Tag: Interview

The Institute for Computer Systems Engineering: Research and Development (INESC-ID), in Lisbon, is a member of the iRead4Skills project consortium, funded by the European Union (HORIZON-CL2-2022-TRANSFORMATIONS-01-07).

Thank you for taking the time to answer a few questions:

What are your current duties?

At INESC-ID Lisboa, our team works on the development of technologies that help improve the reading and comprehension of texts. In particular, we focus on analysing textual complexity in Portuguese, using artificial intelligence and natural language processing. Our goal is to create tools that help adults with different levels of literacy to find texts suited to their skills, promoting more accessible and effective learning.

What is INESC-ID doing in the iRead4Skills project?

INESC-ID Lisboa plays an essential role in the technological component of the iRead4Skills project. We work on creating automatic methods to assess the difficulty of texts and suggest adaptations to make them more accessible. We use artificial intelligence to analyse factors such as vocabulary, sentence structure and speech organisation, ensuring that the recommended texts are appropriate to the user’s reading level.

What has it been like working with the other members of the Consortium, from different geocultural and national backgrounds?

The iRead4Skills consortium is extremely enriching, as it brings together experts from different fields and countries, each bringing their own perspective on literacy and teaching. This diversity allows us to develop solutions adapted to various languages and contexts, ensuring that the technology created can be applied more widely and inclusively.

How can the project help to improve the literacies of low- and medium-educated adults in different languages?

The iRead4Skills project offers an innovative platform that suggests texts tailored to each user’s reading level. By enabling adults in the process of learning to access materials suited to their understanding, we promote literacy development in a gradual way that is adapted to their needs. What’s more, the tool works in several languages, making it useful for diverse linguistic communities.

Can you define the project in three words?

Accessibility, innovation, inclusion.

Source: https://epale.ec.europa.eu/pt/blog/iread4skills-entrevista-com-equipa-do-inesc-id-portugal

Xavier Blanco is the Director of the Department of French and Romance Philology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, a member of the iRead4Skills project consortium, funded by the European Union (HORIZON-CL2-2022-TRANSFORMATIONS-01-07).

We appreciate your willingness to answer a few questions: 

1 – What are your current responsibilities? 

I am a professor in the Department of French and Romance Philology at the UAB and serve as the head of the department. Additionally, I lead the UAB research team for the iRead4Skills project. 

 2 – What is UAB’s role in the iRead4Skills project? 

Our team focuses on developing Spanish language resources, particularly dictionaries and corpora, in collaboration with the University of Santiago de Compostela. We are also responsible for testing the iRead4Skills resources and tools with end users, including both teachers and students. 

 3 – What has it been like to work with other consortium members from different geo-cultural and national backgrounds? 

This has been a valuable opportunity to further develop my expertise in teaching foreign languages and literatures in a diverse and multicultural context.

4 – How can the project help improve literacy among the adult Spanish-speaking population? 

The project aims to enhance literacy by identifying and classifying Spanish texts according to topic and difficulty level, as well as offering reading materials tailored to the interests of users.

5 – Can you define the project in three words?

Vocabulary, Text, Reading. 

Source: https://epale.ec.europa.eu/en/blog/interview-xavier-blanco-uab-spain