Student's Guide to CATERS

Atsushi Fukada

Center for Technology-Enhanced Language Learning
Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures
Purdue University

This document describes how to use CATERS. This is a preliminary version to be augumented later.

1. Open the CATERS folder (directory) and find the CATERS icon which looks like and double-click on it.
   
2. When you see the following logon window, find your name on the list and click on it to log on. If you are a learner of Japanese using CATERS for self-study, click on "General user".
   
   
   
   
3. Choose a reading material to study from the list. By clicking on an item in the list you can display information on that item. When you decide on a material, click on the "Read this one" button to proceed.
   
   
   
   
4. The text you have chosen is displayed in the text window. You can begin reading it at this point.
   
   
   
   
5. If you have trouble with the text, you can call up any of these "help" functions from the Fuctions menu at any time. (Note: Some functions may not be available depending on how the author prepared the materials.)
   
   
   
   Brief descriptions of these functions follow.
   • Timed Reading
     This allows you to measure your reading speed.
   • Paragraph quiz
     This brings up questions on the current paragraph. (You can change the current paragraph by clicking somewhere in a paragraph.) There are four types of questions (i.e. Kanji, Word, Sentence, and Discourse) to choose from. You can choose whatever you want. When you are finished with this function, choose "Stop paragraph quiz". If you are asked to type in something in Japanese, make sure that you are in the Japanese input mode.
   • Global quiz
     This brings up questions on the entire text. The format is similar to the paragraph quiz. When you are finished with this function, choose "Stop global quiz".
   • Kanji Info
     First highlight a single kanji in the text, and call up this function. You will then see general information about the kanji in the bottom window.
   • Kanji Yomi
     First highlight kanji or a compound, and call this up. You will see the correct (i.e. correct in the particular context) reading of your selection.
   • Show skeleton
     This function highlights the skeleton (i.e. most essential part of the sentence) of a sentence in three colors. (blue=subject or topic; green=complement(s); red=predicate) Click somewhere in a sentence, and call up this function. When you are finished examining the information, click the mouse once anywhere, and the display returns to the original state.
   • Phrase translation
     This provides a translation of a word or phrase. Highlight a part of a sentence, and call up this function. The translation is displayed in the bottom text field. You can highlight several words at the same time.
   • Sentence Translation
     This displays a translation of an entire sentence. Click somewhere in a sentence, and call up this function. The translation is displayed in the bottom text field.
   • Display structure
     This displays the detailed structure of a sentence in a separate window. Highlight a part of a sentence, and call up this function. In the structure display window, the highlighted part appears in the top text field. Underneath that are three navigation buttons and a few squares. The squares represent a breakdown of what is displayed in the top text field. If a square is shadowed, it means the sub-part can be broken down further upon clicking on it. If you want to go back up the "tree", click on the button named "go back up." The "top level" button takes you all the way up to the entire sentence level.
     
     
     
     
   • Reference
     This function shows you what part of the text a referring expression (e.g. kore, sono) refers to. You first highlight a referring expression, and call up this function. It will change the color of the piece of text referred to. Additional comments may appear in the bottom text field. When you are finished examining the information, click the mouse once anywhere, and the display returns to the original state.
   • Show Modifier/scope
     This shows how far the modifier extends when you highlight a head noun. First, you highlight a head noun, and call up his function. The modifying part will change its color. When you are finished examining the information, click the mouse once anywhere, and the display returns to the original state.
     
     
6. When you are finished studying the text, either choose "Select another text" or "Quit" from the File menu.