Developing annotation solutions for onlineData Driven Learning

Although annotation is a widely-researched topic in Corpus Linguistics (CL), its potential rolein Data Driven Learning (DDL) has not been addressed in depth by Foreign LanguageTeaching (FLT) practitioners. Furthermore, most of the research in the use of DDL methodspays little attention to annotation in the design and implementation of corpus-based/drivenlanguage teaching.In this paper, we set out to examine the process of development of SACODEYL Annotator, anapplication that seeks to assist SACODEYL system users in annotating XML multilingualcorpora. First, we discuss the role of annotation in DDL and the dominating paradigm in generalcorpus applications. In the context of the language classroom, we argue that it is essential thatcorpora should be pedagogically motivated (Braun, 2005 and 2007a). Then, we move on to dealwith the analysis and design stages of our annotation solution by illustrating its main features.Some of these include a user friendly hierarchical and extensible taxonomy tree to facilitate thelearner-oriented annotation of the corpora; real-time graphics representation of the annotatedcorpus matching the XML TEI-compliant (Text Encoding Initiative) standard, as well as anintuitive management of the different data sections and associated metadata.SACODEYL (System Aided Compilation and Open Distribution of European YouthLanguage) is an EU funded MINERVA project which aims to develop an ICT-based system forthe assisted compilation and open distribution of multimedia European teen talk in the context oflanguage education. This research lays emphasis on the functionalities of the application withinthe SACODEYL context. However, our paper addresses similarly the needs of potential multimedialanguage corpus administrators in general on the lookout for powerful annotation assistingsoftware. SACODEYL Annotator is free to use and can be downloaded from our website.