Application of Natural Language Processing in Education: Methodology

This paper discusses the methodology for the application of natural language processing in education. It covers the research problem, types of methodology, review of existing methodologies, proposed methodology, benefits and limitations, and framework.

NIT6130 INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH
ASSIGNMENT 3 – METHODOLOGY
by
Rachid Hamadi
Student ID: 30099999

Table of Contents
Table of Contents...............................................................................................................................ii
List of Figures...................................................................................................................................iii
List of Tables....................................................................................................................................iv
Chapter 1 Methodology......................................................................................................................1
1.1 Research Problem and Reorganized Collected Literature.........................................................2
1.1.1 Research Problem Statement.............................................................................................2
1.1.2 Reorganized Collected Literature......................................................................................4
1.2 Types of Methodology.............................................................................................................6
1.2.1 Qualitative and Quantitative Methodologies.....................................................................6
1.2.2 Type of Chosen Methodology...........................................................................................6
1.3 Review of the Existing Methodologies.....................................................................................7
1.3.1 Selected Sub-Problem.......................................................................................................7
1.3.2 Analysis of the Selected Methodologies............................................................................7
1.3.3 Relevance of the Research Problem..................................................................................8
1.3.4 Summary of the Reviewed Methodologies........................................................................8
1.4 Proposed Methodology.............................................................................................................9
1.4.1 Identification and Justification..........................................................................................9
1.4.2 Benefits and Limitations....................................................................................................9
1.4.3 Framework and Explanation............................................................................................10
ii

Chapter 1
Methodology
The main objective of this paper is to identify the different methodologies and the way of
application of these methodologies for the research purpose so that the individuals can select
and apply the methodologies for their own research papers (Rehman and Kifor 2015). In this
context the discussion regarding the methodology is associated with the application of the
natural language processing in the education. The selection and the discussion of the
methodology are followed by the literature review and the analysis of the problem.
The methodology refers to the way of the development of the research. The methodology is
focused on the aims and the objective of the research the selection of the methodology is
dependent on the type of the method so that the methodology can help to draw the conclusion
that reflects the aims and the objectives of the research.
This document follows a specific structure where problems and the sub problems are
researched and the review of the literature is done. This task is followed by the discussion of the
characteristics of the different methodologies and the selection of the methodologies based on
the type of the research. The third task is regarding the analysis and the summarization of the
findings from the research. The final task is to develop or select the appropriate methodology
for the research purpose and state the advantage and the limitation of the methodology along
with the justification for the selecting the methodology.
1

1.1 Research Problem and Reorganized Collected Literature
1.1.1 Research Problem Statement
The topic discussed in this context is the “Application of the natural language processing in
education”. The natural language processing is an emerging technique which has been used in
various technologies. The application of the natural language processing the education can be
helpful to make the positive change in the learning system. Natural language processing is an
scientific way that provides to develop the technology which can be beneficial for the scientific
learning. In some cases, the application of the natural language processing can be beneficial for
automation of the checking grammar in the selected text or identifying the happening of the
events from a large paragraph and arrange it in timely order. All these applications can be used
as the part of any emerging technology (Carrell et al.2015). Apart from that the application of
the natural language processing can be helpful for e-learning and the learning of the new
languages.
The research topic has itself raised some questions regarding the application and the
implementation of the natural language processing. It can be said that the natural language
processing can be applicable for making the application which can be beneficial for assisting
different aspects in the educational background. However, the application of the natural
language processing is dependent on the structure of the language (Lui et al.2018). Different
languages have different structure. In this context the implementation of the software based on
the natural language processing needs different structures for different language. In this case,
the collaboration with the system developer is needed with the persons who knows the
structure of that particular language in a proper way.
The education system is getting more innovative and the process of the learning needs more
teacher student interaction. In this case, the process of the e-learning and the application of the
automation in the teaching process and the error detection process are gaining popularity. In
this situation the application of the natural language processing is going to be used widely. The
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main objective of this paper is understand the working of the natural language processing in a
proper manner and the implementation of the natural language processing for educational
purpose. The proposed software for the natural language processing will help to implement the
required development in the educational purpose (Zhang, Zhao and LeCun 2015). However, the
software may have some of the limitations as the better development of the software based on
the natural language processing is also dependent on the better understanding of the structure
of the language.
3

1.1.2 Reorganized Collected Literature
Research Problem Sub-problem Collected Literature
Problem 1 Sub-problem 1 Literature 1
Literature 2 …
Usage of the natural
language processing in
the software.
 Difference in the
structures of
different
languages.
 Problems
regarding the
implementation
of the natural
language
processing.
 The complexity
regarding the
whole concept of
natural language
processing.
 Allen, L.K. and
McNamara, D.S., 2015. You
Are Your Words: Modeling
Students' Vocabulary
Knowledge with Natural
Language Processing
Tools. International
Educational Data Mining
Society.
 Lui, A., Chary, M.,
Yoneda, N. and Parikh, S.,
2018. Tracking Resident
Cognitive Maturation with
Natural Language
Processing. Western Journal
of Emergency Medicine:
Integrating Emergency Care
with Population
Health, 19(4.1).
 Burstein, J., 2014,
March. Opportunities for
natural language processing
research in education.
In International Conference
on Intelligent Text Processing
and Computational
Linguistics(pp. 6-27).
Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
 Alhawiti, D.K.M.,
2014. Natural Language
Processing and its Use in
Education. Computer Science
4

Department, Faculty of
Computers and Information
technology, Tabuk University,
Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
…
Interaction in the
system of the
education.
 Problems those
can be faced
during the
learning process
in the education.
 The lack of the
human and
computer
interaction and
its effect on the
learning process.
 Zhang, X., Zhao, J.
and LeCun, Y., 2015.
Character-level convolutional
networks for text
classification. In Advances in
neural information
processing systems (pp. 649-
657).
 Carrell, D.S.,
Cronkite, D., Palmer, R.E.,
Saunders, K., Gross, D.E.,
Masters, E.T., Hylan, T.R. and
Von Korff, M., 2015. Using
natural language processing
to identify problem usage of
prescription
opioids. International journal
of medical
informatics, 84(12), pp.1057-
1064.

…
1.2 Types of Methodology
1.2.1 Qualitative and Quantitative Methodologies
There are two types of methodologies present in the research method. The qualitative research
method indicates the research method which deals with the theoretical data for the research
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purpose. On the other hand quantitative data denotes the conduction of the research using the
numerical and statistical data.
1.2.2 Type of Chosen Methodology
Regarding this research topic named “Natural Language Processing and its use in education”
both qualitative and quantitative data are used for the development of the research ( Allen and
McNamara 2015). Qualitative data is used to understand the theory regarding natural language
processing on the other hand the qualitative research has been conducted to analysis the result
and the effect of the implementation of the natural language processing in the education. The
usage of the qualitative and quantitative methodologies has been applied in the research
purpose. In this case it can be said that the hybrid methodology has been used in the process.
1.3 Review of the Existing Methodologies
1.3.1 Selected Sub-Problem
There are various sub problems related to the application of the natural language processing.
However, the selection of the one sub problem has been discussed in the research problem. The
selected sub problem is regarding the complicated and different structure of the different
languages and the effect of this diversity on the implementation of the natural language
processing in different technologies.
1.3.2 Analysis of the Selected Methodologies
Literature 1:
Opportunities for Natural Language Processing Research in Education
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This paper describes the process and the application of the natural language processing in the
education. Natural language processing is an emerging technology which can be applied in the
different field of education (Burstein 2014). In this context the historical background of the
application of the natural language processing has been described along with the usage of the
natural language processing in the different filed of technology like e-rater and text adopter. The
development of the systems has been described in order to evaluate the opportunities involved
with these emerging technologies. The research method used in this study is qualitative
method.
Literature 2:
Natural Language Processing and its Use in Education
The paper discusses about the contribution and the possible application of the natural language
processing in the education. In this context the knowledge and the concept of the natural
language processing has been described (Alhawiti 2014). The study focuses on the
implementation of the natural language processing in the scientific study and the education. The
main aim of the paper is to discuss the theoretical concept of the natural language processing
and the implementation of the natural language processing in the education. The method used
in this research is both qualitative and quantitative method.
1.3.3 Relevance of the Research Problem
Literature 1 is concerned about the opportunities in the field of the natural language processing.
This research paper supports the idea about the relevance of selection of the topic regarding
the application of the natural language processing in the field of the education.
Literature 2 is relevant to the current research topic as it describes the concept of the natural
language processing along with the application of the natural language processing in the field of
education. This paper has given important inputs which are important for the conduction of the
research.
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1.3.4 Summary of the Reviewed Methodologies
Literature # Research Problem Methodology Your Sub-problem Relevance
Literature1 The opportunities of
using natural language
processing in
education.
Qualitative The future of the
usage of the natural
language processing
in education.
Medium
relevant
Literature2 The application of the
natural language
processing in the
different field of
education
Both qualitative
and quantitative
Dealing with the
complex structure
of different
languages and their
implementation
with the natural
language
processing.
Strongly
relevant
1.4 Proposed Methodology
The proposed methodology for the conduction of this research is hybrid methodology. The
hybrid methodology is the combination of the qualitative and quantitative methodology. Each of
the type of methodology serves its purpose in a right manner. The justification of the selection
of the hybrid methodology is mentioned in the following subsections.
1.4.1 Identification and Justification
The selection of the methodology has been done on the basis of the type of the project. In the
research regarding the application of the natural language processing in the field of education
the concept of the natural language processing is needed to be known. For this purpose the
theoretical concept of the natural language processing is needed to be known and this can be
achieved through the qualitative methodology. On the other hand the research is aimed to the
application of the natural language processing in the educational field and its benefits of this
application. Regarding this the evaluation and the advantage of the application can be achieved
8

through the analysis of the data from different statistical resources which will indicate the
improvement of the situation after the implementation of the emerging technology. This can be
achieved through the quantitative analysis.
1.4.2 Benefits and Limitations
The main benefit of choosing the hybrid methodology is that it allows the use of the both
qualitative and quantitative methodology. The evaluation of the data for the methodology can
be done through the various aspects regarding the topic of the research. Usage of the hybrid
methodology helps to understand the theoretical concept regarding the application of the
natural language processing in the field of education (Allen, Snow and McNamara 2015). On the
other hand the benefits of the application of the natural language processing can be done
through the statistical analysis of the data by comparing the data regarding before and the
after situation of the implementation.
There are certain limitations of the hybrid methodology. The access of the gathered data can
deceive the objective and the aim of the research. Apart from that there is a chance that the
choose qualitative and the quantitative data is wrong.
1.4.3 Framework and Explanation
9
Establishing the theories
and ideas regarding the
natural language
processing
Evaluation of the known
ideas about the natural
language processing.
Unknown factors and the
opportunities regarding the
application of the natural
language processing in the
field of the education.
The central idea of the
research

Figure 1: Framework of the research
(Source: Created by author)
The framework represents the overall research methodology or the approach for the findings of
the significance of the application of natural language processing in the field of education. The
concept of the natural language processing is emerging. In this context the concept of the natural
language processing is needed to be gained through the literatures and other sources. The
evaluation of the gathered knowledge is needed to be done in order to know the significance of
the information and sort the information on the basis of the relevance. This will also accompanied
by the analysis of the data and the comparison of the data regarding before and the after situation
of the implementation of the natural language processing in the field of education. The gaining of
the concept and the knowledge regarding the natural language processing and the evaluation of
the gathered information will help to discover new facts about the implementation of this
emerging concept in different fields of education.
List of References
Allen, L.K. and McNamara, D.S., 2015. You Are Your Words: Modeling Students' Vocabulary
Knowledge with Natural Language Processing Tools. International Educational Data Mining
Society.
Lui, A., Chary, M., Yoneda, N. and Parikh, S., 2018. Tracking Resident Cognitive Maturation with
Natural Language Processing. Western Journal of Emergency Medicine: Integrating Emergency
Care with Population Health, 19(4.1).
Alhawiti, D.K.M., 2014. Natural Language Processing and its Use in Education. Computer Science
Department, Faculty of Computers and Information technology, Tabuk University, Tabuk, Saudi
Arabia.
Zhang, X., Zhao, J. and LeCun, Y., 2015. Character-level convolutional networks for text
classification. In Advances in neural information processing systems (pp. 649-657).
10

Carrell, D.S., Cronkite, D., Palmer, R.E., Saunders, K., Gross, D.E., Masters, E.T., Hylan, T.R. and
Von Korff, M., 2015. Using natural language processing to identify problem usage of prescription
opioids. International journal of medical informatics, 84(12), pp.1057-1064.
Burstein, J., 2014, March. Opportunities for natural language processing research in education.
In International Conference on Intelligent Text Processing and Computational Linguistics(pp. 6-
27). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Allen, L.K., Snow, E.L. and McNamara, D.S., 2015, March. Are you reading my mind?: modeling
students' reading comprehension skills with natural language processing techniques.
In Proceedings of the fifth international conference on learning analytics and knowledge (pp.
246-254). ACM.
Rehman, Z. and Kifor, S., 2015, November. Teaching natural language processing (NLP) using
ontology based education design. In Balkan region conference on engineering and business
education (Vol. 1, No. 1). De Gruyter Open.
11