READER is an interface between the student and a unique combination of an on-line text and a lexical database. In this combination, called a semantic concordance, each word in the text is associated with it context-appropriate meaning in the lexical database. The semantic concordance is created in advance by trained interpreters who insert connections (semantic tags) between the words in the text and the contextually appropriate meanings of those words in the lexical database.
As a demonstration, the novel, The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane (1895), has been used as the text. The lexical database is WordNet. READER displays the formatted text one page at a time and students who are interested in any particular word can click on it and read its meaning in the given context. A brief paper gives detailed information about the Reader interface and design
In addition to building vocabulary and strengthening general word knowledge, the easy availability of semantic information should be especially valuable for technical or scientific texts, since much of the task of learning a new field consists of mastering its vocabulary.
READER is not available for distribution at the present time.