

Links are also useful if an author wishes to guide the reader through an information space consisting of non-sequentially ordered units. A guided tour makes it possible for the reader of a grammar of English to get  an  introduction  to,  say,  important  differences  between  American and British English even if these differences are not dealt with in the same  chapters  or  sections.  A  guided  tour  may  be  implemented  as  a genuine tour, that is, as a sequence of jump links sending the reader from one relevant information unit to another in the text or it may be constructed as a virtual  document .  A  virtual  document  is  a  group  of electronically  stored  but  physically  dispersed  information  segments which may be extracted from the text and viewed and read as a whole.

One  can  also  envisage  the  use  of  extra-hypertextual  links  in  an electronic  grammar.  These  may  comprise  connections  to  electronic dictionaries, terminological databanks, electronically stored textbooks or text corpora containing authentic examples. Such resources may be local (located on the student's own PC or a local area network) but not necessarily so. With the appropriate hardware and software, links may be  established  to  relevant  information  resources  on  the  World  Wide Web such as databases or teaching materials. For instance, a teacher of English might like to include in his grammar a link to information units in  Purdue  University's  'Online  Writing  Laboratory'  (OWL),  an information  system  providing  guidelines  on  miscellaneous  topics related to writing (punctuation, grammar, non-sexist language, formats for citing sources, etc.). Or he might like to set up a query link to a specific text database at some American law school to illustrate the use of the modal shall in legal discourse.

Although navigation tools provide an expedient way of accessing information, totally unguided browsing may lead to disorientation on the  part  of  the  reader,  who  may  become lost  in  hyperspace .  It  is therefore important that the hypertext-based grammar is endowed with a  number of (electronic) orientation tools helping the reader address questions such as:

* Where am I?
* What is this about?
* How do I find ...?
* How do I get back to ...?
* Where have I been so far?

Orientation tools may serve three purposes. One is to give the reader a general idea of the contents of the grammar or parts of the grammar. Another is to indicate where specific items are located in the online document. Last but not least, orientation facilities may state the reader's current position in the network or display a list of information units already  frequented  by  the  reader.  Electronic  orientation  facilities include:

* expandable/collapsible table of contents
* electronic bookmark
* history (list of information units already seen by the user)
* trail (list of links or queries previously activated by the reader)
* graphical browser ((clickable) map depicting the visual structure of the grammar).

## Communication and interaction

Naturally, access is not everything. The usefulness of a grammar as a learning tool is primarily determined by the validity of its contents and the  way  these  contents  are  communicated.  As  mentioned  above,  the electronic medium is a more flexible vehicle for conveying information than paper. Unlike a traditional printed text in which all of the contents - no more no less - are presented to the reader, hypertext may contain several  layers  of  information.  These  layers  may  be  unfolded  by  the reader or they may be kept hidden depending on whether the reader wants to explore the details of the material or just wishes to get the gist of the text.

As far as hypertext-based grammars are concerned, it would perhaps be a good idea to let the reader himself decide how many examples, references and exceptions to general rules he wants to see. It would no doubt also enhance the usability of (hypertext-based) grammars if the markedly verbal form of communication was supplemented with more visually  oriented  discourse  elements  such  as  tree  structures,  lists, diagrams and tables. These might be placed in pop-up windows and activated if needed.

Another  advantage  of  computer-based  learning  materials  is  the possibility  of  interaction  between  reader  and  text.  Interaction  in  an electronic  grammar  may  take  place  if  the  student  is  given  the opportunity to work with exercises and tests with built-in feedback. The chief function of such tests is to provide the student with an assessment of how well he has understood a certain topic dealt with in the grammar, to  point  out  what  his  specific  problems  are  (diagnostic  tests)  and perhaps  what  course  of  action  might  be  appropriate  in  the  circum- stances (what information units to read, what level of detail to select, etc.). It should be mentioned, however, that only comparatively closed types of tests (true/false questions, multiple choice exercises, selection sets,  etc.)  may  be  evaluated  satisfactorily  online.  The  evaluation  of more open-ended assignments is still a matter for the teacher.

## The grammar as construction kit

Although the functionality of a hypertext-based grammar may be said to be greater than that of a traditional grammar in a number of ways, the two  types  of  text  have  essentially  the  same  function  in  the  learning environment.  They  are  both  used  as  an  information  bank,  which, according to Perkins (1991:18), is any resource in the learning environment which 'more than anything else, serves as a source of explicit information about topics'.

Nevertheless,  one  can  also  imagine  the  hypertext-based  grammar being used more actively in the learning process. One possibility is to design  the  grammar  as  a  kind  of construction  kit (see  Perkins (1991:19)).  That  is  to  say,  as  a  toolbox  containing  functions  and elements  which  more  directly  support  the  student  in  constructing grammatical  knowledge  structures  and  in  relating  these  knowledge structures  to  other  types  of  linguistic  knowledge.  Thus,  the  student might be given access to a range of tools enabling him to mark up, compare, link, group and annotate individual information elements in the grammar as well as integrate these elements with information items found  in  external  sources  such  as  dictionaries,  text  books,  texts  for translation and so forth.

Working with grammatical resources in this way might either result in a number of more or less customized 'personal language databases' built up by students or a large, dynamic information base constructed by  teachers  and  students  in  collaboration.  Here  the  vision  is  an electronic  network  of  language  resources,  including  grammatical information, being constantly updated and expanded as teachers and students discover new thematic patterns in the material, come across interesting  examples  or  find  useful  references.  The  grammar  as groupware, so to speak.

The actual product, however, is not the most important thing. What is significant in my mind is that by promoting a (mildly) 'constructivist'

approach in these matters, we may succeed in motivating students to take on a new role in their language learning activities, a role which will not only involve more activity on their part, but hopefully also generate a greater awareness of, and responsibility for, the learning process itself (see Cunningham et al. (1993)).

## Learning with hypertext-based grammars

So far, I have attempted to describe some of the practical uses to which a hypertext-based grammar might be put and the kinds of learning tasks its  functionality  might  support.  A  framework  for  thinking  about  the pedagogic aspects of computer-based learning materials in general, and hypertext in particular, is found in Hammond (1993). This framework is based on a three-dimensional model characterizing relevant properties  of  educational  software.  The  three  dimensions, control , engagement , and synthesis are defined in the following way:

'Control  refers  to  the  degree  to  which  the  learner  rather  than  the system controls exposure to learning materials, the particular learning activity  or  strategy.  Engagement  refers  to  the  extent  the  learner  is required to process the materials actively rather than passively. Synthesis refers to the nature of the learning activity: does it require the learner to create materials or relationships rather than merely observe them? These last two dimensions are not independent since creative tasks generally require active engagement, although the converse is not true.'

(Hammond (1993:64))

In  terms  of  hypertext-based grammars, control can be said to be the degree of freedom the reader has when accessing grammatical information.  At  one  end  of  the  spectrum  the  reader  is  entitled  to  unbridled browsing and searching and at the other he is only allowed to follow carefully planned, sequentially ordered information structures. Engagement refers to the difference between reading 'passive text' on the one hand and interacting with it, for instance through the use of tests, on the other. Finally, synthesis may reflect the extent to which the grammar may be used as a construction kit.

To determine what degree of control, engagement and synthesis is to be  incorporated  in  the  functionality  of  a  hypertext-based  grammar under  construction,  an  author  must  take  a  number  of  factors  into consideration. For example:

* Who is the intended audience (advanced learners, beginners)?
* What is the primary purpose of the grammar (work of reference, course text, cramming tool)?
* What learning activities does the author wish to support (perusal, skimming, interaction, collaboration)?
* In  what  educational  context  will  the  grammar  be  used  (distance learning, self study, class room teaching)?

## Information management

In addition to its role as a potentially powerful learning tool, hypertext may contribute to more efficient, effective and innovative management of language resources in educational settings. This is especially true if the grammars of tomorrow are designed and constructed as what we might call single source grammar s. A single source grammar may be described  as  a  multi-functional  information  base  containing  (multilingual) grammatical information modules which may be published in several media.

Modularity  in  a  single  source  grammar  means  that  individual modules are designed as a kind of reusable Legos. Individual modules may occur in different textual structures at the same time thus creating a number of virtual documents. For instance, a module describing how singular collective nouns in American English and in British English differ with respect to their compatibility with singular or plural verb forms, might occur simultanously in virtual documents with titles such as:

* Collective nouns
* Collective nouns in English
* Verbal concord in English
* Differences between American English and British English

Also,  reusability  is  conducive  to  the  creation  of  new  information products as information units are grouped in novel ways. Examples of new  information  products  generated  on  the  basis  of  a  single  source grammar might be minimalist, contrastive or multilingual grammars, glossaries containing definitions of important grammatical concepts or collections of authentic examples for specific purposes.

An  implication  of  single  source  grammars  may  also  be  more flexibility in terms of production, distribution and maintenance. As for production,  a  modular  approach  for  instance  means  that  authors  can work  in  collaboration  and  that  publication  may  take  place  in  serial form.  With  respect  to  distribution,  a  single  source  grammar  may  be constructed in such a way as to allow the publication of paper-based materials as well as electronic documents from the same set of files. Furthermore,  it  can  both  be  implemented  as  an  inhouse  information base  placed  on  a  local  area  network  or  as  a  resource  which  can  be accessed  by  means  of  the  Internet  or  World  Wide  Web.  The  latter solution  has  the  advantage  of  catering  for  the  information  needs  of ordinary students and distance learners alike. Finally, maintenance is likely,  at  least  in  theory,  to  become  less  burdensome  since  a  module containing outdated or inaccurate information can just be plugged out and a new one put in without other modules having to undergo major revisions.

## Concluding remarks

Now, what does it take to create usable hypertext-based grammars that may function as electronic reference documents, interactive language learning  programmes,  virtual  documents,  construction  kits  or  single source grammars?

Firstly, needless to say, the appropriate development tools must be available. To choose the right product(s) is in itself no easy job since there is a plethora of hypertext systems, infobase management systems, text editors and programming environments, let alone third-party addons, on the market today each with its own functionality, interface and (in)compatibilities  with  other  products  and  platforms.  What  is  also important to realize is that no single product is likely to contain the range of tools needed to implement all the functions mentioned above.

Secondly, we undoubtedly need to adopt design and development methodologies which can ensure a more consistently modular information structure than is met with in traditional paper-based grammars (see Johnsen  (1996))  as  well  as  overcome  the  inherent  limitations  of  the computer  screen  as  a  communication  interface  (the  problems  of  a smaller reading area, the poorer resolution of text and the fact that the reader has to make sense of the text through a tunnel, as it were).

In  my  opinion,  one  way  forward  is  to  explore  the  possibilities  of adopting conceptual tools from the field of technical communication where experimental research in electronic text usability has led to the formulation  of  a  number  of  guidelines  and  principles  for  online information design (see Horton (1994)). In particular, it would seem worthwhile to find out if, or to what extent, elements from modular writing  methods  such  as  Information  Mapping  (Horn  (1989))  or Structured  Documentation  (Weiss  (1991))  originally  designed  for business and technical communication might be adopted for the kind of language technology we have in mind here. What is interesting about a methodology like Information Mapping is that it not only provides a number of guidelines on how to structure and present information in well-defined units but also attempts to describe how certain information types - processes, procedures, concepts, etc. - may be identified and communicated in an effective manner. And what is perhaps particularly interesting in this connection is that Information Mapping specifically deals with possible ways of presenting information types that can be said to occur regularly in grammars, namely:

* structure ('The verb phrase consists of ...')
* fact ('Specific reference is used when the speaker refers to a specific member or manifestation of a category.')
* concept ('A declarative clause is ...')
* classification ('There are three main types of clause: ...').

Examples taken from Preisler (1992)

Lastly, in order to be processed electronically and accessed through global networks, information modules and information categories must be identified and coded in a so-called markup language. If the grammar is to be published as a document on the World Wide Web, it must be coded in, or converted to, HTML (HyperText Markup Language), a format compatible with the specifications of SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language), a general markup language for describing and exchanging documents across disparate products and platforms.

## References

Cunningham, D.J., Duffy, T.M. and Knuth, R. A. (1993): The Textbook of the Future. In  McKnight,  C.,  Dillon,  A.  and  Richardson,  J. Hypertext.  A  Psychological Perspective. Ellis Horwood Limited.

- Hammond, N. (1993): Learning with Hypertext: Problems, Principles and Prospects. In McKnight, C., Dillon, A. and Richardson, J. Hypertext. A Psychological Perspective. Ellis Horwood Limited.
- Horn, R. E. (1989): Mapping Hypertext . The Lexington Institute.
- Horton,  W.  (1994): Designing  and  Writing  Online  Documentation. Second  edition. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
- Jensen, K. (1990): Spansk basisgrammatik. Akademisk Forlag.
- Johnsen, L. (1996): From text to hypertext: Developing foreign language grammars for technology supported LSP-learning environments. (Forthcoming).
- Kuhlen,  R. (1991): Hypertext.  Ein  nicht-lineares  Medium  zwischen  Buch  und Wissenbank . Springer-Verlag.
- Perkins, D. N. (1991): Technology Meets Constructivism: Do They Make A Marriage. Educational Technology/May 1991.
- Preisler, B. (1992): A Handbook of English Grammar on Functional Principles . Aarhus University Press.
- Weiss, E.H. (1991): How to Write Usable User Documentation. The Oryx Press.
- Whalley, P. (1993): An Alternative Rhetoric for Hypertext. In McKnight, C., Dillon, A. and Richardson, J. Hypertext. A Psychological Perspective. Ellis Horwood Limited.