FLASHER Language Exercise Program
Download, Installation & Use Guide

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For Windows 9x, ME, or 3.x; about 430K installed.

Flasher is a a simple foreign language drill program which uses the same special character entry procedure as my CharPad text editor. Conceptually it reflects my conviction that keyboard response entry can be more effective for long-term learning than simply recognizing, pointing and clicking. When users make errors, it honors their need for efficiency and rewards them for what they do get right. Any correct portions of the response are retained, and diagnostic messages guide the learner through the process of correcting predictable entry errors. This should go a long way toward reducing student frustration.

Still under development, Flasher is being offered now to meet the immediate needs of my students in Spanish and German. You are encouraged to try it now and e-mail me your comments and suggestions. Features envisioned for future versions include score reporting by e-mail, automatic download and update of lesson files via the Internet, additional expository and item types, and support for audio and video playback. There already is a simple instructor lesson editing interface available upon request.

Installation Guide

1. Print out and read all instructions before proceeding.
2. Using Windows File Manager / Explorer, verify that you have at least 425K free space on the C: drive; delete unneeded files if necessary; (50K is sufficient if you already have VBRUN300.DLL.)
3. Click below to start downloading the setup file. Pay attention to its name and to which directory (folder) it is being saved in. Tip: If you do misplace the file, use "Find" from Start Menu (Win9x) or "Search" under File Manager's File Menu (Win3.x).
4. From Windows File Manager / Explorer, go to the directory you saved the file in and double-click on the icon of file of the setup file to start installing.
5. Test Flasher by double-clicking on (Win9x) the desktop icon ("yellow lightning"), or else (Win 3.x) on C:\FLASHER\FLASHER.EXE from File Manager.
6. Win 3.x:  If installation was successful, use File Manager to "drag and drop" FLASHER.EXE from File Manager to an appropriate Program Group (3.1.) or Folder.
7. When you have tested the installation, delete the downloaded setup file.
8. Please send me feedback about your experience with the program, including suggestions for improvement.

Quick-Start Guide to Using Flasher

Flasher Demonstration Video
Open EXE file to view video

Flasher Demonstration Video
Lower-Bandwidth Windows Media Player File

Quick Start Guide Only for Printout

Running a Lesson

• Click on "Lessons" or press Alt-L to select a lesson.
• Read the general instructions in the turquoise window at the top of the screen before starting.
• Read your specific task for each item in ivory window below the general instructions.
• Enter responses in the white window. See here for foreign character entry instructions, and here for fill-in items.
• When you have entered your response, press <Enter> or Alt-C, or else click the "Check" button to check it.
• Feedback then appears in the ivory window below your response.
• If the lesson author has included additional help on the item, the "Hint" button is now enabled. Enter Alt-H or click the button to read this help if you wish.
• Program help on the mechanics of Character entry and program use is always available.
• If your response is correct, press <Enter> or Alt-N, or else click the "Next" button to continue.
• If your response contains errors, edit and re-check it. Fill-ins follow this procedure as well:
  • If the lesson author has chosen to provide additional help on the item, the "Hint" button will now be enabled. Enter Alt-H or click the button to read this help.
  • You must now edit your entry before re-checking your response.
  • Your previous response now appears in the white input window. It has been "marked up" with diagnostic characters which replace incorrect letters and show where extra letters appear or missing letters belong in your response.
  • As you move through the entry, diagnostic messages in the gray area directly below the input window describe the error and the necessary correction.
  • Correct portions of your original entry are preserved and cannot be changed.
  • Edit Errors and Fill-In blanks by overwriting: just place the cursor in front of the character and type the letter that belongs there. You can return later with an arrow key to change these corrections.
  • Remove any extra characters with the <Delete> key.
  • The right / left arrow keys move the cursor to the next / previous position where corrections are possible.
  • The <Tab> key moves the cursor to the next position where corrections have not been made yet.
  • Your actual previous entry appears for comparison in the bottom ivory window.
  • In this correction mode, the "Check" button is not be enabled until all changes have been made.
  • Diagnostic messages are based on general markup principles, not insight. They will be most helpful to you when your response resembles the intended answer quite closely.
  • Known bug: occasionally the marked-up response may have a wrong number of positions when it is edited. Make all corrections and delete all "extra" characters, then check it. This bug will be eliminated before score-reporting is enabled.

Error Diagnostics

Special Character Input

1. Type the "basic" character, e.g. A
2. Enter remap key \
   • If more than one remap is possible, the character will be highlighted. Enter the "modifier", e.g. ' (apostrophe) for acute accent Á, " (quote) for umlaut Ä, ^ or 6 for circumflex Â, e or E for e-ligature Æ etc.
   • If only one remapping is possible, the character will be converted automatically, with no further input (e.g. ? is remapped to ¿ and N to Ñ).
   • If you select German or Spanish from the Language menu, remapping to the most likely character (Umlaut / ß for German, acute accent for Spanish) is automatic.

Downloads

1. Right-click or shift-click on link and "Save Link / Target as..."  

2. Remember where you save the file, then double-click on it to install

German

Adjective Endings, Present Perfect, Prepositions, Prepositions with Adjectives, Conjunctions, Relative Clauses, Subjunctive forms

• Windows 9x, ME: FlasherGermanSetup.exe
• Windows 3.x: flgerm1.exe

Spanish

Present Tense, Preterite, Imperfect, Present Perfect, Future, Conditional, Subjunctive Forms and Use, Por / Para, Tense Recognition

• Windows 9x, ME: FlasherSpanishSetup.exe
• Windows 3.x: flspan1.exe

Acknowledgements

Flasher owes a conceptual debt to other programs that have been in use for some time:

• Duke University's original DOS CALIS tutorial program, for the example of ASCII control files and especially the magic key \ for foreign character entry
• Various character input and response mark-up strategies developed by my colleague Chris Buck and myself over the years for interactive video
• Conduit Software's DASHER, for part of the mark-up approach and most of the program's name
• USMA's (West Point's) DFLASH flashcard program, for reminding us that simple drills can be very useful indeed, and are much more likely to get written than complex ones. This program also inspired the rest of the name (the resemblance to my own surname is gratuitous).
• Several language tutorial programs whose frustratingly outmoded user interface ("Wrong - Please re-enter the entire response and hope you don't introduce new errors") and incompatibility with today's computers necessitated this program.

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EDITED BY: AssocProf William H. Fletcher, Language Studies Dept., US Naval Academy
REVISION: 10 January 2001
URL: http://www.usna.edu/LangStudy/flasher.html