Digital linguistic annotation facilitates the interaction with the text (Active Reading), making all the meanings hidden beneath the textual surface to emerge. Annotation is the first step in strengthening reading, comprehension and text analysis skills.
The subdivision into text types is "functional", as it takes into account the communicative purpose of each text. The classification of a text, in fact, depends on its "dominant" communicative function. There are different ways of grouping text types. On Linda, we classify texts as:
Texts that have pragmatical functions and are thus part of everyday-life (expository texts, informative texts), non-fiction (argumentative texts, regulatory texts), or that can be found in non-narrative sections in literary texts.
Fictional texts, novels, poetry
The key elements to start working with annotation are:
Any written utterance characterised by morphosyntactic compactness and unity of meaning.
List of values to be assigned to portions of text according to semantic-lexical, syntactic-morphological or grammatical criteria.
Here is how to start:
You can pick one form the many that are available. Each activity has its own learning items: a sheet with theoretical insights, a collection of texts and a set of tags to start the activity. The activities are divided according to different criteria, such as text type, linguistic level analysed, target skills, school grade. For example, you can dive into an argumentative text in search of anaphora, cataphora or implicit and presuppositions. Don't know what I'm talking about? Reading the scenario sheet will make it clearer for you.
Here is another possibility: create your own activity. All you have to do is upload some texts and create a set of tags for annotation according to the linguistic analysis you want your students to conduct. A few simple steps and you will have a scenario ready to be shared with the class.
To each error its own tag. On LINDA you can correct your students' papers and assess written language skills
thanks to tags designed to recognise different types of errors (lexical, spelling, grammatical, syntactical).
How? The students upload their paper onto the platform; you annotate it with correction tags and evaluate the
work, grading or commenting it. Once you are done, you return the text to the student.