Persuasive Hebrew exercises: The wit of technology-enhanced language learning

This paper describes current work by the author to develop learning technology for the WIVU database which Eep Talstra and his Werkgroep Informatica team is building for storage and retrieval of linguistic and textual information on the Hebrew Bible. The work on corpus-based language learning described in this paper is an initial stage in a larger research project to construct persuasive learning objects and technologies, or PLOTs, inspired by the pioneering work of the Werkgroep and by the construction of the database system called Emdros. The paper traces the development of tools from the early teaching technology in 2004 to the current Ezer Emdros-based Exercise Tool (3ET), but also refers to the Linguistic Tree Constructor and the Paradigms Master Pro. The paper introduces the linguistic terminology from the database which will be used in learning technology. It explains the structure of a curriculum for teaching Biblical Hebrew from the database for Genesis 1-3, and describes when and where technology-enhanced exercises can be introduced, based on the author's test results and observations from the classroom as well as on focused interviews. Development of persuasive exercise technology can enhance learning by interactive engagement with the text in a database. Students develop into selfdirected learners in control of their texts, and they are able to excel while being trained to use Bible-software more effectively. We expect databases like the WIVU to change teaching, study, and research in profound ways.