courseware reviews

Courseware Reviews

Pracacal Wriang Resource Kit and Computer Writing Resource Kit

by Diane Newman

The Computer Writing Resource Kit and the Practical Writing Resource Kit offer excellent models for humanities instructional software. They were designed by Dr. Stephen Marcus of the University of California, Santa Barbara, an early pioneer in adapting personal computers for teaching writing. He brings a wealth of knowledge to the handbooks and writing activities, and his approach gives students the impression that a friendly, knowledgeable professor is there in person care- fully guiding their way.

Not created with a traditional programming language, the programs employ a standard word processor as an authoring system to generate information, questions, and writing activities. One could think of the programming technique as an "idea processor" and, as such, it presents wide- spread, low-cost applications for teaching humanities with personal computers.

The purpose of the Writing Resource Kits is to "refine and extend basic word processing skills while students explore the facets of writing." By using a word processor to do their lessons, students practice word processing techniques as they learn to write.

Although some information overlaps, the Com- puter Writing Resource Kit emphasizes literary or academic writing, while the Practical Writing Resource Kit focuses upon on business corre-

Diane Newman is Research Associate at Florida Atlantic University and Commissioner to the Florida House of Representatives Commission on Computers and Telecommunication. Her current activities involve the State University System of Florida, Florida Writers Network, and Library Automation.

Computers and the Humanities 24:513--515, 1990.

spondence and reports. The kits contain a Faculty Handbook, a Stiudent Handbook, and a disk of writing lessons formatted as a set of text files.

Disk versions are available for Appleworks on Apple IIe and IIc, WordStar on IBM, PC-Write on IBM PC, and Macwrite on Apple Macintosh. PC- Write is the only word processor available as part of the Practical Writing Resource Kit. The other word processors must be purchased separately. Although the teaching materials are identical, the versions vary according to the particular format and commands of the designated word processors. Prices vary slightly, and a bulk order can be purchased at reduced savings. The resource kits are a good value, with the overall student cost less than most textbooks.

Both the Student Handbook and computer lessons have an interactive design that requires students to "fill-in" answers to questions or responses to directed activities. The compact Student Handbook is a paperback workbook with lectures, examples, and space for student input, while the computer text files are electronic work- books. Students are encourged to refer to both their personalized handbook and their completed electronic lesson files in follow-up class discus- sions. Some writing activities are designed for repeated use as students progress and address new topics.

The construction of the Writing Resource Kits appears to be simple almost to a fault, but, in truth, its underlying scheme leads students to develop the solid critical analysis basic to all successful writing. The program's writing activities take interactivity beyond drill and practice into the realm of students interacting with the ideas presented, and the computer lessons are not electronic carbon copies of the handbook lessons.

In addition to the Student Handbook and companion disk, the Faculty Handbook provides an excellent resource guide with relevant essays, bibliography, and selected software. Covering a broad range of computer/writing topics, the book

514 COURSEWARE REVIEWS

offers a quick CAI/Writing entry point for faculty and a current overview of the field. The Faculty Handbook also includes practical guidelines for faculty to write their own instructional programs with a wordprocessor.

Neither the program disk nor the Student Handbook contains a formal menu, but the Faculty Handbook has a full program listing with disk/script printouts of the text files, supplemental summaries, and additional writing activities including general topics, questions, and assignments to challenge students. Students need only list the disk's directory to display the available files. This method of file examination habituates students to view filenames and load text files as they would when writing independently with their word processors. The burden of the action is neatly placed on the users.

The program's filenames clearly define their contents and, as they are approximately equal in degree of difficulty, they can be used in any order of preference, allowing either the instructor or students to select utilities, lessons, exercises, or examples on an individual basis. Like the handbook, the object is self-help.

The Practical Writing and Computer Writing kits reinforce composition as an individual en- deavor and encourage students to use a word processor to overcome writer's block, correct bad usage and spelling habits, eliminate weak words and wordiness, and improve thinking skills. Since many of the writing activities are designed to stimulate thinking, responses are expected to vary among students, and even change individually as students learn to engage fresh points of view. The program motivates students to save and compare their writing, and to practice vision and "re- vision."

Both the Student Handbook and the disk contain standard techniques of '~reewriting," spelling and usage lists, suggestions about ergonomics, and reading exercises traditionally employed by good writing professors, but excellently adapted to the computer. For example, '~freewriting" -- prewrit- ing made invisible by turning down the light on the computer screen -- frees students to capture their thoughts without constantly checking for errors. Later, utility files containing personalized spelling

and usage lists can be copied onto the front of a file and, using the Find/Replace commands, students automatically correct their common errors.

Users are expected to know the elementary commands needed to run their particular word processors, but version-specific instructions care- fully guide students through the lessons. All "Help" is in the form of clearly defined on-screen cues. There are no additional menus, icons, on- line help, keyboard templates, or tutorials because they might conflict with the word processor's own support structure.

Utility files are provided to show students how to create special tools to help improve their papers. Students are encouraged to personalize these files by including their most common spelling and usage difficulties. Assignment files provide students with practice writing activities that con- centrate on specific aspects of writing.

The Practical Writing Resource Kit covers business topics: executive summaries, letters, memos, and meetings. The Computer Writing Resource Kit covers academic areas: outlines, literary themes, and poetry.

The writing kits primarily will be used as part of a course under faculty direction, but individuals may use them to improve their word processing and writing skills. Both the Student Handbook and computer lessons address students directly, gently prodding them to write thoughtful answers, prais- ing them when they've completed a difficult assignment, and kidding them in a light-hearted manner throughout the lessons.

The program is easy to use, consisting of loading, copying, running, or inputting text files with the use of a selected word processor. The program is not only user friendly, but motivates students with a chatty one-side conversation that stimulates a wide range of responses. Feedback is intellectual rather than technical in nature; advis- ing and suggesting qualitatively instead of measur- ing quantitatively. Students are subtly led towards objective self-evaluation.

The screens are uncluttered and provide suffi- cient space for student response. If color is available, then students may use a utility file to modify the program according to their own tastes.

This flexible software is set up for students to

COURSEWARE REVIEWS 515

work at their own pace. By saving lessons on disks or print-outs, students and faculty can review and discuss previous responses. By saving a file under a separate name, lessons can be interrupted or terminated without destructive loss of data or input, and they may be easily continued at a later time.

Professors who teach composition will find both writing kits quite readable and filled with good suggestions about writing.

Name of courseware: Computer Writing Resource Kit and Practical Writing Resource Kit

Copyright Date: 1986 (Computer Writing) and 1987 (Practical)

Developer: Stephen Marcus, U of California, Santa Barbara

Vendor: D.C. Heath and Company, College Sales 125 Spring Street Lexington, Massachusetts 02173-9911 1-800-235-3565

Medium: 5 1/4" diskette

System Requirements: Writing Activities disks are available for the following computer/word processing combinations: Apple IIe, 64K, 80- column card, for Appleworks word processor. IBM-PC, 128K, for WordStar word processor. IBM-PC, 128K, with PC-Write word processor. Apple Macintosh for Macwrite word processor.

Documentation: Paperback Computer Writing Resource Kit Student Handbook (50 pp.) and Faculty Handbook (57 pp.), Practical Writing ResourceKit Student Handbook (67 pp.), and Faculty Handbook (116 pp.).

Prices: Vary between $5.00 and $20.95 according to version and number of copies. A Sampler Kit containing the Faculty Handbook/Disk Script and Student Handbook is available upon request.

Spanish Pronunciation Tutor

by Mark D. Larsen

When Bill Atkinson's HyperCard first appeared at the 1987 MacWorld Expo, Macintosh users enthusiastically hailed it as one of the most innovative programs to enter the market, a true land- mark in software design. Paraphrasing one of their earlier slogans, Apple's promoters touted the software as "programming for the rest of us," and many went so far as to predict that it would do for the Macintosh what Applesoft Basic did for the Apple II.

In many ways, those predictions have come tr-e. There are now literally thousands of applications -- called "stacks" -- available for use with HyperCard, and more are appearing every month. And just like the programs written in Applesoft Basic, the stacks vary greatly in quality, sophistication, and cost. One of the first companies to offer commercial HyperCard stacks for teaching foreign languages is HyperGlot Software, based in Knox- ville, Tennessee. Their products include verb exercises and vocabulary drills in French, German, Spanish, and Russian, pronunciation guides in French and Spanish, a noun tutor and an introduc- tion to Russian, and even a stack for Japanese. This review will primarily focus on one of these products, the Spanish Pronunciation Tutor, although it is probable that the same observations would apply to the comparable stack in French.

The Macintosh has always been known as a user-friendly computer, thanks to its mouse-driven interface with pull-down menus, pop-open dia- logue boxes, and graphics. HyperCard, of course, was designed to take advantage of those features, so it should come as no surprise that using Spanish Pronunciation Tutor is as simple as pointing and clicking with the mouse. In fact, authors Beverly Burdette and Martin Rice are so confident of their stack's ease of use that they do not supply a

Dr. Larsen is Associate Professor of Spanish at Utah State University. He is currently the Associate Editor of Computing for Hispania, the journal of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese.

Computers and the Humanities 24:515--521, 1990.


manual - - only a single sheet of instructions. Nevertheless, they do warn truly novice users to first familiarize themselves with the Macintosh and HyperCard before trying to operate the software.

Spanish Pronunciation Tutor is a voluminous application; the package comes with four double- sided 800K disks that are fully loaded. The information sheet wisely instructs users to copy the software onto either a hard disk or backup floppies before actually using it. This first step is r ecommended because HyperCard automatically saves any changes to a stack. Users will find, however, that the software comes "locked" against modifications as an extra precaution against unintentional alterations.

One important bit of information that the authors fail to provide is that Spanish Pronuncia- tion Tutor will work much better on a hard disk than on floppies and two disk drives. One reason is that HyperCard will often garble sounds when playing them for the first time f rom a diskette. The

quality of subsequent repetitions will improve, however, as long as the sound is retained in active memory. Another reason is because of the hierar- chical manner in which the software searches for information. For example, if users start to browse through all four diskettes, HyperCard will soon force them to insert and eject all the disks several times before finally locating a chosen segment. Most teachers and students would find such repetitive disk swapping bothersome - - if not intolerable.

The easiest way to start the program is by double-clicking with the mouse on the icon for any of the four stacks. If HyperCard is present - - either on the hard disk or another disk drive - - the stack will open automatically. An alternative method would be to double-click HyperCard, and then use the pull-down menu under "File" to open any of the stacks for Spanish Pronunciation Tutor. Upon opening the stack, one sees the initial screen or "card" (see Figure 1).

a n i s h P r o n u n c i a t i o n Tutor :"~ PT T M ['~

C I . ^nc I

Figure 1


Students will note that there are several small pictures along the top and left side of the display. In hypertext jargon these are called "buttons," and function like menu options. For example, to quit the program they click on the picture of the door marked EXIT in the upper fight-hand comer of the screen. If they click the picture of the house in the upper left-hand comer they will return to the "home" card of HyperCard. Unfortunately, the other buttons are not so self-explanatory. It would seem that the developers also recognize this short- coming, and thus suggest that users begin by clicking the "About" button. This option will display a box of information about the software which in turn contains another button labeled "Overview." Clicking it will take students to a "map" of the stacks which helps clarify the functions of the other buttons (see Figure 2).

One can see that Spanish Pronunciation Tutor contains a variety of topics or "lessons" which

correspond to those found in the first pages of practically any first-year textbook. There are sec- tions on accentuation, syllabification, the proper sounds of all vowels and consonants, and even short reading passages. In this regard, the developers are to be commended, for they have thoughtfully divided and organized the subject matter into the most important concepts of Spanish pronunciation that students would have to master.

Nevertheless, there are a few weaknesses in the stack design. One of the most common errors of HyperCard developers is "overkill," e.g., they try to crowd too much onto every single card. The result is a display that seems "crowded," and only serves to confuse the user. For example, there is little reason to supply buttons to open each of the four separate stacks of Spanish Pronunciation Tutor. Students are interested in the subjects covered -- not how they happen to be organized

J VlIVO

habl6

FU,MU PO'DO. HE'CE

C . ABC.


T w o

T h r e e

~Four

-Stress & Accents--

Linking~

Syllables

Vowels,,

Consonants

Alphabet

Reading,

Readings

Go Back

Clicking on these stacks wil l take you to the d i f fe ren t lessons in the series. A check beside a s tack icon shows you w h a t lesson you're work ing in.

Click on these topic icons to go to the topic of your choice. The checks indicate that the given topic is in the current lesson, but you can click on any topic at any t ime.

Figure 2


on the disks - - so the topic icons would more than suffice. Moreover, it seems unnecessary to include even the topic options on every single card. (In fact, I noted with chagrin that these buttons did not work in stack four.) A better alternative would be to supply one "main menu" card per stack; all other cards should then have a button which would return to that main menu. What is gained in simplicity and reduced confusion would more than compensate for making the option to jump to another lesson a two-click process.

By the same token, a well designed main menu could effectively combine the functions of both the "introductory" and the "map" cards. In fact, one could then enlarge and modify the buttons to better clarify their corresponding functions. For instance, I seriously doubt that anyone would be able to guess the meaning of the button for "linking" without first consulting the map.

As for the rest of the cards in the stacks, the program should eliminate the "exit" button, and

simply allow users to quit the program by selecting the "home" button. The "forward" and "backward" arrows should be larger and more prominent - - perhaps at the bottom of the screen rather than the top -- since these are the buttons that students will use most often. And a user would more clearly understand that a lesson had come to its conclu- sion if either a blank button or a return-arrow button were to replace the "dead end" button currently used.

Despite these shortcomings, the content of Spanish Pronunciation Tutor is excellent. The explanations are clear, succinct, yet thorough, and provide plenty of examples. Best of all, the examples are reinforced with digitized sound so that users hear true-to-life, native pronunciation coming out of the computer 's speaker. Here is an illustration of only one such segment, in which students can not only read the explanation but also hear the proper pronunciation of the vowel "u" (see Figure 3).


a E e I i O o U u T" "h-e s o u n ~ " L ~ "

~ M The back of the M tongue is high, I~ coming close to the

h~bn, M soft palate. The lips M are tightly rounded.

~ W i Like the "O" sound in [~j i m o v e .

11 I . . . . . . . i T h e F i v e S p a n i s h I

i r i Cl.ick on E~ch Vov'el • []

Figure 3


Analysis of the digitized sounds using Sound- Edit shows that they were recorded at a sampling rate of only 7K of memory per second. The quality at this level is notably lower than that of the optimal rate of 22K per second, but it is nonethe- less intelligible, and allows nearly three times as much sound to be stored on the disks. The developers apparently had to choose between high fidelity and space limitations, and seem to have settled on an acceptable compromise.

A male recorded most of the samples, but a female voice is also used for the reading passages in stack four. In both instances the individuals are obviously native speakers, and their particular accents reveal that they are f rom Latin Amer ica rather than Spain. It would be preferable to use both voices throughout the entire collection, but there is no denying that the use of digitized sound is the most attractive feature of the program. No textbook can even come close to explaining Spanish pronunciat ion so effectively.

There are a few instances when the amplification of the male voice exceeds the limits of accurate reproduction. The resulting sound suffers a slight distortion, as the following graphic illustration shows• Note how the sound waves flatten out at the top and bot tom of the scale (see Figure 4).

The female voice, however, rarely suffers f rom the same distortion (see Figure 5).

One can surmise that the authors inadvertently caused the distortion of the male voice by increas- ing the volume of the recordings, probably in an effort to compensate for the small speaker in the Macintosh. However , many would prefer accuracy over amplification. A better alternative would be to leave the volume at a lower level and recommend that students use the program with head- phones - - an inexpensive '~valkman" headset would suffice - - , a solution which would also prove less distracting to other students in the language lab. Regardless, there are no instances when the distortions render the examples unintel- ligible.

The stacks contain many "special effects" such as pictures, charts, different styles and fonts of text, musical notes, and several methods of dissolv- ing or scrolling the items displayed. Sometimes the sophistication of the programming exceeds the task at hand, such as the case with buttons for "extra information." In reality, none of the information is "extra," so such concepts should simply be incor- porated into the lesson proper, even if it required adding a few more cards to the stack. I would also strongly recommend that the developers eliminate the arbitrary use of the "Option-click" combina- tion. Users who have become accustomed to moving through the lessons with a mere click would find the occasional change unnerving.

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Overall, however, the programmers do succeed in captivating the students' interest and curiosity through the innovative use of the many features of HyperCard.

A few other reservations deserve mention. The authors rely very strongly upon translation to convey meaning. Not only are the prompts and directions in English, but every example is likewise provided with a translated equivalent. One cannot help but wonder if such comparisons are really necessary, especially since the Macintosh is so adept at producing realistic graphics and sounds. Rather than telling students that mesa means "table," why not simply show them a picture while saying the word? In short, the constant use of translation seems ironically contradictory to the very reasons for using HyperCard.

The program would also be more effective if it included short, inoffensive reviews or "quizzes" at the end of every lesson, so that students could verify that they have indeed understood and learned the concepts presented. The program could even keep track of the students' scores on these quizzes, in case an instructor wanted to measure their progress. Adding such reviews would not be difficult, but it would require that the stacks be left "unlocked," so that the students could enter text in selected fields.

While on the subject of stack protection, I should point out that the authors did not set that

feature in stone by using a password. Venturesome teachers could therefore manage to unlock the stacks and alter them according to their own preferences. Conversely, they might prudently decide to add their own password to the software, lest an equally venturesome student cause irrepa- rable damage.

Finally, I would recommend that future versions of the program include an option to automatically install a "launch" button on the "home" card of HyperCard to facilitate access for subsequent sessions. Many stacks now include such features•

Despite the flaws listed above, I can highly recommend Spanish Pronunciation Tutor for use in any beginning Spanish course. The software provides the immediate feedback, interactive participation, and individualized pace which makes computer-assisted instruction so desirable. Add to those benefits its impressive use of digitized sound, and the result is a truly useful piece of software to teach students the funda- mentals of correct pronunciation.

Name of Courseware: Spanish Pronunciation Tutor

Distributor: The HyperGlot Software Company 505 Forest Hills Blvd• Knoxville, TN 37919 (615) 558-8250


Copyright: 1989

Price: $49.95

Type of computer and medium: Macintosh Plus, SE, or II with at least 1 megabyte of memory and HyperCard. Four double-sided, 800K 3.5" diskettes.

Documentation: Instruction sheet.

Arabic Software for the Macintosh

by Andrew Rippin

The complexities of Arabic orthography -- written right to left in a cursive script -- have meant that the development of software suitable for language instruction has been slow and limited. A selection of material from Eastern Language Systems for the Macintosh illustrates both the possibilities and the difficulties in implementing successful Arabic courseware.

The focal point for most of the developments is the alKaatib Arabic word processor. Available now in version 1.3 (released at the beginning of 1988), alKaatib allows typing in Arabic (and Persian) in proper right-to-left order with full automatic character shaping in keeping with the requirements of the cursive script. Justification is also automatic through the insertion of keshidehs, small straight lines which lengthen the actual word itself in traditional Arabic fashion. Printing to an ImageWriter is available in four different type- faces, a normal naskh style, an angular kufic, a decorative AlAndalus, and a fluid AlEscander. Printing to the LaserWriter is also possible through the use of PostScript fonts -- either the calligraphic alKaatib Laser Font or the crisper Tawfiq Laser Font (the latter also including bold, italic and outline fonts), both available as supple- ments to the basic software package.

To call alKaatib a "word processor" is rather

Andrew Rippin is Associate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies, University of Calgary.

grandiose. It is, in fact, little more than a text editor. Each document may include only one font; to include more, one must transfer the document to a fully featured word processor and change the fonts there. As a result, a bilingual document (e.g., Arabic and English) will require a lot of very careful cut and paste, alignment and forethought if more than the odd word here or there is desired. To construct a critical text edition with footnotes and an apparatus that used Roman type would be a hair-raising endeavour. The editor is limited in its other features as well. There is no delete buffer and no way to change permanently the default settings of the program; good flexibility is available for the basic settings, however. Search functions are extremely restricted. If the search term is not on the screen, the user must type and select the word, implement the searching process (either backwards or forwards), and then remember to delete the search term after the process is completed. There is no search and replace function.

Such limitations, however, have a certain bene- fit. The program is clearly easy enough for students to use with very little training. With relative ease the program can handle exercises requiring simple work with text files or composition of Arabic language essays.

Other sorts of limitations are imposed by several bugs in the program, none of which severely hampered my use of it, however. For example, the screen does not properly rewrite after certain editing moves in single spaced documents. Figures which flash up as justification takes place go up as high as 200% in tracking the completion of the task, for reasons which remain unclear. More serious is that after changing from a large font to a small one in a document which ends with a carriage return, a system error occurs when attempting to print the file to the ImageWriter. A letter included in the Open Me First file of the review copy of this program dated 29 February, 1988, informs owners that version 1.2 of alKaatib is being included on the disk because of unspeci- fied problems with version 1.3; it suggests that this earlier version be used as the "primary" tool and that the newer version only be used for its special features such as full justification. Several tele- phone calls to the company (which were handled courteously, but there is no toll-free number)

Computers and the Humanities 24:521 --525, 1990.


revealed that work continues (after 18 months!) on version 1.3 but there is no immediate expectation of a cure for the existing problems. It may also be noted that the manual for alKaatib (which is all in English) is also not particularly up-to-date, with references to Macintosh System File 3.2 and the use of the program Switcher rather than Multi- Finder.

More exciting possibilities in the use of the tools provided by alKaatib and its fonts are presented in Mu'allim A lMufradaat, a HyperCard- based vocabulary program. The stack, which has been typed using alKaatib, provides a resource for use with the Elementary Modern Standard Arabic textbook from the University of Michigan, now published by Cambridge University Press. The program covers lessons 1--30 (the first volume of the series) but also has a special lesson which treats plural words (up through lesson 13). According to Eastern Language Systems, work continues on the stacks, with the release of a second disk possible at some time in the near future.

The possibilities presented by the lessons are rather basic in CAI terms, allowing two passive methods of review along with two active ways of memorizing vocabulary. The student may review the words from a given lesson. One word will be displayed and the translation -- from English to Arabic or vice versa -- will appear one second later. Users may customize the order of the words, either normal, backwards, in two different random patterns or just covering the words missed. A speed button allows some flexibility but, of the three speeds, fast is rather too fast and changing the speed while going through the list requires starting at the beginning again. The program makes it possible to review the entire word list from a lesson; it presents the vocabulary in parallel columns, a neat implementation of HyperCard, but, unfortunately, the delay in the movement of the English column while scrolling through the list is quite distracting, leading to temporary confusion.

Somewhat more valuable from an instructional point of view is the multiple choice exercise in which a word appears at the top of the screen with four possible translations at the bottom; the student must then select the proper answer. Once

again, this can work from Arabic to English or vice-versa. Another set of exercises requires the student to type (accurately!) an English translation for a displayed Arabic word. The inverse of this is also available requiring the Arabic answer. While working in that mode, an Arabic keyboard is displayed on screen and the mouse must be used in order to press each key for the Arabic letters. The display keyboard shows the letters in Arabic alphabetic order (with additional ligatures and hamza combinations included at the end), a presentation which is good for reinforcing that order but not very positive for learning how to use a standard Arabic keyboard. Users must type a space at the end of words which require a final- shaped consonant since the program displays the connecting form of each letter initially (the asso- ciated help screen provides this information). Vowels are ignored in typing the words, except in the case of selecting the correct initial hamza ligature.

A number of help screens ease use of the program (printed instructions consist of one 4" by 5" card); all the screens are in English. The vocabulary stacks are in a locked format, which is good for data protection but not helpful if one wishes to modify the vocabulary being tested. A student information record keeps track of time spent, lessons worked on and scores achieved; multiple users may keep their records separate by instituting passwords.

Another demonstration of the possibilities of the use of alKaatib is found in a program called ABC2 ("Arabic by Computer") used in the Department of Modern Arabic Studies at the University of Leeds in England. This program, which is still under development (September 1987 is the date of the version available for review), illustrates more sophisticated approaches towards the use of a computer for instruction. Employing texts typed using alKaatib, the exercises include filling in the gaps, vocalization, and unscrambling sentences; instructors may choose the texts from a range of 12 different topics covering mainly areas of contemporary relevance -- the oil business and political events, for example.

One final feature of the Eastern Language Systems' product list is that all these types of documents may be enlivened by using The Orientalist


Series -- Islamic Images Clip Art. This collection of 30 calligraphic designs provides an easy way to display the intricacies which Arabic writing may embrace and are all ready to be pasted into any appropriate text via one's favourite graphics tool.

The greatest limitation of all of this software is its independence from the Arabic Interface System developed by Apple. Documents produced within the alKaatib environment cannot be readily manipulated within the ever growing body of Arabic software which has adopted Apple's system as the basis of its programming. Such a situation is unfortunate, to say the least, resulting in much duplication of effort among those interested in developing material such as courseware but who are working with different systems.

Overall, this collection of programs certainly combines to show the possibilities of Arabic instruction via the Macintosh. alKaatib's fonts are extremely attractive and easy to read (at least in their naskh form). Typing right to left and supplying automatic character formation creates no particular problems for the system. The basic technical computer problems have clearly been overcome, unfortunately in a manner independent of Apple's own answer. However, in terms of creating courseware which will actually help students learn, rather than supplying material for review by students who are already well moti- vated, there is still a long way to go.

of release notice for version 1.3; Open Me First file on disk.

The alKaatib Laser Font -- Naskh and The Tawfiq Laser Font, version 1.0

Vendor: Eastern LanguageSystems 37Wes t300 North Provo, Utah, 84601 801-377-4558

Copyright Eastern Language Systems, 1987, 1989

Price: S199 each

Type of computer and medium: Macintosh, one 800k disk each, not copy protected

Requires: Post-Script printer

Documentation: 18 pages punched for alKaatib binder.

Mu'allim AIMufradaat

Vendor: Eastern Language Systems 37 West 300 North Provo, Utah, 84601 801-377-4558

alKaatib Versions 1.2 and 1.3

Vendor: Eastern Language Systems 37 West 300 North Provo, Utah, 84601 801-377-4558

Copyright Arabic Software Associates, Eastern Language Systems, 1987

Price: S199

1986;

Copyright Eastern Language Systems, 1987

Price: $99

Type of computer and medium: Macintosh, one 800k disk, not copy protected

Requires: HyperCard, Macintosh with 1 megabyte of memory, 2 double-sided disk drives or hard disk.


Requires: one disk drive

Documentation: one binder, 117 pp plus 3 pages

ABC2 ("Arabic by Computer")

Developer/contact: Department of Modern Arabic Studies, Leeds University, Leeds, LS2 9JT England


Price: No cost for non-commercial use


Requires: one disk drive.

The Orientalist Series -- Islamic Images Clip Art Collection

Vendor: Eastern Language Systems 37 West 300 North

Provo, Utah, 84601 801-377-4558

Copyright Eastern Language Systems, 1987

Price: $99


Requires: one disk drive, graphic arts program

Documentation: 16pp. booklet.

Screen from Mu'allim alMufradaat illustrating the translation exercise from English to Arabic. The student has used the mouse to type in the Arabic word meaning "professor" and must now click on the "accept" button.


Screen from Mu'allim alMufradaat illustrating the multiple choice exercise from Arabic to English. The student must click on the correct English translation.