A REVOLUTION IN TEACHING FOREIGN LANGUAGE & CULTURE Iraqi Brochure.… · LANGUAGE & CULTURE In under 80 hours, TACTICAL IRAQI™ teaches people totally unfamiliar with Iraqi Arabic

A REVOLUTION IN

TEACHING FOREIGN

LANGUAGE & CULTURE In under 80 hours, TACTICAL IRAQI™ teaches people totally unfamiliar with Iraqi Arabic language and culture how to communicate effectively with Iraqis and accomplish tasks and missions in daily situations. It is a computer-based, self-paced sys-tem that uses interactive, animated, real-life simulations based on computer games, arti-ficial intelligence and speech recognition. It works for virtually everyone, from high-aptitude learners to those who think they aren’t good language learners. It doesn’t require prior knowledge of Arabic language or culture. It is a practical alternative for those who find conventional language courses boring, ineffective, unaffordable, or too time-consuming. After extensive evaluations, it is being adopted by the U.S. Marine Corps and other military branches. TACTICAL IRAQI is the first of a family of technologies and products that will revolu-tionize how foreign languages and cultures are taught worldwide. w w w . t a c t i c a l i r a q i . c o m

TACTICAL IRAQI WINS DARPA’S 2005 SIGNIFICANT TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

“I can best summarize the system’s success by quoting one soldier’s words: ‘I learned more in one day with this than I learned in my whole tour in Iraq.’ ”

Dr. Anthony J. Tether, Director Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

��

��������� � � �

A NEW PERSPECTIVE TACTICAL IRAQI™ is a tactical language and culture training system, which teaches the vital linguistic, gestural and cultural knowl-edge and skills required to build rapport and accomplish specific tasks or missions. The system’s computer-based, self-paced, highly interactive methods promote rapid learning and engagement; minimize anxiety, embarrassment and confusion; and build learners’ confidence so they aren’t in-timidated by speaking foreign languages. Its game-like design keeps learners in-terested and motivated even after hours of intensive practice.

FOUR PRINCIPLES Tactical language and culture training sys-tems are based on four principles: Deemphasize written language, focusing on basic spoken proficiency. Limit vocabulary to what’s required for specific situations, expanding to handle in-creasingly challenging situations. Introduce grammar only as needed to cope with novel situations, using mission-related examples extensively. Teach non-verbal culture and gestures to better establish rapport, covering both the “dos” and the “don’ts” of etiquette.

SIX TECHNOLOGIES TACTICAL IRAQI incorporates six technolo-gies in a breakthrough, patent-pending combination: Interactive, animated simulations based on computer games – Interactive, highly en-gaging simulations of authentic social situations using computer-generated char-acters that behave with both speech and gesture. Speech recognition – Recognizes and responds to pronunciation mistakes. Artificial intelligence-based aides and tu-

tors – Pedagogical software agents that in-teract with learners at motivational, social and cognitive levels. Learner models – Automatically analyzes each learner’s mastery of vocabulary items and communicative skills. Language models – Supports both learner language analysis and authoring. Instructional-design authoring tools – Used to create quickly and economically new mission and task simulations, and com-puter-based characters.

SIX MODULES TACTICAL IRAQI consists of three main learn-ing modules: The Skill Builder – One-on-one tutoring environment that teaches task-oriented vo-cabularies; pronunciation; and cultural be-haviors, their meaning and uses. The Mission Game -- Series of interactive, highly engaging simulations of authentic so-cial situations using computer-generated characters that behave with both speech and gesture. The Arcade Game -- Interactive, fun learning environment that provides repeti-tive practice crucial in language learning. The system includes three support modules: The Performance Assessment Module -- Collects and transmits data from learners’

machines and produces individualized per-formance scorecards with multi-dimensional benchmarks based on data aggregated from all learners who have taken course. The Web Wizard -- Explains the structure and meaning of words and phrases in greater depth; and offers English transla-tions, overviews of structure and compo-nents of sentences, and notes pertaining to grammar and syntax. The MP3 Player Kit -- Refreshes each learner’s knowledge, improving pronuncia-tion and fluency.

VERY POSITIVE RESULTS TACTICAL IRAQI and its sister program, TACTICAL LEVANTINE, have been extensively tested for usability, learner experience and effective-ness at various U.S. Army and Marine Corps locations around the world, including: U.S. Army Training Center, Grafenwoehr (Germany). Soldiers previously deployed to Iraq learned more Arabic in one day than in

their entire tours of duty in Iraq. U.S. Army Ft. Bragg. Found comparable in value to one-on-one tutoring, and signifi-cant potential value as distance learning ve-hicle and adjunct to classroom instruction. U.S. Marine Corps Expeditionary Warfare School. Became required training for all stu-dents after successful beta tests during the Spring of 2005. U.S. Marine Corps, Camp Pendleton. Sev-enty-eight percent of trainees who had been to Iraq reported functional language ability after only 50 hours of training.

AVAILABILITY TACTICAL IRAQI operates on off-the-shelf Mi-crosoft Windows® desktop and laptop com-puters. The program is available in many ways, including as licensed software and as fully staffed outsourced language labs. Services in-clude train-the-trainer instruction, student performance assessments and consulting.

WORKS IN PROGRESS Forthcoming products include an expanded library of military missions and tasks for TAC-TICAL IRAQI and TACTICAL LEVANTINE; non-military applications; courses for Pashto, Chi-nese, Spanish and English; and the use of handheld game consoles like the Sony Play-Station® Portable.

THE SKILL BUILDER

THE MISSION GAME

“The idea is to put behind every steering wheel and behind every trigger finger in a foreign country a little bit of that culture and language….I’ll be happy if this could save just one life by preventing a misunder-standing.”

Dr. Ralph Chatham, Program Manager Defense Sciences Office Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

TACTICAL IRAQI™ and TACTICAL LEVANTINE™ were de-veloped by the Center for Advanced Research and Technology for Education at the Information Sci-ences Institute of the University of Southern Cali-fornia. The scientific research and the system’s early prototypes were sponsored primarily by the DAR-WARS Training Superiority Program of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Tactical Language Training LLC is conducting ongoing research in association with the Univer-sity of Southern California, and developing and commercializing the family of Tactical Language and Culture Training Systems. The company’s mission is to revolutionize how foreign languages are learned worldwide.

CONTACT W. Lewis Johnson, PhD Chief Executive Officer Tactical Language Training LLC [email protected] 13101 Washington Boulevard, Suite 413 Los Angeles, California 90066 T (310) 566-7272 – F (310) 566-7069

w w w . t a c t i c a l i r a q i . c o m

“Oh, it’s wonderful. I see great future for it. We need to teach sol-diers enough Arabic to, say, find where the weapons are. These guys aren’t going to sit in class learning Arabic. This is a computer game, and all soldiers like computer games.”

Sgt. Amy Perkins, Arabic linguist 3rd Army Cavalry Regiment, United States Army

“This could be an excellent supplement to and possible replacement for existing language training options.”

Lt. Col. J.H. Griffin, 1st Marine Division Training Officer United States Marine Corps

“We’ve had a vision of learner language speech recognition for a long time, but until recently we didn’t have the computer power to make this possible.”

Sherri Bellinger, U.S. Military Academy at West Point © 2005. Tactical Language Training LLC. 0905

��

��������� � � �

/ColorImageDict > /JPEG2000ColorACSImageDict > /JPEG2000ColorImageDict > /AntiAliasGrayImages false /DownsampleGrayImages true /GrayImageDownsampleType /Bicubic /GrayImageResolution 300 /GrayImageDepth -1 /GrayImageDownsampleThreshold 1.50000 /EncodeGrayImages true /GrayImageFilter /DCTEncode /AutoFilterGrayImages true /GrayImageAutoFilterStrategy /JPEG /GrayACSImageDict > /GrayImageDict > /JPEG2000GrayACSImageDict > /JPEG2000GrayImageDict > /AntiAliasMonoImages false /DownsampleMonoImages true /MonoImageDownsampleType /Bicubic /MonoImageResolution 1200 /MonoImageDepth -1 /MonoImageDownsampleThreshold 1.50000 /EncodeMonoImages true /MonoImageFilter /CCITTFaxEncode /MonoImageDict > /AllowPSXObjects false /PDFX1aCheck false /PDFX3Check false /PDFXCompliantPDFOnly false /PDFXNoTrimBoxError true /PDFXTrimBoxToMediaBoxOffset [ 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 ] /PDFXSetBleedBoxToMediaBox true /PDFXBleedBoxToTrimBoxOffset [ 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 ] /PDFXOutputIntentProfile () /PDFXOutputCondition () /PDFXRegistryName (http://www.color.org) /PDFXTrapped /Unknown

/Description >>> setdistillerparams> setpagedevice