An Infinite Game in a Finite Setting: Visualizing Foreign Language Teaching and Learning in America.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mantero, Miguel

According to contemporary thought and foundational research, this paper presents various elements of the foreign language teaching profession and language learning environment in the United States as either product-driven or process-based. It is argued that a process-based approach to language teaching and learning benefits not only second…

Proposal: A Hybrid Dictionary Modelling Approach for Malay Tweet Normalization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muhamad, Nor Azlizawati Binti; Idris, Norisma; Arshi Saloot, Mohammad

2017-02-01

Malay Twitter message presents a special deviation from the original language. Malay Tweet widely used currently by Twitter users, especially at Malaya archipelago. Thus, it is important to make a normalization system which can translated Malay Tweet language into the standard Malay language. Some researchers have conducted in natural language processing which mainly focuses on normalizing English Twitter messages, while few studies have been done for normalize Malay Tweets. This paper proposes an approach to normalize Malay Twitter messages based on hybrid dictionary modelling methods. This approach normalizes noisy Malay twitter messages such as colloquially language, novel words, and interjections into standard Malay language. This research will be used Language Model and N-grams model.

The Process Genre Writing Approach; An Alternative Option for the Modern Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tudor, Emma

2017-01-01

"Writing involves knowledge about the language, the context in which writing happens and skills in using language. Writing development happens by drawing out the learners' potential and providing input to which learners respond" (Badger & White, 2000.) Taking this in to account, the Process Genre Approach in writing classes can be…

Prereferral Process with Latino English Language Learners with Specific Learning Disabilities: Perceptions of English-as-a-Second-Language Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ferlis, Emily; Xu, Yaoying

2016-01-01

This study explored perceptions of English-as-a-second-language (ESL) teachers on the prereferral process for Latino English language learners (ELLs). Using Colaizzi's (1978) phenomenological approach, qualitative data were collected through interviews with four ESL teachers. Analyses of the data indicated that the ESL teachers used research-based…

CLIL Students' Perceptions of Their Language Learning Process: Delving into Self-Perceived Improvement and Instructional Preferences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lasagabaster, David; Doiz, Aintzane

2016-01-01

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) has become a very popular approach in the belief that it may help to improve students' foreign language proficiency. Although some research has been conducted, there is a dearth of longitudinal studies on students' awareness of their language learning process in CLIL programmes. In this paper, 221…

Enhancing English Learners' Language Development Using Wordless Picture Books

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Louie, Belinda; Sierschynski, Jarek

2015-01-01

This article presents an approach to use wordless picture books to enhance the language development of English language learners. This approach is grounded in best practices to teach ELLs. The process starts with viewing and analyzing the visual images, engaging ELLs in discussion, and ending with students' self-authored texts. The wordless…

Brain signal variability as a window into the bidirectionality between music and language processing: moving from a linear to a nonlinear model

PubMed Central

Hutka, Stefanie; Bidelman, Gavin M.; Moreno, Sylvain

2013-01-01

There is convincing empirical evidence for bidirectional transfer between music and language, such that experience in either domain can improve mental processes required by the other. This music-language relationship has been studied using linear models (e.g., comparing mean neural activity) that conceptualize brain activity as a static entity. The linear approach limits how we can understand the brain’s processing of music and language because the brain is a nonlinear system. Furthermore, there is evidence that the networks supporting music and language processing interact in a nonlinear manner. We therefore posit that the neural processing and transfer between the domains of language and music are best viewed through the lens of a nonlinear framework. Nonlinear analysis of neurophysiological activity may yield new insight into the commonalities, differences, and bidirectionality between these two cognitive domains not measurable in the local output of a cortical patch. We thus propose a novel application of brain signal variability (BSV) analysis, based on mutual information and signal entropy, to better understand the bidirectionality of music-to-language transfer in the context of a nonlinear framework. This approach will extend current methods by offering a nuanced, network-level understanding of the brain complexity involved in music-language transfer. PMID:24454295

Brain signal variability as a window into the bidirectionality between music and language processing: moving from a linear to a nonlinear model.

PubMed

Hutka, Stefanie; Bidelman, Gavin M; Moreno, Sylvain

2013-12-30

There is convincing empirical evidence for bidirectional transfer between music and language, such that experience in either domain can improve mental processes required by the other. This music-language relationship has been studied using linear models (e.g., comparing mean neural activity) that conceptualize brain activity as a static entity. The linear approach limits how we can understand the brain's processing of music and language because the brain is a nonlinear system. Furthermore, there is evidence that the networks supporting music and language processing interact in a nonlinear manner. We therefore posit that the neural processing and transfer between the domains of language and music are best viewed through the lens of a nonlinear framework. Nonlinear analysis of neurophysiological activity may yield new insight into the commonalities, differences, and bidirectionality between these two cognitive domains not measurable in the local output of a cortical patch. We thus propose a novel application of brain signal variability (BSV) analysis, based on mutual information and signal entropy, to better understand the bidirectionality of music-to-language transfer in the context of a nonlinear framework. This approach will extend current methods by offering a nuanced, network-level understanding of the brain complexity involved in music-language transfer.

Combining Language Corpora with Experimental and Computational Approaches for Language Acquisition Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Monaghan, Padraic; Rowland, Caroline F.

2017-01-01

Historically, first language acquisition research was a painstaking process of observation, requiring the laborious hand coding of children's linguistic productions, followed by the generation of abstract theoretical proposals for how the developmental process unfolds. Recently, the ability to collect large-scale corpora of children's language…

Language as a multimodal phenomenon: implications for language learning, processing and evolution

PubMed Central

Vigliocco, Gabriella; Perniss, Pamela; Vinson, David

2014-01-01

Our understanding of the cognitive and neural underpinnings of language has traditionally been firmly based on spoken Indo-European languages and on language studied as speech or text. However, in face-to-face communication, language is multimodal: speech signals are invariably accompanied by visual information on the face and in manual gestures, and sign languages deploy multiple channels (hands, face and body) in utterance construction. Moreover, the narrow focus on spoken Indo-European languages has entrenched the assumption that language is comprised wholly by an arbitrary system of symbols and rules. However, iconicity (i.e. resemblance between aspects of communicative form and meaning) is also present: speakers use iconic gestures when they speak; many non-Indo-European spoken languages exhibit a substantial amount of iconicity in word forms and, finally, iconicity is the norm, rather than the exception in sign languages. This introduction provides the motivation for taking a multimodal approach to the study of language learning, processing and evolution, and discusses the broad implications of shifting our current dominant approaches and assumptions to encompass multimodal expression in both signed and spoken languages. PMID:25092660

Investigation of Pre-Service English Language Teachers' Cognitive Structures about Some Key Concepts in Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching Course through Word Association Test

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ersanli, Ceylan Yangin

2016-01-01

This study aims to map the cognitive structure of pre-service English language (EL) teachers about three key concepts related to approaches and methods in language teaching so as to discover their learning process and misconceptions. The study involves both qualitative and quantitative data. The researcher administrated a Word Association Test…

Self-Regulation and Approaches to Learning in English Composition Writing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Magno, Carlo

2009-01-01

It is hypothesized in the present study that when learners are tasked to write a composition in a second language (such as English language for Filipinos), they use specific approaches to learning and eventually undergo self-regulatory processes. The present study tested a model showing the shift from process to outcome in writing (Zimmerman &…

Aphasia: Current Concepts in Theory and Practice

PubMed Central

Tippett, Donna C.; Niparko, John K.; Hillis, Argye E.

2014-01-01

Recent advances in neuroimaging contribute to a new insights regarding brain-behavior relationships and expand understanding of the functional neuroanatomy of language. Modern concepts of the functional neuroanatomy of language invoke rich and complex models of language comprehension and expression, such as dual stream networks. Increasingly, aphasia is seen as a disruption of cognitive processes underlying language. Rehabilitation of aphasia incorporates evidence based and person-centered approaches. Novel techniques, such as methods of delivering cortical brain stimulation to modulate cortical excitability, such as repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation and transcranial direct current stimulation, are just beginning to be explored. In this review, we discuss the historical context of the foundations of neuroscientific approaches to language. We sample the emergent theoretical models of the neural substrates of language and cognitive processes underlying aphasia that contribute to more refined and nuanced concepts of language. Current concepts of aphasia rehabilitation are reviewed, including the promising role of cortical stimulation as an adjunct to behavioral therapy and changes in therapeutic approaches based on principles of neuroplasticity and evidence-based/person-centered practice to optimize functional outcomes. PMID:24904925

Spoken Spanish Language Development at the High School Level: A Mixed-Methods Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moeller, Aleidine J.; Theiler, Janine

2014-01-01

Communicative approaches to teaching language have emphasized the centrality of oral proficiency in the language acquisition process, but research investigating oral proficiency has been surprisingly limited, yielding an incomplete understanding of spoken language development. This study investigated the development of spoken language at the high…

Data-Driven Approaches for Paraphrasing across Language Variations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Xu, Wei

2014-01-01

Our language changes very rapidly, accompanying political, social and cultural trends, as well as the evolution of science and technology. The Internet, especially the social media, has accelerated this process of change. This poses a severe challenge for both human beings and natural language processing (NLP) systems, which usually only model a…

Foreign Language Methods and an Information Processing Model of Memory.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Willebrand, Julia

The major approaches to language teaching (audiolingual method, generative grammar, Community Language Learning and Silent Way) are investigated to discover whether or not they are compatible in structure with an information-processing model of memory (IPM). The model of memory used was described by Roberta Klatzky in "Human Memory:…

Curriculum Approaches in Language Teaching: Forward, Central, and Backward Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Richards, Jack C.

2013-01-01

The development and implementation of language teaching programs can be approached in several different ways, each of which has different implications for curriculum design. Three curriculum approaches are described and compared. Each differs with respect to when issues related to input, process, and outcomes, are addressed. Forward design starts…

A functional language approach in high-speed digital simulation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ercegovac, M. D.; Lu, S.-L.

1983-01-01

A functional programming approach for a multi-microprocessor architecture is presented. The language, based on Backus FP, its intermediate form and the translation process are discussed and illustrated with an example. The approach allows performance analysis to be performed at a high level as an aid in program partitioning.

An Outline of Processability Theory and Its Relationship to Other Approaches to SLA

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pienemann, Manfred

2015-01-01

In this article I make the point that there has been a continuous focus on second language development in second language acquisition research for over 40 years and that there is clear empirical evidence for generalizable developmental patterns. I will both summarize some of the core assumptions of Processability Theory (PT) as an approach to…

The New Approaches to Organization of Students' Individual Work in Foreign Language Learning in Ukraine and Abroad

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lysak, Halyna; Martynyuk, Olena

2017-01-01

Different approaches to organization of students' individual work using information technologies in Ukraine and abroad have been presented in the paper. The authors have analyzed the concept and role of students' individual work in the language learning process. It has been revealed that students' individual work is a rather flexible process and…

English to Sanskrit Machine Translation Using Transfer Based approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pathak, Ganesh R.; Godse, Sachin P.

2010-11-01

Translation is one of the needs of global society for communicating thoughts and ideas of one country with other country. Translation is the process of interpretation of text meaning and subsequent production of equivalent text, also called as communicating same meaning (message) in another language. In this paper we gave detail information on how to convert source language text in to target language text using Transfer Based Approach for machine translation. Here we implemented English to Sanskrit machine translator using transfer based approach. English is global language used for business and communication but large amount of population in India is not using and understand the English. Sanskrit is ancient language of India most of the languages in India are derived from Sanskrit. Sanskrit can be act as an intermediate language for multilingual translation.

Language as a multimodal phenomenon: implications for language learning, processing and evolution.

PubMed

Vigliocco, Gabriella; Perniss, Pamela; Vinson, David

2014-09-19

Our understanding of the cognitive and neural underpinnings of language has traditionally been firmly based on spoken Indo-European languages and on language studied as speech or text. However, in face-to-face communication, language is multimodal: speech signals are invariably accompanied by visual information on the face and in manual gestures, and sign languages deploy multiple channels (hands, face and body) in utterance construction. Moreover, the narrow focus on spoken Indo-European languages has entrenched the assumption that language is comprised wholly by an arbitrary system of symbols and rules. However, iconicity (i.e. resemblance between aspects of communicative form and meaning) is also present: speakers use iconic gestures when they speak; many non-Indo-European spoken languages exhibit a substantial amount of iconicity in word forms and, finally, iconicity is the norm, rather than the exception in sign languages. This introduction provides the motivation for taking a multimodal approach to the study of language learning, processing and evolution, and discusses the broad implications of shifting our current dominant approaches and assumptions to encompass multimodal expression in both signed and spoken languages. © 2014 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

Writing and reading: connections between language by hand and language by eye.

PubMed

Berninger, Virginia W; Abbott, Robert D; Abbott, Sylvia P; Graham, Steve; Richards, Todd

2002-01-01

Four approaches to the investigation of connections between language by hand and language by eye are described and illustrated with studies from a decade-long research program. In the first approach, multigroup structural equation modeling is applied to reading and writing measures given to typically developing writers to examine unidirectional and bidirectional relationships between specific components of the reading and writing systems. In the second approach, structural equation modeling is applied to a multivariate set of language measures given to children and adults with reading and writing disabilities to examine how the same set of language processes is orchestrated differently to accomplish specific reading or writing goals, and correlations between factors are evaluated to examine the level at which the language-by-hand system and the language-by-eye system communicate most easily. In the third approach, mode of instruction and mode of response are systematically varied in evaluating effectiveness of treating reading disability with and without a writing component. In the fourth approach, functional brain imaging is used to investigate residual spelling problems in students whose problems with word decoding have been remediated. The four approaches support a model in which language by hand and language by eye are separate systems that interact in predictable ways.

Combining Natural Language Processing and Statistical Text Mining: A Study of Specialized versus Common Languages

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jarman, Jay

2011-01-01

This dissertation focuses on developing and evaluating hybrid approaches for analyzing free-form text in the medical domain. This research draws on natural language processing (NLP) techniques that are used to parse and extract concepts based on a controlled vocabulary. Once important concepts are extracted, additional machine learning algorithms,…

Formulating "Principles of Procedure" for the Foreign Language Classroom: A Framework for Process Model Language Curricula

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Villacañas de Castro, Luis S.

2016-01-01

This article aims to apply Stenhouse's process model of curriculum to foreign language (FL) education, a model which is characterized by enacting "principles of procedure" which are specific to the discipline which the school subject belongs to. Rather than to replace or dissolve current approaches to FL teaching and curriculum…

Video to Text (V2T) in Wide Area Motion Imagery

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-09-01

microtext) or a document (e.g., using Sphinx or Apache NLP ) as an automated approach [102]. Previous work in natural language full-text searching...language processing ( NLP ) based module. The heart of the structured text processing module includes the following seven key word banks...Features Tracker MHT Multiple Hypothesis Tracking MIL Multiple Instance Learning NLP Natural Language Processing OAB Online AdaBoost OF Optic Flow

Keep meaning in conversational coordination

PubMed Central

Cuffari, Elena C.

2014-01-01

Coordination is a widely employed term across recent quantitative and qualitative approaches to intersubjectivity, particularly approaches that give embodiment and enaction central explanatory roles. With a focus on linguistic and bodily coordination in conversational contexts, I review the operational meaning of coordination in recent empirical research and related theorizing of embodied intersubjectivity. This discussion articulates what must be involved in treating linguistic meaning as dynamic processes of coordination. The coordination approach presents languaging as a set of dynamic self-organizing processes and actions on multiple timescales and across multiple modalities that come about and work in certain domains (those jointly constructed in social, interactive, high-order sense-making). These processes go beyond meaning at the level that is available to first-person experience. I take one crucial consequence of this to be the ubiquitously moral nature of languaging with others. Languaging coordinates experience, among other levels of behavior and event. Ethical effort is called for by the automatic autonomy-influencing forces of languaging as coordination. PMID:25520693

Experienced Speech-Language Pathologists' Responses to Ethical Dilemmas: An Integrated Approach to Ethical Reasoning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kenny, Belinda; Lincoln, Michelle; Balandin, Susan

2010-01-01

Purpose: To investigate the approaches of experienced speech-language pathologists (SLPs) to ethical reasoning and the processes they use to resolve ethical dilemmas. Method: Ten experienced SLPs participated in in-depth interviews. A narrative approach was used to guide participants' descriptions of how they resolved ethical dilemmas. Individual…

Auditory Processing Disorder and Foreign Language Acquisition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Veselovska, Ganna

2015-01-01

This article aims at exploring various strategies for coping with the auditory processing disorder in the light of foreign language acquisition. The techniques relevant to dealing with the auditory processing disorder can be attributed to environmental and compensatory approaches. The environmental one involves actions directed at creating a…

Analyzing Discourse Processing Using a Simple Natural Language Processing Tool

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crossley, Scott A.; Allen, Laura K.; Kyle, Kristopher; McNamara, Danielle S.

2014-01-01

Natural language processing (NLP) provides a powerful approach for discourse processing researchers. However, there remains a notable degree of hesitation by some researchers to consider using NLP, at least on their own. The purpose of this article is to introduce and make available a "simple" NLP (SiNLP) tool. The overarching goal of…

A Code Generation Approach for Auto-Vectorization in the Spade Compiler

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Huayong; Andrade, Henrique; Gedik, Buğra; Wu, Kun-Lung

We describe an auto-vectorization approach for the Spade stream processing programming language, comprising two ideas. First, we provide support for vectors as a primitive data type. Second, we provide a C++ library with architecture-specific implementations of a large number of pre-vectorized operations as the means to support language extensions. We evaluate our approach with several stream processing operators, contrasting Spade's auto-vectorization with the native auto-vectorization provided by the GNU gcc and Intel icc compilers.

The Use of L1 in English as a Foreign Language Classes: Insights from Iraqi Tertiary Level Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Galali, Atta; Cinkara, Emrah

2017-01-01

Two main opposing approaches exist regarding the impact of first-language (L1) use in the teaching and learning of English as a foreign language: the monolingual and bilingual approaches. Some linguists assume that students' L1 should be banished from their English classes, whereas others assert that it facilitates the process of learning a target…

L'Enseignement de la grammaire en langue etrangere: Contenus et processus (The Teaching of Grammar in a Foreign Language: Content and Process).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Calliabetsou, Penelope

A discussion, in French, of second language grammar instruction looks at the differences between a traditional linguistic approach to grammar learning, used less and less with the advent of communicative language teaching methods, and a sociolinguistic approach, which focuses more closely on the sociocultural context of functional variants of a…

The Layer-Oriented Approach to Declarative Languages for Biological Modeling

PubMed Central

Raikov, Ivan; De Schutter, Erik

2012-01-01

We present a new approach to modeling languages for computational biology, which we call the layer-oriented approach. The approach stems from the observation that many diverse biological phenomena are described using a small set of mathematical formalisms (e.g. differential equations), while at the same time different domains and subdomains of computational biology require that models are structured according to the accepted terminology and classification of that domain. Our approach uses distinct semantic layers to represent the domain-specific biological concepts and the underlying mathematical formalisms. Additional functionality can be transparently added to the language by adding more layers. This approach is specifically concerned with declarative languages, and throughout the paper we note some of the limitations inherent to declarative approaches. The layer-oriented approach is a way to specify explicitly how high-level biological modeling concepts are mapped to a computational representation, while abstracting away details of particular programming languages and simulation environments. To illustrate this process, we define an example language for describing models of ionic currents, and use a general mathematical notation for semantic transformations to show how to generate model simulation code for various simulation environments. We use the example language to describe a Purkinje neuron model and demonstrate how the layer-oriented approach can be used for solving several practical issues of computational neuroscience model development. We discuss the advantages and limitations of the approach in comparison with other modeling language efforts in the domain of computational biology and outline some principles for extensible, flexible modeling language design. We conclude by describing in detail the semantic transformations defined for our language. PMID:22615554

The layer-oriented approach to declarative languages for biological modeling.

PubMed

Raikov, Ivan; De Schutter, Erik

2012-01-01

We present a new approach to modeling languages for computational biology, which we call the layer-oriented approach. The approach stems from the observation that many diverse biological phenomena are described using a small set of mathematical formalisms (e.g. differential equations), while at the same time different domains and subdomains of computational biology require that models are structured according to the accepted terminology and classification of that domain. Our approach uses distinct semantic layers to represent the domain-specific biological concepts and the underlying mathematical formalisms. Additional functionality can be transparently added to the language by adding more layers. This approach is specifically concerned with declarative languages, and throughout the paper we note some of the limitations inherent to declarative approaches. The layer-oriented approach is a way to specify explicitly how high-level biological modeling concepts are mapped to a computational representation, while abstracting away details of particular programming languages and simulation environments. To illustrate this process, we define an example language for describing models of ionic currents, and use a general mathematical notation for semantic transformations to show how to generate model simulation code for various simulation environments. We use the example language to describe a Purkinje neuron model and demonstrate how the layer-oriented approach can be used for solving several practical issues of computational neuroscience model development. We discuss the advantages and limitations of the approach in comparison with other modeling language efforts in the domain of computational biology and outline some principles for extensible, flexible modeling language design. We conclude by describing in detail the semantic transformations defined for our language.

Identity and Language: Contributions to and Consequences of Speaking Spanish in the Workplace

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bergman, Mindy E.; Watrous-Rodriguez, Kristen M.; Chalkley, Katherine M.

2008-01-01

Language is an important marker of identity. Guided by social identity theory and using a grounded theory approach, this study examined how languages are chosen and shape experiences in the workplace. Results suggest that language use is influenced by both external (norms, business needs) and internal (identity, language comfort) processes.…

Using Language Learning Conditions in Mathematics. PEN 68.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stoessiger, Rex

This pamphlet reports on a project in Tasmania exploring whether the "natural learning conditions" approach to language learning could be adapted for mathematics. The connections between language and mathematics, as well as the natural learning processes of language learning are described in the pamphlet. The project itself is…

Language Learners in Study Abroad Contexts. Second Language Acquisition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DuFon, Margaret A., Ed.; Churchill, Eton, Ed.

2006-01-01

Examining the overseas experience of language learners in diverse contexts through a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches, studies in this volume look at the acquisition of language use, socialization processes, learner motivation, identity and learning strategies. In this way, the volume offers a privileged window into learner…

A Dual Coding Model of Processing Chinese as a Second Language: A Cognitive-Load Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sham, Diana Po Lan

2002-01-01

The research was conducted in Sydney and Hong Kong using students, from grades 5 to 9, whose first language or teaching medium was English, learning to read Chinese as second language. According to cognitive load theory, the processing of single Chinese characters accompanied by pictures should impose extraneous cognitive load and thus hinders…

An Event-Related Potential (ERP) Investigation of Filler-Gap Processing in Native and Second Language Speakers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dallas, Andrea; DeDe, Gayle; Nicol, Janet

2013-01-01

The current study employed a neuro-imaging technique, Event-Related Potentials (ERP), to investigate real-time processing of sentences containing filler-gap dependencies by late-learning speakers of English as a second language (L2) with a Chinese native language background. An individual differences approach was also taken to examine the role of…

When the Test Developer Does Not Speak the Target Language: The Use of Language Informants in the Test Development Process

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ryan, Ève; Brunfaut, Tineke

2016-01-01

It is not unusual for tests in less-commonly taught languages (LCTLs) to be developed by an experienced item writer with no proficiency in the language being tested, in collaboration with a language informant who is a speaker of the target language, but lacks language assessment expertise. How this approach to item writing works in practice, and…

Emerging Approach of Natural Language Processing in Opinion Mining: A Review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Tai-Hoon

Natural language processing (NLP) is a subfield of artificial intelligence and computational linguistics. It studies the problems of automated generation and understanding of natural human languages. This paper outlines a framework to use computer and natural language techniques for various levels of learners to learn foreign languages in Computer-based Learning environment. We propose some ideas for using the computer as a practical tool for learning foreign language where the most of courseware is generated automatically. We then describe how to build Computer Based Learning tools, discuss its effectiveness, and conclude with some possibilities using on-line resources.

Process-oriented Approach to Designing Immersion Assessments

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-02-01

Command (USSOCOM) Command Language Program Manager (CLPM) Advanced Competencies Course in a presentation titled, The Language Needs Assessment Process and...Techniques can be very similar • Physical v. psychological fidelity • Johns (2006) Discrete Context—task, social and physical • 4Ps : Purpose

Language Acquisition by Children with Down Syndrome: A Naturalistic Approach to Assisting Language Acquisition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vilaseca, R.M.; Del Rio, M-J.

2004-01-01

Many child language studies emphasize the value of verbal and social support, of 'scaffolding' processes and mutual adjustments that naturally occur in adult-child interactions in everyday contexts. Based on such theories, this study attempted to improve the language and communication skills in children with special educational needs through…

Impulse processing: A dynamical systems model of incremental eye movements in the visual world paradigm

PubMed Central

Kukona, Anuenue; Tabor, Whitney

2011-01-01

The visual world paradigm presents listeners with a challenging problem: they must integrate two disparate signals, the spoken language and the visual context, in support of action (e.g., complex movements of the eyes across a scene). We present Impulse Processing, a dynamical systems approach to incremental eye movements in the visual world that suggests a framework for integrating language, vision, and action generally. Our approach assumes that impulses driven by the language and the visual context impinge minutely on a dynamical landscape of attractors corresponding to the potential eye-movement behaviors of the system. We test three unique predictions of our approach in an empirical study in the visual world paradigm, and describe an implementation in an artificial neural network. We discuss the Impulse Processing framework in relation to other models of the visual world paradigm. PMID:21609355

Process-Driven Culture Learning in American KFL Classroom Settings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Byon, Andrew Sangpil

2007-01-01

Teaching second language (L2) culture can be either content- or process-driven. The content-driven approach refers to explicit instruction of L2 cultural information. On the other hand, the process-driven approach focuses on students' active participation in cultural learning processes. In this approach, teachers are not only information…

BioC: a minimalist approach to interoperability for biomedical text processing

PubMed Central

Comeau, Donald C.; Islamaj Doğan, Rezarta; Ciccarese, Paolo; Cohen, Kevin Bretonnel; Krallinger, Martin; Leitner, Florian; Lu, Zhiyong; Peng, Yifan; Rinaldi, Fabio; Torii, Manabu; Valencia, Alfonso; Verspoor, Karin; Wiegers, Thomas C.; Wu, Cathy H.; Wilbur, W. John

2013-01-01

A vast amount of scientific information is encoded in natural language text, and the quantity of such text has become so great that it is no longer economically feasible to have a human as the first step in the search process. Natural language processing and text mining tools have become essential to facilitate the search for and extraction of information from text. This has led to vigorous research efforts to create useful tools and to create humanly labeled text corpora, which can be used to improve such tools. To encourage combining these efforts into larger, more powerful and more capable systems, a common interchange format to represent, store and exchange the data in a simple manner between different language processing systems and text mining tools is highly desirable. Here we propose a simple extensible mark-up language format to share text documents and annotations. The proposed annotation approach allows a large number of different annotations to be represented including sentences, tokens, parts of speech, named entities such as genes or diseases and relationships between named entities. In addition, we provide simple code to hold this data, read it from and write it back to extensible mark-up language files and perform some sample processing. We also describe completed as well as ongoing work to apply the approach in several directions. Code and data are available at http://bioc.sourceforge.net/. Database URL: http://bioc.sourceforge.net/ PMID:24048470

Foreign Language Acquisition and Melody Singing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mora, Carmen Fonseca

2000-01-01

Considers the value of relating music and language in the English-as-Foreign-Language (EFL) classroom. This "melodic" approach is based on evidence that musicality of speech has an effect not only on the pronunciation skills of EFL students but also their entire acquisition process. (Author/VWL)

Towards a Repertoire-Building Approach: Multilingualism in Language Classes for Refugees in Luxembourg

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kalocsányiová, Erika

2017-01-01

This contribution examines how the diverse language resources that teachers and learners bring to the classroom can support the process of language learning. It draws on a range of linguistic ethnographic data collected at a French language course that was attended mostly by Syrian and Iraqi refugees in Luxembourg. Drawing on the analysis of…

Novel methodology to examine cognitive and experiential factors in language development: combining eye-tracking and LENA technology

PubMed Central

Odean, Rosalie; Nazareth, Alina; Pruden, Shannon M.

2015-01-01

Developmental systems theory posits that development cannot be segmented by influences acting in isolation, but should be studied through a scientific lens that highlights the complex interactions between these forces over time (Overton, 2013a). This poses a unique challenge for developmental psychologists studying complex processes like language development. In this paper, we advocate for the combining of highly sophisticated data collection technologies in an effort to move toward a more systemic approach to studying language development. We investigate the efficiency and appropriateness of combining eye-tracking technology and the LENA (Language Environment Analysis) system, an automated language analysis tool, in an effort to explore the relation between language processing in early development, and external dynamic influences like parent and educator language input in the home and school environments. Eye-tracking allows us to study language processing via eye movement analysis; these eye movements have been linked to both conscious and unconscious cognitive processing, and thus provide one means of evaluating cognitive processes underlying language development that does not require the use of subjective parent reports or checklists. The LENA system, on the other hand, provides automated language output that describes a child’s language-rich environment. In combination, these technologies provide critical information not only about a child’s language processing abilities but also about the complexity of the child’s language environment. Thus, when used in conjunction these technologies allow researchers to explore the nature of interacting systems involved in language development. PMID:26379591

What Is Linguistics? ERIC Digest. [Revised].

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics, Washington, DC.

Linguistics is the study of language, as contrasted with knowledge of a specific language. Formal linguistics is the study of the structures and processes of language, or how it works and is organized. Different approaches to formal linguistics include traditional or prescriptive, structural, and generative or transformational perspectives. Formal…

Language Socialisation and Language Shift in the 1b Generation: A Study of Moroccan Adolescents in Italy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

di Lucca, Lucia; Masiero, Giovanna; Pallotti, Gabriele

2008-01-01

This paper reports on a longitudinal ethnographic study of the language socialisation of a group of Moroccan adolescents who migrated to Italy in the late 1990s. The approach is based on the notion of language socialisation, which sees the process of acquiring a language as linked to that of becoming a member of a culture. The participants live in…

The Now-or-Never bottleneck: A fundamental constraint on language.

PubMed

Christiansen, Morten H; Chater, Nick

2016-01-01

Memory is fleeting. New material rapidly obliterates previous material. How, then, can the brain deal successfully with the continual deluge of linguistic input? We argue that, to deal with this "Now-or-Never" bottleneck, the brain must compress and recode linguistic input as rapidly as possible. This observation has strong implications for the nature of language processing: (1) the language system must "eagerly" recode and compress linguistic input; (2) as the bottleneck recurs at each new representational level, the language system must build a multilevel linguistic representation; and (3) the language system must deploy all available information predictively to ensure that local linguistic ambiguities are dealt with "Right-First-Time"; once the original input is lost, there is no way for the language system to recover. This is "Chunk-and-Pass" processing. Similarly, language learning must also occur in the here and now, which implies that language acquisition is learning to process, rather than inducing, a grammar. Moreover, this perspective provides a cognitive foundation for grammaticalization and other aspects of language change. Chunk-and-Pass processing also helps explain a variety of core properties of language, including its multilevel representational structure and duality of patterning. This approach promises to create a direct relationship between psycholinguistics and linguistic theory. More generally, we outline a framework within which to integrate often disconnected inquiries into language processing, language acquisition, and language change and evolution.

Language Policy-Making in the Free State: An Analysis of Language Policy Activities between 1994 and 2007

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mathebula, Nikiwe; du Plessis, Theodorus

2010-01-01

This paper critically describes the process of language policy-making in the Free State province of South Africa since 1994, based on an adapted version of the "streams approach" to policy-making. Three policy-making phases are identified, namely a first phase under the Free State Provincial Language Committee; a second phase under the…

My Personal Mobile Language Learning Environment: An Exploration and Classification of Language Learning Possibilities Using the iPhone

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Perifanou, Maria A.

2011-01-01

Mobile devices can motivate learners through moving language learning from predominantly classroom-based contexts into contexts that are free from time and space. The increasing development of new applications can offer valuable support to the language learning process and can provide a basis for a new self regulated and personal approach to…

Bioacoustics of human whistled languages: an alternative approach to the cognitive processes of language.

PubMed

Meyer, Julien

2004-06-01

Whistled languages are a valuable heritage of human culture. This paper gives a first survey about a new multidisciplinary approach to these languages. Previous studies on whistled equivalents of languages have already documented that they can provide significant information about the role of rhythm and melody in language. To substantiate this, most whistles are represented by modulations of frequency, centered around 2000 Hz (+/- 1000 Hz) and often reach a loudness of about 130 dB (measured at 1m from the source). Their transmission range can reach up to 10 km (as verified in La Gomera, Canary Island), and the messages can remain understandable, even if the signal is deteriorated. In some cultures the use of whistled language is associated with some "talking musical instruments" (e.g. flutes, guitars, harps, gongs, drums, khens). Finally, whistles as a means of conveying information have some analogues in the animal kingdom (e.g. some birds, cetaceans, primates), providing opportunities to compare the acoustic characteristics of the respective signals. With such properties as a reference, the project reported here has two major tasks: to further elucidate the many facets of whistled language and, above all, help to immediately stop the process of its gradual disappearance.

Linguistic Perspectives on Literacy: A Systemic-Functional Approach.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Halliday, M. A. K.

Literacy is examined from the viewpoint of systemic linguistics. It is proposed that "literacy" means intervening in the social processes by working with written language, and this can not be accomplished by an individual alone. "Using written language" can not be isolated from "using language." While sociologically,…

Practical Classroom Applications of Language Experience: Looking Back, Looking Forward.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nelson, Olga G., Ed.; Linek, Wayne M., Ed.

The 38 essays in this book look back at language experience as an educational approach, provide practical classroom applications, and reconceptualize language experience as an overarching education process. Classroom teachers and reading specialists describe strategies in use in a variety of classroom settings and describe ways to integrate…

Searching for Bridges between Formal and Informal Language Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brebera, Pavel; Hlouskova, Jitka

2012-01-01

Life in the contemporary society and ongoing globalisation processes result in growing demands on educators, including language teachers in higher education. The frequently accentuated so-called postmethod approach to foreign language teaching gives teachers a lot of freedom and flexibility but also creates a large space for various types of…

Communicating Finnish Quietude: A Pedagogical Process for Discovering Implicit Cultural Meanings in Languages

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berry, Michael; Carbaugh, Donal; Nurmikari-Berry, Marjatta

2004-01-01

This paper introduces a pedagogical approach to integrating intercultural communication into language learning. The focus is on the development of competence in discovering and interpreting cultural meanings when communicating in English as an international language. The analyses of data which students produced illustrates how discovering implicit…

Action and language integration: from humans to cognitive robots.

PubMed

Borghi, Anna M; Cangelosi, Angelo

2014-07-01

The topic is characterized by a highly interdisciplinary approach to the issue of action and language integration. Such an approach, combining computational models and cognitive robotics experiments with neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, and linguistic approaches, can be a powerful means that can help researchers disentangle ambiguous issues, provide better and clearer definitions, and formulate clearer predictions on the links between action and language. In the introduction we briefly describe the papers and discuss the challenges they pose to future research. We identify four important phenomena the papers address and discuss in light of empirical and computational evidence: (a) the role played not only by sensorimotor and emotional information but also of natural language in conceptual representation; (b) the contextual dependency and high flexibility of the interaction between action, concepts, and language; (c) the involvement of the mirror neuron system in action and language processing; (d) the way in which the integration between action and language can be addressed by developmental robotics and Human-Robot Interaction. Copyright © 2014 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Language Networks as Models of Cognition: Understanding Cognition through Language

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beckage, Nicole M.; Colunga, Eliana

Language is inherently cognitive and distinctly human. Separating the object of language from the human mind that processes and creates language fails to capture the full language system. Linguistics traditionally has focused on the study of language as a static representation, removed from the human mind. Network analysis has traditionally been focused on the properties and structure that emerge from network representations. Both disciplines could gain from looking at language as a cognitive process. In contrast, psycholinguistic research has focused on the process of language without committing to a representation. However, by considering language networks as approximations of the cognitive system we can take the strength of each of these approaches to study human performance and cognition as related to language. This paper reviews research showcasing the contributions of network science to the study of language. Specifically, we focus on the interplay of cognition and language as captured by a network representation. To this end, we review different types of language network representations before considering the influence of global level network features. We continue by considering human performance in relation to network structure and conclude with theoretical network models that offer potential and testable explanations of cognitive and linguistic phenomena.

Advances in natural language processing.

PubMed

Hirschberg, Julia; Manning, Christopher D

2015-07-17

Natural language processing employs computational techniques for the purpose of learning, understanding, and producing human language content. Early computational approaches to language research focused on automating the analysis of the linguistic structure of language and developing basic technologies such as machine translation, speech recognition, and speech synthesis. Today's researchers refine and make use of such tools in real-world applications, creating spoken dialogue systems and speech-to-speech translation engines, mining social media for information about health or finance, and identifying sentiment and emotion toward products and services. We describe successes and challenges in this rapidly advancing area. Copyright © 2015, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The Effect of Asynchronous/Synchronous Approaches on English Vocabulary Achievement: A Study of Iranian EFL Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Khodaparast, Fatemeh; Ghafournia, Narjes

2015-01-01

The contribution of computer-assisted instructional programs to language learning process has been the focus of researchers for about two decades. However, the effect of synchronous and asynchronous computer-assisted approaches of language teaching on improving L2 vocabulary has been scarcely investigated. This study explored whether synchronous,…

Introductory Computer Programming Course Teaching Improvement Using Immersion Language, Extreme Programming, and Education Theories

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Velez-Rubio, Miguel

2013-01-01

Teaching computer programming to freshmen students in Computer Sciences and other Information Technology areas has been identified as a complex activity. Different approaches have been studied looking for the best one that could help to improve this teaching process. A proposed approach was implemented which is based in the language immersion…

Harnessing Biomedical Natural Language Processing Tools to Identify Medicinal Plant Knowledge from Historical Texts.

PubMed

Sharma, Vivekanand; Law, Wayne; Balick, Michael J; Sarkar, Indra Neil

2017-01-01

The growing amount of data describing historical medicinal uses of plants from digitization efforts provides the opportunity to develop systematic approaches for identifying potential plant-based therapies. However, the task of cataloguing plant use information from natural language text is a challenging task for ethnobotanists. To date, there have been only limited adoption of informatics approaches used for supporting the identification of ethnobotanical information associated with medicinal uses. This study explored the feasibility of using biomedical terminologies and natural language processing approaches for extracting relevant plant-associated therapeutic use information from historical biodiversity literature collection available from the Biodiversity Heritage Library. The results from this preliminary study suggest that there is potential utility of informatics methods to identify medicinal plant knowledge from digitized resources as well as highlight opportunities for improvement.

Harnessing Biomedical Natural Language Processing Tools to Identify Medicinal Plant Knowledge from Historical Texts

PubMed Central

Sharma, Vivekanand; Law, Wayne; Balick, Michael J.; Sarkar, Indra Neil

2017-01-01

The growing amount of data describing historical medicinal uses of plants from digitization efforts provides the opportunity to develop systematic approaches for identifying potential plant-based therapies. However, the task of cataloguing plant use information from natural language text is a challenging task for ethnobotanists. To date, there have been only limited adoption of informatics approaches used for supporting the identification of ethnobotanical information associated with medicinal uses. This study explored the feasibility of using biomedical terminologies and natural language processing approaches for extracting relevant plant-associated therapeutic use information from historical biodiversity literature collection available from the Biodiversity Heritage Library. The results from this preliminary study suggest that there is potential utility of informatics methods to identify medicinal plant knowledge from digitized resources as well as highlight opportunities for improvement. PMID:29854223

Language-Specific Attention Treatment for Aphasia: Description and Preliminary Findings.

PubMed

Peach, Richard K; Nathan, Meghana R; Beck, Katherine M

2017-02-01

The need for a specific, language-based treatment approach to aphasic impairments associated with attentional deficits is well documented. We describe language-specific attention treatment, a specific skill-based approach for aphasia that exploits increasingly complex linguistic tasks that focus attention. The program consists of eight tasks, some with multiple phases, to assess and treat lexical and sentence processing. Validation results demonstrate that these tasks load on six attentional domains: (1) executive attention; (2) attentional switching; (3) visual selective attention/processing speed; (4) sustained attention; (5) auditory-verbal working memory; and (6) auditory processing speed. The program demonstrates excellent inter- and intrarater reliability and adequate test-retest reliability. Two of four people with aphasia exposed to this program demonstrated good language recovery whereas three of the four participants showed improvements in auditory-verbal working memory. The results provide support for this treatment program in patients with aphasia having no greater than a moderate degree of attentional impairment. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

Psycholinguistic Approaches to Language Processing in Heritage Speakers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bolger, Patrick A.; Zapata, Gabriela C.

2011-01-01

This paper focuses on the dearth of language-processing research addressing Spanish heritage speakers in assimilationist communities. First, we review key offline work on this population, and we then summarize the few psycholinguistic (online) studies that have already been carried out. In an attempt to encourage more such research, in the next…

Human Teaching and Human Learning in the Language Class: A Confluent Approach.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Galyean, Beverly

Much attention has been given to the imbalance between thinking and feelings in the educative process. Human teaching calls for merging the cognitive and affective processes into one confluent learning experience. Language learning is viewed primarily as a means for affective reflective communication. Personal growth merges with language…

Using an e-Portfolio System to Improve the Academic Writing Performance of ESL Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alshahrani, Ali; Windeatt, Scott

2012-01-01

Many intensive English language programmes that English second language (ESL) students enrol in adopt a process approach to writing, interpreting writing as a cognitive process that is highly private or individualistic (Atkinson, 2003), where writers use specific cognitive phases, such as pre-writing, drafting, and revising, to generate their…

The Function of Semantics in Automated Language Processing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pacak, Milos; Pratt, Arnold W.

This paper is a survey of some of the major semantic models that have been developed for automated semantic analysis of natural language. Current approaches to semantic analysis and logical interference are based mainly on models of human cognitive processes such as Quillian's semantic memory, Simmon's Protosynthex III and others. All existing…

Corpora Processing and Computational Scaffolding for a Web-Based English Learning Environment: The CANDLE Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liou, Hsien-Chin; Chang, Jason S; Chen, Hao-Jan; Lin, Chih-Cheng; Liaw, Meei-Ling; Gao, Zhao-Ming; Jang, Jyh-Shing Roger; Yeh, Yuli; Chuang, Thomas C.; You, Geeng-Neng

2006-01-01

This paper describes the development of an innovative web-based environment for English language learning with advanced data-driven and statistical approaches. The project uses various corpora, including a Chinese-English parallel corpus ("Sinorama") and various natural language processing (NLP) tools to construct effective English…

Learning Processes in Blended Language Learning: A Mixed-Methods Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shahrokni, Seyed Abdollah; Talaeizadeh, Ali

2013-01-01

This article attempts to investigate the learning processes in blended language learning through assessing sources of information: logs, chat and forum scripts, and semi-structured interviews. Creating a MOODLE-based parallel component to face-to-face instruction for a group of EFL learners, we probed into 2,984 logged actions providing raw…

The pathophysiology of post-stroke aphasia: A network approach.

PubMed

Thiel, Alexander; Zumbansen, Anna

2016-06-13

Post-stroke aphasia syndromes as a clinical entity arise from the disruption of brain networks specialized in language production and comprehension due to permanent focal ischemia. This approach to post-stroke aphasia is based on two pathophysiological concepts: 1) Understanding language processing in terms of distributed networks rather than language centers and 2) understanding the molecular pathophysiology of ischemic brain injury as a dynamic process beyond the direct destruction of network centers and their connections. While considerable progress has been made in the past 10 years to develop such models on a systems as well as a molecular level, the influence of these approaches on understanding and treating clinical aphasia syndromes has been limited. In this article, we review current pathophysiological concepts of ischemic brain injury, their relationship to altered information processing in language networks after ischemic stroke and how these mechanisms may be influenced therapeutically to improve treatment of post-stroke aphasia. Understanding the pathophysiological mechanism of post-stroke aphasia on a neurophysiological systems level as well as on the molecular level becomes more and more important for aphasia treatment, as the field moves from standardized therapies towards more targeted individualized treatment strategies comprising behavioural therapies as well as non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS).

Teaching English through Action: Total Physical Response (T.P.R.). A Right-Brain/Left-Brain Approach to Language Acquisition. A Workshop.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Segal, Bertha E.

Materials from a teacher workshop on the Total Physical Response method for teaching English as a second language are presented. The technique describes the process of first language acquisition, uses physical activities in the classroom to reinforce learning, and allows a long period of receptive language learning before requiring production. The…

New levels of language processing complexity and organization revealed by granger causation.

PubMed

Gow, David W; Caplan, David N

2012-01-01

Granger causation analysis of high spatiotemporal resolution reconstructions of brain activation offers a new window on the dynamic interactions between brain areas that support language processing. Premised on the observation that causes both precede and uniquely predict their effects, this approach provides an intuitive, model-free means of identifying directed causal interactions in the brain. It requires the analysis of all non-redundant potentially interacting signals, and has shown that even "early" processes such as speech perception involve interactions of many areas in a strikingly large network that extends well beyond traditional left hemisphere perisylvian cortex that play out over hundreds of milliseconds. In this paper we describe this technique and review several general findings that reframe the way we think about language processing and brain function in general. These include the extent and complexity of language processing networks, the central role of interactive processing dynamics, the role of processing hubs where the input from many distinct brain regions are integrated, and the degree to which task requirements and stimulus properties influence processing dynamics and inform our understanding of "language-specific" localized processes.

Extraction of UMLS® Concepts Using Apache cTAKES™ for German Language.

PubMed

Becker, Matthias; Böckmann, Britta

2016-01-01

Automatic information extraction of medical concepts and classification with semantic standards from medical reports is useful for standardization and for clinical research. This paper presents an approach for an UMLS concept extraction with a customized natural language processing pipeline for German clinical notes using Apache cTAKES. The objectives are, to test the natural language processing tool for German language if it is suitable to identify UMLS concepts and map these with SNOMED-CT. The German UMLS database and German OpenNLP models extended the natural language processing pipeline, so the pipeline can normalize to domain ontologies such as SNOMED-CT using the German concepts. For testing, the ShARe/CLEF eHealth 2013 training dataset translated into German was used. The implemented algorithms are tested with a set of 199 German reports, obtaining a result of average 0.36 F1 measure without German stemming, pre- and post-processing of the reports.

V2S: Voice to Sign Language Translation System for Malaysian Deaf People

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mean Foong, Oi; Low, Tang Jung; La, Wai Wan

The process of learning and understand the sign language may be cumbersome to some, and therefore, this paper proposes a solution to this problem by providing a voice (English Language) to sign language translation system using Speech and Image processing technique. Speech processing which includes Speech Recognition is the study of recognizing the words being spoken, regardless of whom the speaker is. This project uses template-based recognition as the main approach in which the V2S system first needs to be trained with speech pattern based on some generic spectral parameter set. These spectral parameter set will then be stored as template in a database. The system will perform the recognition process through matching the parameter set of the input speech with the stored templates to finally display the sign language in video format. Empirical results show that the system has 80.3% recognition rate.

Assessment of Programming Language Learning Based on Peer Code Review Model: Implementation and Experience Report

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Yanqing; Li, Hang; Feng, Yuqiang; Jiang, Yu; Liu, Ying

2012-01-01

The traditional assessment approach, in which one single written examination counts toward a student's total score, no longer meets new demands of programming language education. Based on a peer code review process model, we developed an online assessment system called "EduPCR" and used a novel approach to assess the learning of computer…

Combining Drama Pedagogy with Digital Technologies to Support the Language Learning Needs of Newly Arrived Refugee Children: A Classroom Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dunn, Julie; Bundy, Penny; Woodrow, Nina

2012-01-01

Although significant research has been completed that examines the effectiveness of process drama as a pedagogical approach for developing additional languages and further work has focused on the affordances of digital technologies within drama work, scant attention has been paid to the possibilities which a combination of these approaches might…

Beyond mechanistic interaction: value-based constraints on meaning in language.

PubMed

Rączaszek-Leonardi, Joanna; Nomikou, Iris

2015-01-01

According to situated, embodied, and distributed approaches to cognition, language is a crucial means for structuring social interactions. Recent approaches that emphasize this coordinative function treat language as a system of replicable constraints on individual and interactive dynamics. In this paper, we argue that the integration of the replicable-constraints approach to language with the ecological view on values allows for a deeper insight into processes of meaning creation in interaction. Such a synthesis of these frameworks draws attention to important sources of structuring interactions beyond the sheer efficiency of a collective system in its current task situation. Most importantly, the workings of linguistic constraints will be shown as embedded in more general fields of values, which are realized on multiple timescales. Because the ontogenetic timescale offers a convenient window into the emergence of linguistic constraints, we present illustrations of concrete mechanisms through which values may become embodied in language use in development.

Artificial intelligence, expert systems, computer vision, and natural language processing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gevarter, W. B.

1984-01-01

An overview of artificial intelligence (AI), its core ingredients, and its applications is presented. The knowledge representation, logic, problem solving approaches, languages, and computers pertaining to AI are examined, and the state of the art in AI is reviewed. The use of AI in expert systems, computer vision, natural language processing, speech recognition and understanding, speech synthesis, problem solving, and planning is examined. Basic AI topics, including automation, search-oriented problem solving, knowledge representation, and computational logic, are discussed.

Biomedical information retrieval across languages.

PubMed

Daumke, Philipp; Markü, Kornél; Poprat, Michael; Schulz, Stefan; Klar, Rüdiger

2007-06-01

This work presents a new dictionary-based approach to biomedical cross-language information retrieval (CLIR) that addresses many of the general and domain-specific challenges in current CLIR research. Our method is based on a multilingual lexicon that was generated partly manually and partly automatically, and currently covers six European languages. It contains morphologically meaningful word fragments, termed subwords. Using subwords instead of entire words significantly reduces the number of lexical entries necessary to sufficiently cover a specific language and domain. Mediation between queries and documents is based on these subwords as well as on lists of word-n-grams that are generated from large monolingual corpora and constitute possible translation units. The translations are then sent to a standard Internet search engine. This process makes our approach an effective tool for searching the biomedical content of the World Wide Web in different languages. We evaluate this approach using the OHSUMED corpus, a large medical document collection, within a cross-language retrieval setting.

An object-oriented approach for harmonization of multimedia markup languages

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Yih-Feng; Kuo, May-Chen; Sun, Xiaoming; Kuo, C.-C. Jay

2003-12-01

An object-oriented methodology is proposed to harmonize several different markup languages in this research. First, we adopt the Unified Modelling Language (UML) as the data model to formalize the concept and the process of the harmonization process between the eXtensible Markup Language (XML) applications. Then, we design the Harmonization eXtensible Markup Language (HXML) based on the data model and formalize the transformation between the Document Type Definitions (DTDs) of the original XML applications and HXML. The transformation between instances is also discussed. We use the harmonization of SMIL and X3D as an example to demonstrate the proposed methodology. This methodology can be generalized to various application domains.

On-Demand Associative Cross-Language Information Retrieval

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Geraldo, André Pinto; Moreira, Viviane P.; Gonçalves, Marcos A.

This paper proposes the use of algorithms for mining association rules as an approach for Cross-Language Information Retrieval. These algorithms have been widely used to analyse market basket data. The idea is to map the problem of finding associations between sales items to the problem of finding term translations over a parallel corpus. The proposal was validated by means of experiments using queries in two distinct languages: Portuguese and Finnish to retrieve documents in English. The results show that the performance of our proposed approach is comparable to the performance of the monolingual baseline and to query translation via machine translation, even though these systems employ more complex Natural Language Processing techniques. The combination between machine translation and our approach yielded the best results, even outperforming the monolingual baseline.

Micro Processes of Learning: Exploring the Interplay between Conceptions, Meanings and Expressions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anderberg, Elsie; Alvegard, Christer; Svensson, Lennart; Johansson, Thorsten

2009-01-01

The article describes qualitative variation in micro processes of learning, focusing the dynamic interplay between conceptions, expressions and meanings of expressions in students' learning in higher education. The intentional-expressive approach employed is an alternative approach to the function of language use in learning processes. In the…

Second Language Acquisition of Gender Agreement in Explicit and Implicit Training Conditions: An Event-Related Potential Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morgan-Short, Kara; Sanz, Cristina; Steinhauer, Karsten; Ullman, Michael T.

2010-01-01

This study employed an artificial language learning paradigm together with a combined behavioral/event-related potential (ERP) approach to examine the neurocognition of the processing of gender agreement, an aspect of inflectional morphology that is problematic in adult second language (L2) learning. Subjects learned to speak and comprehend an…

Investigating the Effects of Authentic Activities on Foreign Language Learning: A Design-Based Research Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ozverir, Ildeniz; Osam, Ulker Vanci; Herrington, Jan

2017-01-01

Achieving communicative competency in English classes has been a key goal in contexts where English is taught as a foreign language (EFL). During this process, however, integrating the difficulty and complexity of real life tasks into classroom teaching has often been disregarded. Lack of opportunities for authentic language use often results in…

Verbal Working Memory and Language Production: Common Approaches to the Serial Ordering of Verbal Information

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Acheson, Daniel J.; MacDonald, Maryellen C.

2009-01-01

Verbal working memory (WM) tasks typically involve the language production architecture for recall; however, language production processes have had a minimal role in theorizing about WM. A framework for understanding verbal WM results is presented here. In this framework, domain-specific mechanisms for serial ordering in verbal WM are provided by…

Individual characteristics of language learners in lesson planning for specific purposes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ivleva, N. V.

2016-04-01

This paper provides a summary of internationally recognized methods and approaches in teaching foreign languages with the focus on teaching foreign languages for specific purposes. It also covers the idea of mastering a foreign language through knowing speech units which are necessary for individual language learners in the professional area with due regard to criteria provided by the author. The criteria were developed on the basis of the theory on adaptation of complex systems and also observation in the teaching process.

Aspects of the BPRIM Language for Risk Driven Process Engineering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sienou, Amadou; Lamine, Elyes; Pingaud, Hervé; Karduck, Achim

Nowadays organizations are exposed to frequent changes in business environment requiring continuous alignment of business processes on business strategies. This agility requires methods promoted in enterprise engineering approaches. Risk consideration in enterprise engineering is getting important since the business environment is becoming more and more competitive and unpredictable. Business processes are subject to the same quality requirements as material and human resources. Thus, process management is supposed to tackle value creation challenges but also the ones related to value preservation. Our research considers risk driven business process design as an integral part of enterprise engineering. A graphical modelling language for risk driven business process engineering was introduced in former research. This paper extends the language and handles questions related to modelling risk in organisational context.

The neural circuits for arithmetic principles.

PubMed

Liu, Jie; Zhang, Han; Chen, Chuansheng; Chen, Hui; Cui, Jiaxin; Zhou, Xinlin

2017-02-15

Arithmetic principles are the regularities underlying arithmetic computation. Little is known about how the brain supports the processing of arithmetic principles. The current fMRI study examined neural activation and functional connectivity during the processing of verbalized arithmetic principles, as compared to numerical computation and general language processing. As expected, arithmetic principles elicited stronger activation in bilateral horizontal intraparietal sulcus and right supramarginal gyrus than did language processing, and stronger activation in left middle temporal lobe and left orbital part of inferior frontal gyrus than did computation. In contrast, computation elicited greater activation in bilateral horizontal intraparietal sulcus (extending to posterior superior parietal lobule) than did either arithmetic principles or language processing. Functional connectivity analysis with the psychophysiological interaction approach (PPI) showed that left temporal-parietal (MTG-HIPS) connectivity was stronger during the processing of arithmetic principle and language than during computation, whereas parietal-occipital connectivities were stronger during computation than during the processing of arithmetic principles and language. Additionally, the left fronto-parietal (orbital IFG-HIPS) connectivity was stronger during the processing of arithmetic principles than during computation. The results suggest that verbalized arithmetic principles engage a neural network that overlaps but is distinct from the networks for computation and language processing. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Qualitative Analysis Framework Using Natural Language Processing and Graph Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tierney, Patrick J.

2012-01-01

This paper introduces a method of extending natural language-based processing of qualitative data analysis with the use of a very quantitative tool--graph theory. It is not an attempt to convert qualitative research to a positivist approach with a mathematical black box, nor is it a "graphical solution". Rather, it is a method to help qualitative…

Assessing Children's Home Language Environments Using Automatic Speech Recognition Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greenwood, Charles R.; Thiemann-Bourque, Kathy; Walker, Dale; Buzhardt, Jay; Gilkerson, Jill

2011-01-01

The purpose of this research was to replicate and extend some of the findings of Hart and Risley using automatic speech processing instead of human transcription of language samples. The long-term goal of this work is to make the current approach to speech processing possible by researchers and clinicians working on a daily basis with families and…

The Languages of Learning: How Children Talk, Write, Dance, Draw, and Sing Their Understanding of the World.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gallas, Karen

Noting children's natural proclivity to interpret language freely and use that potential to expand and develop as learners, this book offers a new approach to understanding how young children communicate their knowledge of the world and how that understanding can transform the educative process. The book also describes the process of conducting…

Bridging the Gap between Genes and Language Deficits in Schizophrenia: An Oscillopathic Approach

PubMed Central

Murphy, Elliot; Benítez-Burraco, Antonio

2016-01-01

Schizophrenia is characterized by marked language deficits, but it is not clear how these deficits arise from the alteration of genes related to the disease. The goal of this paper is to aid the bridging of the gap between genes and schizophrenia and, ultimately, give support to the view that the abnormal presentation of language in this condition is heavily rooted in the evolutionary processes that brought about modern language. To that end we will focus on how the schizophrenic brain processes language and, particularly, on its distinctive oscillatory profile during language processing. Additionally, we will show that candidate genes for schizophrenia are overrepresented among the set of genes that are believed to be important for the evolution of the human faculty of language. These genes crucially include (and are related to) genes involved in brain rhythmicity. We will claim that this translational effort and the links we uncover may help develop an understanding of language evolution, along with the etiology of schizophrenia, its clinical/linguistic profile, and its high prevalence among modern populations. PMID:27601987

Text Manipulation Techniques and Foreign Language Composition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walker, Ronald W.

1982-01-01

Discusses an approach to teaching second language composition which emphasizes (1) careful analysis of model texts from a limited, but well-defined perspective and (2) the application of text manipulation techniques developed by the word processing industry to student compositions. (EKN)

Second Language Acquisition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McLaughlin, Barry; Harrington, Michael

1989-01-01

A distinction is drawn between representational and processing models of second-language acquisition. The first approach is derived primarily from linguistics, the second from psychology. Both fields, it is argued, need to collaborate more fully, overcoming disciplinary narrowness in order to achieve more fruitful research. (GLR)

Visual Compositions and Language Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sinatra, Richard

1981-01-01

Presents an approach for improving verbal development by using organized slide shows to produce visual/verbal interaction in classroom. Suggests strength of visual involvement is that it provides a procedure for language discovery while achieving cooperation between right and left brain processing. (Author/BK)

Dictionary Based Machine Translation from Kannada to Telugu

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sindhu, D. V.; Sagar, B. M.

2017-08-01

Machine Translation is a task of translating from one language to another language. For the languages with less linguistic resources like Kannada and Telugu Dictionary based approach is the best approach. This paper mainly focuses on Dictionary based machine translation for Kannada to Telugu. The proposed methodology uses dictionary for translating word by word without much correlation of semantics between them. The dictionary based machine translation process has the following sub process: Morph analyzer, dictionary, transliteration, transfer grammar and the morph generator. As a part of this work bilingual dictionary with 8000 entries is developed and the suffix mapping table at the tag level is built. This system is tested for the children stories. In near future this system can be further improved by defining transfer grammar rules.

Creation of structured documentation templates using Natural Language Processing techniques.

PubMed

Kashyap, Vipul; Turchin, Alexander; Morin, Laura; Chang, Frank; Li, Qi; Hongsermeier, Tonya

2006-01-01

Structured Clinical Documentation is a fundamental component of the healthcare enterprise, linking both clinical (e.g., electronic health record, clinical decision support) and administrative functions (e.g., evaluation and management coding, billing). One of the challenges in creating good quality documentation templates has been the inability to address specialized clinical disciplines and adapt to local clinical practices. A one-size-fits-all approach leads to poor adoption and inefficiencies in the documentation process. On the other hand, the cost associated with manual generation of documentation templates is significant. Consequently there is a need for at least partial automation of the template generation process. We propose an approach and methodology for the creation of structured documentation templates for diabetes using Natural Language Processing (NLP).

Innovations in Second Language Research Methods.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gass, Susan M.

2001-01-01

Focuses on two approaches to research in second language acquisition: (1) various types of acceptability judgments or probes aimed at assessing acquisition of syntactic structure; and (2) various types of stimulated recall designed to gather learners' accounts of their own thought processes. (Author/VWL)

The writing process: A powerful approach for the language-disabled student.

PubMed

Moulton, J R; Bader, M S

1985-01-01

Our understanding of the writing process can be a powerful tool for teaching language-disabled students the "how" of writing. Direct, explicit instruction in writing process helps these students learn to explore their ideas and to manage the multiple demands of writing. A case study of one student, Jeff, demonstrates how we structure the stages of writing: prewriting, planning, drafting, revising, and proofreading. When these stages are clearly defined and involve specific skills, language-disabled students can reach beyond their limitations and strengthen their expression. The case study of Jeff reveals the development of his sense of control and his regard for himself as a writer.

Squeezing through the Now-or-Never bottleneck: Reconnecting language processing, acquisition, change, and structure.

PubMed

Chater, Nick; Christiansen, Morten H

2016-01-01

If human language must be squeezed through a narrow cognitive bottleneck, what are the implications for language processing, acquisition, change, and structure? In our target article, we suggested that the implications are far-reaching and form the basis of an integrated account of many apparently unconnected aspects of language and language processing, as well as suggesting revision of many existing theoretical accounts. With some exceptions, commentators were generally supportive both of the existence of the bottleneck and its potential implications. Many commentators suggested additional theoretical and linguistic nuances and extensions, links with prior work, and relevant computational and neuroscientific considerations; some argued for related but distinct viewpoints; a few, though, felt traditional perspectives were being abandoned too readily. Our response attempts to build on the many suggestions raised by the commentators and to engage constructively with challenges to our approach.

Using network science in the language sciences and clinic.

PubMed

Vitevitch, Michael S; Castro, Nichol

2015-02-01

A number of variables—word frequency, word length—have long been known to influence language processing. This study briefly reviews the effects in speech perception and production of two more recently examined variables: phonotactic probability and neighbourhood density. It then describes a new approach to study language, network science, which is an interdisciplinary field drawing from mathematics, computer science, physics and other disciplines. In this approach, nodes represent individual entities in a system (i.e. phonological word-forms in the lexicon), links between nodes represent relationships between nodes (i.e. phonological neighbours) and various measures enable researchers to assess the micro-level (i.e. the individual word), the macro-level (i.e. characteristics about the whole system) and the meso-level (i.e. how an individual fits into smaller sub-groups in the larger system). Although research on individual lexical characteristics such as word-frequency has increased understanding of language processing, these measures only assess the "micro-level". Using network science, researchers can examine words at various levels in the system and how each word relates to the many other words stored in the lexicon. Several new findings using the network science approach are summarized to illustrate how this approach can be used to advance basic research as well as clinical practice.

Using network science in the language sciences and clinic

PubMed Central

Vitevitch, Michael S.; Castro, Nichol

2017-01-01

A number of variables—word frequency, word length—have long been known to influence language processing. We briefly review the effects in speech perception and production of two more recently examined variables: phonotactic probability and neighborhood density. We then describe a new approach to study language, network science, which is an interdisciplinary field drawing from mathematics, computer science, physics, and other disciplines. In this approach, nodes represent individual entities in a system (i.e., phonological word-forms in the lexicon), links between nodes represent relationships between nodes (i.e., phonological neighbors), and various measures enable researchers to assess the micro-level (i.e., the individual word), the macro-level (i.e., characteristics about the whole system), and the meso-level (i.e., how an individual fits into smaller sub-groups in the larger system). Although research on individual lexical characteristics such as word-frequency has increased our understanding of language processing, these measures only assess the “micro-level.” Using network science, researchers can examine words at various levels in the system, and how each word relates to the many other words stored in the lexicon. Several new findings using the network science approach are summarized to illustrate how this approach can be used to advance basic research as well as clinical practice. PMID:25539473

Genetics and language: a neurobiological perspective on the missing link (-ing hypotheses).

PubMed

Poeppel, David

2011-12-01

The paper argues that both evolutionary and genetic approaches to studying the biological foundations of speech and language could benefit from fractionating the problem at a finer grain, aiming not to map genetics to "language"-or even subdomains of language such as "phonology" or "syntax"-but rather to link genetic results to component formal operations that underlie processing the comprehension and production of linguistic representations. Neuroanatomic and neurophysiological research suggests that language processing is broken down in space (distributed functional anatomy along concurrent pathways) and time (concurrent processing on multiple time scales). These parallel neuronal pathways and their local circuits form the infrastructure of speech and language and are the actual targets of evolution/genetics. Therefore, investigating the mapping from gene to brain circuit to linguistic phenotype at the level of generic computational operations (subroutines actually executable in these circuits) stands to provide a new perspective on the biological foundations in the healthy and challenged brain.

Effect of Weblog-Based Process Approach on EFL Learners' Writing Performance and Autonomy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Azari, Mohammad Hosein

2017-01-01

This article investigated the effect of weblog use in a process-based writing course on the writing performance of students as well as on their level of learner autonomy. The participants were 43 English language learners who were doing their BA in the field of English Language Teaching. The control group (n = 19) went through in-class writing…

Advantages and disadvantages of intraoperative language tasks in awake surgery: a three-task approach for prefrontal tumors.

PubMed

Rofes, A; Spena, G; Miozzo, A; Fontanella, M M; Miceli, G

2015-12-01

Multidisciplinary efforts are being made to provide surgical teams with sensitive and specific tasks for language mapping in awake surgery. Researchers and clinicians have elaborated different tasks over time. A fair amount of work has been directed to study the neurofunctional correlates of some of these tasks, and there is recent interest in their standardization. However, little discussion exists on the advantages and disadvantages that each task poses from the perspective of the cognitive neuroscience of language. Such an approach may be a relevant step to assess task validity, to avoid using tasks that tap onto similar processes, and to provide patients with a surgical treatment that ensures maximal tumor resection while avoiding postoperative language deficits. An understanding of the language components that each task entails may also be relevant to improve the current assessments and the ways in which tasks are administered, and to disentangle neurofunctional questions. We reviewed 17 language mapping tasks that have been used in awake surgery. Overt production tasks have been a preferred choice over comprehension tasks. Tasks tapping lexico-semantic processes, particularly object-naming, maintain their role as gold standards. Automated speech tasks are used to detect speech errors and to set the amplitude of the stimulator. Comprehension tasks, reading and writing tasks, and tasks that assess grammatical aspects of language may be regularly administered in the near future. We provide examples of a three-task approach we are administering to patients with prefrontal lesions. We believe that future advances in this area are contingent upon reviewing gold standards and introducing new assessment tools.

Testing framework for embedded languages

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leskó, Dániel; Tejfel, Máté

2012-09-01

Embedding a new programming language into an existing one is a widely used technique, because it fastens the development process and gives a part of a language infrastructure for free (e.g. lexical, syntactical analyzers). In this paper we are presenting a new advantage of this development approach regarding to adding testing support for these new languages. Tool support for testing is a crucial point for a newly designed programming language. It could be done in the hard way by creating a testing tool from scratch, or we could try to reuse existing testing tools by extending them with an interface to our new language. The second approach requires less work, and also it fits very well for the embedded approach. The problem is that the creation of such interfaces is not straightforward at all, because the existing testing tools were mostly not designed to be extendable and to be able to deal with new languages. This paper presents an extendable and modular model of a testing framework, in which the most basic design decision was to keep the - previously mentioned - interface creation simple and straightforward. Other important aspects of our model are the test data generation, the oracle problem and the customizability of the whole testing phase.

Unified modeling language and design of a case-based retrieval system in medical imaging.

PubMed Central

LeBozec, C.; Jaulent, M. C.; Zapletal, E.; Degoulet, P.

1998-01-01

One goal of artificial intelligence research into case-based reasoning (CBR) systems is to develop approaches for designing useful and practical interactive case-based environments. Explaining each step of the design of the case-base and of the retrieval process is critical for the application of case-based systems to the real world. We describe herein our approach to the design of IDEM--Images and Diagnosis from Examples in Medicine--a medical image case-based retrieval system for pathologists. Our approach is based on the expressiveness of an object-oriented modeling language standard: the Unified Modeling Language (UML). We created a set of diagrams in UML notation illustrating the steps of the CBR methodology we used. The key aspect of this approach was selecting the relevant objects of the system according to user requirements and making visualization of cases and of the components of the case retrieval process. Further evaluation of the expressiveness of the design document is required but UML seems to be a promising formalism, improving the communication between the developers and users. Images Figure 6 Figure 7 PMID:9929346

Unified modeling language and design of a case-based retrieval system in medical imaging.

PubMed

LeBozec, C; Jaulent, M C; Zapletal, E; Degoulet, P

1998-01-01

One goal of artificial intelligence research into case-based reasoning (CBR) systems is to develop approaches for designing useful and practical interactive case-based environments. Explaining each step of the design of the case-base and of the retrieval process is critical for the application of case-based systems to the real world. We describe herein our approach to the design of IDEM--Images and Diagnosis from Examples in Medicine--a medical image case-based retrieval system for pathologists. Our approach is based on the expressiveness of an object-oriented modeling language standard: the Unified Modeling Language (UML). We created a set of diagrams in UML notation illustrating the steps of the CBR methodology we used. The key aspect of this approach was selecting the relevant objects of the system according to user requirements and making visualization of cases and of the components of the case retrieval process. Further evaluation of the expressiveness of the design document is required but UML seems to be a promising formalism, improving the communication between the developers and users.

Listening from the Inside Out.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Joiner, Elizabeth G.

1984-01-01

Examines studies in brain research which are closely related to language learning. Discusses Asher's Total Physical Response and Lozanov's Suggestopedia as approaches which activate the right brain hemisphere and involve it in the language learning process. Discusses practical applications for what is currently known about listening. (SED)

Process Writing and the Internet: Blogs and Ning Networks in the Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boas, Isabela Villas

2011-01-01

In contrast to the product approach to writing, which is based on studying and replicating textual models, the process approach involves multiple and repeated steps that compel the writer to closely consider the topic, language, purpose for writing, and social reality of an audience. In addition to discussing the benefits of the process approach…

Project Activities as a Form of English Language Teaching Based on the Interdisciplinary Approach to Form Intercultural Communicative Competence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Redchenko, Nadezhda N.

2016-01-01

The authors of this article suggest a thesis about the purpose of teaching a foreign language--it is student's communicative activities, i.e. learning a foreign language in practice. The teacher's task is to encourage activities of every student and to create situations to develop their creative activities in a learning process. New information…

A Theoretical Model of the Language Learning/Teaching Process. Working Papers on Bilingualism, No. 11.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Strevens, Peter

The aim of this paper is to outline one approach to the study of language teaching by proposing a theory of its minimum elements. This model takes as its focus all of the circumstances in which a learner learns and a professional teacher teaches. The language teaching profession deals with many types of learners, teaching/learning conditions,…

An abstract specification language for Markov reliability models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Butler, R. W.

1985-01-01

Markov models can be used to compute the reliability of virtually any fault tolerant system. However, the process of delineating all of the states and transitions in a model of complex system can be devastatingly tedious and error-prone. An approach to this problem is presented utilizing an abstract model definition language. This high level language is described in a nonformal manner and illustrated by example.

An abstract language for specifying Markov reliability models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Butler, Ricky W.

1986-01-01

Markov models can be used to compute the reliability of virtually any fault tolerant system. However, the process of delineating all of the states and transitions in a model of complex system can be devastatingly tedious and error-prone. An approach to this problem is presented utilizing an abstract model definition language. This high level language is described in a nonformal manner and illustrated by example.

The Use of Brain Electrophysiology Techniques To Study Language: A Basic Guide for the Beginning Consumer of Electrophysiology Information.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Molfese, Dennis L.; Molfese, Victoria J.; Kelly, Spencer

2001-01-01

This article provides an introduction to the use of event-related potential (ERP) approaches to study language processes. First, a brief history of the emergence of this technology is presented, followed by definitions, a theoretical overview, and a practical guide to conducting ERP studies. Examples of language studies that use this technique are…

Bottom-Up or Top-Down: English as a Foreign Language Vocabulary Instruction for Chinese University Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moskovsky, Christo; Jiang, Guowu; Libert, Alan; Fagan, Seamus

2015-01-01

Whereas there has been some research on the role of bottom-up and top-down processing in the learning of a second or foreign language, very little attention has been given to bottom-up and top-down instructional approaches to language teaching. The research reported here used a quasi-experimental design to assess the relative effectiveness of two…

Computing Accurate Grammatical Feedback in a Virtual Writing Conference for German-Speaking Elementary-School Children: An Approach Based on Natural Language Generation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harbusch, Karin; Itsova, Gergana; Koch, Ulrich; Kuhner, Christine

2009-01-01

We built a natural language processing (NLP) system implementing a "virtual writing conference" for elementary-school children, with German as the target language. Currently, state-of-the-art computer support for writing tasks is restricted to multiple-choice questions or quizzes because automatic parsing of the often ambiguous and fragmentary…

Generating structure from experience: A retrieval-based model of language processing.

PubMed

Johns, Brendan T; Jones, Michael N

2015-09-01

Standard theories of language generally assume that some abstraction of linguistic input is necessary to create higher level representations of linguistic structures (e.g., a grammar). However, the importance of individual experiences with language has recently been emphasized by both usage-based theories (Tomasello, 2003) and grounded and situated theories (e.g., Zwaan & Madden, 2005). Following the usage-based approach, we present a formal exemplar model that stores instances of sentences across a natural language corpus, applying recent advances from models of semantic memory. In this model, an exemplar memory is used to generate expectations about the future structure of sentences, using a mechanism for prediction in language processing (Altmann & Mirković, 2009). The model successfully captures a broad range of behavioral effects-reduced relative clause processing (Reali & Christiansen, 2007), the role of contextual constraint (Rayner & Well, 1996), and event knowledge activation (Ferretti, Kutas, & McRae, 2007), among others. We further demonstrate how perceptual knowledge could be integrated into this exemplar-based framework, with the goal of grounding language processing in perception. Finally, we illustrate how an exemplar memory system could have been used in the cultural evolution of language. The model provides evidence that an impressive amount of language processing may be bottom-up in nature, built on the storage and retrieval of individual linguistic experiences. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

A new approach to telemetry data processing. Ph.D. Thesis - Maryland Univ.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Broglio, C. J.

1973-01-01

An approach for a preprocessing system for telemetry data processing was developed. The philosophy of the approach is the development of a preprocessing system to interface with the main processor and relieve it of the burden of stripping information from a telemetry data stream. To accomplish this task, a telemetry preprocessing language was developed. Also, a hardware device for implementing the operation of this language was designed using a cellular logic module concept. In the development of the hardware device and the cellular logic module, a distributed form of control was implemented. This is accomplished by a technique of one-to-one intermodule communications and a set of privileged communication operations. By transferring this control state from module to module, the control function is dispersed through the system. A compiler for translating the preprocessing language statements into an operations table for the hardware device was also developed. Finally, to complete the system design and verify it, a simulator for the collular logic module was written using the APL/360 system.

Implementation of a Goal-Based Systems Engineering Process Using the Systems Modeling Language (SysML)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Breckenridge, Jonathan T.; Johnson, Stephen B.

2013-01-01

This paper describes the core framework used to implement a Goal-Function Tree (GFT) based systems engineering process using the Systems Modeling Language. It defines a set of principles built upon by the theoretical approach described in the InfoTech 2013 ISHM paper titled "Goal-Function Tree Modeling for Systems Engineering and Fault Management" presented by Dr. Stephen B. Johnson. Using the SysML language, the principles in this paper describe the expansion of the SysML language as a baseline in order to: hierarchically describe a system, describe that system functionally within success space, and allocate detection mechanisms to success functions for system protection.

Spanish language generation engine to enhance the syntactic quality of AAC systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Narváez A., Cristian; Sastoque H., Sebastián.; Iregui G., Marcela

2015-12-01

People with Complex Communication Needs (CCN) face difficulties to communicate their ideas, feelings and needs. Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) approaches aim to provide support to enhance socialization of these individuals. However, there are many limitations in current applications related with systems operation, target scenarios and language consistency. This work presents an AAC approach to enhance produced messages by applying elements of Natural Language Generation. Specifically, a Spanish language engine, composed of a grammar ontology and a set of linguistic rules, is proposed to improve the naturalness in the communication process, when persons with CCN tell stories about their daily activities to non-disabled receivers. The assessment of the proposed method confirms the validity of the model to improve messages quality.

Language mapping with verbs and sentences in awake surgery: a review.

PubMed

Rofes, Adrià; Miceli, Gabriele

2014-06-01

Intraoperative language mapping in awake surgery is typically conducted by asking the patient to produce automatic speech and to name objects. These tasks might not map language with sufficient accuracy, as some linguistic processes can only be triggered by tasks that use verbs and sentences. Verb and sentence processing tasks are currently used during surgery, albeit sparsely. Medline, PubMed, and Web of Science records were searched to retrieve studies focused on language mapping with verbs/sentences in awake surgery. We review the tasks reported in the published literature, spell out the language processes assessed by each task, list the cortical and subcortical regions whose stimulation inhibited language processing, and consider the types of errors elicited by stimulation in each region. We argue that using verb tasks allows a more thorough evaluation of language functions. We also argue that verb tasks are preferable to object naming tasks in the case of frontal lesions, as lesion and neuroimaging data demonstrate that these regions play a critical role in verb and sentence processing. We discuss the clinical value of these tasks and the current limitations of the procedure, and provide some guidelines for their development. Future research should aim toward a differentiated approach to language mapping - one that includes the administration of standardized and customizable tests and the use of longitudinal neurocognitive follow-up studies. Further work will allow researchers and clinicians to understand brain and language correlates and to improve the current surgical practice.

Teaching the Process Approach in Poland.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carter, Ronnie D.

Members of the Polish faculty at the English Institute (Poland) primarily use English as a second language (ESL) techniques to teach writing, with grammar and idiom drills, and little writing beyond the sentence level. An American professor, on the other hand, used a process approach to teach writing by providing specific instructions about…

A Novel Approach to Creating Disambiguated Multilingual Dictionaries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boguslavsky, Igor; Cardenosa, Jesus; Gallardo, Carolina

2009-01-01

Multilingual lexicons are needed in various applications, such as cross-lingual information retrieval, machine translation, and some others. Often, these applications suffer from the ambiguity of dictionary items, especially when an intermediate natural language is involved in the process of the dictionary construction, since this language adds…

The Supervisory Process of EFL Teachers: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Cheryl Wei-Yu; Cheng, Yuh-show

2013-01-01

Supervision is an essential part of language teachers' professional experiences. The literature on language teacher supervision from the past few decades consists largely of descriptions of supervisory approaches (Bailey, 2009) and analysis of the supervisory discourse (Hooton, 2008; Wajnryb, 1994; 1995; 1998; Wallace & Woolger, 1991). This…

Does Lateral Transmission Obscure Inheritance in Hunter-Gatherer Languages?

PubMed Central

Bowern, Claire; Epps, Patience; Gray, Russell; Hill, Jane; Hunley, Keith; McConvell, Patrick; Zentz, Jason

2011-01-01

In recent years, linguists have begun to increasingly rely on quantitative phylogenetic approaches to examine language evolution. Some linguists have questioned the suitability of phylogenetic approaches on the grounds that linguistic evolution is largely reticulate due to extensive lateral transmission, or borrowing, among languages. The problem may be particularly pronounced in hunter-gatherer languages, where the conventional wisdom among many linguists is that lexical borrowing rates are so high that tree building approaches cannot provide meaningful insights into evolutionary processes. However, this claim has never been systematically evaluated, in large part because suitable data were unavailable. In addition, little is known about the subsistence, demographic, ecological, and social factors that might mediate variation in rates of borrowing among languages. Here, we evaluate these claims with a large sample of hunter-gatherer languages from three regions around the world. In this study, a list of 204 basic vocabulary items was collected for 122 hunter-gatherer and small-scale cultivator languages from three ecologically diverse case study areas: northern Australia, northwest Amazonia, and California and the Great Basin. Words were rigorously coded for etymological (inheritance) status, and loan rates were calculated. Loan rate variability was examined with respect to language area, subsistence mode, and population size, density, and mobility; these results were then compared to the sample of 41 primarily agriculturalist languages in [1]. Though loan levels varied both within and among regions, they were generally low in all regions (mean 5.06%, median 2.49%, and SD 7.56), despite substantial demographic, ecological, and social variation. Amazonian levels were uniformly very low, with no language exhibiting more than 4%. Rates were low but more variable in the other two study regions, in part because of several outlier languages where rates of borrowing were especially high. High mobility, prestige asymmetries, and language shift may contribute to the high rates in these outliers. No support was found for claims that hunter-gatherer languages borrow more than agriculturalist languages. These results debunk the myth of high borrowing in hunter-gatherer languages and suggest that the evolution of these languages is governed by the same type of rules as those operating in large-scale agriculturalist speech communities. The results also show that local factors are likely to be more critical than general processes in determining high (or low) loan rates. PMID:21980394

Neurolinguistic Relativity: How Language Flexes Human Perception and Cognition.

PubMed

Thierry, Guillaume

2016-09-01

The time has come, perhaps, to go beyond merely acknowledging that language is a core manifestation of the workings of the human mind and that it relates interactively to all aspects of thinking. The issue, thus, is not to decide whether language and human thought may be ineluctably linked (they just are), but rather to determine what the characteristics of this relationship may be and to understand how language influences-and may be influenced by-nonverbal information processing. In an attempt to demystify linguistic relativity, I review neurolinguistic studies from our research group showing a link between linguistic distinctions and perceptual or conceptual processing. On the basis of empirical evidence showing effects of terminology on perception, language-idiosyncratic relationships in semantic memory, grammatical skewing of event conceptualization, and unconscious modulation of executive functioning by verbal input, I advocate a neurofunctional approach through which we can systematically explore how languages shape human thought.

Introduction to the special issue: parsimony and redundancy in models of language.

PubMed

Wiechmann, Daniel; Kerz, Elma; Snider, Neal; Jaeger, T Florian

2013-09-01

One of the most fundamental goals in linguistic theory is to understand the nature of linguistic knowledge, that is, the representations and mechanisms that figure in a cognitively plausible model of human language-processing. The past 50 years have witnessed the development and refinement of various theories about what kind of 'stuff' human knowledge of language consists of, and technological advances now permit the development of increasingly sophisticated computational models implementing key assumptions of different theories from both rationalist and empiricist perspectives. The present special issue does not aim to present or discuss the arguments for and against the two epistemological stances or discuss evidence that supports either of them (cf. Bod, Hay, & Jannedy, 2003; Christiansen & Chater, 2008; Hauser, Chomsky, & Fitch, 2002; Oaksford & Chater, 2007; O'Donnell, Hauser, & Fitch, 2005). Rather, the research presented in this issue, which we label usage-based here, conceives of linguistic knowledge as being induced from experience. According to the strongest of such accounts, the acquisition and processing of language can be explained with reference to general cognitive mechanisms alone (rather than with reference to innate language-specific mechanisms). Defined in these terms, usage-based approaches encompass approaches referred to as experience-based, performance-based and/or emergentist approaches (Amrnon & Snider, 2010; Bannard, Lieven, & Tomasello, 2009; Bannard & Matthews, 2008; Chater & Manning, 2006; Clark & Lappin, 2010; Gerken, Wilson, & Lewis, 2005; Gomez, 2002;

PRISM. Volume 3, Number 2, March 2012

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-03-01

control. The first problem that is encountered is the use of the word control, which in many languages is pejorative, implying a dictatorial approach...lieu of control, the language used should imply partnership in the decisionmaking process. The second problem is that all too fre- quently the terms...effectiveness of the security and development strategy as peace talks use the language of development to address the unmet needs of the insurgents

Teaching the Arts as a Second Language: A School-Wide Policy Approach to Arts Integration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martin, Brittany Harker

2017-01-01

The arts can be used to teach, not just as activities that enhance learning, but also as the primary medium through which students process, acquire, and represent knowledge. This means the arts can function as a language. If we accept this metaphor, and we truly want students to be fluent in the artistic languages, then the arts can be taught in…

Sensing the Sentence: An Embodied Simulation Approach to Rhetorical Grammar

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rule, Hannah J.

2017-01-01

This article applies the neuroscientific concept of embodied simulation--the process of understanding language through visual, motor, and spatial modalities of the body--to rhetorical grammar and sentence-style pedagogies. Embodied simulation invigorates rhetorical grammar instruction by attuning writers to the felt effects of written language,…

Non-Procedural Languages for Information Resource Management.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bearley, William L.

The future of information resources management requires new approaches to implementing systems which will include a type of data base management that frees users to solve data processing problems logically by telling the system what they want, together with powerful non-procedural languages that will permit communication in simple, concise…

Challenges in Educational Modelling: Expressiveness of IMS Learning Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Caeiro-Rodriguez, Manuel; Anido-Rifon, Luis; Llamas-Nistal, Martin

2010-01-01

Educational Modelling Languages (EMLs) have been proposed to enable the authoring of models of "learning units" (e.g., courses, lessons, lab practices, seminars) covering the broad variety of pedagogical approaches. In addition, some EMLs have been proposed as computational languages that support the processing of learning unit models by…

Language and Related Approaches to the Writing Process.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seesholtz, Melvin C.

Providing instruction in language theory is an innovative technique for use in remedial and other composition courses in the two-year college. Such innovations provide intellectually stimulating material to students who lose interest when confronted with traditional grammar and composition. Students are acquainted with American Edited English in…

Exploring Flipped Classroom Effects on Second Language Learners' Cognitive Processing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Jeong-eun; Park, Hyunjin; Jang, Mijung; Nam, Hosung

2017-01-01

This study investigated the cognitive effects of the flipped classroom approach in a content-based instructional context by comparing second language learners' discourse in flipped vs. traditional classrooms in terms of (1) participation rate, (2) content of comments, (3) reasoning skills, and (4) interactional patterns. Learners in two intact…

The Role of Discourse in Teaching Intercultural Professional Communication

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kartabayeva, Ayana A.; Zhaitapova, Altynai A.

2016-01-01

With Kazakhstan's accession to the Bologna Process, particular importance is attached to the professionally-oriented approach of teaching foreign languages to students, which facilitates formation of their foreign language communicative ability. The article deals with the problem of teaching English to students for the purpose of formation of…

A Process Approach to Literacy Using Dialogue Journals and Literature Logs with Second Language Learners.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reyes, Maria de la Luz

1991-01-01

Examines the ability of 10 sixth grade Hispanic bilingual students to construct meaning in dialogue journals and literature logs in their first and second languages. Finds that students are more effective in constructing meaning in dialogue journals than in literature logs. (MG)

Collaborative Curriculum Renewal in a Tertiary Vocational Institution in Japan.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harrison, Ian D.

The process of revising the second language curriculum in a Japanese postsecondary vocational school is described, focusing on the collaborative approach taken. The school provides second language instruction and vocational training in several occupational areas. A number of research teams or "focus groups" were established, each with a…

Neurological impressions on the organization of language networks in the human brain.

PubMed

Oliveira, Fabricio Ferreira de; Marin, Sheilla de Medeiros Correia; Bertolucci, Paulo Henrique Ferreira

2017-01-01

More than 95% of right-handed individuals, as well as almost 80% of left-handed individuals, have left hemisphere dominance for language. The perisylvian networks of the dominant hemisphere tend to be the most important language systems in human brains, usually connected by bidirectional fibres originated from the superior longitudinal fascicle/arcuate fascicle system and potentially modifiable by learning. Neuroplasticity mechanisms take place to preserve neural functions after brain injuries. Language is dependent on a hierarchical interlinkage of serial and parallel processing areas in distinct brain regions considered to be elementary processing units. Whereas aphasic syndromes typically result from injuries to the dominant hemisphere, the extent of the distribution of language functions seems to be variable for each individual. Review of the literature Results: Several theories try to explain the organization of language networks in the human brain from a point of view that involves either modular or distributed processing or sometimes both. The most important evidence for each approach is discussed under the light of modern theories of organization of neural networks. Understanding the connectivity patterns of language networks may provide deeper insights into language functions, supporting evidence-based rehabilitation strategies that focus on the enhancement of language organization for patients with aphasic syndromes.

A role for relaxed selection in the evolution of the language capacity

PubMed Central

Deacon, Terrence W.

2010-01-01

Explaining the extravagant complexity of the human language and our competence to acquire it has long posed challenges for natural selection theory. To answer his critics, Darwin turned to sexual selection to account for the extreme development of language. Many contemporary evolutionary theorists have invoked incredibly lucky mutation or some variant of the assimilation of acquired behaviors to innate predispositions in an effort to explain it. Recent evodevo approaches have identified developmental processes that help to explain how complex functional synergies can evolve by Darwinian means. Interestingly, many of these developmental mechanisms bear a resemblance to aspects of Darwin's mechanism of natural selection, often differing only in one respect (e.g., form of duplication, kind of variation, competition/cooperation). A common feature is an interplay between processes of stabilizing selection and processes of relaxed selection at different levels of organism function. These may play important roles in the many levels of evolutionary process contributing to language. Surprisingly, the relaxation of selection at the organism level may have been a source of many complex synergistic features of the human language capacity, and may help explain why so much language information is “inherited” socially. PMID:20445088

Cognition-Based Approaches for High-Precision Text Mining

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shannon, George John

2017-01-01

This research improves the precision of information extraction from free-form text via the use of cognitive-based approaches to natural language processing (NLP). Cognitive-based approaches are an important, and relatively new, area of research in NLP and search, as well as linguistics. Cognitive approaches enable significant improvements in both…

Language barriers and qualitative nursing research: methodological considerations.

PubMed

Squires, A

2008-09-01

This review of the literature synthesizes methodological recommendations for the use of translators and interpreters in cross-language qualitative research. Cross-language qualitative research involves the use of interpreters and translators to mediate a language barrier between researchers and participants. Qualitative nurse researchers successfully address language barriers between themselves and their participants when they systematically plan for how they will use interpreters and translators throughout the research process. Experienced qualitative researchers recognize that translators can generate qualitative data through translation processes and by participating in data analysis. Failure to address language barriers and the methodological challenges they present threatens the credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability of cross-language qualitative nursing research. Through a synthesis of the cross-language qualitative methods literature, this article reviews the basics of language competence, translator and interpreter qualifications, and roles for each kind of qualitative research approach. Methodological and ethical considerations are also provided. By systematically addressing the methodological challenges cross-language research presents, nurse researchers can produce better evidence for nursing practice and policy making when working across different language groups. Findings from qualitative studies will also accurately represent the experiences of the participants without concern that the meaning was lost in translation.

Language barriers and qualitative nursing research: methodological considerations

PubMed Central

Squires, A.

2009-01-01

Aim This review of the literature synthesizes methodological recommendations for the use of translators and interpreters in cross-language qualitative research. Background Cross-language qualitative research involves the use of interpreters and translators to mediate a language barrier between researchers and participants. Qualitative nurse researchers successfully address language barriers between themselves and their participants when they systematically plan for how they will use interpreters and translators throughout the research process. Experienced qualitative researchers recognize that translators can generate qualitative data through translation processes and by participating in data analysis. Failure to address language barriers and the methodological challenges they present threatens the credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability of cross-language qualitative nursing research. Through a synthesis of the cross-language qualitative methods literature, this article reviews the basics of language competence, translator and interpreter qualifications, and roles for each kind of qualitative research approach. Methodological and ethical considerations are also provided. Conclusion By systematically addressing the methodological challenges cross-language research presents, nurse researchers can produce better evidence for nursing practice and policy making when working across different language groups. Findings from qualitative studies will also accurately represent the experiences of the participants without concern that the meaning was lost in translation. PMID:19522941

Should Humanism Approach Be Applied in English as a Second Language (ESL) Classrooms?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ling, Lee Yi; Jin, Ng Yu; Tong, Chong Seng; Tarmizi, Mohd. Ariff

2014-01-01

In the process of learning, many elements fall into place wholly in order to enhance effectiveness. These elements include not only environmental factors but also learners' mentality which involves their feelings, needs and interests. Humanism approach is one which caters these elements required by learners' learning process through emphasis on…

An overview of computer-based natural language processing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gevarter, W. B.

1983-01-01

Computer based Natural Language Processing (NLP) is the key to enabling humans and their computer based creations to interact with machines in natural language (like English, Japanese, German, etc., in contrast to formal computer languages). The doors that such an achievement can open have made this a major research area in Artificial Intelligence and Computational Linguistics. Commercial natural language interfaces to computers have recently entered the market and future looks bright for other applications as well. This report reviews the basic approaches to such systems, the techniques utilized, applications, the state of the art of the technology, issues and research requirements, the major participants and finally, future trends and expectations. It is anticipated that this report will prove useful to engineering and research managers, potential users, and others who will be affected by this field as it unfolds.

Lagging behind Writing Pedagogical Developments: The Impact of Implementing Process-Based Approach on Learners' Writing in a Vietnamese Secondary Education Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ngo, Chau M.; Trinh, Lap Q.

2011-01-01

The field of English language education has seen developments in writing pedagogy, moving from product-based to process-based and then to genre-based approaches. In Vietnam, teaching secondary school students how to write in English is still lagging behind these growing developments. Product-based approach is commonly seen in English writing…

On Cognition, Structured Sequence Processing, and Adaptive Dynamical Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petersson, Karl Magnus

2008-11-01

Cognitive neuroscience approaches the brain as a cognitive system: a system that functionally is conceptualized in terms of information processing. We outline some aspects of this concept and consider a physical system to be an information processing device when a subclass of its physical states can be viewed as representational/cognitive and transitions between these can be conceptualized as a process operating on these states by implementing operations on the corresponding representational structures. We identify a generic and fundamental problem in cognition: sequentially organized structured processing. Structured sequence processing provides the brain, in an essential sense, with its processing logic. In an approach addressing this problem, we illustrate how to integrate levels of analysis within a framework of adaptive dynamical systems. We note that the dynamical system framework lends itself to a description of asynchronous event-driven devices, which is likely to be important in cognition because the brain appears to be an asynchronous processing system. We use the human language faculty and natural language processing as a concrete example through out.

ANTLR Tree Grammar Generator and Extensions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Craymer, Loring

2005-01-01

A computer program implements two extensions of ANTLR (Another Tool for Language Recognition), which is a set of software tools for translating source codes between different computing languages. ANTLR supports predicated- LL(k) lexer and parser grammars, a notation for annotating parser grammars to direct tree construction, and predicated tree grammars. [ LL(k) signifies left-right, leftmost derivation with k tokens of look-ahead, referring to certain characteristics of a grammar.] One of the extensions is a syntax for tree transformations. The other extension is the generation of tree grammars from annotated parser or input tree grammars. These extensions can simplify the process of generating source-to-source language translators and they make possible an approach, called "polyphase parsing," to translation between computing languages. The typical approach to translator development is to identify high-level semantic constructs such as "expressions," "declarations," and "definitions" as fundamental building blocks in the grammar specification used for language recognition. The polyphase approach is to lump ambiguous syntactic constructs during parsing and then disambiguate the alternatives in subsequent tree transformation passes. Polyphase parsing is believed to be useful for generating efficient recognizers for C++ and other languages that, like C++, have significant ambiguities.

Individual differences in online spoken word recognition: Implications for SLI

PubMed Central

McMurray, Bob; Samelson, Vicki M.; Lee, Sung Hee; Tomblin, J. Bruce

2012-01-01

Thirty years of research has uncovered the broad principles that characterize spoken word processing across listeners. However, there have been few systematic investigations of individual differences. Such an investigation could help refine models of word recognition by indicating which processing parameters are likely to vary, and could also have important implications for work on language impairment. The present study begins to fill this gap by relating individual differences in overall language ability to variation in online word recognition processes. Using the visual world paradigm, we evaluated online spoken word recognition in adolescents who varied in both basic language abilities and non-verbal cognitive abilities. Eye movements to target, cohort and rhyme objects were monitored during spoken word recognition, as an index of lexical activation. Adolescents with poor language skills showed fewer looks to the target and more fixations to the cohort and rhyme competitors. These results were compared to a number of variants of the TRACE model (McClelland & Elman, 1986) that were constructed to test a range of theoretical approaches to language impairment: impairments at sensory and phonological levels; vocabulary size, and generalized slowing. None were strongly supported, and variation in lexical decay offered the best fit. Thus, basic word recognition processes like lexical decay may offer a new way to characterize processing differences in language impairment. PMID:19836014

How language production shapes language form and comprehension

PubMed Central

MacDonald, Maryellen C.

2012-01-01

Language production processes can provide insight into how language comprehension works and language typology—why languages tend to have certain characteristics more often than others. Drawing on work in memory retrieval, motor planning, and serial order in action planning, the Production-Distribution-Comprehension (PDC) account links work in the fields of language production, typology, and comprehension: (1) faced with substantial computational burdens of planning and producing utterances, language producers implicitly follow three biases in utterance planning that promote word order choices that reduce these burdens, thereby improving production fluency. (2) These choices, repeated over many utterances and individuals, shape the distributions of utterance forms in language. The claim that language form stems in large degree from producers' attempts to mitigate utterance planning difficulty is contrasted with alternative accounts in which form is driven by language use more broadly, language acquisition processes, or producers' attempts to create language forms that are easily understood by comprehenders. (3) Language perceivers implicitly learn the statistical regularities in their linguistic input, and they use this prior experience to guide comprehension of subsequent language. In particular, they learn to predict the sequential structure of linguistic signals, based on the statistics of previously-encountered input. Thus, key aspects of comprehension behavior are tied to lexico-syntactic statistics in the language, which in turn derive from utterance planning biases promoting production of comparatively easy utterance forms over more difficult ones. This approach contrasts with classic theories in which comprehension behaviors are attributed to innate design features of the language comprehension system and associated working memory. The PDC instead links basic features of comprehension to a different source: production processes that shape language form. PMID:23637689

The Scope of Usage-Based Theory

PubMed Central

Ibbotson, Paul

2013-01-01

Usage-based approaches typically draw on a relatively small set of cognitive processes, such as categorization, analogy, and chunking to explain language structure and function. The goal of this paper is to first review the extent to which the “cognitive commitment” of usage-based theory has had success in explaining empirical findings across domains, including language acquisition, processing, and typology. We then look at the overall strengths and weaknesses of usage-based theory and highlight where there are significant debates. Finally, we draw special attention to a set of culturally generated structural patterns that seem to lie beyond the explanation of core usage-based cognitive processes. In this context we draw a distinction between cognition permitting language structure vs. cognition entailing language structure. As well as addressing the need for greater clarity on the mechanisms of generalizations and the fundamental units of grammar, we suggest that integrating culturally generated structures within existing cognitive models of use will generate tighter predictions about how language works. PMID:23658552

Object schemas for grounding language in a responsive robot

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hsiao, Kai-Yuh; Tellex, Stefanie; Vosoughi, Soroush; Kubat, Rony; Roy, Deb

2008-12-01

An approach is introduced for physically grounded natural language interpretation by robots that reacts appropriately to unanticipated physical changes in the environment and dynamically assimilates new information pertinent to ongoing tasks. At the core of the approach is a model of object schemas that enables a robot to encode beliefs about physical objects in its environment using collections of coupled processes responsible for sensorimotor interaction. These interaction processes run concurrently in order to ensure responsiveness to the environment, while co-ordinating sensorimotor expectations, action planning and language use. The model has been implemented on a robot that manipulates objects on a tabletop in response to verbal input. The implementation responds to verbal requests such as 'Group the green block and the red apple', while adapting in real time to unexpected physical collisions and taking opportunistic advantage of any new information it may receive through perceptual and linguistic channels.

The paradigm compiler: Mapping a functional language for the connection machine

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dennis, Jack B.

1989-01-01

The Paradigm Compiler implements a new approach to compiling programs written in high level languages for execution on highly parallel computers. The general approach is to identify the principal data structures constructed by the program and to map these structures onto the processing elements of the target machine. The mapping is chosen to maximize performance as determined through compile time global analysis of the source program. The source language is Sisal, a functional language designed for scientific computations, and the target language is Paris, the published low level interface to the Connection Machine. The data structures considered are multidimensional arrays whose dimensions are known at compile time. Computations that build such arrays usually offer opportunities for highly parallel execution; they are data parallel. The Connection Machine is an attractive target for these computations, and the parallel for construct of the Sisal language is a convenient high level notation for data parallel algorithms. The principles and organization of the Paradigm Compiler are discussed.

The growth of language: Universal Grammar, experience, and principles of computation.

PubMed

Yang, Charles; Crain, Stephen; Berwick, Robert C; Chomsky, Noam; Bolhuis, Johan J

2017-10-01

Human infants develop language remarkably rapidly and without overt instruction. We argue that the distinctive ontogenesis of child language arises from the interplay of three factors: domain-specific principles of language (Universal Grammar), external experience, and properties of non-linguistic domains of cognition including general learning mechanisms and principles of efficient computation. We review developmental evidence that children make use of hierarchically composed structures ('Merge') from the earliest stages and at all levels of linguistic organization. At the same time, longitudinal trajectories of development show sensitivity to the quantity of specific patterns in the input, which suggests the use of probabilistic processes as well as inductive learning mechanisms that are suitable for the psychological constraints on language acquisition. By considering the place of language in human biology and evolution, we propose an approach that integrates principles from Universal Grammar and constraints from other domains of cognition. We outline some initial results of this approach as well as challenges for future research. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Phase II Final Report on an Intelligent Tutoring System for Teaching Battlefield Command Reasoning Skills

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-03-01

and current work is that most developers see unstructured language input as a useful complement to a Socratic tutoring approach. The general...demonstrating the possibility of Socratic tactical tutoring, led us , during the second half of our Phase II effort, away from unrestricted natural language ... language use . This often leads to faster, more useful processing, that is robust in the face of real-world input (ungrammatical, misspelled, or

Robust Resilience of the Frontotemporal Syntax System to Aging

PubMed Central

Samu, Dávid; Davis, Simon W.; Geerligs, Linda; Mustafa, Abdur; Tyler, Lorraine K.

2016-01-01

Brain function is thought to become less specialized with age. However, this view is largely based on findings of increased activation during tasks that fail to separate task-related processes (e.g., attention, decision making) from the cognitive process under examination. Here we take a systems-level approach to separate processes specific to language comprehension from those related to general task demands and to examine age differences in functional connectivity both within and between those systems. A large population-based sample (N = 111; 22–87 years) from the Cambridge Centre for Aging and Neuroscience (Cam-CAN) was scanned using functional MRI during two versions of an experiment: a natural listening version in which participants simply listened to spoken sentences and an explicit task version in which they rated the acceptability of the same sentences. Independent components analysis across the combined data from both versions showed that although task-free language comprehension activates only the auditory and frontotemporal (FTN) syntax networks, performing a simple task with the same sentences recruits several additional networks. Remarkably, functionality of the critical FTN is maintained across age groups, showing no difference in within-network connectivity or responsivity to syntactic processing demands despite gray matter loss and reduced connectivity to task-related networks. We found no evidence for reduced specialization or compensation with age. Overt task performance was maintained across the lifespan and performance in older, but not younger, adults related to crystallized knowledge, suggesting that decreased between-network connectivity may be compensated for by older adults' richer knowledge base. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Understanding spoken language requires the rapid integration of information at many different levels of analysis. Given the complexity and speed of this process, it is remarkably well preserved with age. Although previous work claims that this preserved functionality is due to compensatory activation of regions outside the frontotemporal language network, we use a novel systems-level approach to show that these “compensatory” activations simply reflect age differences in response to experimental task demands. Natural, task-free language comprehension solely recruits auditory and frontotemporal networks, the latter of which is similarly responsive to language-processing demands across the lifespan. These findings challenge the conventional approach to neurocognitive aging by showing that the neural underpinnings of a given cognitive function depend on how you test it. PMID:27170120

The neural correlates of agrammatism: Evidence from aphasic and healthy speakers performing an overt picture description task

PubMed Central

Schönberger, Eva; Heim, Stefan; Meffert, Elisabeth; Pieperhoff, Peter; da Costa Avelar, Patricia; Huber, Walter; Binkofski, Ferdinand; Grande, Marion

2014-01-01

Functional brain imaging studies have improved our knowledge of the neural localization of language functions and the functional reorganization after a lesion. However, the neural correlates of agrammatic symptoms in aphasia remain largely unknown. The present fMRI study examined the neural correlates of morpho-syntactic encoding and agrammatic errors in continuous language production by combining three approaches. First, the neural mechanisms underlying natural morpho-syntactic processing in a picture description task were analyzed in 15 healthy speakers. Second, agrammatic-like speech behavior was induced in the same group of healthy speakers to study the underlying functional processes by limiting the utterance length. In a third approach, five agrammatic participants performed the picture description task to gain insights in the neural correlates of agrammatism and the functional reorganization of language processing after stroke. In all approaches, utterances were analyzed for syntactic completeness, complexity, and morphology. Event-related data analysis was conducted by defining every clause-like unit (CLU) as an event with its onset-time and duration. Agrammatic and correct CLUs were contrasted. Due to the small sample size as well as heterogeneous lesion sizes and sites with lesion foci in the insula lobe, inferior frontal, superior temporal and inferior parietal areas the activation patterns in the agrammatic speakers were analyzed on a single subject level. In the group of healthy speakers, posterior temporal and inferior parietal areas were associated with greater morpho-syntactic demands in complete and complex CLUs. The intentional manipulation of morpho-syntactic structures and the omission of function words were associated with additional inferior frontal activation. Overall, the results revealed that the investigation of the neural correlates of agrammatic language production can be reasonably conducted with an overt language production paradigm. PMID:24711802

A Languacognitive Constructionist Approach to Intercultural Competence in Educational Settings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Strugielska, Ariadna; Piatkowska, Katarzyna

2017-01-01

The aim of this paper is to discuss intercultural competence (IC) from a languacognitive perspective, whose main assumption is the interface between language, cognition and culture manifested in meaning construction. The article first emphasizes the centrality of language in the process of meaning construction. As a result, in the following…

Multilingual Language Policy and Mother Tongue Education in Timor-Leste: A Multiscalar Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Caffery, Jo; Coronado, Gabriela; Hodge, Bob

2016-01-01

This article looks at multilingual, mother-tongue-based language policies influenced by colonial and postcolonial histories and globalization processes. We use multiscalar analysis to show these policies as creative responses to problems affected by national and international forces. Our study focuses on Timor-Leste, specifically a pilot…

Usefulness of Simultaneous EEG-NIRS Recording in Language Studies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wallois, F.; Mahmoudzadeh, M.; Patil, A.; Grebe, R.

2012-01-01

One of the most challenging tasks in neuroscience in language studies, is investigation of the brain's ability to integrate and process information. This task can only be successfully addressed by applying various assessment techniques integrated into a multimodal approach. Each of these techniques has its advantages and disadvantages, but help to…

English Transitivity Alternation in Second Language Acquisition: An Attentional Approach. China Perspectives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Yuxia

2017-01-01

The correct use of English verb argument structure is crucial for foreign learners of the English language. Based on an experimental study recruiting 162 Chinese English learners at different proficiency levels, this book suggests that the acquisition of English transitivity alternation follows as a consequence of the cognitive processing of…

Modern Trends in Continuous Professional Development of Foreign Language Teachers (On the Basis of the British Council Research)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sadovets, Olesia

2017-01-01

Research conducted by the British Council concerning modern continuous professional development of teachers has been analyzed. The issue concerning foreign language teachers' professional development has been considered. Productive approach to this process that gives a teacher the opportunities to define aspects of their professional activities…

Identifying Needs and Setting Goals. The ACTFL Foreign Language Education Series, Vol. 10.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Medley, Frank W., Jr.

The teaching of foreign languages, like other subjects in the curriculum, must change to incorporate the strategies and technologies which evolve from a new perspective of materials and methods. Accordingly, several reasons are suggested for a systematic approach to constructive chanqe. Needs assessment, a process comprised of a series of…

The Role of Culture in English Language Education: Key Challenges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holliday, Adrian

2009-01-01

English language education is in the process of change regarding teacher identity and the ownership of English. Cultural issues are implicated in this change. Critical cosmopolitan approaches in the social sciences are critiquing the primacy of national cultures which they consider a Western imposition on the emergent identities of the Periphery.…

Challenges and Instructional Approaches Impacting the Literacy Performance of English Language Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Markham, Paul L.; Gordon, Karen E.

2007-01-01

For English Language Learners (ELLs), the process of becoming literate in English is daunting. Not only are these students faced with the same literacy challenges faced by native English-speaking students, but they are also challenged with extensive diversity issues relating to substantial differences in linguistic, cultural, and academic…

Is a Response to Intervention (RTI) Approach to Preschool Language and Early Literacy Instruction Needed?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greenwood, Charles R.; Carta, Judith J.; Atwater, Jane; Goldstein, Howard; Kaminski, Ruth; McConnell, Scott

2013-01-01

Preschool experience plays a role in children's development. However, for programs with language and early literacy goals, the question remains whether preschool instructional experiences are sufficiently effective to achieve these goals for all children. In a multisite study, the authors conducted a process-product description of preschool…

An engineering approach to automatic programming

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rubin, Stuart H.

1990-01-01

An exploratory study of the automatic generation and optimization of symbolic programs using DECOM - a prototypical requirement specification model implemented in pure LISP was undertaken. It was concluded, on the basis of this study, that symbolic processing languages such as LISP can support a style of programming based upon formal transformation and dependent upon the expression of constraints in an object-oriented environment. Such languages can represent all aspects of the software generation process (including heuristic algorithms for effecting parallel search) as dynamic processes since data and program are represented in a uniform format.

Natural language modeling

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sharp, J.K.

1997-11-01

This seminar describes a process and methodology that uses structured natural language to enable the construction of precise information requirements directly from users, experts, and managers. The main focus of this natural language approach is to create the precise information requirements and to do it in such a way that the business and technical experts are fully accountable for the results. These requirements can then be implemented using appropriate tools and technology. This requirement set is also a universal learning tool because it has all of the knowledge that is needed to understand a particular process (e.g., expense vouchers, projectmore » management, budget reviews, tax, laws, machine function).« less

Classroom EFL Writing: The Alignment-Oriented Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haiyan, Miao; Rilong, Liu

2016-01-01

This paper outlines the alignment-oriented approach in classroom EFL writing. Based on a review of the characteristics of the written language and comparison between the product-focused approach and the process-focused approach, the paper proposes a practical classroom procedure as to how to teach EFL writing. A follow-up empirical study is…

Computational Investigations of Multiword Chunks in Language Learning.

PubMed

McCauley, Stewart M; Christiansen, Morten H

2017-07-01

Second-language learners rarely arrive at native proficiency in a number of linguistic domains, including morphological and syntactic processing. Previous approaches to understanding the different outcomes of first- versus second-language learning have focused on cognitive and neural factors. In contrast, we explore the possibility that children and adults may rely on different linguistic units throughout the course of language learning, with specific focus on the granularity of those units. Following recent psycholinguistic evidence for the role of multiword chunks in online language processing, we explore the hypothesis that children rely more heavily on multiword units in language learning than do adults learning a second language. To this end, we take an initial step toward using large-scale, corpus-based computational modeling as a tool for exploring the granularity of speakers' linguistic units. Employing a computational model of language learning, the Chunk-Based Learner, we compare the usefulness of chunk-based knowledge in accounting for the speech of second-language learners versus children and adults speaking their first language. Our findings suggest that while multiword units are likely to play a role in second-language learning, adults may learn less useful chunks, rely on them to a lesser extent, and arrive at them through different means than children learning a first language. Copyright © 2017 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Enterprise Pattern: integrating the business process into a unified enterprise model of modern service company

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Ying; Luo, Zhiling; Yin, Jianwei; Xu, Lida; Yin, Yuyu; Wu, Zhaohui

2017-01-01

Modern service company (MSC), the enterprise involving special domains, such as the financial industry, information service industry and technology development industry, depends heavily on information technology. Modelling of such enterprise has attracted much research attention because it promises to help enterprise managers to analyse basic business strategies (e.g. the pricing strategy) and even optimise the business process (BP) to gain benefits. While the existing models proposed by economists cover the economic elements, they fail to address the basic BP and its relationship with the economic characteristics. Those proposed in computer science regardless of achieving great success in BP modelling perform poorly in supporting the economic analysis. Therefore, the existing approaches fail to satisfy the requirement of enterprise modelling for MSC, which demands simultaneous consideration of both economic analysing and business processing. In this article, we provide a unified enterprise modelling approach named Enterprise Pattern (EP) which bridges the gap between the BP model and the enterprise economic model of MSC. Proposing a language named Enterprise Pattern Description Language (EPDL) covering all the basic language elements of EP, we formulate the language syntaxes and two basic extraction rules assisting economic analysis. Furthermore, we extend Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) to support EPDL, named BPMN for Enterprise Pattern (BPMN4EP). The example of mobile application platform is studied in detail for a better understanding of EPDL.

The Use of Video Feedback in Teaching Process-Approach EFL Writing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Özkul, Sertaç; Ortaçtepe, Deniz

2017-01-01

This experimental study investigated the use of video feedback as an alternative to feedback with correction codes at an institution where the latter was commonly used for teaching process-approach English as a foreign language (EFL) writing. Over a 5-week period, the control and the experimental groups were provided with feedback based on…

Are Cortical Motor Maps Based on Body Parts or Coordinated Actions? Implications for Embodied Semantics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fernandino, Leonardo; Iacoboni, Marco

2010-01-01

The embodied cognition approach to the study of the mind proposes that higher order mental processes such as concept formation and language are essentially based on perceptual and motor processes. Contrary to the classical approach in cognitive science, in which concepts are viewed as amodal, arbitrary symbols, embodied semantics argues that…

Efficient Embedded Decoding of Neural Network Language Models in a Machine Translation System.

PubMed

Zamora-Martinez, Francisco; Castro-Bleda, Maria Jose

2018-02-22

Neural Network Language Models (NNLMs) are a successful approach to Natural Language Processing tasks, such as Machine Translation. We introduce in this work a Statistical Machine Translation (SMT) system which fully integrates NNLMs in the decoding stage, breaking the traditional approach based on [Formula: see text]-best list rescoring. The neural net models (both language models (LMs) and translation models) are fully coupled in the decoding stage, allowing to more strongly influence the translation quality. Computational issues were solved by using a novel idea based on memorization and smoothing of the softmax constants to avoid their computation, which introduces a trade-off between LM quality and computational cost. These ideas were studied in a machine translation task with different combinations of neural networks used both as translation models and as target LMs, comparing phrase-based and [Formula: see text]-gram-based systems, showing that the integrated approach seems more promising for [Formula: see text]-gram-based systems, even with nonfull-quality NNLMs.

Experiences in teaching of modeling and simulation with emphasize on equation-based and acausal modeling techniques.

PubMed

Kulhánek, Tomáš; Ježek, Filip; Mateják, Marek; Šilar, Jan; Kofránek, Jří

2015-08-01

This work introduces experiences of teaching modeling and simulation for graduate students in the field of biomedical engineering. We emphasize the acausal and object-oriented modeling technique and we have moved from teaching block-oriented tool MATLAB Simulink to acausal and object oriented Modelica language, which can express the structure of the system rather than a process of computation. However, block-oriented approach is allowed in Modelica language too and students have tendency to express the process of computation. Usage of the exemplar acausal domains and approach allows students to understand the modeled problems much deeper. The causality of the computation is derived automatically by the simulation tool.

Sentence alignment using feed forward neural network.

PubMed

Fattah, Mohamed Abdel; Ren, Fuji; Kuroiwa, Shingo

2006-12-01

Parallel corpora have become an essential resource for work in multi lingual natural language processing. However, sentence aligned parallel corpora are more efficient than non-aligned parallel corpora for cross language information retrieval and machine translation applications. In this paper, we present a new approach to align sentences in bilingual parallel corpora based on feed forward neural network classifier. A feature parameter vector is extracted from the text pair under consideration. This vector contains text features such as length, punctuate score, and cognate score values. A set of manually prepared training data has been assigned to train the feed forward neural network. Another set of data was used for testing. Using this new approach, we could achieve an error reduction of 60% over length based approach when applied on English-Arabic parallel documents. Moreover this new approach is valid for any language pair and it is quite flexible approach since the feature parameter vector may contain more/less or different features than that we used in our system such as lexical match feature.

Cognitive and linguistic biases in morphology learning.

PubMed

Finley, Sara

2018-05-30

Morphology is the study of the relationship between form and meaning. The study of morphology involves understanding the rules and processes that underlie word formation, including the use and productivity of affixes, and the systems that create novel word forms. The present review explores these processes by examining the cognitive components that contribute to typological regularities among morphological systems across the world's language. The review will focus on research in morpheme segmentation, the suffixing preference, acquisition of morphophonology, and acquiring morphological categories and inflectional paradigms. The review will highlight research in a range of areas of linguistics, from child language acquisition, to computational modeling, to adult language learning experiments. In order to best understand the cognitive biases that shape morphological learning, a broad, interdisciplinary approach must be taken. This article is categorized under: Linguistics > Linguistic Theory Linguistics > Language Acquisition Psychology > Language. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Neurolinguistic Relativity: How Language Flexes Human Perception and Cognition

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

The time has come, perhaps, to go beyond merely acknowledging that language is a core manifestation of the workings of the human mind and that it relates interactively to all aspects of thinking. The issue, thus, is not to decide whether language and human thought may be ineluctably linked (they just are), but rather to determine what the characteristics of this relationship may be and to understand how language influences—and may be influenced by—nonverbal information processing. In an attempt to demystify linguistic relativity, I review neurolinguistic studies from our research group showing a link between linguistic distinctions and perceptual or conceptual processing. On the basis of empirical evidence showing effects of terminology on perception, language‐idiosyncratic relationships in semantic memory, grammatical skewing of event conceptualization, and unconscious modulation of executive functioning by verbal input, I advocate a neurofunctional approach through which we can systematically explore how languages shape human thought. PMID:27642191

Exploring the role of auditory analysis in atypical compared to typical language development.

PubMed

Grube, Manon; Cooper, Freya E; Kumar, Sukhbinder; Kelly, Tom; Griffiths, Timothy D

2014-02-01

The relationship between auditory processing and language skills has been debated for decades. Previous findings have been inconsistent, both in typically developing and impaired subjects, including those with dyslexia or specific language impairment. Whether correlations between auditory and language skills are consistent between different populations has hardly been addressed at all. The present work presents an exploratory approach of testing for patterns of correlations in a range of measures of auditory processing. In a recent study, we reported findings from a large cohort of eleven-year olds on a range of auditory measures and the data supported a specific role for the processing of short sequences in pitch and time in typical language development. Here we tested whether a group of individuals with dyslexic traits (DT group; n = 28) from the same year group would show the same pattern of correlations between auditory and language skills as the typically developing group (TD group; n = 173). Regarding the raw scores, the DT group showed a significantly poorer performance on the language but not the auditory measures, including measures of pitch, time and rhythm, and timbre (modulation). In terms of correlations, there was a tendency to decrease in correlations between short-sequence processing and language skills, contrasted by a significant increase in correlation for basic, single-sound processing, in particular in the domain of modulation. The data support the notion that the fundamental relationship between auditory and language skills might differ in atypical compared to typical language development, with the implication that merging data or drawing inference between populations might be problematic. Further examination of the relationship between both basic sound feature analysis and music-like sound analysis and language skills in impaired populations might allow the development of appropriate training strategies. These might include types of musical training to augment language skills via their common bases in sound sequence analysis. Copyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A computational language approach to modeling prose recall in schizophrenia

PubMed Central

Rosenstein, Mark; Diaz-Asper, Catherine; Foltz, Peter W.; Elvevåg, Brita

2014-01-01

Many cortical disorders are associated with memory problems. In schizophrenia, verbal memory deficits are a hallmark feature. However, the exact nature of this deficit remains elusive. Modeling aspects of language features used in memory recall have the potential to provide means for measuring these verbal processes. We employ computational language approaches to assess time-varying semantic and sequential properties of prose recall at various retrieval intervals (immediate, 30 min and 24 h later) in patients with schizophrenia, unaffected siblings and healthy unrelated control participants. First, we model the recall data to quantify the degradation of performance with increasing retrieval interval and the effect of diagnosis (i.e., group membership) on performance. Next we model the human scoring of recall performance using an n-gram language sequence technique, and then with a semantic feature based on Latent Semantic Analysis. These models show that automated analyses of the recalls can produce scores that accurately mimic human scoring. The final analysis addresses the validity of this approach by ascertaining the ability to predict group membership from models built on the two classes of language features. Taken individually, the semantic feature is most predictive, while a model combining the features improves accuracy of group membership prediction slightly above the semantic feature alone as well as over the human rating approach. We discuss the implications for cognitive neuroscience of such a computational approach in exploring the mechanisms of prose recall. PMID:24709122

Rethinking Process-Based Writing Approaches in the ESOL Middle School Classroom: Developing Linguistic Fluency via Hybrid Pedagogies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pandey, Anjali

2012-01-01

This article calls for a rethinking of pure process-based approaches in the teaching of second language writers in the middle school classroom. The author provides evidence from a detailed case study of the writing of a Korean middle school student in a U.S. school setting to make a case for rethinking the efficacy of classic process-based…

Query Language for Location-Based Services: A Model Checking Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hoareau, Christian; Satoh, Ichiro

We present a model checking approach to the rationale, implementation, and applications of a query language for location-based services. Such query mechanisms are necessary so that users, objects, and/or services can effectively benefit from the location-awareness of their surrounding environment. The underlying data model is founded on a symbolic model of space organized in a tree structure. Once extended to a semantic model for modal logic, we regard location query processing as a model checking problem, and thus define location queries as hybrid logicbased formulas. Our approach is unique to existing research because it explores the connection between location models and query processing in ubiquitous computing systems, relies on a sound theoretical basis, and provides modal logic-based query mechanisms for expressive searches over a decentralized data structure. A prototype implementation is also presented and will be discussed.

Emotion-Memory Effects in Bilingual Speakers: A Levels-of-Close Processing Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aycicegi-Dinn, Ayse; Caldwell-Harris, Catherine L.

2009-01-01

Emotion-memory effects occur when emotion words are more frequently recalled than neutral words. Bilingual speakers report that taboo terms and emotional phrases generate a stronger emotional response when heard or spoken in their first language. This suggests that the basic emotion-memory will be stronger for words presented in a first language.…

Proficiency Standards and Cut-Scores for Language Proficiency Tests.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moy, Raymond H.

The problem of standard setting on language proficiency tests is often approached by the use of norms derived from the group being tested, a process commonly known as "grading on the curve." One particular problem with this ad hoc method of standard setting is that it will usually result in a fluctuating standard dependent on the particular group…

The Use of the "Cantigas de amigo" for a History of Portuguese Language Course.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parks, Roger L.; Vigil, Neddy

1992-01-01

A context-based framework for teaching the history of Portuguese is presented. It incorporates passages from a medieval Galician-Portuguese work to illustrate diachronic linguistic processes in the evolution of the language. Advantages of the approach, prerequisites, text, and syllabus are described, and a sample analysis is provided. (53…

Geodes Like Sky Blue Popsicles: Developing Authorship Literacy in Limited English Proficient Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boehlke, Lisa; Rummel, Mary Kay

1990-01-01

An approach is described for developing the language of limited English proficient (LEP) students using process writing with content drawn from across the curriculum. This is proposed in the context of recent research in second language reading that has focused on developing metacognitive awareness and use of reading strategies, and that less…

Brain-Based Aspects of Cognitive Learning Approaches in Second Language Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moghaddam, Alireza Navid; Araghi, Seyed Mahdi

2013-01-01

Language learning process is one of the complicated behaviors of human beings which has called many scholars and experts' attention especially after the middle of last century by the advent of cognitive psychology that later on we see its implication to education. Unlike previous thought of schools, cognitive psychology deals with the way in which…

With a Critic's Eye: Helping Language/Learning-Disabled Kids Think about Their Thinking.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

D'Alessandro, Marilyn

1991-01-01

Describes the development of an approach to reading comprehension by teaching 9- and 10-year-old language-disabled and learning-disabled children to think about their thinking. The juxtaposition of reading books and watching videos of the same stories stimulates these children to process written information into a sequence that communicates…

A Computational Approach to Quantifiers as an Explanation for Some Language Impairments in Schizophrenia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zajenkowski, Marcin; Styla, Rafal; Szymanik, Jakub

2011-01-01

We compared the processing of natural language quantifiers in a group of patients with schizophrenia and a healthy control group. In both groups, the difficulty of the quantifiers was consistent with computational predictions, and patients with schizophrenia took more time to solve the problems. However, they were significantly less accurate only…

Digging beneath the Surface Behavioral and Neural Indices of Lexical Access during Idiom Comprehension in Aphasia: A Multi-Modal Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brumm, Kathleen Patricia

2011-01-01

This project examines spoken language comprehension in Broca's aphasia, a non-fluent language disorder acquired subsequent to stroke. Broca's aphasics demonstrate impaired comprehension for complex sentence constructions. To account for this deficit, one current processing theory claims that Broca's patients retain intrinsic linguistic knowledge,…

A Study of Readability of Texts in Bangla through Machine Learning Approaches

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sinha, Manjira; Basu, Anupam

2016-01-01

In this work, we have investigated text readability in Bangla language. Text readability is an indicator of the suitability of a given document with respect to a target reader group. Therefore, text readability has huge impact on educational content preparation. The advances in the field of natural language processing have enabled the automatic…

Brave New (Virtual) World: Transforming Language Learning into Cultural Studies through Online Learning Environments (MOOs).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schneider, Jeffrey; von der Emde, Silke

2000-01-01

Describes an online approach through using a MOO, a computer program that allows students to share text-based virtual reality. The goal of the program was to build an environment that both enabled practice in the target language and sustained reflection on the processes of cultural production and reception. (Author/VWL)

More Than Words: The Role of Multiword Sequences in Language Learning and Use.

PubMed

Christiansen, Morten H; Arnon, Inbal

2017-07-01

The ability to convey our thoughts using an infinite number of linguistic expressions is one of the hallmarks of human language. Understanding the nature of the psychological mechanisms and representations that give rise to this unique productivity is a fundamental goal for the cognitive sciences. A long-standing hypothesis is that single words and rules form the basic building blocks of linguistic productivity, with multiword sequences being treated as units only in peripheral cases such as idioms. The new millennium, however, has seen a shift toward construing multiword linguistic units not as linguistic rarities, but as important building blocks for language acquisition and processing. This shift-which originated within theoretical approaches that emphasize language learning and use-has far-reaching implications for theories of language representation, processing, and acquisition. Incorporating multiword units as integral building blocks blurs the distinction between grammar and lexicon; calls for models of production and comprehension that can accommodate and give rise to the effect of multiword information on processing; and highlights the importance of such units to learning. In this special topic, we bring together cutting-edge work on multiword sequences in theoretical linguistics, first-language acquisition, psycholinguistics, computational modeling, and second-language learning to present a comprehensive overview of the prominence and importance of such units in language, their possible role in explaining differences between first- and second-language learning, and the challenges the combined findings pose for theories of language. Copyright © 2017 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Medical Ethics and the Learner-Centred Approach: Developing Materials on Organ Transplant and Euthanasia in an English as a Foreign Language Classroom in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jamrichová, Valéria; Zamborová, Katarína

2016-01-01

A learner-centred approach puts students amidst the learning process and helps them become involved in that process. It provides an opportunity for students to choose and direct the course of the lesson. This approach is especially appropriate when dealing with ethical concerns that might be sensitive issues. When it comes to the sources for the…

Writing Process Products in Intermediate-Grade Children With and Without Language-Based Learning Disabilities.

PubMed

Koutsoftas, Anthony D

2016-12-01

Difficulties with written expression are an important consideration in the assessment and treatment of school-age children. This study evaluated how intermediate-grade children with and without written language difficulties fared on a writing task housed within the Hayes and Berninger (2014) writing process framework. Sixty-four children completed a writing task whereby they planned, wrote, and revised a narrative story across 3 days. Children had extended time to produce an outline, first draft, and final copy of their story. Language transcription approaches were used to obtain measures reflecting writing productivity, complexity, accuracy, and mechanics, in addition to measures of planning and revision. Results indicated that children with writing difficulties produced poorer quality stories compared with their peers yet were not significantly different across all measures. Children with typical development produced longer stories with better spelling accuracy. Writing process measures predicted significant amounts of variance in writing quality across the sample. Writing should be considered as part of language assessment and intervention, whether as the sole language difficulty or alongside difficulties with speaking, listening, or reading in children with language-based learning difficulties. Implications for translation of research to practice and service delivery are provided.

KSC Space Station Operations Language (SSOL)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1985-01-01

The Space Station Operations Language (SSOL) will serve a large community of diverse users dealing with the integration and checkout of Space Station modules. Kennedy Space Center's plan to achieve Level A specification of the SSOL system, encompassing both its language and its automated support environment, is presented in the format of a briefing. The SSOL concept is a collection of fundamental elements that span languages, operating systems, software development, software tools and several user classes. The approach outlines a thorough process that combines the benefits of rapid prototyping with a coordinated requirements gathering effort, yielding a Level A specification of the SSOL requirements.

Using natural language processing techniques to inform research on nanotechnology.

PubMed

Lewinski, Nastassja A; McInnes, Bridget T

2015-01-01

Literature in the field of nanotechnology is exponentially increasing with more and more engineered nanomaterials being created, characterized, and tested for performance and safety. With the deluge of published data, there is a need for natural language processing approaches to semi-automate the cataloguing of engineered nanomaterials and their associated physico-chemical properties, performance, exposure scenarios, and biological effects. In this paper, we review the different informatics methods that have been applied to patent mining, nanomaterial/device characterization, nanomedicine, and environmental risk assessment. Nine natural language processing (NLP)-based tools were identified: NanoPort, NanoMapper, TechPerceptor, a Text Mining Framework, a Nanodevice Analyzer, a Clinical Trial Document Classifier, Nanotoxicity Searcher, NanoSifter, and NEIMiner. We conclude with recommendations for sharing NLP-related tools through online repositories to broaden participation in nanoinformatics.

Support for linguistic macrofamilies from weighted sequence alignment

PubMed Central

Jäger, Gerhard

2015-01-01

Computational phylogenetics is in the process of revolutionizing historical linguistics. Recent applications have shed new light on controversial issues, such as the location and time depth of language families and the dynamics of their spread. So far, these approaches have been limited to single-language families because they rely on a large body of expert cognacy judgments or grammatical classifications, which is currently unavailable for most language families. The present study pursues a different approach. Starting from raw phonetic transcription of core vocabulary items from very diverse languages, it applies weighted string alignment to track both phonetic and lexical change. Applied to a collection of ∼1,000 Eurasian languages and dialects, this method, combined with phylogenetic inference, leads to a classification in excellent agreement with established findings of historical linguistics. Furthermore, it provides strong statistical support for several putative macrofamilies contested in current historical linguistics. In particular, there is a solid signal for the Nostratic/Eurasiatic macrofamily. PMID:26403857

Experienced speech-language pathologists' responses to ethical dilemmas: an integrated approach to ethical reasoning.

PubMed

Kenny, Belinda; Lincoln, Michelle; Balandin, Susan

2010-05-01

To investigate the approaches of experienced speech-language pathologists (SLPs) to ethical reasoning and the processes they use to resolve ethical dilemmas. Ten experienced SLPs participated in in-depth interviews. A narrative approach was used to guide participants' descriptions of how they resolved ethical dilemmas. Individual narrative transcriptions were analyzed by using the participant's words to develop an ethical story that described and interpreted their responses to dilemmas. Key concepts from individual stories were then coded into group themes to reflect participants' reasoning processes. Five major themes reflected participants' approaches to ethical reasoning: (a) focusing on the well-being of the client, (b) fulfilling professional roles and responsibilities, (c) attending to professional relationships, (d) managing resources, and (e) integrating personal and professional values. SLPs demonstrated a range of ethical reasoning processes: applying bioethical principles, casuistry, and narrative reasoning when managing ethical dilemmas in the workplace. The results indicate that experienced SLPs adopted an integrated approach to ethical reasoning. They supported clients' rights to make health care choices. Bioethical principles, casuistry, and narrative reasoning provided useful frameworks for facilitating health professionals' application of codes of ethics to complex professional practice issues.

Models, Part V: Composition Models.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Callison, Daniel

2003-01-01

Describes four models: The Authoring Cycle, a whole language approach that reflects the inquiry process; I-Search, an approach to research that uses the power of student interests; Cultural Celebration, using local heritage topics; and Science Lab Report, for the composition of a lab report. (LRW)

Automated Item Generation with Recurrent Neural Networks.

PubMed

von Davier, Matthias

2018-03-12

Utilizing technology for automated item generation is not a new idea. However, test items used in commercial testing programs or in research are still predominantly written by humans, in most cases by content experts or professional item writers. Human experts are a limited resource and testing agencies incur high costs in the process of continuous renewal of item banks to sustain testing programs. Using algorithms instead holds the promise of providing unlimited resources for this crucial part of assessment development. The approach presented here deviates in several ways from previous attempts to solve this problem. In the past, automatic item generation relied either on generating clones of narrowly defined item types such as those found in language free intelligence tests (e.g., Raven's progressive matrices) or on an extensive analysis of task components and derivation of schemata to produce items with pre-specified variability that are hoped to have predictable levels of difficulty. It is somewhat unlikely that researchers utilizing these previous approaches would look at the proposed approach with favor; however, recent applications of machine learning show success in solving tasks that seemed impossible for machines not too long ago. The proposed approach uses deep learning to implement probabilistic language models, not unlike what Google brain and Amazon Alexa use for language processing and generation.

A novel visual hardware behavioral language

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Li, Xueqin; Cheng, H. D.

1992-01-01

Most hardware behavioral languages just use texts to describe the behavior of the desired hardware design. This is inconvenient for VLSI designers who enjoy using the schematic approach. The proposed visual hardware behavioral language has the ability to graphically express design information using visual parallel models (blocks), visual sequential models (processes) and visual data flow graphs (which consist of primitive operational icons, control icons, and Data and Synchro links). Thus, the proposed visual hardware behavioral language can not only specify hardware concurrent and sequential functionality, but can also visually expose parallelism, sequentiality, and disjointness (mutually exclusive operations) for the hardware designers. That would make the hardware designers capture the design ideas easily and explicitly using this visual hardware behavioral language.

Extracting important information from Chinese Operation Notes with natural language processing methods.

PubMed

Wang, Hui; Zhang, Weide; Zeng, Qiang; Li, Zuofeng; Feng, Kaiyan; Liu, Lei

2014-04-01

Extracting information from unstructured clinical narratives is valuable for many clinical applications. Although natural Language Processing (NLP) methods have been profoundly studied in electronic medical records (EMR), few studies have explored NLP in extracting information from Chinese clinical narratives. In this study, we report the development and evaluation of extracting tumor-related information from operation notes of hepatic carcinomas which were written in Chinese. Using 86 operation notes manually annotated by physicians as the training set, we explored both rule-based and supervised machine-learning approaches. Evaluating on unseen 29 operation notes, our best approach yielded 69.6% in precision, 58.3% in recall and 63.5% F-score. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Plan recognition and generalization in command languages with application to telerobotics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yared, Wael I.; Sheridan, Thomas B.

1991-01-01

A method for pragmatic inference as a necessary accompaniment to command languages is proposed. The approach taken focuses on the modeling and recognition of the human operator's intent, which relates sequences of domain actions ('plans') to changes in some model of the task environment. The salient feature of this module is that it captures some of the physical and linguistic contextual aspects of an instruction. This provides a basis for generalization and reinterpretation of the instruction in different task environments. The theoretical development is founded on previous work in computational linguistics and some recent models in the theory of action and intention. To illustrate these ideas, an experimental command language to a telerobot is implemented. The program consists of three different components: a robot graphic simulation, the command language itself, and the domain-independent pragmatic inference module. Examples of task instruction processes are provided to demonstrate the benefits of this approach.

Implementation of a Goal-Based Systems Engineering Process Using the Systems Modeling Language (SysML)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Patterson, Jonathan D.; Breckenridge, Jonathan T.; Johnson, Stephen B.

2013-01-01

Building upon the purpose, theoretical approach, and use of a Goal-Function Tree (GFT) being presented by Dr. Stephen B. Johnson, described in a related Infotech 2013 ISHM abstract titled "Goal-Function Tree Modeling for Systems Engineering and Fault Management", this paper will describe the core framework used to implement the GFTbased systems engineering process using the Systems Modeling Language (SysML). These two papers are ideally accepted and presented together in the same Infotech session. Statement of problem: SysML, as a tool, is currently not capable of implementing the theoretical approach described within the "Goal-Function Tree Modeling for Systems Engineering and Fault Management" paper cited above. More generally, SysML's current capabilities to model functional decompositions in the rigorous manner required in the GFT approach are limited. The GFT is a new Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) approach to the development of goals and requirements, functions, and its linkage to design. As a growing standard for systems engineering, it is important to develop methods to implement GFT in SysML. Proposed Method of Solution: Many of the central concepts of the SysML language are needed to implement a GFT for large complex systems. In the implementation of those central concepts, the following will be described in detail: changes to the nominal SysML process, model view definitions and examples, diagram definitions and examples, and detailed SysML construct and stereotype definitions.

Modelling and simulating decision processes of linked lives: An approach based on concurrent processes and stochastic race.

PubMed

Warnke, Tom; Reinhardt, Oliver; Klabunde, Anna; Willekens, Frans; Uhrmacher, Adelinde M

2017-10-01

Individuals' decision processes play a central role in understanding modern migration phenomena and other demographic processes. Their integration into agent-based computational demography depends largely on suitable support by a modelling language. We are developing the Modelling Language for Linked Lives (ML3) to describe the diverse decision processes of linked lives succinctly in continuous time. The context of individuals is modelled by networks the individual is part of, such as family ties and other social networks. Central concepts, such as behaviour conditional on agent attributes, age-dependent behaviour, and stochastic waiting times, are tightly integrated in the language. Thereby, alternative decisions are modelled by concurrent processes that compete by stochastic race. Using a migration model, we demonstrate how this allows for compact description of complex decisions, here based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour. We describe the challenges for the simulation algorithm posed by stochastic race between multiple concurrent complex decisions.

Task-Based Learning and Content and Language Integrated Learning Materials Design: Process and Product

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moore, Pat; Lorenzo, Francisco

2015-01-01

Content and language integrated learning (CLIL) represents an increasingly popular approach to bilingual education in Europe. In this article, we describe and discuss a project which, in response to teachers' pleas for materials, led to the production of a significant bank of task-based primary and secondary CLIL units for three L2s (English,…

Perceptual Filtering in L2 Lexical Memory: A Neural Network Approach to Second Language Acquisition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nelson, Robert

2012-01-01

A number of asymmetries in lexical memory emerge when monolinguals and early bilinguals are compared to (relatively) late second language (L2) learners. Their study promises to provide insight into the internal processes that both support and ultimately limit L2 learner achievement. Generally, theory building in L2 and bilingual lexical memory has…

Dual Processing and Discourse Space: Exploring Fifth Grade Students' Language, Reasoning, and Understanding through Writing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yoon, Sae Yeol

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to explore the development of students' understanding through writing while immersed in an environment where there was a strong emphasis on a language-based argument inquiry approach. Additionally, this study explored students' spoken discourse to gain a better understanding of what role(s) talking plays in…

Back Translating: An Integrated Approach to Focus Learners' Attention on Their L2 Knowledge Gaps

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhang, Yun; Gao, Cun

2014-01-01

Integration of the four language skills can be enhanced by focusing on back translating--translating an English text into the students' first language and then back into English. This article describes a three-step process for using back translation in reading classes as a way to help students identify gaps in their English competence.

Grammar of Binding in the languages of the world: Innate or learned?

PubMed

Cole, Peter; Hermon, Gabriella; Yanti

2015-08-01

Languages around the world often appear to manifest nearly identical grammatical properties, but, at the same time, the grammatical differences can also be great, sometimes even seeming to support Joos's (1958) claim that "languages can differ from each other without limit and in unpredictable way" (p. 96). This state of affairs provides a puzzle for both nativist approaches to language like Generative Grammar that posit a fixed "Universal Grammar", and for approaches that minimize the contribution of innate grammatical structure. We approach this puzzling state of affairs by looking at one area of grammar, "Binding", the system of local and long distance anaphoric elements in a language. This is an area of grammar that has long been central to the Generative approach to language structure. We compare the anaphoric systems found in "familiar" (European-like) languages that contain dedicated classes of bound and free anaphors (pronouns and reflexives) with the anaphoric systems in endangered Austronesian languages of Indonesia, languages in which there is overlap or no distinction between pronouns and reflexives (Peranakan Javanese and Jambi Malay). What is of special interest about Jambi anaphora is not only that conservative dialects of Jambi Malay do not distinguish between pronouns and reflexives, but that Jambi anaphora appear to constitute a live snapshot of a unitary class of anaphora in the process of grammaticalization as a distinct system of pronouns and reflexives. We argue that the facts of Jambi anaphora cannot be explained by theories positing a Universal Grammar of Binding. Thus, these facts provide evidence that complex grammatical systems like Binding cannot be innate. Our results from Austronesian languages are confirmed by data from signed and creole languages. Our conclusion is that the human language learning capacity must include the ability to model the full complexity found in the syntax of the world's languages. From the perspective of child language acquisition, these conclusions suggest that Universal Grammar does not provide a general solution to the problem of poverty of the stimulus, and the solution to that problem must reside at least in part in special properties of the grammar construction tools available to the language learner rather than simply in a fixed set of grammatical rules hard wired into the brains of speakers. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Product-Process Distinctions in ELT Curriculum Theory and Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wette, Rosemary

2011-01-01

ELT theory classifies curricula as belonging to one of two contrasting approaches: either process or product. While foundation-level teacher education literature offers strongly product-oriented advice, research- and theory-oriented texts stress the need to negotiate with learners, and to take language-learning processes into account. This article…

Automated Assessment of Patients' Self-Narratives for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Screening Using Natural Language Processing and Text Mining.

PubMed

He, Qiwei; Veldkamp, Bernard P; Glas, Cees A W; de Vries, Theo

2017-03-01

Patients' narratives about traumatic experiences and symptoms are useful in clinical screening and diagnostic procedures. In this study, we presented an automated assessment system to screen patients for posttraumatic stress disorder via a natural language processing and text-mining approach. Four machine-learning algorithms-including decision tree, naive Bayes, support vector machine, and an alternative classification approach called the product score model-were used in combination with n-gram representation models to identify patterns between verbal features in self-narratives and psychiatric diagnoses. With our sample, the product score model with unigrams attained the highest prediction accuracy when compared with practitioners' diagnoses. The addition of multigrams contributed most to balancing the metrics of sensitivity and specificity. This article also demonstrates that text mining is a promising approach for analyzing patients' self-expression behavior, thus helping clinicians identify potential patients from an early stage.

“It sounds like…”: A Natural Language Processing Approach to Detecting Counselor Reflections in Motivational Interviewing

PubMed Central

Can, Doğan; Marín, Rebeca A.; Georgiou, Panayiotis G.; Imel, Zac E.; Atkins, David C.; Narayanan, Shrikanth S.

2016-01-01

The dissemination and evaluation of evidence based behavioral treatments for substance abuse problems rely on the evaluation of counselor interventions. In Motivational Interviewing (MI), a treatment that directs the therapist to utilize a particular linguistic style, proficiency is assessed via behavioral coding - a time consuming, non-technological approach. Natural language processing techniques have the potential to scale up the evaluation of behavioral treatments like MI. We present a novel computational approach to assessing components of MI, focusing on one specific counselor behavior – reflections – that are believed to be a critical MI ingredient. Using 57 sessions from 3 MI clinical trials, we automatically detected counselor reflections in a Maximum Entropy Markov Modeling framework using the raw linguistic data derived from session transcripts. We achieved 93% recall, 90% specificity, and 73% precision. Results provide insight into the linguistic information used by coders to make ratings and demonstrate the feasibility of new computational approaches to scaling up the evaluation of behavioral treatments. PMID:26784286

The evolution of the Faculty of Language from a Chomskyan perspective: bridging linguistics and biology.

PubMed

Longa, Victor Manuel

2013-01-01

While language was traditionally considered a purely cultural trait, the advent of Noam Chomsky's Generative Grammar in the second half of the twentieth century dramatically challenged that view. According to that theory, language is an innate feature, part of the human biological endowment. If language is indeed innate, it had to biologically evolve. This review has two main objectives: firstly, it characterizes from a Chomskyan perspective the evolutionary processes by which language could have come into being. Secondly, it proposes a new method for interpreting the archaeological record that radically differs from the usual types of evidence Paleoanthropology has concentrated on when dealing with language evolution: while archaeological remains have usually been regarded from the view of the behavior they could be associated with, the paper will consider archaeological remains from the view of the computational processes and capabilities at work for their production. This computational approach, illustrated with a computational analysis of prehistoric geometric engravings, will be used to challenge the usual generative thinking on language evolution, based on the high specificity of language. The paper argues that the biological machinery of language is neither specifically linguistic nor specifically human, although language itself can still be considered a species-specific innate trait. From such a view, language would be one of the consequences of a slight modification operated on an ancestral architecture shared with vertebrates.

The feasibility of using natural language processing to extract clinical information from breast pathology reports.

PubMed

Buckley, Julliette M; Coopey, Suzanne B; Sharko, John; Polubriaginof, Fernanda; Drohan, Brian; Belli, Ahmet K; Kim, Elizabeth M H; Garber, Judy E; Smith, Barbara L; Gadd, Michele A; Specht, Michelle C; Roche, Constance A; Gudewicz, Thomas M; Hughes, Kevin S

2012-01-01

The opportunity to integrate clinical decision support systems into clinical practice is limited due to the lack of structured, machine readable data in the current format of the electronic health record. Natural language processing has been designed to convert free text into machine readable data. The aim of the current study was to ascertain the feasibility of using natural language processing to extract clinical information from >76,000 breast pathology reports. APPROACH AND PROCEDURE: Breast pathology reports from three institutions were analyzed using natural language processing software (Clearforest, Waltham, MA) to extract information on a variety of pathologic diagnoses of interest. Data tables were created from the extracted information according to date of surgery, side of surgery, and medical record number. The variety of ways in which each diagnosis could be represented was recorded, as a means of demonstrating the complexity of machine interpretation of free text. There was widespread variation in how pathologists reported common pathologic diagnoses. We report, for example, 124 ways of saying invasive ductal carcinoma and 95 ways of saying invasive lobular carcinoma. There were >4000 ways of saying invasive ductal carcinoma was not present. Natural language processor sensitivity and specificity were 99.1% and 96.5% when compared to expert human coders. We have demonstrated how a large body of free text medical information such as seen in breast pathology reports, can be converted to a machine readable format using natural language processing, and described the inherent complexities of the task.

Assessment and d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing Multilingual Learners: Considerations and Promising Practices.

PubMed

Pizzo, Lianna; Chilvers, Amanda

2016-01-01

The authors address considerations and promising practices relating to assessment of d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing Multilingual Learners. DMLs' unique culture(s), language(s), and learning needs must be considered when assessments of this population are being planned, conducted, and interpreted. The authors address theory and research on (a) general considerations for the overarching assessment process, (b) specific assessment approaches used to assess DMLs, and (c) assessment of language proficiency for diverse language learners. In addition, basic recommendations for the assessment of DMLs are made, including increased availability of assessments in various languages, use of multiple sources of individual and family data, assessment of all languages, and incorporation of a strong assessment component (that includes nondiscrimination practices) into teacher preparation programs.

Using natural language processing techniques to inform research on nanotechnology

PubMed Central

Lewinski, Nastassja A

2015-01-01

Summary Literature in the field of nanotechnology is exponentially increasing with more and more engineered nanomaterials being created, characterized, and tested for performance and safety. With the deluge of published data, there is a need for natural language processing approaches to semi-automate the cataloguing of engineered nanomaterials and their associated physico-chemical properties, performance, exposure scenarios, and biological effects. In this paper, we review the different informatics methods that have been applied to patent mining, nanomaterial/device characterization, nanomedicine, and environmental risk assessment. Nine natural language processing (NLP)-based tools were identified: NanoPort, NanoMapper, TechPerceptor, a Text Mining Framework, a Nanodevice Analyzer, a Clinical Trial Document Classifier, Nanotoxicity Searcher, NanoSifter, and NEIMiner. We conclude with recommendations for sharing NLP-related tools through online repositories to broaden participation in nanoinformatics. PMID:26199848

Methodological adaptations for investigating the perceptions of language-impaired adolescents regarding the relative importance of selected communication skills.

PubMed

Reed, Vicki A; Brammall, Helen

2006-01-01

This article describes the systematic and detailed processes undertaken to modify a research methodology for use with language-impaired adolescents. The original methodology had been used previously with normally achieving adolescents and speech pathologists to obtain their opinions about the relative importance of selected communication skills for adolescents' positive peer relationships. Modifications attempted to address language-impaired adolescents' characteristic metalinguistic, literacy, cognitive, and information processing weaknesses. Revising the original wording of the communication skills, reducing the reading level of the skills from grade 10 to 4.6, using a Q-sort approach to ranking the importance of the skills, and revising the instructions and administration procedures led to what pilot testing results indicated was a valid methodology for use with language-impaired adolescents. Results of a preliminary study using the revised methodology suggested that language-impaired adolescents may perceive the relative importance of some communication skills differently from their normally achieving peers.

A Comparison of the Functional Distribution of Language in Bilingual Classrooms Following Language Separation vs. Concurrent Instructional Approaches.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Milk, Robert D.

This study analyzes how two bilingual classroom language distribution approaches affect classroom language use patterns. The two strategies, separate instruction in the two languages vs. the new concurrent language usage approach (NCA) allowing use of both languages with strict guidelines for language alternation, are observed on videotapes of a…

An approach to the language discrimination in different scripts using adjacent local binary pattern

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brodić, D.; Amelio, A.; Milivojević, Z. N.

2017-09-01

The paper proposes a language discrimination method of documents. First, each letter is encoded with the certain script type according to its status in baseline area. Such a cipher text is subjected to a feature extraction process. Accordingly, the local binary pattern as well as its expanded version called adjacent local binary pattern are extracted. Because of the difference in the language characteristics, the above analysis shows significant diversity. This type of diversity is a key aspect in the decision-making differentiation of the languages. Proposed method is tested on an example of documents. The experiments give encouraging results.

Education reform for the expansion of mother-tongue education in Ghana

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rosekrans, Kristin; Sherris, Arieh; Chatry-Komarek, Marie

2012-10-01

In 1957 Ghana was the first sub-Saharan colonial nation-state to achieve independence from British rule. The language of literacy instruction, however, remained English throughout most of Ghana's independence, effectively thwarting reading and writing in 11 major and 67 minor indigenous languages in use today. After years of policy shifts, including the intermittent of mother tongue in early childhood schooling to facilitate English language and literacy instruction, prospects for a bold move towards multilingual education have emerged from a coalescence of forces inside and outside of Ghanaian education policy circles. This article discusses how the inertia of a dated language policy and a historic disregard for Ghana's multilingual landscape by the country's own policy makers are being overcome, at least partially, by progressive powers of change, albeit not without challenge. It undertakes an analysis of how a policy environment that supports bilingual education was created in order to implement a comprehensive and innovative multilingual programme, the National Literacy Acceleration Program (NALAP), which was rolled out across the nation's schools in early 2010. Having been involved in the process of designing NALAP, the authors describe the development of standards of learning and materials, as well as innovative aspects of a constructivist teacher education approach. The paper concludes with recommendations for further research, including combining a change process for key stakeholders and randomised language and literacy assessment with social marketing research in a unified approach.

Incorporating Learning Characteristics into Automatic Essay Scoring Models: What Individual Differences and Linguistic Features Tell Us about Writing Quality

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crossley, Scott A.; Allen, Laura K.; Snow, Erica L.; McNamara, Danielle S.

2016-01-01

This study investigates a novel approach to automatically assessing essay quality that combines natural language processing approaches that assess text features with approaches that assess individual differences in writers such as demographic information, standardized test scores, and survey results. The results demonstrate that combining text…

A Story Approach to Create Online College Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Romero, Liz

2016-01-01

The purpose of this article is to describe the implementation of a story approach to create online courses in a college environment. The article describes the components of the approach and the implementation process to create a nursing and a language course. The implementation starts with the identification of the need and follows by creating a…

Natural language processing systems for capturing and standardizing unstructured clinical information: A systematic review.

PubMed

Kreimeyer, Kory; Foster, Matthew; Pandey, Abhishek; Arya, Nina; Halford, Gwendolyn; Jones, Sandra F; Forshee, Richard; Walderhaug, Mark; Botsis, Taxiarchis

2017-09-01

We followed a systematic approach based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses to identify existing clinical natural language processing (NLP) systems that generate structured information from unstructured free text. Seven literature databases were searched with a query combining the concepts of natural language processing and structured data capture. Two reviewers screened all records for relevance during two screening phases, and information about clinical NLP systems was collected from the final set of papers. A total of 7149 records (after removing duplicates) were retrieved and screened, and 86 were determined to fit the review criteria. These papers contained information about 71 different clinical NLP systems, which were then analyzed. The NLP systems address a wide variety of important clinical and research tasks. Certain tasks are well addressed by the existing systems, while others remain as open challenges that only a small number of systems attempt, such as extraction of temporal information or normalization of concepts to standard terminologies. This review has identified many NLP systems capable of processing clinical free text and generating structured output, and the information collected and evaluated here will be important for prioritizing development of new approaches for clinical NLP. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Individual Differences in the Real-Time Comprehension of Children with ASD

PubMed Central

Venker, Courtney E.; Eernisse, Elizabeth R.; Saffran, Jenny R.; Weismer, Susan Ellis

2013-01-01

Lay Abstract Spoken language processing is related to language and cognitive skills in typically developing children, but very little is known about how children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) comprehend words in real time. Studying this area is important because it may help us understand why many children with autism have delayed language comprehension. Thirty-four children with ASD (3–6 years old) participated in this study. They took part in a language comprehension task that involved looking at pictures on a screen and listening to questions about familiar nouns (e.g., Where’s the shoe?). Children as a group understood the familiar words, but accuracy and processing speed varied considerably across children. The children who were more accurate were also faster to process the familiar words. Children’s language processing accuracy was related to processing speed and language comprehension on a standardized test; nonverbal cognition did not explain additional information after accounting for these factors. Additionally, lexical processing accuracy at age 5½ was related to children’s vocabulary comprehension three years earlier, at age 2½. Autism severity and years of maternal education were unrelated to language processing. Words typically acquired earlier in life were processed more quickly than words acquired later. These findings point to similarities in patterns of language development in typically developing children and children with ASD. Studying real-time comprehension in children with ASD may help us better understand mechanisms of language comprehension in this population. Future work may help explain why some children with ASD develop age-appropriate language skills, whereas others experience lasting deficits. Scientific Abstract Many children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) demonstrate deficits in language comprehension, but little is known about how they process spoken language as it unfolds. Real-time lexical comprehension is associated with language and cognition in children without ASD, suggesting that this may also be the case for children with ASD. This study adopted an individual differences approach to characterizing real-time comprehension of familiar words in a group of 34 three- to six-year-olds with ASD. The looking-while-listening paradigm was employed; it measures online accuracy and latency through language-mediated eye movements and has limited task demands. On average, children demonstrated comprehension of the familiar words, but considerable variability emerged. Children with better accuracy were faster to process the familiar words. In combination, processing speed and comprehension on a standardized language assessment explained 63% of the variance in online accuracy. Online accuracy was not correlated with autism severity or maternal education, and nonverbal cognition did not explain unique variance. Notably, online accuracy at age 5½ was related to vocabulary comprehension three years earlier. The words typically learned earliest in life were processed most quickly. Consistent with a dimensional view of language abilities, these findings point to similarities in patterns of language acquisition in typically developing children and those with ASD. Overall, our results emphasize the value of examining individual differences in real-time language comprehension in this population. We propose that the looking-while-listening paradigm is a sensitive and valuable methodological tool that can be applied across many areas of autism research. PMID:23696214

Intercultural bilingual education in Nicaragua: Contextualisation for improving the quality of education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Valiente Catter, Teresa

2011-12-01

For the past 35 years, various models of intercultural bilingual education (IBE) have been implemented in Latin American schools and adult education. While Spanish is the official language in Nicaragua, many indigenous languages, such as Miskito and Sumo-Mayangna, are also spoken - especially in the Atlantic coastal region. The Nicaraguan Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport recognises the need for a flexible curriculum that reflects individual local and regional linguistic and socio-cultural characteristics, through the use of mother tongue and second language learning. The contextualisation model applied in the Atlantic coastal region of Nicaragua is therefore based on the use of a languages strategy in preparing textbooks and basic technical materials with an IBE approach, as part of the process of improving the quality of education. Thus intercultural communication is enhanced, and the need to strengthen the systematic teaching of languages, differentiating between mother tongue, second language and foreign language, is recognised. As well as explaining the contextualisation process in detail, this article discusses the conceptual differences between intercultural bilingual education (IBE) and bilingual intercultural education (BIE). The paper concludes with several recommendations for the further development of BIE in Latin America.

Students and Teachers' Perceptions into the Viability of Mobile Technology Implementation to Support Language Learning for First Year Business Students in a Middle Eastern University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tayan, Bilal M.

2017-01-01

Advancements in technology have enabled us to learn, adapt and exploit our skills and knowledge in new ways. Appreciating the potential of technology may yet give growth and enrich the process of language education, particularly through a student-centred mobile learning environment. Consequently, a constructivist approach to learning can create…

The Effects of an Experimental Training Program for Teachers of Vocational English Using Concentrated Language Encounter Instructional Processes and Reciprocal Peer Teaching Strategies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rattanavich, Saowalak

2017-01-01

This experimental study aims to investigate the effects of three vocational English classes, each one academic semester in duration, and using the concentrated language encounter approach and reciprocal peer teaching strategies. This study employed a time-series design with one pre-experiment and two post-experiments. Discourse and frequency…

Rules out of Roles: Differences in Play Language and Their Developmental Significance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Yongho; Kellogg, David

2007-01-01

Using a discourse analytic approach from the work of Hoey (1991) and a dual processing model from Wray (2000), this paper compares the language produced by the same classes of children when they are engaged in role-play and when they are playing rule-based games. We find that role-play tends to be richer in "frozen" pair parts, where the responses…

Efficient Caption-Based Retrieval of Multimedia Information

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-10-09

in the design of transportable natural language interfaces. Artifcial Intelligence , 32 (1987), 173-243. - 13- (101 Jones, M. and Eisner, J. A...systems for multimedia data . They exploit captions on the data and perform natural-language processing of them and English retrieval requests. Some...content analysis of the data is also performed to obtain additional descriptive information. The key to getting this approach to work is sufficiently

More than Just Language Advising: Rapport in University English Writing Consultations and Implications for Tutor Training

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Cynthia

2015-01-01

Adopting a case study approach with multiple data sources, this paper explores the ways in which rapport is built, and its impact on the learning process based on five successive writing support consultations between a native English-speaking (NES) tutor and her second language (L2) tutee in a Hong Kong university. With reference to the prepared…

Becoming a Manual Occupation? The Construction of a Therapy Manual for Use with Language Impaired Children in Mainstream Primary Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCartney, Elspeth; Boyle, James; Bannatyne, Susan; Jessiman, Emma; Campbell, Cathy; Kelsey, Cherry; Smith, Jennifer; O'Hare, Anne

2003-01-01

The construction of therapy protocols for a large-scale randomized controlled trial comparing speech and language therapists and assistants, and group and individual therapy approaches for children aged 6-11 in mainstream schools is outlined. The aim was to outline the decision-making processes that led to the construction of the research therapy…

Leveraging workflow control patterns in the domain of clinical practice guidelines.

PubMed

Kaiser, Katharina; Marcos, Mar

2016-02-10

Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) include recommendations describing appropriate care for the management of patients with a specific clinical condition. A number of representation languages have been developed to support executable CPGs, with associated authoring/editing tools. Even with tool assistance, authoring of CPG models is a labor-intensive task. We aim at facilitating the early stages of CPG modeling task. In this context, we propose to support the authoring of CPG models based on a set of suitable procedural patterns described in an implementation-independent notation that can be then semi-automatically transformed into one of the alternative executable CPG languages. We have started with the workflow control patterns which have been identified in the fields of workflow systems and business process management. We have analyzed the suitability of these patterns by means of a qualitative analysis of CPG texts. Following our analysis we have implemented a selection of workflow patterns in the Asbru and PROforma CPG languages. As implementation-independent notation for the description of patterns we have chosen BPMN 2.0. Finally, we have developed XSLT transformations to convert the BPMN 2.0 version of the patterns into the Asbru and PROforma languages. We showed that although a significant number of workflow control patterns are suitable to describe CPG procedural knowledge, not all of them are applicable in the context of CPGs due to their focus on single-patient care. Moreover, CPGs may require additional patterns not included in the set of workflow control patterns. We also showed that nearly all the CPG-suitable patterns can be conveniently implemented in the Asbru and PROforma languages. Finally, we demonstrated that individual patterns can be semi-automatically transformed from a process specification in BPMN 2.0 to executable implementations in these languages. We propose a pattern and transformation-based approach for the development of CPG models. Such an approach can form the basis of a valid framework for the authoring of CPG models. The identification of adequate patterns and the implementation of transformations to convert patterns from a process specification into different executable implementations are the first necessary steps for our approach.

Spatiotemporal imaging of cortical activation during verb generation and picture naming.

PubMed

Edwards, Erik; Nagarajan, Srikantan S; Dalal, Sarang S; Canolty, Ryan T; Kirsch, Heidi E; Barbaro, Nicholas M; Knight, Robert T

2010-03-01

One hundred and fifty years of neurolinguistic research has identified the key structures in the human brain that support language. However, neither the classic neuropsychological approaches introduced by Broca (1861) and Wernicke (1874), nor modern neuroimaging employing PET and fMRI has been able to delineate the temporal flow of language processing in the human brain. We recorded the electrocorticogram (ECoG) from indwelling electrodes over left hemisphere language cortices during two common language tasks, verb generation and picture naming. We observed that the very high frequencies of the ECoG (high-gamma, 70-160 Hz) track language processing with spatial and temporal precision. Serial progression of activations is seen at a larger timescale, showing distinct stages of perception, semantic association/selection, and speech production. Within the areas supporting each of these larger processing stages, parallel (or "incremental") processing is observed. In addition to the traditional posterior vs. anterior localization for speech perception vs. production, we provide novel evidence for the role of premotor cortex in speech perception and of Wernicke's and surrounding cortex in speech production. The data are discussed with regards to current leading models of speech perception and production, and a "dual ventral stream" hybrid of leading speech perception models is given. Copyright (c) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

An ERP study of second language learning after childhood: effects of proficiency.

PubMed

Ojima, Shiro; Nakata, Hiroki; Kakigi, Ryusuke

2005-08-01

Whether there is an absolute critical period for acquiring language is a matter of continuous debate. One approach to address this issue is to compare the processes of second language (L2) learning after childhood and those of first language (L1) learning during childhood. To study the cortical process of postchildhood L2 learning, we compared event-related brain potentials recorded from two groups of adult Japanese speakers who attained either high or intermediate proficiency in English after childhood (J-High and J-Low), and adult native English speakers (ENG). Semantic anomalies embedded in English sentences evoked a clear N400 component in all three groups, with only the time course of the brain activation varying among the groups. Syntactic violations elicited a left-lateralized negativity similar to the left anterior negativity in ENG and J-High, but not in J-Low. In ENG, a P600 component was additionally found. These results suggest that semantic processing is robust from early on in L2 learning, whereas the development of syntactic processing is more dependent on proficiency as evidenced by the lack of the left-lateralized negativity in J-Low. Because early maturation and stability of semantic processing as opposed to syntactic processing are also a feature of L1 processing, postchildhood L2 learning may be governed by the same brain properties as those which govern childhood L1 learning. We argue that these processes are qualitatively similar in many respects, with only restricted domains of language processing being subject to absolute critical period effects.

The Use of Descriptors with Exemplar and Model Answers to Improve Quality of Students' Narrative Writing in English French and Arabic

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Somba, Anne W.; Obura, Ger; Njuguna, Margaret; Itevete, Boniface; Mulwa, Jones; Wandera, Nooh

2015-01-01

The importance of writing skills in enhancing student performance in language exams and even other subject areas is widely acknowledged. At Jaffery secondary, the approach to the teaching of writing has generally been to use three approaches: product-based approach with focus on what the students composed; process-based approach that is focused on…

MedEx/J: A One-Scan Simple and Fast NLP Tool for Japanese Clinical Texts.

PubMed

Aramaki, Eiji; Yano, Ken; Wakamiya, Shoko

2017-01-01

Because of recent replacement of physical documents with electronic medical records (EMR), the importance of information processing in the medical field has increased. In light of this trend, we have been developing MedEx/J, which retrieves important Japanese language information from medical reports. MedEx/J executes two tasks simultaneously: (1) term extraction, and (2) positive and negative event classification. We designate this approach as a one-scan approach, providing simplicity of systems and reasonable accuracy. MedEx/J performance on the two tasks is described herein: (1) term extraction (Fβ = 1 = 0.87) and (2) positive-negative classification (Fβ = 1 = 0.63). This paper also presents discussion and explains remaining issues in the medical natural language processing field.

Levels of processing and language modality specificity in working memory.

PubMed

Rudner, Mary; Karlsson, Thomas; Gunnarsson, Johan; Rönnberg, Jerker

2013-03-01

Neural networks underpinning working memory demonstrate sign language specific components possibly related to differences in temporary storage mechanisms. A processing approach to memory systems suggests that the organisation of memory storage is related to type of memory processing as well. In the present study, we investigated for the first time semantic, phonological and orthographic processing in working memory for sign- and speech-based language. During fMRI we administered a picture-based 2-back working memory task with Semantic, Phonological, Orthographic and Baseline conditions to 11 deaf signers and 20 hearing non-signers. Behavioural data showed poorer and slower performance for both groups in Phonological and Orthographic conditions than in the Semantic condition, in line with depth-of-processing theory. An exclusive masking procedure revealed distinct sign-specific neural networks supporting working memory components at all three levels of processing. The overall pattern of sign-specific activations may reflect a relative intermodality difference in the relationship between phonology and semantics influencing working memory storage and processing. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Assessing working memory and language comprehension in Alzheimer's disease.

PubMed

MacDonald, M C; Almor, A; Henderson, V W; Kempler, D; Andersen, E S

2001-07-01

Studies of language impairments in patients with Alzheimer's disease have often assumed that impairments in linguistic working memory underlie comprehension deficits. Assessment of this hypothesis has been hindered both by vagueness of key terms such as "working memory" and by limitations of available working memory tasks, in that many such tasks either seem to have little relationship to language comprehension or are too confusing or difficult for Alzheimer's patients. Four experiments investigated the usefulness of digit ordering, a new task assessing linguistic working memory and/or language processing skill, in normal adults and patients with probable Alzheimer's disease. The digit ordering task was shown to be strongly correlated with the degree of dementia in Alzheimer's patients. The task correlated with measures of language processing on which patients and normal controls performed differently. The results are interpreted as indicating that linguistic representations, linguistic processing, and linguistic working memory are intertwined, such that a deficit of one (e.g., working memory) cannot be said to "cause" a deficit in the other. The implications of this approach are explored in terms of task demands in comprehension and memory measures, and interpretation of previous results in the literature. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.

The evolution of language

PubMed Central

Nowak, Martin A.; Krakauer, David C.

1999-01-01

The emergence of language was a defining moment in the evolution of modern humans. It was an innovation that changed radically the character of human society. Here, we provide an approach to language evolution based on evolutionary game theory. We explore the ways in which protolanguages can evolve in a nonlinguistic society and how specific signals can become associated with specific objects. We assume that early in the evolution of language, errors in signaling and perception would be common. We model the probability of misunderstanding a signal and show that this limits the number of objects that can be described by a protolanguage. This “error limit” is not overcome by employing more sounds but by combining a small set of more easily distinguishable sounds into words. The process of “word formation” enables a language to encode an essentially unlimited number of objects. Next, we analyze how words can be combined into sentences and specify the conditions for the evolution of very simple grammatical rules. We argue that grammar originated as a simplified rule system that evolved by natural selection to reduce mistakes in communication. Our theory provides a systematic approach for thinking about the origin and evolution of human language. PMID:10393942

Complexity in language learning and treatment.

PubMed

Thompson, Cynthia K

2007-02-01

To introduce a Clinical Forum focused on the Complexity Account of Treatment Efficacy (C. K. Thompson, L. P. Shapiro, S. Kiran, & J. Sobecks, 2003), a counterintuitive but effective approach for treating language disorders. This approach espouses training complex structures to promote generalized improvement of simpler, linguistically related structures. Three articles are included, addressing complexity in treatment of phonology, lexical-semantics, and syntax. Complexity hierarchies based on models of normal language representation and processing are discussed in each language domain. In addition, each article presents single-subject controlled experimental studies examining the complexity effect. By counterbalancing treatment of complex and simple structures across participants, acquisition and generalization patterns are examined as they emerge. In all language domains, cascading generalization occurs from more to less complex structures; however, the opposite pattern is rarely seen. The results are robust, with replication within and across participants. The construct of complexity appears to be a general principle that is relevant to treating a range of language disorders in both children and adults. While challenging the long-standing clinical notion that treatment should begin with simple structures, mounting evidence points toward the facilitative effects of using more complex structures as a starting point for treatment.

Promoting Process-Oriented Listening Instruction in the ESL Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nguyen, Huong; Abbott, Marilyn L.

2016-01-01

When teaching listening, second language instructors tend to rely on product-oriented approaches that test learners' abilities to identify words and answer comprehension questions, but this does little to help learners improve upon their listening skills (e.g., Vandergrift & Goh, 2012). To address this issue, alternative approaches that guide…

Process and Outcome Study of Multidisciplinary Prosthetic Treatment for Velopharyngeal Dysfunction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sell, Debbie; Mars, Michael; Worrell, Emma

2006-01-01

Background: A prosthetic approach to velopharyngeal dysfunction (VPD) is not new. However, a collaborative interdisciplinary team approach by a speech-and-language therapist, dental specialist and maxillofacial technician, including accurate fitting using nasendoscopy, has provided an opportunity to define the clinical care pathway, and audit the…

An Ethnomathematics Approach to Teaching Language Minority Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davison, David M.

An ethnomathematics approach to the curriculum is advocated as a means of addressing the problems faced by limited English proficient (LEP) students who experience difficulties in learning mathematics. It is noted that the problems may have little to do with difficulties in processing mathematical ideas. When LEP students are from different…

Modelling language evolution: Examples and predictions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gong, Tao; Shuai, Lan; Zhang, Menghan

2014-06-01

We survey recent computer modelling research of language evolution, focusing on a rule-based model simulating the lexicon-syntax coevolution and an equation-based model quantifying the language competition dynamics. We discuss four predictions of these models: (a) correlation between domain-general abilities (e.g. sequential learning) and language-specific mechanisms (e.g. word order processing); (b) coevolution of language and relevant competences (e.g. joint attention); (c) effects of cultural transmission and social structure on linguistic understandability; and (d) commonalities between linguistic, biological, and physical phenomena. All these contribute significantly to our understanding of the evolutions of language structures, individual learning mechanisms, and relevant biological and socio-cultural factors. We conclude the survey by highlighting three future directions of modelling studies of language evolution: (a) adopting experimental approaches for model evaluation; (b) consolidating empirical foundations of models; and (c) multi-disciplinary collaboration among modelling, linguistics, and other relevant disciplines.

Integrating language models into classifiers for BCI communication: a review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Speier, W.; Arnold, C.; Pouratian, N.

2016-06-01

Objective. The present review systematically examines the integration of language models to improve classifier performance in brain-computer interface (BCI) communication systems. Approach. The domain of natural language has been studied extensively in linguistics and has been used in the natural language processing field in applications including information extraction, machine translation, and speech recognition. While these methods have been used for years in traditional augmentative and assistive communication devices, information about the output domain has largely been ignored in BCI communication systems. Over the last few years, BCI communication systems have started to leverage this information through the inclusion of language models. Main results. Although this movement began only recently, studies have already shown the potential of language integration in BCI communication and it has become a growing field in BCI research. BCI communication systems using language models in their classifiers have progressed down several parallel paths, including: word completion; signal classification; integration of process models; dynamic stopping; unsupervised learning; error correction; and evaluation. Significance. Each of these methods have shown significant progress, but have largely been addressed separately. Combining these methods could use the full potential of language model, yielding further performance improvements. This integration should be a priority as the field works to create a BCI system that meets the needs of the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis population.

An informatics approach to integrating genetic and neurological data in speech and language neuroscience.

PubMed

Bohland, Jason W; Myers, Emma M; Kim, Esther

2014-01-01

A number of heritable disorders impair the normal development of speech and language processes and occur in large numbers within the general population. While candidate genes and loci have been identified, the gap between genotype and phenotype is vast, limiting current understanding of the biology of normal and disordered processes. This gap exists not only in our scientific knowledge, but also in our research communities, where genetics researchers and speech, language, and cognitive scientists tend to operate independently. Here we describe a web-based, domain-specific, curated database that represents information about genotype-phenotype relations specific to speech and language disorders, as well as neuroimaging results demonstrating focal brain differences in relevant patients versus controls. Bringing these two distinct data types into a common database ( http://neurospeech.org/sldb ) is a first step toward bringing molecular level information into cognitive and computational theories of speech and language function. One bridge between these data types is provided by densely sampled profiles of gene expression in the brain, such as those provided by the Allen Brain Atlases. Here we present results from exploratory analyses of human brain gene expression profiles for genes implicated in speech and language disorders, which are annotated in our database. We then discuss how such datasets can be useful in the development of computational models that bridge levels of analysis, necessary to provide a mechanistic understanding of heritable language disorders. We further describe our general approach to information integration, discuss important caveats and considerations, and offer a specific but speculative example based on genes implicated in stuttering and basal ganglia function in speech motor control.

The neural exploitation hypothesis and its implications for an embodied approach to language and cognition: Insights from the study of action verbs processing and motor disorders in Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Gallese, Vittorio; Cuccio, Valentina

2018-03-01

As it is widely known, Parkinson's disease is clinically characterized by motor disorders such as the loss of voluntary movement control, including resting tremor, postural instability, and bradykinesia (Bocanegra et al., 2015; Helmich, Hallett, Deuschl, Toni, & Bloem, 2012; Liu et al., 2006; Rosin, Topka, & Dichgans, 1997). In the last years, many empirical studies (e.g., Bocanegra et al., 2015; Spadacenta et al., 2012) have also shown that the processing of action verbs is selectively impaired in patients affected by this neurodegenerative disorder. In the light of these findings, it has been suggested that Parkinson disorder can be interpreted within an embodied cognition framework (e.g., Bocanegra et al., 2015). The central tenet of any embodied approach to language and cognition is that high order cognitive functions are grounded in the sensory-motor system. With regard to this point, Gallese (2008) proposed the neural exploitation hypothesis to account for, at the phylogenetic level, how key aspects of human language are underpinned by brain mechanisms originally evolved for sensory-motor integration. Glenberg and Gallese (2012) also applied the neural exploitation hypothesis to the ontogenetic level. On the basis of these premises, they developed a theory of language acquisition according to which, sensory-motor mechanisms provide a neurofunctional architecture for the acquisition of language, while retaining their original functions as well. The neural exploitation hypothesis is here applied to interpret the profile of patients affected by Parkinson's disease. It is suggested that action semantic impairments directly tap onto motor disorders. Finally, a discussion of what theory of language is needed to account for the interactions between language and movement disorders is presented. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hablo Inglés y Español: Cultural Self-Schemas as a Function of Language.

PubMed

Rodríguez-Arauz, Gloriana; Ramírez-Esparza, Nairán; Pérez-Brena, Norma; Boyd, Ryan L

2017-01-01

Research has demonstrated that bilingual individuals experience a "double personality," which allows them to shift their self-schemas when they are primed with different language modes. In this study, we examine whether self-schemas change in Mexican-American ( N = 193) bilinguals living in the U.S. when they provide open-ended personality self-descriptions in both English and Spanish. We used the Meaning Extraction Helper (MEH) software to extract the most salient self-schemas that influence individuals' self-defining process. Following a qualitative-inductive approach, words were extracted from the open-ended essays and organized into semantic clusters, which were analyzed qualitatively and named. The results show that as expected, language primed bilinguals to think about different self-schemas. In Spanish, their Mexican self-schemas were more salient; whereas, in English their U.S. American self-schemas were more salient. Similarities of self-schemas across languages were assessed using a quantitative approach. Language differences and similarities in theme definition and implications for self-identity of bilinguals are discussed.

Hablo Inglés y Español: Cultural Self-Schemas as a Function of Language

PubMed Central

Rodríguez-Arauz, Gloriana; Ramírez-Esparza, Nairán; Pérez-Brena, Norma; Boyd, Ryan L.

2017-01-01

Research has demonstrated that bilingual individuals experience a “double personality,” which allows them to shift their self-schemas when they are primed with different language modes. In this study, we examine whether self-schemas change in Mexican-American (N = 193) bilinguals living in the U.S. when they provide open-ended personality self-descriptions in both English and Spanish. We used the Meaning Extraction Helper (MEH) software to extract the most salient self-schemas that influence individuals' self-defining process. Following a qualitative-inductive approach, words were extracted from the open-ended essays and organized into semantic clusters, which were analyzed qualitatively and named. The results show that as expected, language primed bilinguals to think about different self-schemas. In Spanish, their Mexican self-schemas were more salient; whereas, in English their U.S. American self-schemas were more salient. Similarities of self-schemas across languages were assessed using a quantitative approach. Language differences and similarities in theme definition and implications for self-identity of bilinguals are discussed. PMID:28611719

Developing a Materialist Anti-Racist Approach to Language Activism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flores, Nelson

2017-01-01

The aim of this paper is to propose a materialist anti-racist approach to language activism. This approach combines Joshua Fishman's pioneering work on language activism with critical race theory and the recent materialist turn in applied linguistics. A materialist anti-racist approach to language activism, positions language policy within broader…

Understanding a technical language: A schema-based approach

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Falzon, P.

1984-01-01

Workers in many job categories tend to develop technical languages, which are restricted subjects of natural language. A better knowledge of these retrictions provides guidelines for the design of the restricted languages of interactive systems. Accordingly, a technical language used by air-traffic controllers in their communications with pilots was studied. A method of analysis is presented that allows the schemata underlying each category of messages to be identified. This schematic knowledge was implemented in programs, which assume that the goal-oriented aspect of technical languages (and particularly the restricted domain of discourse) limits the processes and the data necessary in order to understand the messages (monosemy, limited vocabulary, evocation of the schemata by some command words, absence of syntax). The programs can interpret, and translate into sequences of action, the messages emitted by the controllers.

"Neural overlap of L1 and L2 semantic representations across visual and auditory modalities: a decoding approach".

PubMed

Van de Putte, Eowyn; De Baene, Wouter; Price, Cathy J; Duyck, Wouter

2018-05-01

This study investigated whether brain activity in Dutch-French bilinguals during semantic access to concepts from one language could be used to predict neural activation during access to the same concepts from another language, in different language modalities/tasks. This was tested using multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA), within and across language comprehension (word listening and word reading) and production (picture naming). It was possible to identify the picture or word named, read or heard in one language (e.g. maan, meaning moon) based on the brain activity in a distributed bilateral brain network while, respectively, naming, reading or listening to the picture or word in the other language (e.g. lune). The brain regions identified differed across tasks. During picture naming, brain activation in the occipital and temporal regions allowed concepts to be predicted across languages. During word listening and word reading, across-language predictions were observed in the rolandic operculum and several motor-related areas (pre- and postcentral, the cerebellum). In addition, across-language predictions during reading were identified in regions typically associated with semantic processing (left inferior frontal, middle temporal cortex, right cerebellum and precuneus) and visual processing (inferior and middle occipital regions and calcarine sulcus). Furthermore, across modalities and languages, the left lingual gyrus showed semantic overlap across production and word reading. These findings support the idea of at least partially language- and modality-independent semantic neural representations. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

A Theory of Perceptual Learning: Uncertainty Reduction and Reading.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Henk, William A.

Behaviorism cannot adequately explain language processing. A synthesis of the psycholinguistic and information processing approaches of cognitive psychology, however, can provide the basis for a speculative analysis of reading, if this synthesis is tempered by a perceptual learning theory of uncertainty reduction. Theorists of information…

Can language acquisition be facilitated in cochlear implanted children? Comparison of cognitive and behavioral psychologists' viewpoints.

PubMed

Monshizadeh, Leila; Vameghi, Roshanak; Yadegari, Fariba; Sajedi, Firoozeh; Hashemi, Seyed Basir

2016-11-08

To study how language acquisition can be facilitated for cochlear implanted children based on cognitive and behavioral psychology viewpoints? To accomplish this objective, literature related to behaviorist and cognitive psychology prospects about language acquisition were studied and some relevant books as well as Medline, Cochrane Library, Google scholar, ISI web of knowledge and Scopus databases were searched. Among 25 articles that were selected, only 11 met the inclusion criteria and were included in the study. Based on the inclusion criteria, review articles, expert opinion studies, non-experimental and experimental studies that clearly focused on behavioral and cognitive factors affecting language acquisition in children were selected. Finally, the selected articles were appraised according to guidelines of appraisal of medical studies. Due to the importance of the cochlear implanted child's language performance, the comparison of behaviorist and cognitive psychology points of view in child language acquisition was done. Since each theoretical basis, has its own positive effects on language, and since the two are not in opposition to one another, it can be said that a set of behavioral and cognitive factors might facilitate the process of language acquisition in children. Behavioral psychologists believe that repetition, as well as immediate reinforcement of child's language behavior help him easily acquire the language during a language intervention program, while cognitive psychologists emphasize on the relationship between information processing, memory improvement through repetitively using words along with "associated" pictures and objects, motor development and language acquisition. It is recommended to use a combined approach based on both theoretical frameworks while planning a language intervention program.

A Frequency-Based Approach to L2 Phonological Learning: Teacher Input and Student Output in an Intensive ESL Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trofimovich, Pavel; Collins, Laura; Cardoso, Walcir; White, Joanna; Horst, Marlise

2012-01-01

Most second language (L2) researchers and teachers would agree that input, often defined as the language a learner hears or reads, plays an important role in L2 learning. There is a great deal of research investigating which types of input are most beneficial for learning, how learners process and internalize input (e.g., Schmidt, 2001), and how…

Criteria for Appraising Computer-Based Simulations for Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-04-01

activity abroad that most contributed to their increase in fluency was ‘hanging out’ with Russian friends, defined as visiting, eating, and watching...approach is testing that learning has indeed occurred, in that a teacher must evaluate not only linguistic accuracy but also fluency in the proper...written responses, with student input analyzed using voice processing technology. Cultural Proficiency in Arabic Fluency in a foreign language

Formal Specification and Automatic Analysis of Business Processes under Authorization Constraints: An Action-Based Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Armando, Alessandro; Giunchiglia, Enrico; Ponta, Serena Elisa

We present an approach to the formal specification and automatic analysis of business processes under authorization constraints based on the action language \\cal{C}. The use of \\cal{C} allows for a natural and concise modeling of the business process and the associated security policy and for the automatic analysis of the resulting specification by using the Causal Calculator (CCALC). Our approach improves upon previous work by greatly simplifying the specification step while retaining the ability to perform a fully automatic analysis. To illustrate the effectiveness of the approach we describe its application to a version of a business process taken from the banking domain and use CCALC to determine resource allocation plans complying with the security policy.

Enabling model checking for collaborative process analysis: from BPMN to `Network of Timed Automata'

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mallek, Sihem; Daclin, Nicolas; Chapurlat, Vincent; Vallespir, Bruno

2015-04-01

Interoperability is a prerequisite for partners involved in performing collaboration. As a consequence, the lack of interoperability is now considered a major obstacle. The research work presented in this paper aims to develop an approach that allows specifying and verifying a set of interoperability requirements to be satisfied by each partner in the collaborative process prior to process implementation. To enable the verification of these interoperability requirements, it is necessary first and foremost to generate a model of the targeted collaborative process; for this research effort, the standardised language BPMN 2.0 is used. Afterwards, a verification technique must be introduced, and model checking is the preferred option herein. This paper focuses on application of the model checker UPPAAL in order to verify interoperability requirements for the given collaborative process model. At first, this step entails translating the collaborative process model from BPMN into a UPPAAL modelling language called 'Network of Timed Automata'. Second, it becomes necessary to formalise interoperability requirements into properties with the dedicated UPPAAL language, i.e. the temporal logic TCTL.

Quantifying the driving factors for language shift in a bilingual region.

PubMed

Prochazka, Katharina; Vogl, Gero

2017-04-25

Many of the world's around 6,000 languages are in danger of disappearing as people give up use of a minority language in favor of the majority language in a process called language shift. Language shift can be monitored on a large scale through the use of mathematical models by way of differential equations, for example, reaction-diffusion equations. Here, we use a different approach: we propose a model for language dynamics based on the principles of cellular automata/agent-based modeling and combine it with very detailed empirical data. Our model makes it possible to follow language dynamics over space and time, whereas existing models based on differential equations average over space and consequently provide no information on local changes in language use. Additionally, cellular automata models can be used even in cases where models based on differential equations are not applicable, for example, in situations where one language has become dispersed and retreated to language islands. Using data from a bilingual region in Austria, we show that the most important factor in determining the spread and retreat of a language is the interaction with speakers of the same language. External factors like bilingual schools or parish language have only a minor influence.

Rule-Based Event Processing and Reaction Rules

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paschke, Adrian; Kozlenkov, Alexander

Reaction rules and event processing technologies play a key role in making business and IT / Internet infrastructures more agile and active. While event processing is concerned with detecting events from large event clouds or streams in almost real-time, reaction rules are concerned with the invocation of actions in response to events and actionable situations. They state the conditions under which actions must be taken. In the last decades various reaction rule and event processing approaches have been developed, which for the most part have been advanced separately. In this paper we survey reaction rule approaches and rule-based event processing systems and languages.

Learning robot actions based on self-organising language memory.

PubMed

Wermter, Stefan; Elshaw, Mark

2003-01-01

In the MirrorBot project we examine perceptual processes using models of cortical assemblies and mirror neurons to explore the emergence of semantic representations of actions, percepts and concepts in a neural robot. The hypothesis under investigation is whether a neural model will produce a life-like perception system for actions. In this context we focus in this paper on how instructions for actions can be modeled in a self-organising memory. Current approaches for robot control often do not use language and ignore neural learning. However, our approach uses language instruction and draws from the concepts of regional distributed modularity, self-organisation and neural assemblies. We describe a self-organising model that clusters actions into different locations depending on the body part they are associated with. In particular, we use actual sensor readings from the MIRA robot to represent semantic features of the action verbs. Furthermore, we outline a hierarchical computational model for a self-organising robot action control system using language for instruction.

Language acquisition from a biolinguistic perspective.

PubMed

Crain, Stephen; Koring, Loes; Thornton, Rosalind

2017-10-01

This paper describes the biolinguistic approach to language acquisition. We contrast the biolinguistic approach with a usage-based approach. We argue that the biolinguistic approach is superior because it provides more accurate and more extensive generalizations about the properties of human languages, as well as a better account of how children acquire human languages. To distinguish between these accounts, we focus on how child and adult language differ both in sentence production and in sentence understanding. We argue that the observed differences resist explanation using the cognitive mechanisms that are invoked by the usage-based approach. In contrast, the biolinguistic approach explains the qualitative parametric differences between child and adult language. Explaining how child and adult language differ and demonstrating that children perceive unity despite apparent diversity are two of the hallmarks of the biolinguistic approach to language acquisition. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Towards Using Reo for Compliance-Aware Business Process Modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arbab, Farhad; Kokash, Natallia; Meng, Sun

Business process modeling and implementation of process supporting infrastructures are two challenging tasks that are not fully aligned. On the one hand, languages such as Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) exist to capture business processes at the level of domain analysis. On the other hand, programming paradigms and technologies such as Service-Oriented Computing (SOC) and web services have emerged to simplify the development of distributed web systems that underly business processes. BPMN is the most recognized language for specifying process workflows at the early design steps. However, it is rather declarative and may lead to the executable models which are incomplete or semantically erroneous. Therefore, an approach for expressing and analyzing BPMN models in a formal setting is required. In this paper we describe how BPMN diagrams can be represented by means of a semantically precise channel-based coordination language called Reo which admits formal analysis using model checking and bisimulation techniques. Moreover, since additional requirements may come from various regulatory/legislative documents, we discuss the opportunities offered by Reo and its mathematical abstractions for expressing process-related constraints such as Quality of Service (QoS) or time-aware conditions on process states.

Empathy matters: ERP evidence for inter-individual differences in social language processing

PubMed Central

Van Berkum, Jos J.A.; Bastiaansen, Marcel C.M.; Tesink, Cathelijne M.J.Y.; Kos, Miriam; Buitelaar, Jan K.; Hagoort, Peter

2012-01-01

When an adult claims he cannot sleep without his teddy bear, people tend to react surprised. Language interpretation is, thus, influenced by social context, such as who the speaker is. The present study reveals inter-individual differences in brain reactivity to social aspects of language. Whereas women showed brain reactivity when stereotype-based inferences about a speaker conflicted with the content of the message, men did not. This sex difference in social information processing can be explained by a specific cognitive trait, one’s ability to empathize. Individuals who empathize to a greater degree revealed larger N400 effects (as well as a larger increase in γ-band power) to socially relevant information. These results indicate that individuals with high-empathizing skills are able to rapidly integrate information about the speaker with the content of the message, as they make use of voice-based inferences about the speaker to process language in a top-down manner. Alternatively, individuals with lower empathizing skills did not use information about social stereotypes in implicit sentence comprehension, but rather took a more bottom-up approach to the processing of these social pragmatic sentences. PMID:21148175

Using a simulation assistant in modeling manufacturing systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schroer, Bernard J.; Tseng, Fan T.; Zhang, S. X.; Wolfsberger, John W.

1988-01-01

Numerous simulation languages exist for modeling discrete event processes, and are now ported to microcomputers. Graphic and animation capabilities were added to many of these languages to assist the users build models and evaluate the simulation results. With all these languages and added features, the user is still plagued with learning the simulation language. Futhermore, the time to construct and then to validate the simulation model is always greater than originally anticipated. One approach to minimize the time requirement is to use pre-defined macros that describe various common processes or operations in a system. The development of a simulation assistant for modeling discrete event manufacturing processes is presented. A simulation assistant is defined as an interactive intelligent software tool that assists the modeler in writing a simulation program by translating the modeler's symbolic description of the problem and then automatically generating the corresponding simulation code. The simulation assistant is discussed with emphasis on an overview of the simulation assistant, the elements of the assistant, and the five manufacturing simulation generators. A typical manufacturing system will be modeled using the simulation assistant and the advantages and disadvantages discussed.

Language Management Theory as One Approach in Language Policy and Planning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nekvapil, Jirí

2016-01-01

Language Policy and Planning is currently a significantly diversified research area and thus it is not easy to find common denominators that help to define basic approaches within it. Richard B. Baldauf attempted to do so by differentiating between four basic approaches: (1) the classical approach, (2) the language management approach (Language…

Scaffolding EFL Students' Writing through the Writing Process Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Faraj, Avan Kamal Aziz

2015-01-01

This research reports a study conducted at Koya University/English Language Department, and it aims at presenting the effect of scaffolding on EFL students' writing ability through the writing process. In this study, the students have taken the role of writers, so they need to follow the same steps that writers apply during their writing process.…

Input Processing: A Study of "Ab Initio" Learners with Multilingual Backgrounds

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Han, ZhaoHong; Peverly, Stephen T.

2007-01-01

Research on input processing in the acquisition of a non-primary language has rested largely on the assumption that learners use a meaning-based approach as the "default" when processing input (VanPatten, 1996). The study reported here poses a challenge to this assumption: findings show that participants who were absolute beginners used a…

Culture Learning from a Constructivist Perspective: An Investigation of Spanish Foreign Language Teachers' Views

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sercu, Lies; Garcia, Maria del Carmen Mendez; Prieto, Paloma Castro

2005-01-01

Today, teaching and learning tend to be viewed from a constructivist perspective. Learning is regarded as a self-directed process of constructing meaning, which takes place in interaction. The teacher supports the learning process by selecting input and approaches that can scaffold the learning process and guide learners towards independent…

A bootstrapping method for development of Treebank

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zarei, F.; Basirat, A.; Faili, H.; Mirain, M.

2017-01-01

Using statistical approaches beside the traditional methods of natural language processing could significantly improve both the quality and performance of several natural language processing (NLP) tasks. The effective usage of these approaches is subject to the availability of the informative, accurate and detailed corpora on which the learners are trained. This article introduces a bootstrapping method for developing annotated corpora based on a complex and rich linguistically motivated elementary structure called supertag. To this end, a hybrid method for supertagging is proposed that combines both of the generative and discriminative methods of supertagging. The method was applied on a subset of Wall Street Journal (WSJ) in order to annotate its sentences with a set of linguistically motivated elementary structures of the English XTAG grammar that is using a lexicalised tree-adjoining grammar formalism. The empirical results confirm that the bootstrapping method provides a satisfactory way for annotating the English sentences with the mentioned structures. The experiments show that the method could automatically annotate about 20% of WSJ with the accuracy of F-measure about 80% of which is particularly 12% higher than the F-measure of the XTAG Treebank automatically generated from the approach proposed by Basirat and Faili [(2013). Bridge the gap between statistical and hand-crafted grammars. Computer Speech and Language, 27, 1085-1104].

Bengali-English Relevant Cross Lingual Information Access Using Finite Automata

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Banerjee, Avishek; Bhattacharyya, Swapan; Hazra, Simanta; Mondal, Shatabdi

2010-10-01

CLIR techniques searches unrestricted texts and typically extract term and relationships from bilingual electronic dictionaries or bilingual text collections and use them to translate query and/or document representations into a compatible set of representations with a common feature set. In this paper, we focus on dictionary-based approach by using a bilingual data dictionary with a combination to statistics-based methods to avoid the problem of ambiguity also the development of human computer interface aspects of NLP (Natural Language processing) is the approach of this paper. The intelligent web search with regional language like Bengali is depending upon two major aspect that is CLIA (Cross language information access) and NLP. In our previous work with IIT, KGP we already developed content based CLIA where content based searching in trained on Bengali Corpora with the help of Bengali data dictionary. Here we want to introduce intelligent search because to recognize the sense of meaning of a sentence and it has a better real life approach towards human computer interactions.

Approaching sign language test construction: adaptation of the German sign language receptive skills test.

PubMed

Haug, Tobias

2011-01-01

There is a current need for reliable and valid test instruments in different countries in order to monitor deaf children's sign language acquisition. However, very few tests are commercially available that offer strong evidence for their psychometric properties. A German Sign Language (DGS) test focusing on linguistic structures that are acquired in preschool- and school-aged children (4-8 years old) is urgently needed. Using the British Sign Language Receptive Skills Test, that has been standardized and has sound psychometric properties, as a template for adaptation thus provides a starting point for tests of a sign language that is less documented, such as DGS. This article makes a novel contribution to the field by examining linguistic, cultural, and methodological issues in the process of adapting a test from the source language to the target language. The adapted DGS test has sound psychometric properties and provides the basis for revision prior to standardization. © The Author 2011. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.

PLEXIL-DL: Language and Runtime for Context-Aware Robot Behaviour

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moser, Herwig; Reichelt, Toni; Oswald, Norbert; Förster, Stefan

Faced with the growing complexity of application scenarios social robots are involved with, the perception of environmental circumstances and the sentient reactions are becoming more and more important abilities. Rather than regarding both abilities in isolation, the entire transformation process, from context-awareness to purposive behaviour, forms a robot’s adaptivity. While attaining context-awareness has received much attention in literature so far, translating it into appropriate actions still lacks a comprehensive approach. In this paper, we present PLEXIL-DL, an expressive language allowing complex context expressions as an integral part of constructs that define sophisticated behavioural reactions. Our approach extends NASA’s PLEXIL language by Description Logic queries, both in syntax and formal semantics. A prototypical implementation of a PLEXIL-DL interpreter shows the basic mechanisms facilitating the robot’s adaptivity through context-awareness.

Spoken language identification based on the enhanced self-adjusting extreme learning machine approach.

PubMed

Albadr, Musatafa Abbas Abbood; Tiun, Sabrina; Al-Dhief, Fahad Taha; Sammour, Mahmoud A M

2018-01-01

Spoken Language Identification (LID) is the process of determining and classifying natural language from a given content and dataset. Typically, data must be processed to extract useful features to perform LID. The extracting features for LID, based on literature, is a mature process where the standard features for LID have already been developed using Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC), Shifted Delta Cepstral (SDC), the Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) and ending with the i-vector based framework. However, the process of learning based on extract features remains to be improved (i.e. optimised) to capture all embedded knowledge on the extracted features. The Extreme Learning Machine (ELM) is an effective learning model used to perform classification and regression analysis and is extremely useful to train a single hidden layer neural network. Nevertheless, the learning process of this model is not entirely effective (i.e. optimised) due to the random selection of weights within the input hidden layer. In this study, the ELM is selected as a learning model for LID based on standard feature extraction. One of the optimisation approaches of ELM, the Self-Adjusting Extreme Learning Machine (SA-ELM) is selected as the benchmark and improved by altering the selection phase of the optimisation process. The selection process is performed incorporating both the Split-Ratio and K-Tournament methods, the improved SA-ELM is named Enhanced Self-Adjusting Extreme Learning Machine (ESA-ELM). The results are generated based on LID with the datasets created from eight different languages. The results of the study showed excellent superiority relating to the performance of the Enhanced Self-Adjusting Extreme Learning Machine LID (ESA-ELM LID) compared with the SA-ELM LID, with ESA-ELM LID achieving an accuracy of 96.25%, as compared to the accuracy of SA-ELM LID of only 95.00%.

Spoken language identification based on the enhanced self-adjusting extreme learning machine approach

PubMed Central

Tiun, Sabrina; AL-Dhief, Fahad Taha; Sammour, Mahmoud A. M.

2018-01-01

Spoken Language Identification (LID) is the process of determining and classifying natural language from a given content and dataset. Typically, data must be processed to extract useful features to perform LID. The extracting features for LID, based on literature, is a mature process where the standard features for LID have already been developed using Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC), Shifted Delta Cepstral (SDC), the Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) and ending with the i-vector based framework. However, the process of learning based on extract features remains to be improved (i.e. optimised) to capture all embedded knowledge on the extracted features. The Extreme Learning Machine (ELM) is an effective learning model used to perform classification and regression analysis and is extremely useful to train a single hidden layer neural network. Nevertheless, the learning process of this model is not entirely effective (i.e. optimised) due to the random selection of weights within the input hidden layer. In this study, the ELM is selected as a learning model for LID based on standard feature extraction. One of the optimisation approaches of ELM, the Self-Adjusting Extreme Learning Machine (SA-ELM) is selected as the benchmark and improved by altering the selection phase of the optimisation process. The selection process is performed incorporating both the Split-Ratio and K-Tournament methods, the improved SA-ELM is named Enhanced Self-Adjusting Extreme Learning Machine (ESA-ELM). The results are generated based on LID with the datasets created from eight different languages. The results of the study showed excellent superiority relating to the performance of the Enhanced Self-Adjusting Extreme Learning Machine LID (ESA-ELM LID) compared with the SA-ELM LID, with ESA-ELM LID achieving an accuracy of 96.25%, as compared to the accuracy of SA-ELM LID of only 95.00%. PMID:29672546

Scaffolding for Second Language Writers: Producing an Academic Essay.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cotterall, Sara; Cohen, Robin

2003-01-01

Describes how a group of intermediate learners of English were guided through the process of producing their first academic essays in English. The approach applied the concept of scaffolding to the academic writing process by proving flexible support for the learners throughout the writing of their essays. (Author/VWL)

The Tao of Whole Language.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zola, Meguido

1989-01-01

Uses the philosophy of Taoism as a metaphor in describing the whole language approach to language arts instruction. The discussion covers the key principles that inform the whole language approach, the resulting holistic nature of language programs, and the role of the teacher in this approach. (16 references) (CLB)

Using English Language Arts to Teach a Song

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cardany, Audrey Berger

2017-01-01

Music and reading domains require similar auditory processing skills. Students employ these skills when learning a new song through an oral/aural or rote-teaching approach. In this article, I review literature on the effectiveness of immersion and phrase-by-phrase approaches for teaching a song with or without words. Then, using an amusing…

Teaching Culture as a Relational Process through a Multiliteracies-Based Global Simulation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Michelson, Kristen

2018-01-01

Recent scholarship in second and foreign language (FL) pedagogy has advocated for approaches to teaching culture that move beyond static notions of culture-as-fact, construed in terms of national traditions, towards relational approaches that foster strategies for interaction within discourse communities, where members embody and express a range…

The Impact of Reading Intervention on Brain Responses Underlying Language in Children With Autism.

PubMed

Murdaugh, Donna L; Deshpande, Hrishikesh D; Kana, Rajesh K

2016-01-01

Deficits in language comprehension have been widely reported in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), with behavioral and neuroimaging studies finding increased reliance on visuospatial processing to aid in language comprehension. However, no study to date, has taken advantage of this strength in visuospatial processing to improve language comprehension difficulties in ASD. This study used a translational neuroimaging approach to test the role of a visual imagery-based reading intervention in improving the brain circuitry underlying language processing in children with ASD. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), in a longitudinal study design, was used to investigate intervention-related change in sentence comprehension, brain activation, and functional connectivity in three groups of participants (age 8-13 years): an experimental group of ASD children (ASD-EXP), a wait-list control group of ASD children (ASD-WLC), and a group of typically developing control children. After intervention, the ASD-EXP group showed significant increase in activity in visual and language areas and right-hemisphere language area homologues, putamen, and thalamus, suggestive of compensatory routes to increase proficiency in reading comprehension. Additionally, ASD children who had the most improvement in reading comprehension after intervention showed greater functional connectivity between left-hemisphere language areas, the middle temporal gyrus and inferior frontal gyrus while reading high imagery sentences. Thus, the findings of this study, which support the principles of dual coding theory [Paivio 2007], suggest the potential of a strength-based reading intervention in changing brain responses and facilitating better reading comprehension in ASD children. © 2015 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Auditory processing theories of language disorders: past, present, and future.

PubMed

Miller, Carol A

2011-07-01

The purpose of this article is to provide information that will assist readers in understanding and interpreting research literature on the role of auditory processing in communication disorders. A narrative review was used to summarize and synthesize the literature on auditory processing deficits in children with auditory processing disorder (APD), specific language impairment (SLI), and dyslexia. The history of auditory processing theories of these 3 disorders is described, points of convergence and controversy within and among the different branches of research literature are considered, and the influence of research on practice is discussed. The theoretical and clinical contributions of neurophysiological methods are also reviewed, and suggested approaches for critical reading of the research literature are provided. Research on the role of auditory processing in communication disorders springs from a variety of theoretical perspectives and assumptions, and this variety, combined with controversies over the interpretation of research results, makes it difficult to draw clinical implications from the literature. Neurophysiological research methods are a promising route to better understanding of auditory processing. Progress in theory development and its clinical application is most likely to be made when researchers from different disciplines and theoretical perspectives communicate clearly and combine the strengths of their approaches.

Opposite brain laterality in analogous auditory and visual tests.

PubMed

Oltedal, Leif; Hugdahl, Kenneth

2017-11-01

Laterality for language processing can be assessed by auditory and visual tasks. Typically, a right ear/right visual half-field (VHF) advantage is observed, reflecting left-hemispheric lateralization for language. Historically, auditory tasks have shown more consistent and reliable results when compared to VHF tasks. While few studies have compared analogous tasks applied to both sensory modalities for the same participants, one such study by Voyer and Boudreau [(2003). Cross-modal correlation of auditory and visual language laterality tasks: a serendipitous finding. Brain Cogn, 53(2), 393-397] found opposite laterality for visual and auditory language tasks. We adapted an experimental paradigm based on a dichotic listening and VHF approach, and applied the combined language paradigm in two separate experiments, including fMRI in the second experiment to measure brain activation in addition to behavioural data. The first experiment showed a right-ear advantage for the auditory task, but a left half-field advantage for the visual task. The second experiment, confirmed the findings, with opposite laterality effects for the visual and auditory tasks. In conclusion, we replicate the finding by Voyer and Boudreau (2003) and support their interpretation that these visual and auditory language tasks measure different cognitive processes.

Semantic framework for mapping object-oriented model to semantic web languages

PubMed Central

Ježek, Petr; Mouček, Roman

2015-01-01

The article deals with and discusses two main approaches in building semantic structures for electrophysiological metadata. It is the use of conventional data structures, repositories, and programming languages on one hand and the use of formal representations of ontologies, known from knowledge representation, such as description logics or semantic web languages on the other hand. Although knowledge engineering offers languages supporting richer semantic means of expression and technological advanced approaches, conventional data structures and repositories are still popular among developers, administrators and users because of their simplicity, overall intelligibility, and lower demands on technical equipment. The choice of conventional data resources and repositories, however, raises the question of how and where to add semantics that cannot be naturally expressed using them. As one of the possible solutions, this semantics can be added into the structures of the programming language that accesses and processes the underlying data. To support this idea we introduced a software prototype that enables its users to add semantically richer expressions into a Java object-oriented code. This approach does not burden users with additional demands on programming environment since reflective Java annotations were used as an entry for these expressions. Moreover, additional semantics need not to be written by the programmer directly to the code, but it can be collected from non-programmers using a graphic user interface. The mapping that allows the transformation of the semantically enriched Java code into the Semantic Web language OWL was proposed and implemented in a library named the Semantic Framework. This approach was validated by the integration of the Semantic Framework in the EEG/ERP Portal and by the subsequent registration of the EEG/ERP Portal in the Neuroscience Information Framework. PMID:25762923

Semantic framework for mapping object-oriented model to semantic web languages.

PubMed

Ježek, Petr; Mouček, Roman

2015-01-01

The article deals with and discusses two main approaches in building semantic structures for electrophysiological metadata. It is the use of conventional data structures, repositories, and programming languages on one hand and the use of formal representations of ontologies, known from knowledge representation, such as description logics or semantic web languages on the other hand. Although knowledge engineering offers languages supporting richer semantic means of expression and technological advanced approaches, conventional data structures and repositories are still popular among developers, administrators and users because of their simplicity, overall intelligibility, and lower demands on technical equipment. The choice of conventional data resources and repositories, however, raises the question of how and where to add semantics that cannot be naturally expressed using them. As one of the possible solutions, this semantics can be added into the structures of the programming language that accesses and processes the underlying data. To support this idea we introduced a software prototype that enables its users to add semantically richer expressions into a Java object-oriented code. This approach does not burden users with additional demands on programming environment since reflective Java annotations were used as an entry for these expressions. Moreover, additional semantics need not to be written by the programmer directly to the code, but it can be collected from non-programmers using a graphic user interface. The mapping that allows the transformation of the semantically enriched Java code into the Semantic Web language OWL was proposed and implemented in a library named the Semantic Framework. This approach was validated by the integration of the Semantic Framework in the EEG/ERP Portal and by the subsequent registration of the EEG/ERP Portal in the Neuroscience Information Framework.

From "cracking the orthographic code" to "playing with language": toward a usage-based foundation of the reading process.

PubMed

Wallot, Sebastian

2014-01-01

The empirical study of reading dates back more than 125 years. But despite this long tradition, the scientific understanding of reading has made rather heterogeneous progress: many factors that influence the process of text reading have been uncovered, but theoretical explanations remain fragmented; no general theory pulls together the diverse findings. A handful of scholars have noted that properties thought to be at the core of the reading process do not actually generalize across different languages or from situations single-word reading to connected text reading. Such observations cast doubt on many of the traditional conceptions about reading. In this article, I suggest that the observed heterogeneity in the research is due to misguided conceptions about the reading process. Particularly problematic are the unrefined notions about meaning which undergird many reading theories: most psychological theories of reading implicitly assume a kind of elemental token semantics, where words serve as stable units of meaning in a text. This conception of meaning creates major conceptual problems. As an alternative, I argue that reading shoud be rather understood as a form of language use, which circumvents many of the conceptual problems and connects reading to a wider range of linguistic communication. Finally, drawing from Wittgenstein, the concept of "language games" is outlined as an approach to language use that can be operationalized scientifically to provide a new foundation for reading research.

[Verbal communication disorders and language disorders in cortical dementias (I). The current state of the art in research].

PubMed

Benedet, M J

This is the first part of a research work into primary and secondary language disorders (LD) in the stages of minimum to mild pathological deterioration in the degenerative process of cortical dementias. AIMS. In this first part, in the light of recent models of symbolic computation of language processing, we review the most significant publications on the subject matter. We begin with an introduction to the historical development of the approaches used to deal with the subject. Following that, we briefly describe the components of the language processing system (LPS) in the light of symbolic computation models. We then analyse the publications dealing with those models. Our aim was to determine whether the LD reported in those publications are the result of a primary involvement of any of the LPS components, or whether they are only the result of disorders affecting other components of the cognitive system. In this case, the supposed LD would be secondary and thus a communication, but not language, disorder. Despite the important variations from one individual to another that have been systematically observed by different authors, it seems that only LD belonging to so called primary progressive aphasia are actually cases of this disorder. In all the other dementias in the above mentioned stages of the development process these disorders are secondary to the involvement of other subsystems of the LPS.

Multilingual event extraction for epidemic detection.

PubMed

Lejeune, Gaël; Brixtel, Romain; Doucet, Antoine; Lucas, Nadine

2015-10-01

This paper presents a multilingual news surveillance system applied to tele-epidemiology. It has been shown that multilingual approaches improve timeliness in detection of epidemic events across the globe, eliminating the wait for local news to be translated into major languages. We present here a system to extract epidemic events in potentially any language, provided a Wikipedia seed for common disease names exists. The Daniel system presented herein relies on properties that are common to news writing (the journalistic genre), the most useful being repetition and saliency. Wikipedia is used to screen common disease names to be matched with repeated characters strings. Language variations, such as declensions, are handled by processing text at the character-level, rather than at the word level. This additionally makes it possible to handle various writing systems in a similar fashion. As no multilingual ground truth existed to evaluate the Daniel system, we built a multilingual corpus from the Web, and collected annotations from native speakers of Chinese, English, Greek, Polish and Russian, with no connection or interest in the Daniel system. This data set is available online freely, and can be used for the evaluation of other event extraction systems. Experiments for 5 languages out of 17 tested are detailed in this paper: Chinese, English, Greek, Polish and Russian. The Daniel system achieves an average F-measure of 82% in these 5 languages. It reaches 87% on BEcorpus, the state-of-the-art corpus in English, slightly below top-performing systems, which are tailored with numerous language-specific resources. The consistent performance of Daniel on multiple languages is an important contribution to the reactivity and the coverage of epidemiological event detection systems. Most event extraction systems rely on extensive resources that are language-specific. While their sophistication induces excellent results (over 90% precision and recall), it restricts their coverage in terms of languages and geographic areas. In contrast, in order to detect epidemic events in any language, the Daniel system only requires a list of a few hundreds of disease names and locations, which can actually be acquired automatically. The system can perform consistently well on any language, with precision and recall around 82% on average, according to this paper's evaluation. Daniel's character-based approach is especially interesting for morphologically-rich and low-resourced languages. The lack of resources to be exploited and the state of the art string matching algorithms imply that Daniel can process thousands of documents per minute on a simple laptop. In the context of epidemic surveillance, reactivity and geographic coverage are of primary importance, since no one knows where the next event will strike, and therefore in what vernacular language it will first be reported. By being able to process any language, the Daniel system offers unique coverage for poorly endowed languages, and can complete state of the art techniques for major languages. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A meta-analysis of fMRI studies on Chinese orthographic, phonological, and semantic processing.

PubMed

Wu, Chiao-Yi; Ho, Moon-Ho Ringo; Chen, Shen-Hsing Annabel

2012-10-15

A growing body of neuroimaging evidence has shown that Chinese character processing recruits differential activation from alphabetic languages due to its unique linguistic features. As more investigations on Chinese character processing have recently become available, we applied a meta-analytic approach to summarize previous findings and examined the neural networks for orthographic, phonological, and semantic processing of Chinese characters independently. The activation likelihood estimation (ALE) method was used to analyze eight studies in the orthographic task category, eleven in the phonological and fifteen in the semantic task categories. Converging activation among three language-processing components was found in the left middle frontal gyrus, the left superior parietal lobule and the left mid-fusiform gyrus, suggesting a common sub-network underlying the character recognition process regardless of the task nature. With increasing task demands, the left inferior parietal lobule and the right superior temporal gyrus were specialized for phonological processing, while the left middle temporal gyrus was involved in semantic processing. Functional dissociation was identified in the left inferior frontal gyrus, with the posterior dorsal part for phonological processing and the anterior ventral part for semantic processing. Moreover, bilateral involvement of the ventral occipito-temporal regions was found for both phonological and semantic processing. The results provide better understanding of the neural networks underlying Chinese orthographic, phonological, and semantic processing, and consolidate the findings of additional recruitment of the left middle frontal gyrus and the right fusiform gyrus for Chinese character processing as compared with the universal language network that has been based on alphabetic languages. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Systems Thinking Approach to Engineering Challenges of Military Systems-of-Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-09-01

UNCLASSIFIED UNCLLASIFIED A Systems Thinking Approach to Engineering Challenges of Military Systems -of- Systems Pin Chen and Mark...Unewisse Joint & Operations Analysis Division Defence Science and Technology Group DST-Group-TR-3271 ABSTRACT System (s)-of- Systems (SoS...their products and outcomes. This report introduces a systems thinking-based approach, SoS thinking, which offers a language and a thoughtful process

A new approach in psychotherapy: ACT (acceptance and commitment therapy).

PubMed

McHugh, Louise

2011-09-01

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) focuses on enhancing psychological flexibility in the service of achieving core life values. One thing that distinguishes ACT from other psychotherapies is its grounding in empirical behavioural science. The results of the latter suggest that the capacity for human language can produce seriously negative psychological effects under certain circumstances. ACT is a therapeutic approach in which the negative effects of human language are undermined so as to support flexible values based living. ACT therapeutic work involves six key processes proposed under the "hexaflex" model. ACT has received considerable empirical support at a number of different levels of analysis.

A Cognitive Computing Approach for Classification of Complaints in the Insurance Industry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Forster, J.; Entrup, B.

2017-10-01

In this paper we present and evaluate a cognitive computing approach for classification of dissatisfaction and four complaint specific complaint classes in correspondence documents between insurance clients and an insurance company. A cognitive computing approach includes the combination classical natural language processing methods, machine learning algorithms and the evaluation of hypothesis. The approach combines a MaxEnt machine learning algorithm with language modelling, tf-idf and sentiment analytics to create a multi-label text classification model. The result is trained and tested with a set of 2500 original insurance communication documents written in German, which have been manually annotated by the partnering insurance company. With a F1-Score of 0.9, a reliable text classification component has been implemented and evaluated. A final outlook towards a cognitive computing insurance assistant is given in the end.

Comparing Acquisition Strategies: Open Architecture versus Product Lines

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-04-30

software • New SOW language for accepting software deliveries – Enables third-party reuse • Additional SOW language regarding conducting software code walkthroughs and for using integrated development environments ...change the business environment must be the primary factor that drives the technical approach. Accordingly, there are business case decisions to be...elements of a system design should be made available to the customer to observe throughout the design process. Electronic access to the design environment

Toward an Ontological Approach in Goal-Oriented Language Courseware Design and Its Implications for Technology-Independent Content Structuring

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Colpaert, Jozef

2006-01-01

The term "design" is being understood more and more as a methodological process, together with its acceptance as the result of such a process. As a process, it is a stage in the courseware engineering life cycle which primarily focuses on rendering the development process more effective and on enhancing the qualities of the finished system,…

A Hybrid Approach to Clinical Question Answering

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-11-01

participation in TREC, we submitted a single run using a hybrid Natural Language Processing ( NLP )-driven approach to accomplish the given task. Evaluation re...for the CDS track uses a variety of NLP - based techniques to address the clinical questions provided. We present a description of our approach, and...discuss our experimental setup, results and eval- uation in the subsequent sections. 2 Description of Our Approach Our hybrid NLP -driven method presents a

Chapter 36: history of aphasia: from brain to language.

PubMed

Eling, Paul; Whitaker, Harry

2010-01-01

An historical overview is presented that focuses on the changes both in approach and topics with respect to language disturbances due to brain lesions. Early cases of language disorders were described without any theorizing about language or its relation to the brain. Also, three forms of speech disorder were distinguished: traulotes, psellotes and ischophonia, which are only marginally related to aphasia. In the 18th century some authors, in particular Gesner and Crichton, attempted to explain language disorders in terms of mental processes. The great debate on both the anatomical (Broca, Wernicke) and functional (Wernicke, Lichtheim) aspects of aphasia dominated late 19th century discussion of localization of function, leading to the development of what we now call the cognitive neurosciences. In this period, language processing was described in terms of a simple functional model of word recognition and production; linguistic principles played no role. At the beginning of the 20th century the discussion on language disorders waned due to a decrease of interest in the issue of localization; aphasia became primarily a clinical issue of how best to classify patients. In the second half of the 20th century, the field of aphasia developed rapidly due to studies performed at the Boston Aphasia Unit and, more importantly, to a change of orientation to linguistic notions of language structure, as introduced by Chomsky.

Domain-General Brain Regions Do Not Track Linguistic Input as Closely as Language-Selective Regions.

PubMed

Blank, Idan A; Fedorenko, Evelina

2017-10-11

Language comprehension engages a cortical network of left frontal and temporal regions. Activity in this network is language-selective, showing virtually no modulation by nonlinguistic tasks. In addition, language comprehension engages a second network consisting of bilateral frontal, parietal, cingulate, and insular regions. Activity in this "multiple demand" (MD) network scales with comprehension difficulty, but also with cognitive effort across a wide range of nonlinguistic tasks in a domain-general fashion. Given the functional dissociation between the language and MD networks, their respective contributions to comprehension are likely distinct, yet such differences remain elusive. Prior neuroimaging studies have suggested that activity in each network covaries with some linguistic features that, behaviorally, influence on-line processing and comprehension. This sensitivity of the language and MD networks to local input characteristics has often been interpreted, implicitly or explicitly, as evidence that both networks track linguistic input closely, and in a manner consistent across individuals. Here, we used fMRI to directly test this assumption by comparing the BOLD signal time courses in each network across different people ( n = 45, men and women) listening to the same story. Language network activity showed fewer individual differences, indicative of closer input tracking, whereas MD network activity was more idiosyncratic and, moreover, showed lower reliability within an individual across repetitions of a story. These findings constrain cognitive models of language comprehension by suggesting a novel distinction between the processes implemented in the language and MD networks. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Language comprehension recruits both language-specific mechanisms and domain-general mechanisms that are engaged in many cognitive processes. In the human cortex, language-selective mechanisms are implemented in the left-lateralized "core language network", whereas domain-general mechanisms are implemented in the bilateral "multiple demand" (MD) network. Here, we report the first direct comparison of the respective contributions of these networks to naturalistic story comprehension. Using a novel combination of neuroimaging approaches we find that MD regions track stories less closely than language regions. This finding constrains the possible contributions of the MD network to comprehension, contrasts with accounts positing that this network has continuous access to linguistic input, and suggests a new typology of comprehension processes based on their extent of input tracking. Copyright © 2017 the authors 0270-6474/17/3710000-13$15.00/0.

Domain-General Brain Regions Do Not Track Linguistic Input as Closely as Language-Selective Regions

PubMed Central

Fedorenko, Evelina

2017-01-01

Language comprehension engages a cortical network of left frontal and temporal regions. Activity in this network is language-selective, showing virtually no modulation by nonlinguistic tasks. In addition, language comprehension engages a second network consisting of bilateral frontal, parietal, cingulate, and insular regions. Activity in this “multiple demand” (MD) network scales with comprehension difficulty, but also with cognitive effort across a wide range of nonlinguistic tasks in a domain-general fashion. Given the functional dissociation between the language and MD networks, their respective contributions to comprehension are likely distinct, yet such differences remain elusive. Prior neuroimaging studies have suggested that activity in each network covaries with some linguistic features that, behaviorally, influence on-line processing and comprehension. This sensitivity of the language and MD networks to local input characteristics has often been interpreted, implicitly or explicitly, as evidence that both networks track linguistic input closely, and in a manner consistent across individuals. Here, we used fMRI to directly test this assumption by comparing the BOLD signal time courses in each network across different people (n = 45, men and women) listening to the same story. Language network activity showed fewer individual differences, indicative of closer input tracking, whereas MD network activity was more idiosyncratic and, moreover, showed lower reliability within an individual across repetitions of a story. These findings constrain cognitive models of language comprehension by suggesting a novel distinction between the processes implemented in the language and MD networks. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Language comprehension recruits both language-specific mechanisms and domain-general mechanisms that are engaged in many cognitive processes. In the human cortex, language-selective mechanisms are implemented in the left-lateralized “core language network”, whereas domain-general mechanisms are implemented in the bilateral “multiple demand” (MD) network. Here, we report the first direct comparison of the respective contributions of these networks to naturalistic story comprehension. Using a novel combination of neuroimaging approaches we find that MD regions track stories less closely than language regions. This finding constrains the possible contributions of the MD network to comprehension, contrasts with accounts positing that this network has continuous access to linguistic input, and suggests a new typology of comprehension processes based on their extent of input tracking. PMID:28871034

BPMN as a Communication Language for the Process- and Event-Oriented Perspectives in Fact-Oriented Conceptual Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bollen, Peter

In this paper we will show how the OMG specification of BPMN (Business Process Modeling Notation) can be used to model the process- and event-oriented perspectives of an application subject area. We will illustrate how the fact-oriented conceptual models for the information-, process- and event perspectives can be used in a 'bottom-up' approach for creating a BPMN model in combination with other approaches, e.g. the use of a textual description. We will use the common doctor's office example as a running example in this article.

Inhibitory control and the speech patterns of second language users.

PubMed

Korko, Malgorzata; Williams, Simon A

2017-02-01

Inhibitory control (IC), an ability to suppress irrelevant and/or conflicting information, has been found to underlie performance on a variety of cognitive tasks, including bilingual language processing. This study examines the relationship between IC and the speech patterns of second language (L2) users from the perspective of individual differences. While the majority of studies have supported the role of IC in bilingual language processing using single-word production paradigms, this work looks at inhibitory processes in the context of extended speech, with a particular emphasis on disfluencies. We hypothesized that the speech of individuals with poorer IC would be characterized by reduced fluency. A series of regression analyses, in which we controlled for age and L2 proficiency, revealed that IC (in terms of accuracy on the Stroop task) could reliably predict the occurrence of reformulations and the frequency and duration of silent pauses in L2 speech. No statistically significant relationship was found between IC and other L2 spoken output measures, such as repetitions, filled pauses, and performance errors. Conclusions focus on IC as one out of a number of cognitive functions in the service of spoken language production. A more qualitative approach towards the question of whether L2 speakers rely on IC is advocated. © 2016 The British Psychological Society.

Can language acquisition be facilitated in cochlear implanted children? Comparison of cognitive and behavioral psychologists’ viewpoints

PubMed Central

Monshizadeh, Leila; Vameghi, Roshanak; Yadegari, Fariba; Sajedi, Firoozeh; Hashemi, Seyed Basir

2016-01-01

AIM To study how language acquisition can be facilitated for cochlear implanted children based on cognitive and behavioral psychology viewpoints? METHODS To accomplish this objective, literature related to behaviorist and cognitive psychology prospects about language acquisition were studied and some relevant books as well as Medline, Cochrane Library, Google scholar, ISI web of knowledge and Scopus databases were searched. Among 25 articles that were selected, only 11 met the inclusion criteria and were included in the study. Based on the inclusion criteria, review articles, expert opinion studies, non-experimental and experimental studies that clearly focused on behavioral and cognitive factors affecting language acquisition in children were selected. Finally, the selected articles were appraised according to guidelines of appraisal of medical studies. RESULTS Due to the importance of the cochlear implanted child’s language performance, the comparison of behaviorist and cognitive psychology points of view in child language acquisition was done. Since each theoretical basis, has its own positive effects on language, and since the two are not in opposition to one another, it can be said that a set of behavioral and cognitive factors might facilitate the process of language acquisition in children. Behavioral psychologists believe that repetition, as well as immediate reinforcement of child’s language behavior help him easily acquire the language during a language intervention program, while cognitive psychologists emphasize on the relationship between information processing, memory improvement through repetitively using words along with “associated” pictures and objects, motor development and language acquisition. CONCLUSION It is recommended to use a combined approach based on both theoretical frameworks while planning a language intervention program. PMID:27872829

Bilingual Language Control and General Purpose Cognitive Control among Individuals with Bilingual Aphasia: Evidence Based on Negative Priming and Flanker Tasks

PubMed Central

Dash, Tanya; Kar, Bhoomika R.

2014-01-01

Background. Bilingualism results in an added advantage with respect to cognitive control. The interaction between bilingual language control and general purpose cognitive control systems can also be understood by studying executive control among individuals with bilingual aphasia. Objectives. The current study examined the subcomponents of cognitive control in bilingual aphasia. A case study approach was used to investigate whether cognitive control and language control are two separate systems and how factors related to bilingualism interact with control processes. Methods. Four individuals with bilingual aphasia performed a language background questionnaire, picture description task, and two experimental tasks (nonlinguistic negative priming task and linguistic and nonlinguistic versions of flanker task). Results. A descriptive approach was used to analyse the data using reaction time and accuracy measures. The cumulative distribution function plots were used to visualize the variations in performance across conditions. The results highlight the distinction between general purpose cognitive control and bilingual language control mechanisms. Conclusion. All participants showed predominant use of the reactive control mechanism to compensate for the limited resources system. Independent yet interactive systems for bilingual language control and general purpose cognitive control were postulated based on the experimental data derived from individuals with bilingual aphasia. PMID:24982591

Incorporating advanced language models into the P300 speller using particle filtering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Speier, W.; Arnold, C. W.; Deshpande, A.; Knall, J.; Pouratian, N.

2015-08-01

Objective. The P300 speller is a common brain-computer interface (BCI) application designed to communicate language by detecting event related potentials in a subject’s electroencephalogram signal. Information about the structure of natural language can be valuable for BCI communication, but attempts to use this information have thus far been limited to rudimentary n-gram models. While more sophisticated language models are prevalent in natural language processing literature, current BCI analysis methods based on dynamic programming cannot handle their complexity. Approach. Sampling methods can overcome this complexity by estimating the posterior distribution without searching the entire state space of the model. In this study, we implement sequential importance resampling, a commonly used particle filtering (PF) algorithm, to integrate a probabilistic automaton language model. Main result. This method was first evaluated offline on a dataset of 15 healthy subjects, which showed significant increases in speed and accuracy when compared to standard classification methods as well as a recently published approach using a hidden Markov model (HMM). An online pilot study verified these results as the average speed and accuracy achieved using the PF method was significantly higher than that using the HMM method. Significance. These findings strongly support the integration of domain-specific knowledge into BCI classification to improve system performance.

A portable approach for PIC on emerging architectures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Decyk, Viktor

2016-03-01

A portable approach for designing Particle-in-Cell (PIC) algorithms on emerging exascale computers, is based on the recognition that 3 distinct programming paradigms are needed. They are: low level vector (SIMD) processing, middle level shared memory parallel programing, and high level distributed memory programming. In addition, there is a memory hierarchy associated with each level. Such algorithms can be initially developed using vectorizing compilers, OpenMP, and MPI. This is the approach recommended by Intel for the Phi processor. These algorithms can then be translated and possibly specialized to other programming models and languages, as needed. For example, the vector processing and shared memory programming might be done with CUDA instead of vectorizing compilers and OpenMP, but generally the algorithm itself is not greatly changed. The UCLA PICKSC web site at http://www.idre.ucla.edu/ contains example open source skeleton codes (mini-apps) illustrating each of these three programming models, individually and in combination. Fortran2003 now supports abstract data types, and design patterns can be used to support a variety of implementations within the same code base. Fortran2003 also supports interoperability with C so that implementations in C languages are also easy to use. Finally, main codes can be translated into dynamic environments such as Python, while still taking advantage of high performing compiled languages. Parallel languages are still evolving with interesting developments in co-Array Fortran, UPC, and OpenACC, among others, and these can also be supported within the same software architecture. Work supported by NSF and DOE Grants.

Memory Interference as a Determinant of Language Comprehension

PubMed Central

Van Dyke, Julie A.; Johns, Clinton L.

2012-01-01

The parameters of the human memory system constrain the operation of language comprehension processes. In the memory literature, both decay and interference have been proposed as causes of forgetting; however, while there is a long history of research establishing the nature of interference effects in memory, the effects of decay are much more poorly supported. Nevertheless, research investigating the limitations of the human sentence processing mechanism typically focus on decay-based explanations, emphasizing the role of capacity, while the role of interference has received comparatively little attention. This paper reviews both accounts of difficulty in language comprehension by drawing direct connections to research in the memory domain. Capacity-based accounts are found to be untenable, diverging substantially from what is known about the operation of the human memory system. In contrast, recent research investigating comprehension difficulty using a retrieval-interference paradigm is shown to be wholly consistent with both behavioral and neuropsychological memory phenomena. The implications of adopting a retrieval-interference approach to investigating individual variation in language comprehension are discussed. PMID:22773927

An Approach for Automatic Generation of Adaptive Hypermedia in Education with Multilingual Knowledge Discovery Techniques

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alfonseca, Enrique; Rodriguez, Pilar; Perez, Diana

2007-01-01

This work describes a framework that combines techniques from Adaptive Hypermedia and Natural Language processing in order to create, in a fully automated way, on-line information systems from linear texts in electronic format, such as textbooks. The process is divided into two steps: an "off-line" processing step, which analyses the source text,…

Empirical evidence for musical syntax processing? Computer simulations reveal the contribution of auditory short-term memory

PubMed Central

Bigand, Emmanuel; Delbé, Charles; Poulin-Charronnat, Bénédicte; Leman, Marc; Tillmann, Barbara

2014-01-01

During the last decade, it has been argued that (1) music processing involves syntactic representations similar to those observed in language, and (2) that music and language share similar syntactic-like processes and neural resources. This claim is important for understanding the origin of music and language abilities and, furthermore, it has clinical implications. The Western musical system, however, is rooted in psychoacoustic properties of sound, and this is not the case for linguistic syntax. Accordingly, musical syntax processing could be parsimoniously understood as an emergent property of auditory memory rather than a property of abstract processing similar to linguistic processing. To support this view, we simulated numerous empirical studies that investigated the processing of harmonic structures, using a model based on the accumulation of sensory information in auditory memory. The simulations revealed that most of the musical syntax manipulations used with behavioral and neurophysiological methods as well as with developmental and cross-cultural approaches can be accounted for by the auditory memory model. This led us to question whether current research on musical syntax can really be compared with linguistic processing. Our simulation also raises methodological and theoretical challenges to study musical syntax while disentangling the confounded low-level sensory influences. In order to investigate syntactic abilities in music comparable to language, research should preferentially use musical material with structures that circumvent the tonal effect exerted by psychoacoustic properties of sounds. PMID:24936174

Linking Language with Embodied and Teleological Representations of Action for Humanoid Cognition

PubMed Central

Lallee, Stephane; Madden, Carol; Hoen, Michel; Dominey, Peter Ford

2010-01-01

The current research extends our framework for embodied language and action comprehension to include a teleological representation that allows goal-based reasoning for novel actions. The objective of this work is to implement and demonstrate the advantages of a hybrid, embodied-teleological approach to action–language interaction, both from a theoretical perspective, and via results from human–robot interaction experiments with the iCub robot. We first demonstrate how a framework for embodied language comprehension allows the system to develop a baseline set of representations for processing goal-directed actions such as “take,” “cover,” and “give.” Spoken language and visual perception are input modes for these representations, and the generation of spoken language is the output mode. Moving toward a teleological (goal-based reasoning) approach, a crucial component of the new system is the representation of the subcomponents of these actions, which includes relations between initial enabling states, and final resulting states for these actions. We demonstrate how grammatical categories including causal connectives (e.g., because, if–then) can allow spoken language to enrich the learned set of state-action-state (SAS) representations. We then examine how this enriched SAS inventory enhances the robot's ability to represent perceived actions in which the environment inhibits goal achievement. The paper addresses how language comes to reflect the structure of action, and how it can subsequently be used as an input and output vector for embodied and teleological aspects of action. PMID:20577629

Cross-cultural effect on the brain revisited: universal structures plus writing system variation.

PubMed

Bolger, Donald J; Perfetti, Charles A; Schneider, Walter

2005-05-01

Recognizing printed words requires the mapping of graphic forms, which vary with writing systems, to linguistic forms, which vary with languages. Using a newly developed meta-analytic approach, aggregated Gaussian-estimated sources (AGES; Chein et al. [2002]: Psychol Behav 77:635-639), we examined the neuroimaging results for word reading within and across writing systems and languages. To find commonalities, we compiled 25 studies in English and other Western European languages that use an alphabetic writing system, 9 studies of native Chinese reading, 5 studies of Japanese Kana (syllabic) reading, and 4 studies of Kanji (morpho-syllabic) reading. Using the AGES approach, we created meta-images within each writing system, isolated reliable foci of activation, and compared findings across writing systems and languages. The results suggest that these writing systems utilize a common network of regions in word processing. Writing systems engage largely the same systems in terms of gross cortical regions, but localization within those regions suggests differences across writing systems. In particular, the region known as the visual word form area (VWFA) shows strikingly consistent localization across tasks and across writing systems. This region in the left mid-fusiform gyrus is critical to word recognition across writing systems and languages.

Biocharts: a visual formalism for complex biological systems

PubMed Central

Kugler, Hillel; Larjo, Antti; Harel, David

2010-01-01

We address one of the central issues in devising languages, methods and tools for the modelling and analysis of complex biological systems, that of linking high-level (e.g. intercellular) information with lower-level (e.g. intracellular) information. Adequate ways of dealing with this issue are crucial for understanding biological networks and pathways, which typically contain huge amounts of data that continue to grow as our knowledge and understanding of a system increases. Trying to comprehend such data using the standard methods currently in use is often virtually impossible. We propose a two-tier compound visual language, which we call Biocharts, that is geared towards building fully executable models of biological systems. One of the main goals of our approach is to enable biologists to actively participate in the computational modelling effort, in a natural way. The high-level part of our language is a version of statecharts, which have been shown to be extremely successful in software and systems engineering. The statecharts can be combined with any appropriately well-defined language (preferably a diagrammatic one) for specifying the low-level dynamics of the pathways and networks. We illustrate the language and our general modelling approach using the well-studied process of bacterial chemotaxis. PMID:20022895

Asymmetric Switch Costs in Numeral Naming and Number Word Reading: Implications for Models of Bilingual Language Production.

PubMed

Reynolds, Michael G; Schlöffel, Sophie; Peressotti, Francesca

2015-01-01

One approach used to gain insight into the processes underlying bilingual language comprehension and production examines the costs that arise from switching languages. For unbalanced bilinguals, asymmetric switch costs are reported in speech production, where the switch cost for L1 is larger than the switch cost for L2, whereas, symmetric switch costs are reported in language comprehension tasks, where the cost of switching is the same for L1 and L2. Presently, it is unclear why asymmetric switch costs are observed in speech production, but not in language comprehension. Three experiments are reported that simultaneously examine methodological explanations of task related differences in the switch cost asymmetry and the predictions of three accounts of the switch cost asymmetry in speech production. The results of these experiments suggest that (1) the type of language task (comprehension vs. production) determines whether an asymmetric switch cost is observed and (2) at least some of the switch cost asymmetry arises within the language system.

tOWL: a temporal Web Ontology Language.

PubMed

Milea, Viorel; Frasincar, Flavius; Kaymak, Uzay

2012-02-01

Through its interoperability and reasoning capabilities, the Semantic Web opens a realm of possibilities for developing intelligent systems on the Web. The Web Ontology Language (OWL) is the most expressive standard language for modeling ontologies, the cornerstone of the Semantic Web. However, up until now, no standard way of expressing time and time-dependent information in OWL has been provided. In this paper, we present a temporal extension of the very expressive fragment SHIN(D) of the OWL Description Logic language, resulting in the temporal OWL language. Through a layered approach, we introduce three extensions: 1) concrete domains, which allow the representation of restrictions using concrete domain binary predicates; 2) temporal representation , which introduces time points, relations between time points, intervals, and Allen's 13 interval relations into the language; and 3) timeslices/fluents, which implement a perdurantist view on individuals and allow for the representation of complex temporal aspects, such as process state transitions. We illustrate the expressiveness of the newly introduced language by using an example from the financial domain.

Asymmetric Switch Costs in Numeral Naming and Number Word Reading: Implications for Models of Bilingual Language Production

PubMed Central

Reynolds, Michael G.; Schlöffel, Sophie; Peressotti, Francesca

2016-01-01

One approach used to gain insight into the processes underlying bilingual language comprehension and production examines the costs that arise from switching languages. For unbalanced bilinguals, asymmetric switch costs are reported in speech production, where the switch cost for L1 is larger than the switch cost for L2, whereas, symmetric switch costs are reported in language comprehension tasks, where the cost of switching is the same for L1 and L2. Presently, it is unclear why asymmetric switch costs are observed in speech production, but not in language comprehension. Three experiments are reported that simultaneously examine methodological explanations of task related differences in the switch cost asymmetry and the predictions of three accounts of the switch cost asymmetry in speech production. The results of these experiments suggest that (1) the type of language task (comprehension vs. production) determines whether an asymmetric switch cost is observed and (2) at least some of the switch cost asymmetry arises within the language system. PMID:26834659

Participatory arts programs in residential dementia care: Playing with language differences.

PubMed

Swinnen, Aagje; de Medeiros, Kate

2017-01-01

This article examines connections between language, identity, and cultural difference in the context of participatory arts in residential dementia care. Specifically, it looks at how language differences become instruments for the language play that characterizes the participatory arts programs, TimeSlips and the Alzheimer's Poetry Project. These are two approaches that are predominantly spoken-word driven. Although people living with dementia experience cognitive decline that affects language, they are linguistic agents capable of participating in ongoing negotiation processes of connection, belonging, and in- and exclusion through language use. The analysis of two ethnographic vignettes, based on extensive fieldwork in the closed wards of two Dutch nursing homes, illustrates how TimeSlips and the Alzheimer's Poetry Project support them in this agency. The theoretical framework of the analysis consists of literature on the linguistic agency of people living with dementia, the notions of the homo ludens (or man the player) and ludic language, as well as linguistic strategies of belonging in relation to place.

A unified statistical approach to non-negative matrix factorization and probabilistic latent semantic indexing

PubMed Central

Wang, Guoli; Ebrahimi, Nader

2014-01-01

Non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) is a powerful machine learning method for decomposing a high-dimensional nonnegative matrix V into the product of two nonnegative matrices, W and H, such that V ∼ W H. It has been shown to have a parts-based, sparse representation of the data. NMF has been successfully applied in a variety of areas such as natural language processing, neuroscience, information retrieval, image processing, speech recognition and computational biology for the analysis and interpretation of large-scale data. There has also been simultaneous development of a related statistical latent class modeling approach, namely, probabilistic latent semantic indexing (PLSI), for analyzing and interpreting co-occurrence count data arising in natural language processing. In this paper, we present a generalized statistical approach to NMF and PLSI based on Renyi's divergence between two non-negative matrices, stemming from the Poisson likelihood. Our approach unifies various competing models and provides a unique theoretical framework for these methods. We propose a unified algorithm for NMF and provide a rigorous proof of monotonicity of multiplicative updates for W and H. In addition, we generalize the relationship between NMF and PLSI within this framework. We demonstrate the applicability and utility of our approach as well as its superior performance relative to existing methods using real-life and simulated document clustering data. PMID:25821345

A unified statistical approach to non-negative matrix factorization and probabilistic latent semantic indexing.

PubMed

Devarajan, Karthik; Wang, Guoli; Ebrahimi, Nader

2015-04-01

Non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) is a powerful machine learning method for decomposing a high-dimensional nonnegative matrix V into the product of two nonnegative matrices, W and H , such that V ∼ W H . It has been shown to have a parts-based, sparse representation of the data. NMF has been successfully applied in a variety of areas such as natural language processing, neuroscience, information retrieval, image processing, speech recognition and computational biology for the analysis and interpretation of large-scale data. There has also been simultaneous development of a related statistical latent class modeling approach, namely, probabilistic latent semantic indexing (PLSI), for analyzing and interpreting co-occurrence count data arising in natural language processing. In this paper, we present a generalized statistical approach to NMF and PLSI based on Renyi's divergence between two non-negative matrices, stemming from the Poisson likelihood. Our approach unifies various competing models and provides a unique theoretical framework for these methods. We propose a unified algorithm for NMF and provide a rigorous proof of monotonicity of multiplicative updates for W and H . In addition, we generalize the relationship between NMF and PLSI within this framework. We demonstrate the applicability and utility of our approach as well as its superior performance relative to existing methods using real-life and simulated document clustering data.

Extending network approach to language dynamics and human cognition. Comment on "Approaching human language with complex networks" by Cong and Liu

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gong, Tao; Shuai, Lan; Wu, Yicheng

2014-12-01

By analyzing complex networks constructed from authentic language data, Cong and Liu [1] advance linguistics research into the big data era. The network approach has revealed many intrinsic generalities and crucial differences at both the macro and micro scales between human languages. The axiom behind this research is that language is a complex adaptive system [2]. Although many lexical, semantic, or syntactic features have been discovered by means of analyzing the static and dynamic linguistic networks of world languages, available network-based language studies have not explicitly addressed the evolutionary dynamics of language systems and the correlations between language and human cognition. This commentary aims to provide some insights on how to use the network approach to study these issues.

Lived Curriculum & Identite Linguistique: Discours Paralleles but Intertwined

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Doucerain, Marina

2009-01-01

The author uses an autobiographical approach to reinterpret her memories of being an immigrant and an English language learner and to probe how these memories are intimately involved in the process of becoming a science teacher. This reflexive process of "excavation" (Grumet, 1999) allows the writing of narratives that explore how words…

Common data buffer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Byrne, F.

1981-01-01

Time-shared interface speeds data processing in distributed computer network. Two-level high-speed scanning approach routes information to buffer, portion of which is reserved for series of "first-in, first-out" memory stacks. Buffer address structure and memory are protected from noise or failed components by error correcting code. System is applicable to any computer or processing language.

The Neural Mechanisms of Word Order Processing Revisited: Electrophysiological Evidence from Japanese

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wolff, Susann; Schlesewsky, Matthias; Hirotani, Masako; Bornkessel-Schlesewsky, Ina

2008-01-01

We present two ERP studies on the processing of word order variations in Japanese, a language that is suited to shedding further light on the implications of word order freedom for neurocognitive approaches to sentence comprehension. Experiment 1 used auditory presentation and revealed that initial accusative objects elicit increased processing…

A Cognitive Neuroscience Perspective on Embodied Language for Human-Robot Cooperation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Madden, Carol; Hoen, Michel; Dominey, Peter Ford

2010-01-01

This article addresses issues in embodied sentence processing from a "cognitive neural systems" approach that combines analysis of the behavior in question, analysis of the known neurophysiological bases of this behavior, and the synthesis of a neuro-computational model of embodied sentence processing that can be applied to and tested in the…

Quantifying the driving factors for language shift in a bilingual region

PubMed Central

Prochazka, Katharina; Vogl, Gero

2017-01-01

Many of the world’s around 6,000 languages are in danger of disappearing as people give up use of a minority language in favor of the majority language in a process called language shift. Language shift can be monitored on a large scale through the use of mathematical models by way of differential equations, for example, reaction–diffusion equations. Here, we use a different approach: we propose a model for language dynamics based on the principles of cellular automata/agent-based modeling and combine it with very detailed empirical data. Our model makes it possible to follow language dynamics over space and time, whereas existing models based on differential equations average over space and consequently provide no information on local changes in language use. Additionally, cellular automata models can be used even in cases where models based on differential equations are not applicable, for example, in situations where one language has become dispersed and retreated to language islands. Using data from a bilingual region in Austria, we show that the most important factor in determining the spread and retreat of a language is the interaction with speakers of the same language. External factors like bilingual schools or parish language have only a minor influence. PMID:28298530

[Changes in hemispheric asymmetry under intensive foreign language instruction].

PubMed

Bykova, L G; Smirnova, T I

1991-01-01

By means of dichotic listening test the study of perception dynamics was conducted in 20 persons during their intensive learning of French and German languages. Before the beginning of learning in all subjects, except three ones, the left hemisphere dominated in relation to verbal functions. In the process of learning in 84% of subjects activization of the opposite hemisphere was observed. In persons with the same initial level of language knowledge the success in colloquial practice was by expert evaluation as higher as bigger was the shift of the right ear coefficient at learning. The latter makes possible to evaluate quantitatively intellectual efforts spent in the process of learning. The authors suggest that such psychophysiological control of perception could be a support in solution of the problem of optimization of learning with the use of individual approach.

Teaching Writers through a Unit of Study Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morgan, Denise N.

2012-01-01

Writing needs to be taught, not assigned, but teaching writing well within a 43-minute period is a daunting task. This article describes how three 8th-grade teachers implemented a unit of study approach to teaching memoir writing in their language arts classes. Teacher and student decision making are highlighted in this inquiry process. ["Teaching…

Reaching Out to All Students: The Integrated English Approach.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peters, William H.

Traditional teaching of English language arts is based on a receptive-accrual view of learning, which places the learner in a passive rather than an active role in the teaching-learning process. This approach conveys to the learner the view that the subject matter is fragmented and that teachers prepare discrete, disconnected lessons. L.M.…

A randomized control trial of interventions in school-aged children with auditory processing disorders.

PubMed

Sharma, Mridula; Purdy, Suzanne C; Kelly, Andrea S

2012-07-01

The primary purpose of the study was to compare intervention approaches for children with auditory processing disorder (APD): bottom-up training including activities focused on auditory perception, discrimination, and phonological awareness, and top-down training including a range of language activities. Another purpose was to determine the benefits of personal FM systems. The study is a randomized control trial where participants were allocated to groups receiving one of the two interventions, with and without personal FM, or to the no intervention group. The six-week intervention included weekly one-hour sessions with a therapist in the clinic, plus 1-2 hours per week of parent-directed homework. 55 children (7 to 13 years) with APD participated in the study. Intervention outcomes included reading, language, and auditory processing. Positive outcomes were observed for both training approaches and personal FM systems on several measures. Pre-intervention nonverbal IQ, age, and severity of APD did not influence outcomes. Performance of control group participants did not change when retested after the intervention period. Both intervention approaches were beneficial and there were additional benefits with the use of personal FM. Positive results were not limited to the areas specifically targeted by the interventions.

The Comprehension Approach to Foreign Language Instruction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Winitz, Harris, Ed.

The comprehension approach to second language education emphasizes acquisition of listening comprehension prior to and as a vehicle for acquisition of other language skills. The following articles on this approach are collected here: (1) "Nonlinear Learning and Language Teaching" (Winitz); (2) "Aital cal aprene las lengas…

Computer-Aided TRIZ Ideality and Level of Invention Estimation Using Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adams, Christopher; Tate, Derrick

Patent textual descriptions provide a wealth of information that can be used to understand the underlying design approaches that result in the generation of novel and innovative technology. This article will discuss a new approach for estimating Degree of Ideality and Level of Invention metrics from the theory of inventive problem solving (TRIZ) using patent textual information. Patent text includes information that can be used to model both the functions performed by a design and the associated costs and problems that affect a design’s value. The motivation of this research is to use patent data with calculation of TRIZ metrics to help designers understand which combinations of system components and functions result in creative and innovative design solutions. This article will discuss in detail methods to estimate these TRIZ metrics using natural language processing and machine learning with the use of neural networks.

Exploring Gender Issues across Cultures: A Literature Based Whole Language Approach.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lo, Yi-Hsuan Gloria

This paper explores the whole language approach to teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) in the context of gender issues. More specifically, this study is focused on teaching ESL to university freshman in Taiwan. The whole language approach is used for two reasons: language can best be learned when it kept as a whole--especially with…

Language at Three Timescales: The Role of Real-Time Processes in Language Development and Evolution.

PubMed

McMurray, Bob

2016-04-01

Evolutionary developmental systems (evo-devo) theory stresses that selection pressures operate on entire developmental systems rather than just genes. This study extends this approach to language evolution, arguing that selection pressure may operate on two quasi-independent timescales. First, children clearly must acquire language successfully (as acknowledged in traditional evo-devo accounts) and evolution must equip them with the tools to do so. Second, while this is developing, they must also communicate with others in the moment using partially developed knowledge. These pressures may require different solutions, and their combination may underlie the evolution of complex mechanisms for language development and processing. I present two case studies to illustrate how the demands of both real-time communication and language acquisition may be subtly different (and interact). The first case study examines infant-directed speech (IDS). A recent view is that IDS underwent cultural to statistical learning mechanisms that infants use to acquire the speech categories of their language. However, recent data suggest is it may not have evolved to enhance development, but rather to serve a more real-time communicative function. The second case study examines the argument for seemingly specialized mechanisms for learning word meanings (e.g., fast-mapping). Both behavioral and computational work suggest that learning may be much slower and served by general-purpose mechanisms like associative learning. Fast-mapping, then, may be a real-time process meant to serve immediate communication, not learning, by augmenting incomplete vocabulary knowledge with constraints from the current context. Together, these studies suggest that evolutionary accounts consider selection pressure arising from both real-time communicative demands and from the need for accurate language development. Copyright © 2016 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Explicit Performance in Girls and Implicit Processing in Boys: A Simultaneous fNIRS–ERP Study on Second Language Syntactic Learning in Young Adolescents

PubMed Central

Sugiura, Lisa; Hata, Masahiro; Matsuba-Kurita, Hiroko; Uga, Minako; Tsuzuki, Daisuke; Dan, Ippeita; Hagiwara, Hiroko; Homae, Fumitaka

2018-01-01

Learning a second language (L2) proceeds with individual approaches to proficiency in the language. Individual differences including sex, as well as working memory (WM) function appear to have strong effects on behavioral performance and cortical responses in L2 processing. Thus, by considering sex and WM capacity, we examined neural responses during L2 sentence processing as a function of L2 proficiency in young adolescents. In behavioral tests, girls significantly outperformed boys in L2 tests assessing proficiency and grammatical knowledge, and in a reading span test (RST) assessing WM capacity. Girls, but not boys, showed significant correlations between L2 tests and RST scores. Using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and event-related potential (ERP) simultaneously, we measured cortical responses while participants listened to syntactically correct and incorrect sentences. ERP data revealed a grammaticality effect only in boys in the early time window (100–300 ms), implicated in phrase structure processing. In fNIRS data, while boys had significantly increased activation in the left prefrontal region implicated in syntactic processing, girls had increased activation in the posterior language-related region involved in phonology, semantics, and sentence processing with proficiency. Presumably, boys implicitly focused on rule-based syntactic processing, whereas girls made full use of linguistic knowledge and WM function. The present results provide important fundamental data for learning and teaching in L2 education. PMID:29568265

Morpheme matching based text tokenization for a scarce resourced language.

PubMed

Rehman, Zobia; Anwar, Waqas; Bajwa, Usama Ijaz; Xuan, Wang; Chaoying, Zhou

2013-01-01

Text tokenization is a fundamental pre-processing step for almost all the information processing applications. This task is nontrivial for the scarce resourced languages such as Urdu, as there is inconsistent use of space between words. In this paper a morpheme matching based approach has been proposed for Urdu text tokenization, along with some other algorithms to solve the additional issues of boundary detection of compound words, affixation, reduplication, names and abbreviations. This study resulted into 97.28% precision, 93.71% recall, and 95.46% F1-measure; while tokenizing a corpus of 57000 words by using a morpheme list with 6400 entries.

Morpheme Matching Based Text Tokenization for a Scarce Resourced Language

PubMed Central

Rehman, Zobia; Anwar, Waqas; Bajwa, Usama Ijaz; Xuan, Wang; Chaoying, Zhou

2013-01-01

Text tokenization is a fundamental pre-processing step for almost all the information processing applications. This task is nontrivial for the scarce resourced languages such as Urdu, as there is inconsistent use of space between words. In this paper a morpheme matching based approach has been proposed for Urdu text tokenization, along with some other algorithms to solve the additional issues of boundary detection of compound words, affixation, reduplication, names and abbreviations. This study resulted into 97.28% precision, 93.71% recall, and 95.46% F1-measure; while tokenizing a corpus of 57000 words by using a morpheme list with 6400 entries. PMID:23990871

The writing approaches of secondary students.

PubMed

Lavelle, Ellen; Smith, Jennifer; O'Ryan, Leslie

2002-09-01

Research with college students has supported a model of writing approaches that defines the relationship between a writer and writing task along a deep and surface process continuum (Biggs, 1988). Based on that model, Lavelle (1993) developed the Inventory of Processes in College Composition which reflects students' motives and strategies as related to writing outcomes. It is also important to define the approaches of secondary students to better understand writing processes at that level, and development in written composition. This study was designed to define the writing approaches of secondary students by factor analysing students' responses to items regarding writing beliefs and writing strategies, and to compare the secondary approaches to those of college students. A related goal was to explore the relationships of the secondary writing approaches to perceived self-regulatory efficacy for writing (Zimmerman & Bandura, 1994), writing preferences, and writing outcomes. The initial, factor analytic phase involved 398 junior level high school students (11th grade) enrolled in a mandatory language arts class at each of three large Midwestern high schools (USA). Then, 49 junior level students enrolled in two language arts classes participated as subjects in the second phase. Classroom teachers administered the Inventory of Processes in College Composition (Lavelle, 1993), which contained 72 true-or-false items regarding writing beliefs and strategies, during regular class periods. Data were factor analysed and the structure compared to that of college students. In the second phase, the new inventory, Inventory of Processes in Secondary Composition, was administered in conjunction with the Perceived Self-Regulatory Efficacy for Writing Inventory (Zimmerman & Bandura, 1994), and a writing preferences survey. A writing sample and grade in Language Arts classes were obtained and served as outcome variables. The factor structure of secondary writing reflected three process dimensions. The first factor, Elaborative-Expressive, describes a writing strategy based on personal investment and audience concern. The second factor, Planful-Procedural, denotes sticking to a plan, following the rules, and 'preparing' for writing. Achieving-Competitive, the third factor, reflects a 'teacher pleasing' strategy or doing only what needs to be done to get a good grade. Two factors from the college model, Elaborative and Procedural, were replicated, and two were not, Reflective-Revision and Low Self-Efficacy. Regression analyses supported that the processes in writing under a timed condition are different from those used when writing over time, and that students' perceptions of writing self-regulatory efficacy were predictive of writing success under both conditions.

How relevant is social interaction in second language learning?

PubMed Central

Verga, Laura; Kotz, Sonja A.

2013-01-01

Verbal language is the most widespread mode of human communication, and an intrinsically social activity. This claim is strengthened by evidence emerging from different fields, which clearly indicates that social interaction influences human communication, and more specifically, language learning. Indeed, research conducted with infants and children shows that interaction with a caregiver is necessary to acquire language. Further evidence on the influence of sociality on language comes from social and linguistic pathologies, in which deficits in social and linguistic abilities are tightly intertwined, as is the case for Autism, for example. However, studies on adult second language (L2) learning have been mostly focused on individualistic approaches, partly because of methodological constraints, especially of imaging methods. The question as to whether social interaction should be considered as a critical factor impacting upon adult language learning still remains underspecified. Here, we review evidence in support of the view that sociality plays a significant role in communication and language learning, in an attempt to emphasize factors that could facilitate this process in adult language learning. We suggest that sociality should be considered as a potentially influential factor in adult language learning and that future studies in this domain should explicitly target this factor. PMID:24027521

How relevant is social interaction in second language learning?

PubMed

Verga, Laura; Kotz, Sonja A

2013-09-03

Verbal language is the most widespread mode of human communication, and an intrinsically social activity. This claim is strengthened by evidence emerging from different fields, which clearly indicates that social interaction influences human communication, and more specifically, language learning. Indeed, research conducted with infants and children shows that interaction with a caregiver is necessary to acquire language. Further evidence on the influence of sociality on language comes from social and linguistic pathologies, in which deficits in social and linguistic abilities are tightly intertwined, as is the case for Autism, for example. However, studies on adult second language (L2) learning have been mostly focused on individualistic approaches, partly because of methodological constraints, especially of imaging methods. The question as to whether social interaction should be considered as a critical factor impacting upon adult language learning still remains underspecified. Here, we review evidence in support of the view that sociality plays a significant role in communication and language learning, in an attempt to emphasize factors that could facilitate this process in adult language learning. We suggest that sociality should be considered as a potentially influential factor in adult language learning and that future studies in this domain should explicitly target this factor.

Modeling languages for biochemical network simulation: reaction vs equation based approaches.

PubMed

Wiechert, Wolfgang; Noack, Stephan; Elsheikh, Atya

2010-01-01

Biochemical network modeling and simulation is an essential task in any systems biology project. The systems biology markup language (SBML) was established as a standardized model exchange language for mechanistic models. A specific strength of SBML is that numerous tools for formulating, processing, simulation and analysis of models are freely available. Interestingly, in the field of multidisciplinary simulation, the problem of model exchange between different simulation tools occurred much earlier. Several general modeling languages like Modelica have been developed in the 1990s. Modelica enables an equation based modular specification of arbitrary hierarchical differential algebraic equation models. Moreover, libraries for special application domains can be rapidly developed. This contribution compares the reaction based approach of SBML with the equation based approach of Modelica and explains the specific strengths of both tools. Several biological examples illustrating essential SBML and Modelica concepts are given. The chosen criteria for tool comparison are flexibility for constraint specification, different modeling flavors, hierarchical, modular and multidisciplinary modeling. Additionally, support for spatially distributed systems, event handling and network analysis features is discussed. As a major result it is shown that the choice of the modeling tool has a strong impact on the expressivity of the specified models but also strongly depends on the requirements of the application context.

Building an ontology of pulmonary diseases with natural language processing tools using textual corpora.

PubMed

Baneyx, Audrey; Charlet, Jean; Jaulent, Marie-Christine

2007-01-01

Pathologies and acts are classified in thesauri to help physicians to code their activity. In practice, the use of thesauri is not sufficient to reduce variability in coding and thesauri are not suitable for computer processing. We think the automation of the coding task requires a conceptual modeling of medical items: an ontology. Our task is to help lung specialists code acts and diagnoses with software that represents medical knowledge of this concerned specialty by an ontology. The objective of the reported work was to build an ontology of pulmonary diseases dedicated to the coding process. To carry out this objective, we develop a precise methodological process for the knowledge engineer in order to build various types of medical ontologies. This process is based on the need to express precisely in natural language the meaning of each concept using differential semantics principles. A differential ontology is a hierarchy of concepts and relationships organized according to their similarities and differences. Our main research hypothesis is to apply natural language processing tools to corpora to develop the resources needed to build the ontology. We consider two corpora, one composed of patient discharge summaries and the other being a teaching book. We propose to combine two approaches to enrich the ontology building: (i) a method which consists of building terminological resources through distributional analysis and (ii) a method based on the observation of corpus sequences in order to reveal semantic relationships. Our ontology currently includes 1550 concepts and the software implementing the coding process is still under development. Results show that the proposed approach is operational and indicates that the combination of these methods and the comparison of the resulting terminological structures give interesting clues to a knowledge engineer for the building of an ontology.

Engaging Language Learners through Technology Integration: Theory, Applications, and Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, Shuai, Ed.; Swanson, Peter, Ed.

2014-01-01

Web 2.0 technologies, open source software platforms, and mobile applications have transformed teaching and learning of second and foreign languages. Language teaching has transitioned from a teacher-centered approach to a student-centered approach through the use of Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) and new teaching approaches.…

Musical Sophistication and the Effect of Complexity on Auditory Discrimination in Finnish Speakers.

PubMed

Dawson, Caitlin; Aalto, Daniel; Šimko, Juraj; Vainio, Martti; Tervaniemi, Mari

2017-01-01

Musical experiences and native language are both known to affect auditory processing. The present work aims to disentangle the influences of native language phonology and musicality on behavioral and subcortical sound feature processing in a population of musically diverse Finnish speakers as well as to investigate the specificity of enhancement from musical training. Finnish speakers are highly sensitive to duration cues since in Finnish, vowel and consonant duration determine word meaning. Using a correlational approach with a set of behavioral sound feature discrimination tasks, brainstem recordings, and a musical sophistication questionnaire, we find no evidence for an association between musical sophistication and more precise duration processing in Finnish speakers either in the auditory brainstem response or in behavioral tasks, but they do show an enhanced pitch discrimination compared to Finnish speakers with less musical experience and show greater duration modulation in a complex task. These results are consistent with a ceiling effect set for certain sound features which corresponds to the phonology of the native language, leaving an opportunity for music experience-based enhancement of sound features not explicitly encoded in the language (such as pitch, which is not explicitly encoded in Finnish). Finally, the pattern of duration modulation in more musically sophisticated Finnish speakers suggests integrated feature processing for greater efficiency in a real world musical situation. These results have implications for research into the specificity of plasticity in the auditory system as well as to the effects of interaction of specific language features with musical experiences.

Musical Sophistication and the Effect of Complexity on Auditory Discrimination in Finnish Speakers

PubMed Central

Dawson, Caitlin; Aalto, Daniel; Šimko, Juraj; Vainio, Martti; Tervaniemi, Mari

2017-01-01

Musical experiences and native language are both known to affect auditory processing. The present work aims to disentangle the influences of native language phonology and musicality on behavioral and subcortical sound feature processing in a population of musically diverse Finnish speakers as well as to investigate the specificity of enhancement from musical training. Finnish speakers are highly sensitive to duration cues since in Finnish, vowel and consonant duration determine word meaning. Using a correlational approach with a set of behavioral sound feature discrimination tasks, brainstem recordings, and a musical sophistication questionnaire, we find no evidence for an association between musical sophistication and more precise duration processing in Finnish speakers either in the auditory brainstem response or in behavioral tasks, but they do show an enhanced pitch discrimination compared to Finnish speakers with less musical experience and show greater duration modulation in a complex task. These results are consistent with a ceiling effect set for certain sound features which corresponds to the phonology of the native language, leaving an opportunity for music experience-based enhancement of sound features not explicitly encoded in the language (such as pitch, which is not explicitly encoded in Finnish). Finally, the pattern of duration modulation in more musically sophisticated Finnish speakers suggests integrated feature processing for greater efficiency in a real world musical situation. These results have implications for research into the specificity of plasticity in the auditory system as well as to the effects of interaction of specific language features with musical experiences. PMID:28450829

A perspective on the advancement of natural language processing tasks via topological analysis of complex networks. Comment on "Approaching human language with complex networks" by Cong and Liu

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amancio, Diego Raphael

2014-12-01

Concepts and methods of complex networks have been applied to probe the properties of a myriad of real systems [1]. The finding that written texts modeled as graphs share several properties of other completely different real systems has inspired the study of language as a complex system [2]. Actually, language can be represented as a complex network in its several levels of complexity. As a consequence, morphological, syntactical and semantical properties have been employed in the construction of linguistic networks [3]. Even the character level has been useful to unfold particular patterns [4,5]. In the review by Cong and Liu [6], the authors emphasize the need to use the topological information of complex networks modeling the various spheres of the language to better understand its origins, evolution and organization. In addition, the authors cite the use of networks in applications aiming at holistic typology and stylistic variations. In this context, I will discuss some possible directions that could be followed in future research directed towards the understanding of language via topological characterization of complex linguistic networks. In addition, I will comment the use of network models for language processing applications. Additional prospects for future practical research lines will also be discussed in this comment.

Modeling the emergence of contact languages.

PubMed

Tria, Francesca; Servedio, Vito D P; Mufwene, Salikoko S; Loreto, Vittorio

2015-01-01

Contact languages are born out of the non-trivial interaction of two (or more) parent languages. Nowadays, the enhanced possibility of mobility and communication allows for a strong mixing of languages and cultures, thus raising the issue of whether there are any pure languages or cultures that are unaffected by contact with others. As with bacteria or viruses in biological evolution, the evolution of languages is marked by horizontal transmission; but to date no reliable quantitative tools to investigate these phenomena have been available. An interesting and well documented example of contact language is the emergence of creole languages, which originated in the contacts of European colonists and slaves during the 17th and 18th centuries in exogenous plantation colonies of especially the Atlantic and Indian Ocean. Here, we focus on the emergence of creole languages to demonstrate a dynamical process that mimics the process of creole formation in American and Caribbean plantation ecologies. Inspired by the Naming Game (NG), our modeling scheme incorporates demographic information about the colonial population in the framework of a non-trivial interaction network including three populations: Europeans, Mulattos/Creoles, and Bozal slaves. We show how this sole information makes it possible to discriminate territories that produced modern creoles from those that did not, with a surprising accuracy. The generality of our approach provides valuable insights for further studies on the emergence of languages in contact ecologies as well as to test specific hypotheses about the peopling and the population structures of the relevant territories. We submit that these tools could be relevant to addressing problems related to contact phenomena in many cultural domains: e.g., emergence of dialects, language competition and hybridization, globalization phenomena.

Modeling the Emergence of Contact Languages

PubMed Central

Tria, Francesca; Servedio, Vito D.P.; Mufwene, Salikoko S.; Loreto, Vittorio

2015-01-01

Contact languages are born out of the non-trivial interaction of two (or more) parent languages. Nowadays, the enhanced possibility of mobility and communication allows for a strong mixing of languages and cultures, thus raising the issue of whether there are any pure languages or cultures that are unaffected by contact with others. As with bacteria or viruses in biological evolution, the evolution of languages is marked by horizontal transmission; but to date no reliable quantitative tools to investigate these phenomena have been available. An interesting and well documented example of contact language is the emergence of creole languages, which originated in the contacts of European colonists and slaves during the 17th and 18th centuries in exogenous plantation colonies of especially the Atlantic and Indian Ocean. Here, we focus on the emergence of creole languages to demonstrate a dynamical process that mimics the process of creole formation in American and Caribbean plantation ecologies. Inspired by the Naming Game (NG), our modeling scheme incorporates demographic information about the colonial population in the framework of a non-trivial interaction network including three populations: Europeans, Mulattos/Creoles, and Bozal slaves. We show how this sole information makes it possible to discriminate territories that produced modern creoles from those that did not, with a surprising accuracy. The generality of our approach provides valuable insights for further studies on the emergence of languages in contact ecologies as well as to test specific hypotheses about the peopling and the population structures of the relevant territories. We submit that these tools could be relevant to addressing problems related to contact phenomena in many cultural domains: e.g., emergence of dialects, language competition and hybridization, globalization phenomena. PMID:25875371

The Complex Nature of Bilinguals' Language Usage Modulates Task-Switching Outcomes

PubMed Central

Yang, Hwajin; Hartanto, Andree; Yang, Sujin

2016-01-01

In view of inconsistent findings regarding bilingual advantages in executive functions (EF), we reviewed the literature to determine whether bilinguals' different language usage causes measureable changes in the shifting aspects of EF. By drawing on the theoretical framework of the adaptive control hypothesis—which postulates a critical link between bilinguals' varying demands on language control and adaptive cognitive control (Green and Abutalebi, 2013), we examined three factors that characterize bilinguals' language-switching experience: (a) the interactional context of conversational exchanges, (b) frequency of language switching, and (c) typology of code-switching. We also examined whether methodological variations in previous task-switching studies modulate task-specific demands on control processing and lead to inconsistencies in the literature. Our review demonstrates that not only methodological rigor but also a more finely grained, theory-based approach will be required to understand the cognitive consequences of bilinguals' varied linguistic practices in shifting EF. PMID:27199800

Controlled English to facilitate human/machine analytical processing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Braines, Dave; Mott, David; Laws, Simon; de Mel, Geeth; Pham, Tien

2013-06-01

Controlled English is a human-readable information representation format that is implemented using a restricted subset of the English language, but which is unambiguous and directly accessible by simple machine processes. We have been researching the capabilities of CE in a number of contexts, and exploring the degree to which a flexible and more human-friendly information representation format could aid the intelligence analyst in a multi-agent collaborative operational environment; especially in cases where the agents are a mixture of other human users and machine processes aimed at assisting the human users. CE itself is built upon a formal logic basis, but allows users to easily specify models for a domain of interest in a human-friendly language. In our research we have been developing an experimental component known as the "CE Store" in which CE information can be quickly and flexibly processed and shared between human and machine agents. The CE Store environment contains a number of specialized machine agents for common processing tasks and also supports execution of logical inference rules that can be defined in the same CE language. This paper outlines the basic architecture of this approach, discusses some of the example machine agents that have been developed, and provides some typical examples of the CE language and the way in which it has been used to support complex analytical tasks on synthetic data sources. We highlight the fusion of human and machine processing supported through the use of the CE language and CE Store environment, and show this environment with examples of highly dynamic extensions to the model(s) and integration between different user-defined models in a collaborative setting.

Analysing Culture and Interculture in Saudi EFL Textbooks: A Corpus Linguistic Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Almujaiwel, Sultan

2018-01-01

This paper combines corpus processing tools to investigate the cultural elements of Saudi education of English as a foreign language (EFL). The latest Saudi EFL textbooks (2016 onwards) are available in researchable PDF formats. This helps process them through corpus search software tools. The method adopted is based on analysing 20 cultural…

Writing in the Park: Inquiry into Urban Youths' Place-Based Digital Writing Processes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Silva, Bethany

2017-01-01

Theories of writing process have informed the teaching of writing for the past forty years, providing writing mentors with a language of prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing that broadens ways to invite young writers to approach composition. In the past forty years, new technologies for composition have impacted the products,…

Reading for Repetition and Reading for Translation: Do They Involve the Same Processes?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Macizo, Pedro; Bajo, M. Teresa

2006-01-01

Theories of translation differ in the role assigned to the reformulation process. One view, the ''horizontal'' approach, considers that translation involves on-line searches for matches between linguistic entries in the two languages involved [Gerver, D. (1976). Empirical studies of simultaneous interpretation: A review and a model. In R. W.…

oRis: multiagents approach for image processing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rodin, Vincent; Harrouet, Fabrice; Ballet, Pascal; Tisseau, Jacques

1998-09-01

In this article, we present a parallel image processing system based on the concept of reactive agents. This means that, in our system, each agent has a very simple behavior which allows it to take a decision (find out an edge, a region, ...) according to its position in the image and to the information enclosed in it. Our system lies in the oRis language, which allows to describe very finely and simply the agents' behaviors. In fact, oRis is an interpreted and dynamic multiagent language. First of all, oRis is an object language with the use of classes regrouping attributes and methods. The syntax is close to the C++ language and includes notions of multiple inheritance, oRis is also an agent language: every object with a method `main()' becomes an agent. This method is cyclically executed by the system scheduler and corresponds to the agent behavior. We also present an application made with oRis. This application allows to detect concentric striae located on different natural `objects' (age-rings of tree, fish otolith growth rings, striae of some minerals, ...). The stopping of the multiagent system is implemented through a technique issued from immunology: the apoptosis.

Cultural phylogeography of the Bantu Languages of sub-Saharan Africa.

PubMed

Currie, Thomas E; Meade, Andrew; Guillon, Myrtille; Mace, Ruth

2013-07-07

There is disagreement about the routes taken by populations speaking Bantu languages as they expanded to cover much of sub-Saharan Africa. Here, we build phylogenetic trees of Bantu languages and map them onto geographical space in order to assess the likely pathway of expansion and test between dispersal scenarios. The results clearly support a scenario in which groups first moved south through the rainforest from a homeland somewhere near the Nigeria-Cameroon border. Emerging on the south side of the rainforest, one branch moved south and west. Another branch moved towards the Great Lakes, eventually giving rise to the monophyletic clade of East Bantu languages that inhabit East and Southeastern Africa. These phylogenies also reveal information about more general processes involved in the diversification of human populations into distinct ethnolinguistic groups. Our study reveals that Bantu languages show a latitudinal gradient in covering greater areas with increasing distance from the equator. Analyses suggest that this pattern reflects a true ecological relationship rather than merely being an artefact of shared history. The study shows how a phylogeographic approach can address questions relating to the specific histories of certain groups, as well as general cultural evolutionary processes.

Adaptive Plasticity in the Healthy Language Network: Implications for Language Recovery after Stroke

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Across the last three decades, the application of noninvasive brain stimulation (NIBS) has substantially increased the current knowledge of the brain's potential to undergo rapid short-term reorganization on the systems level. A large number of studies applied transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in the healthy brain to probe the functional relevance and interaction of specific areas for different cognitive processes. NIBS is also increasingly being used to induce adaptive plasticity in motor and cognitive networks and shape cognitive functions. Recently, NIBS has been combined with electrophysiological techniques to modulate neural oscillations of specific cortical networks. In this review, we will discuss recent advances in the use of NIBS to modulate neural activity and effective connectivity in the healthy language network, with a special focus on the combination of NIBS and neuroimaging or electrophysiological approaches. Moreover, we outline how these results can be transferred to the lesioned brain to unravel the dynamics of reorganization processes in poststroke aphasia. We conclude with a critical discussion on the potential of NIBS to facilitate language recovery after stroke and propose a phase-specific model for the application of NIBS in language rehabilitation. PMID:27830094

Networked Workstations and Parallel Processing Utilizing Functional Languages

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-03-01

program . This frees the programmer to concentrate on what the program is to do, not how the program is...traditional ’von Neumann’ architecture uses a timer based (e.g., the program counter), sequentially pro- grammed, single processor approach to problem...traditional ’von Neumann’ architecture uses a timer based (e.g., the program counter), sequentially programmed , single processor approach to

Matching Vocabulary Learning Process with Learning Outcome in L2 Academic Writing: An Exploratory Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ma, Qing

2013-01-01

This exploratory case study of two undergraduates links vocabulary learning approaches with lexical quality measured in academic writing. Employing an array of qualitative data, it is shown that in a "semi-language-rich" learning context, Chinese learners may dispense with rote learning and engage in a more natural learning approach in which…

Abstinence-What?: A Critical Look at the Language of Educational Approaches to Adolescent Sexual Risk Reduction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beshers, Sarah

2007-01-01

Twenty-six years ago, Ronald Reagan signed the Adolescent Family Life Act, and the abstinence education movement began its rapid ascendancy to political dominance, a process marked by increasingly generous federal funding, which reached a peak of $176 million in FY 2006. Throughout this period, a debate ensued over the appropriate approach to…

A common distributed language approach to software integration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Antonelli, Charles J.; Volz, Richard A.; Mudge, Trevor N.

1989-01-01

An important objective in software integration is the development of techniques to allow programs written in different languages to function together. Several approaches are discussed toward achieving this objective and the Common Distributed Language Approach is presented as the approach of choice.

Identifying Suicide Ideation and Suicidal Attempts in a Psychiatric Clinical Research Database using Natural Language Processing.

PubMed

Fernandes, Andrea C; Dutta, Rina; Velupillai, Sumithra; Sanyal, Jyoti; Stewart, Robert; Chandran, David

2018-05-09

Research into suicide prevention has been hampered by methodological limitations such as low sample size and recall bias. Recently, Natural Language Processing (NLP) strategies have been used with Electronic Health Records to increase information extraction from free text notes as well as structured fields concerning suicidality and this allows access to much larger cohorts than previously possible. This paper presents two novel NLP approaches - a rule-based approach to classify the presence of suicide ideation and a hybrid machine learning and rule-based approach to identify suicide attempts in a psychiatric clinical database. Good performance of the two classifiers in the evaluation study suggest they can be used to accurately detect mentions of suicide ideation and attempt within free-text documents in this psychiatric database. The novelty of the two approaches lies in the malleability of each classifier if a need to refine performance, or meet alternate classification requirements arises. The algorithms can also be adapted to fit infrastructures of other clinical datasets given sufficient clinical recording practice knowledge, without dependency on medical codes or additional data extraction of known risk factors to predict suicidal behaviour.

Computer-Supplemented Structural Drill Practice Versus Computer-Supplemented Semantic Drill Practice by Beginning College German Students: A Comparative Experiment

DTIC Science & Technology

1979-01-01

language education in recent years can be seen in the movement from a teacher- to a learner -centered approach. The best evidence of a teacher-centered...most dramatic effect on how the learner is viewed. The learner now is recognized as an active participant in the learning process rather than as a... best , is optional. Cognitive psychologists, such as Ausubel, and many foreign language educators (Rivers, 1976; Grittner, 1977) believe that practice

Creativity in the Language Classroom: Towards a "Vichian" Approach in Second Language Teaching.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Danesi, Marcel; D'Alfonso, Aldo

1989-01-01

Describes a "Vichian" approach (involving linguistic imagination and creativity) to the exploration of basic pedagogical matters in classroom language teaching. The approach is based on principles involving: (1) concrete language knowledge; (2) development from the concrete to the abstract; (3) the role of metaphor in verbal creativity;…

Knowledge-Based Object Detection in Laser Scanning Point Clouds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boochs, F.; Karmacharya, A.; Marbs, A.

2012-07-01

Object identification and object processing in 3D point clouds have always posed challenges in terms of effectiveness and efficiency. In practice, this process is highly dependent on human interpretation of the scene represented by the point cloud data, as well as the set of modeling tools available for use. Such modeling algorithms are data-driven and concentrate on specific features of the objects, being accessible to numerical models. We present an approach that brings the human expert knowledge about the scene, the objects inside, and their representation by the data and the behavior of algorithms to the machine. This "understanding" enables the machine to assist human interpretation of the scene inside the point cloud. Furthermore, it allows the machine to understand possibilities and limitations of algorithms and to take this into account within the processing chain. This not only assists the researchers in defining optimal processing steps, but also provides suggestions when certain changes or new details emerge from the point cloud. Our approach benefits from the advancement in knowledge technologies within the Semantic Web framework. This advancement has provided a strong base for applications based on knowledge management. In the article we will present and describe the knowledge technologies used for our approach such as Web Ontology Language (OWL), used for formulating the knowledge base and the Semantic Web Rule Language (SWRL) with 3D processing and topologic built-ins, aiming to combine geometrical analysis of 3D point clouds, and specialists' knowledge of the scene and algorithmic processing.

A Kinect based sign language recognition system using spatio-temporal features

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Memiş, Abbas; Albayrak, Songül

2013-12-01

This paper presents a sign language recognition system that uses spatio-temporal features on RGB video images and depth maps for dynamic gestures of Turkish Sign Language. Proposed system uses motion differences and accumulation approach for temporal gesture analysis. Motion accumulation method, which is an effective method for temporal domain analysis of gestures, produces an accumulated motion image by combining differences of successive video frames. Then, 2D Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) is applied to accumulated motion images and temporal domain features transformed into spatial domain. These processes are performed on both RGB images and depth maps separately. DCT coefficients that represent sign gestures are picked up via zigzag scanning and feature vectors are generated. In order to recognize sign gestures, K-Nearest Neighbor classifier with Manhattan distance is performed. Performance of the proposed sign language recognition system is evaluated on a sign database that contains 1002 isolated dynamic signs belongs to 111 words of Turkish Sign Language (TSL) in three different categories. Proposed sign language recognition system has promising success rates.

Language and Recursion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lowenthal, Francis

2010-11-01

This paper examines whether the recursive structure imbedded in some exercises used in the Non Verbal Communication Device (NVCD) approach is actually the factor that enables this approach to favor language acquisition and reacquisition in the case of children with cerebral lesions. For that a definition of the principle of recursion as it is used by logicians is presented. The two opposing approaches to the problem of language development are explained. For many authors such as Chomsky [1] the faculty of language is innate. This is known as the Standard Theory; the other researchers in this field, e.g. Bates and Elman [2], claim that language is entirely constructed by the young child: they thus speak of Language Acquisition. It is also shown that in both cases, a version of the principle of recursion is relevant for human language. The NVCD approach is defined and the results obtained in the domain of language while using this approach are presented: young subjects using this approach acquire a richer language structure or re-acquire such a structure in the case of cerebral lesions. Finally it is shown that exercises used in this framework imply the manipulation of recursive structures leading to regular grammars. It is thus hypothesized that language development could be favored using recursive structures with the young child. It could also be the case that the NVCD like exercises used with children lead to the elaboration of a regular language, as defined by Chomsky [3], which could be sufficient for language development but would not require full recursion. This double claim could reconcile Chomsky's approach with psychological observations made by adherents of the Language Acquisition approach, if it is confirmed by researches combining the use of NVCDs, psychometric methods and the use of Neural Networks. This paper thus suggests that a research group oriented towards this problematic should be organized.

Bayesian phylogenetic analysis supports an agricultural origin of Japonic languages

PubMed Central

Lee, Sean; Hasegawa, Toshikazu

2011-01-01

Languages, like genes, evolve by a process of descent with modification. This striking similarity between biological and linguistic evolution allows us to apply phylogenetic methods to explore how languages, as well as the people who speak them, are related to one another through evolutionary history. Language phylogenies constructed with lexical data have so far revealed population expansions of Austronesian, Indo-European and Bantu speakers. However, how robustly a phylogenetic approach can chart the history of language evolution and what language phylogenies reveal about human prehistory must be investigated more thoroughly on a global scale. Here we report a phylogeny of 59 Japonic languages and dialects. We used this phylogeny to estimate time depth of its root and compared it with the time suggested by an agricultural expansion scenario for Japanese origin. In agreement with the scenario, our results indicate that Japonic languages descended from a common ancestor approximately 2182 years ago. Together with archaeological and biological evidence, our results suggest that the first farmers of Japan had a profound impact on the origins of both people and languages. On a broader level, our results are consistent with a theory that agricultural expansion is the principal factor for shaping global linguistic diversity. PMID:21543358

Revitalizing Indigenous Languages. Papers presented at the Annual Stabilizing Indigenous Languages Symposium (5th, Louisville, KY, May 15-16, 1998).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reyhner, Jon, Ed.; Cantoni, Gina, Ed.; St. Clair, Robert N., Ed.; Yazzie, Evangeline Parsons, Ed.

This volume of conference papers examines issues and approaches in the revitalization of American Indian and other indigenous languages. Sections discuss obstacles and opportunities for language revitalization, language revitalization efforts and approaches, the role of writing in language revitalization, and using technology in language…

ELT Teacher Trainees' Attitudes towards Environmental Education and Their Tendency to Use It in the Language Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gursoy, Esim; Saglam, Gulderen T.

2011-01-01

With the change of focus in language teaching from grammar-based approaches to more communicative approaches, contextual language learning gained importance and found body in the English Language classroom. Global issues constitute one of the most popular contexts for purposeful language learning and meaningful language use. Increasing number of…

Phoneme Similarity and Confusability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bailey, T.M.; Hahn, U.

2005-01-01

Similarity between component speech sounds influences language processing in numerous ways. Explanation and detailed prediction of linguistic performance consequently requires an understanding of these basic similarities. The research reported in this paper contrasts two broad classes of approach to the issue of phoneme similarity-theoretically…

Does language guide event perception? Evidence from eye movements

PubMed Central

Papafragou, Anna; Hulbert, Justin; Trueswell, John

2008-01-01

Languages differ in how they encode motion. When describing bounded motion, English speakers typically use verbs that convey information about manner (e.g., slide, skip, walk) rather than path (e.g., approach, ascend), whereas Greek speakers do the opposite. We investigated whether this strong cross-language difference influences how people allocate attention during motion perception. We compared eye movements from Greek and English speakers as they viewed motion events while (a) preparing verbal descriptions, or (b) memorizing the events. During the verbal description task, speakers’ eyes rapidly focused on the event components typically encoded in their native language, generating significant cross-language differences even during the first second of motion onset. However, when freely inspecting ongoing events, as in the memorization task, people allocated attention similarly regardless of the language they speak. Differences between language groups arose only after the motion stopped, such that participants spontaneously studied those aspects of the scene that their language does not routinely encode in verbs. These findings offer a novel perspective on the relation between language and perceptual/cognitive processes. They indicate that attention allocation during event perception is not affected by the perceiver’s native language; effects of language arise only when linguistic forms are recruited to achieve the task, such as when committing facts to memory. PMID:18395705

An Integrative Approach to Teaching English as a Second Language: The Hong Kong Case.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wan, Yee

This paper proposes an integrative approach for teaching English as a second language to students in Hong Kong to develop their listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in English to meet the challenge of an English curriculum. The integrative approach provides an authentic language environment for learners to develop language skills in a…

Output Position and Word Relatedness Effects in a DRM Paradigm: Support for a Dual-Retrieval Process Theory of Free Recall and False Memories

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barnhardt, T. M.; Choi, H.; Gerkens, D. R.; Smith, S. M.

2006-01-01

Five experiments investigated predictions--derived from a dual-retrieval process approach to free recall (Brainerd, C. J., Wright, R., Reyna, V. F., & Payne, D. G. (2002). Dual-retrieval processes in free and associative recall. Journal of Memory and Language, 46, 120-152.)--about false memories in a DRM-like paradigm. In all the experiments, the…

Evaluating the Whole Language Approach to Language Arts: The Pros and Cons.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chaney, Carolyn

1990-01-01

This paper defines the whole language approach and identifies its strengths and weaknesses. An integrated instructional approach is recommended, balancing meaning and exposure to literature with skills instruction and practice. (Author/JDD)

Non-invasive Brain Stimulation in the Treatment of Post-stroke and Neurodegenerative Aphasia: Parallels, Differences, and Lessons Learned

PubMed Central

Norise, Catherine; Hamilton, Roy H.

2017-01-01

Numerous studies over the span of more than a decade have shown that non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) techniques, namely transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), can facilitate language recovery for patients who have suffered from aphasia due to stroke. While stroke is the most common etiology of aphasia, neurodegenerative causes of language impairment—collectively termed primary progressive aphasia (PPA)—are increasingly being recognized as important clinical phenotypes in dementia. Very limited data now suggest that (NIBS) may have some benefit in treating PPAs. However, before applying the same approaches to patients with PPA as have previously been pursued in patients with post-stroke aphasia, it will be important for investigators to consider key similarities and differences between these aphasia etiologies that is likely to inform successful approaches to stimulation. While both post-stroke aphasia and the PPAs have clear overlaps in their clinical phenomenology, the mechanisms of injury and theorized neuroplastic changes associated with the two etiologies are notably different. Importantly, theories of plasticity in post-stroke aphasia are largely predicated on the notion that regions of the brain that had previously been uninvolved in language processing may take on new compensatory roles. PPAs, however, are characterized by slow distributed degeneration of cellular units within the language system; compensatory recruitment of brain regions to subserve language is not currently understood to be an important aspect of the condition. This review will survey differences in the mechanisms of language representation between the two etiologies of aphasia and evaluate properties that may define and limit the success of different neuromodulation approaches for these two disorders. PMID:28167904

Proficiency Differences in Syntactic Processing of Monolingual Native Speakers Indexed by Event-related Potentials

PubMed Central

Pakulak, Eric; Neville, Helen J.

2010-01-01

While anecdotally there appear to be differences in the way native speakers use and comprehend their native language, most empirical investigations of language processing study university students and none have studied differences in language proficiency which may be independent of resource limitations such as working memory span. We examined differences in language proficiency in adult monolingual native speakers of English using an event-related potential (ERP) paradigm. ERPs were recorded to insertion phrase structure violations in naturally spoken English sentences. Participants recruited from a wide spectrum of society were given standardized measures of English language proficiency, and two complementary ERP analyses were performed. In between-groups analyses, participants were divided, based on standardized proficiency scores, into Lower Proficiency (LP) and Higher Proficiency (HP) groups. Compared to LP participants, HP participants showed an early anterior negativity that was more focal, both spatially and temporally, and a larger and more widely distributed positivity (P600) to violations. In correlational analyses, we utilized a wide spectrum of proficiency scores to examine the degree to which individual proficiency scores correlated with individual neural responses to syntactic violations in regions and time windows identified in the between-group analyses. This approach also employed partial correlation analyses to control for possible confounding variables. These analyses provided evidence for the effects of proficiency that converged with the between-groups analyses. These results suggest that adult monolingual native speakers of English who vary in language proficiency differ in the recruitment of syntactic processes that are hypothesized to be at least in part automatic as well as of those thought to be more controlled. These results also suggest that in order to fully characterize neural organization for language in native speakers it is necessary to include participants of varying proficiency. PMID:19925188

Translating questionnaire items for a multi-lingual worker population: the iterative process of translation and cognitive interviews with English-, Spanish-, and Chinese-speaking workers.

PubMed

Fujishiro, Kaori; Gong, Fang; Baron, Sherry; Jacobson, C Jeffery; DeLaney, Sheli; Flynn, Michael; Eggerth, Donald E

2010-02-01

The increasing ethnic diversity of the US workforce has created a need for research tools that can be used with multi-lingual worker populations. Developing multi-language questionnaire items is a complex process; however, very little has been documented in the literature. Commonly used English items from the Job Content Questionnaire and Quality of Work Life Questionnaire were translated by two interdisciplinary bilingual teams and cognitively tested in interviews with English-, Spanish-, and Chinese-speaking workers. Common problems across languages mainly concerned response format. Language-specific problems required more conceptual than literal translations. Some items were better understood by non-English speakers than by English speakers. De-centering (i.e., modifying the English original to correspond with translation) produced better understanding for one item. Translating questionnaire items and achieving equivalence across languages require various kinds of expertise. Backward translation itself is not sufficient. More research efforts should be concentrated on qualitative approaches to developing useful research tools. Published 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Comparison of motivational interviewing with acceptance and commitment therapy: a conceptual and clinical review.

PubMed

Bricker, Jonathan; Tollison, Sean

2011-10-01

Motivational Interviewing (MI) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) are two emerging therapies that focus on commitment to behavior change. The aim was to provide the first systematic comparison of MI with ACT. A systematic comparison was undertaken of MI and ACT at the conceptual level, with a focus on their philosophical and theoretical bases, and at the clinical level, with a focus on the therapeutic relationship, use of language in therapy, and use of values in therapy. Conceptually, MI and ACT have distinct philosophical bases. MI's theoretical basis focuses on language content, whereas ACT's theoretical basis focuses on language process. Clinically, ACT and MI have distinct approaches to the therapeutic relationship, fundamentally different foci on client language, and different uses of client values to motivate behavior change. ACT, but not MI, directly targets the willingness to experience thoughts, feelings, and sensations. Despite their conceptual and clinical differences, MI and ACT are complementary interventions. Collaborations between MI and ACT researchers may yield fruitful cross-fertilization research on core processes and clinical outcomes.

Comparison of Motivational Interviewing with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: A conceptual and clinical review

PubMed Central

Bricker, J.B.; Tollison, S.J.

2011-01-01

Background Motivational Interviewing (MI) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) are two emerging therapies that focus on commitment to behavior change. Aim Provide the first systematic comparison of MI with ACT. Methods A systematic comparison of MI and ACT at the conceptual level, with a focus on their philosophical and theoretical bases, and at the clinical level, with a focus on the therapeutic relationship, use of language in therapy, and use of values in therapy. Results Conceptually, MI & ACT have distinct philosophical bases. MI’s theoretical basis focuses on language content, whereas ACT’s theoretical basis focuses on language process. Clinically, ACT and MI have distinct approaches to the therapeutic relationship, fundamentally different foci on client language, and different uses of client values to motivate behavior change. ACT, but not MI, directly targets the willingness to experience thoughts, feelings, and sensations. Conclusions Despite their conceptual and clinical differences, MI and ACT are complementary interventions. Collaborations between MI and ACT researchers may yield fruitful cross-fertilization research on core processes and clinical outcomes. PMID:21338532

Korean letter handwritten recognition using deep convolutional neural network on android platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Purnamawati, S.; Rachmawati, D.; Lumanauw, G.; Rahmat, R. F.; Taqyuddin, R.

2018-03-01

Currently, popularity of Korean culture attracts many people to learn everything about Korea, particularly its language. To acquire Korean Language, every single learner needs to be able to understand Korean non-Latin character. A digital approach needs to be carried out in order to make Korean learning process easier. This study is done by using Deep Convolutional Neural Network (DCNN). DCNN performs the recognition process on the image based on the model that has been trained such as Inception-v3 Model. Subsequently, re-training process using transfer learning technique with the trained and re-trained value of model is carried though in order to develop a new model with a better performance without any specific systemic errors. The testing accuracy of this research results in 86,9%.

Examining Preschool-Aged Dual Language Learners' Language Use: From a Functional Approach. WCER Working Paper No. 2016-1

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Ahyoung Alicia; Kondo, Akira; Castro, Mariana

2016-01-01

Due to the increase in the number of preschool-aged dual language learners (DLLs), there is a need to understand their language development and how to better support them. Although DLLs' language development has traditionally been studied from a structuralist perspective, few have examined their language use from a functional approach, which…

Neurobiology of Everyday Communication: What Have We Learned From Music?

PubMed

Kraus, Nina; White-Schwoch, Travis

2016-06-09

Sound is an invisible but powerful force that is central to everyday life. Studies in the neurobiology of everyday communication seek to elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying sound processing, their stability, their plasticity, and their links to language abilities and disabilities. This sound processing lies at the nexus of cognitive, sensorimotor, and reward networks. Music provides a powerful experimental model to understand these biological foundations of communication, especially with regard to auditory learning. We review studies of music training that employ a biological approach to reveal the integrity of sound processing in the brain, the bearing these mechanisms have on everyday communication, and how these processes are shaped by experience. Together, these experiments illustrate that music works in synergistic partnerships with language skills and the ability to make sense of speech in complex, everyday listening environments. The active, repeated engagement with sound demanded by music making augments the neural processing of speech, eventually cascading to listening and language. This generalization from music to everyday communications illustrates both that these auditory brain mechanisms have a profound potential for plasticity and that sound processing is biologically intertwined with listening and language skills. A new wave of studies has pushed neuroscience beyond the traditional laboratory by revealing the effects of community music training in underserved populations. These community-based studies reinforce laboratory work highlight how the auditory system achieves a remarkable balance between stability and flexibility in processing speech. Moreover, these community studies have the potential to inform health care, education, and social policy by lending a neurobiological perspective to their efficacy. © The Author(s) 2016.

Use of Co-occurrences for Temporal Expressions Annotation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Craveiro, Olga; Macedo, Joaquim; Madeira, Henrique

The annotation or extraction of temporal information from text documents is becoming increasingly important in many natural language processing applications such as text summarization, information retrieval, question answering, etc.. This paper presents an original method for easy recognition of temporal expressions in text documents. The method creates semantically classified temporal patterns, using word co-occurrences obtained from training corpora and a pre-defined seed keywords set, derived from the used language temporal references. A participation on a Portuguese named entity evaluation contest showed promising effectiveness and efficiency results. This approach can be adapted to recognize other type of expressions or languages, within other contexts, by defining the suitable word sets and training corpora.

Backward Dependencies and in-Situ wh-Questions as Test Cases on How to Approach Experimental Linguistics Research That Pursues Theoretical Linguistics Questions

PubMed Central

Pablos, Leticia; Doetjes, Jenny; Cheng, Lisa L.-S.

2018-01-01

The empirical study of language is a young field in contemporary linguistics. This being the case, and following a natural development process, the field is currently at a stage where different research methods and experimental approaches are being put into question in terms of their validity. Without pretending to provide an answer with respect to the best way to conduct linguistics related experimental research, in this article we aim at examining the process that researchers follow in the design and implementation of experimental linguistics research with a goal to validate specific theoretical linguistic analyses. First, we discuss the general challenges that experimental work faces in finding a compromise between addressing theoretically relevant questions and being able to implement these questions in a specific controlled experimental paradigm. We discuss the Granularity Mismatch Problem (Poeppel and Embick, 2005) which addresses the challenges that research that is trying to bridge the representations and computations of language and their psycholinguistic/neurolinguistic evidence faces, and the basic assumptions that interdisciplinary research needs to consider due to the different conceptual granularity of the objects under study. To illustrate the practical implications of the points addressed, we compare two approaches to perform linguistic experimental research by reviewing a number of our own studies strongly grounded on theoretically informed questions. First, we show how linguistic phenomena similar at a conceptual level can be tested within the same language using measurement of event-related potentials (ERP) by discussing results from two ERP experiments on the processing of long-distance backward dependencies that involve coreference and negative polarity items respectively in Dutch. Second, we examine how the same linguistic phenomenon can be tested in different languages using reading time measures by discussing the outcome of four self-paced reading experiments on the processing of in-situ wh-questions in Mandarin Chinese and French. Finally, we review the implications that our findings have for the specific theoretical linguistics questions that we originally aimed to address. We conclude with an overview of the general insights that can be gained from the role of structural hierarchy and grammatical constraints in processing and the existing limitations on the generalization of results. PMID:29375417

Backward Dependencies and in-Situ wh-Questions as Test Cases on How to Approach Experimental Linguistics Research That Pursues Theoretical Linguistics Questions.

PubMed

Pablos, Leticia; Doetjes, Jenny; Cheng, Lisa L-S

2017-01-01

The empirical study of language is a young field in contemporary linguistics. This being the case, and following a natural development process, the field is currently at a stage where different research methods and experimental approaches are being put into question in terms of their validity. Without pretending to provide an answer with respect to the best way to conduct linguistics related experimental research, in this article we aim at examining the process that researchers follow in the design and implementation of experimental linguistics research with a goal to validate specific theoretical linguistic analyses. First, we discuss the general challenges that experimental work faces in finding a compromise between addressing theoretically relevant questions and being able to implement these questions in a specific controlled experimental paradigm. We discuss the Granularity Mismatch Problem (Poeppel and Embick, 2005) which addresses the challenges that research that is trying to bridge the representations and computations of language and their psycholinguistic/neurolinguistic evidence faces, and the basic assumptions that interdisciplinary research needs to consider due to the different conceptual granularity of the objects under study. To illustrate the practical implications of the points addressed, we compare two approaches to perform linguistic experimental research by reviewing a number of our own studies strongly grounded on theoretically informed questions. First, we show how linguistic phenomena similar at a conceptual level can be tested within the same language using measurement of event-related potentials (ERP) by discussing results from two ERP experiments on the processing of long-distance backward dependencies that involve coreference and negative polarity items respectively in Dutch. Second, we examine how the same linguistic phenomenon can be tested in different languages using reading time measures by discussing the outcome of four self-paced reading experiments on the processing of in-situ wh -questions in Mandarin Chinese and French. Finally, we review the implications that our findings have for the specific theoretical linguistics questions that we originally aimed to address. We conclude with an overview of the general insights that can be gained from the role of structural hierarchy and grammatical constraints in processing and the existing limitations on the generalization of results.

A Unified Approach toward the Development of Swedish as L2: A Processability Account.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pienemann, Manfred; Hakansson, Gisela

1999-01-01

Aims to put the body of research on Swedish as a second language (SSL) into one coherent framework and to test the predictions deriving from processability theory for Swedish against this empirical database. Surveys the 14 most prominent research projects on SSL, covering wide areas of syntax and morphology in longitudinal and cross-sectional…

Understanding and Identifying the Child at Risk for Auditory Processing Disorders: A Case Method Approach in Examining the Interdisciplinary Role of the School Nurse

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Neville, Kathleen; Foley, Marie; Gertner, Alan

2011-01-01

Despite receiving increased professional and public awareness since the initial American Speech Language Hearing Association (ASHA) statement defining Auditory Processing Disorders (APDs) in 1993 and the subsequent ASHA statement (2005), many misconceptions remain regarding APDs in school-age children among health and academic professionals. While…

Simultaneously uncovering the patterns of brain regions involved in different story reading subprocesses.

PubMed

Wehbe, Leila; Murphy, Brian; Talukdar, Partha; Fyshe, Alona; Ramdas, Aaditya; Mitchell, Tom

2014-01-01

Story understanding involves many perceptual and cognitive subprocesses, from perceiving individual words, to parsing sentences, to understanding the relationships among the story characters. We present an integrated computational model of reading that incorporates these and additional subprocesses, simultaneously discovering their fMRI signatures. Our model predicts the fMRI activity associated with reading arbitrary text passages, well enough to distinguish which of two story segments is being read with 74% accuracy. This approach is the first to simultaneously track diverse reading subprocesses during complex story processing and predict the detailed neural representation of diverse story features, ranging from visual word properties to the mention of different story characters and different actions they perform. We construct brain representation maps that replicate many results from a wide range of classical studies that focus each on one aspect of language processing and offer new insights on which type of information is processed by different areas involved in language processing. Additionally, this approach is promising for studying individual differences: it can be used to create single subject maps that may potentially be used to measure reading comprehension and diagnose reading disorders.

Discourse Tracing as Qualitative Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

LeGreco, Marianne; Tracy, Sarah J.

2009-01-01

This article introduces a qualitative research method called "discourse tracing". Discourse tracing draws from contributions made by ethnographers, discourse critics, case study scholars, and process tracers. The approach offers new insights and an attendant language about how we engage in research designed specifically for the…

Object-oriented software for evaluating measurement uncertainty

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hall, B. D.

2013-05-01

An earlier publication (Hall 2006 Metrologia 43 L56-61) introduced the notion of an uncertain number that can be used in data processing to represent quantity estimates with associated uncertainty. The approach can be automated, allowing data processing algorithms to be decomposed into convenient steps, so that complicated measurement procedures can be handled. This paper illustrates the uncertain-number approach using several simple measurement scenarios and two different software tools. One is an extension library for Microsoft Excel®. The other is a special-purpose calculator using the Python programming language.

Development of a Mandarin-English Bilingual Speech Recognition System for Real World Music Retrieval

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Qingqing; Pan, Jielin; Lin, Yang; Shao, Jian; Yan, Yonghong

In recent decades, there has been a great deal of research into the problem of bilingual speech recognition-to develop a recognizer that can handle inter- and intra-sentential language switching between two languages. This paper presents our recent work on the development of a grammar-constrained, Mandarin-English bilingual Speech Recognition System (MESRS) for real world music retrieval. Two of the main difficult issues in handling the bilingual speech recognition systems for real world applications are tackled in this paper. One is to balance the performance and the complexity of the bilingual speech recognition system; the other is to effectively deal with the matrix language accents in embedded language**. In order to process the intra-sentential language switching and reduce the amount of data required to robustly estimate statistical models, a compact single set of bilingual acoustic models derived by phone set merging and clustering is developed instead of using two separate monolingual models for each language. In our study, a novel Two-pass phone clustering method based on Confusion Matrix (TCM) is presented and compared with the log-likelihood measure method. Experiments testify that TCM can achieve better performance. Since potential system users' native language is Mandarin which is regarded as a matrix language in our application, their pronunciations of English as the embedded language usually contain Mandarin accents. In order to deal with the matrix language accents in embedded language, different non-native adaptation approaches are investigated. Experiments show that model retraining method outperforms the other common adaptation methods such as Maximum A Posteriori (MAP). With the effective incorporation of approaches on phone clustering and non-native adaptation, the Phrase Error Rate (PER) of MESRS for English utterances was reduced by 24.47% relatively compared to the baseline monolingual English system while the PER on Mandarin utterances was comparable to that of the baseline monolingual Mandarin system. The performance for bilingual utterances achieved 22.37% relative PER reduction.

Enabling international adoption of LOINC through translation

PubMed Central

Vreeman, Daniel J.; Chiaravalloti, Maria Teresa; Hook, John; McDonald, Clement J.

2012-01-01

Interoperable health information exchange depends on adoption of terminology standards, but international use of such standards can be challenging because of language differences between local concept names and the standard terminology. To address this important barrier, we describe the evolution of an efficient process for constructing translations of LOINC terms names, the foreign language functions in RELMA, and the current state of translations in LOINC. We also present the development of the Italian translation to illustrate how translation is enabling adoption in international contexts. We built a tool that finds the unique list of LOINC Parts that make up a given set of LOINC terms. This list enables translation of smaller pieces like the core component “hepatitis c virus” separately from all the suffixes that could appear with it, such “Ab.IgG”, “DNA”, and “RNA”. We built another tool that generates a translation of a full LOINC name from all of these atomic pieces. As of version 2.36 (June 2011), LOINC terms have been translated into 9 languages from 15 linguistic variants other than its native English. The five largest linguistic variants have all used the Part-based translation mechanism. However, even with efficient tools and processes, translation of standard terminology is a complex undertaking. Two of the prominent linguistic challenges that translators have faced include: the approach to handling acronyms and abbreviations, and the differences in linguistic syntax (e.g. word order) between languages. LOINC’s open and customizable approach has enabled many different groups to create translations that met their needs and matched their resources. Distributing the standard and its many language translations at no cost worldwide accelerates LOINC adoption globally, and is an important enabler of interoperable health information exchange PMID:22285984

Effects of learning context on the acquisition and processing of emotional words in bilinguals.

PubMed

Brase, Julia; Mani, Nivedita

2017-06-01

Although bilinguals respond differently to emotionally valenced words in their first language (L1) relative to emotionally neutral words, similar effects of emotional valence are hard to come by in second language (L2) processing. We examine the extent to which these differences in first and second language processing are due to the context in which the 2 languages are acquired: L1 is typically acquired in more naturalistic settings (e.g., family) than L2 (e.g., at school). Fifty German-English bilinguals learned unfamiliar German and English negative and neutral words in 2 different learning conditions: One group (emotion video context) watched videos of a person providing definitions of the words with facial and gestural cues, whereas another group (neutral video context) received the same definitions without gestural and emotional cues. Subsequently, participants carried out an emotional Stroop task, a sentence completion task, and a recall task on the words they had just learned. We found that the effect of learning context on the influence of emotional valence on responding was modulated by a) language status, L1 versus L2, and b) task requirement. We suggest that a more nuanced approach is required to capture the differences in emotion effects in the speed versus accuracy of access to words across different learning contexts and different languages, in particular with regard to our finding that bilinguals respond to L2 words in a similar manner as L1 words provided that the learning context is naturalistic and incorporates emotional and prosodic cues. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Science education for sustainability, epistemological reflections and educational practices: from natural sciences to trans-disciplinarity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Colucci-Gray, Laura; Perazzone, Anna; Dodman, Martin; Camino, Elena

2013-03-01

In this three-part article we seek to establish connections between the emerging framework of sustainability science and the methodological basis of research and practice in science education in order to bring forth knowledge and competences for sustainability. The first and second parts deal with the implications of taking a sustainability view in relation to knowledge processes. The complexity, uncertainty and urgency of global environmental problems challenge the foundations of reductionist Western science. Within such debate, the proposal of sustainability science advocates for inter-disciplinary and inter-paradigmatic collaboration and it includes the requirements of post- normal science proposing a respectful dialogue between experts and non-experts in the construction of new scientific knowledge. Such a change of epistemology is rooted into participation, deliberation and the gathering of extended-facts where cultural framings and values are the hard components in the face of soft facts. A reflection on language and communication processes is thus the focus of knowledge practices and educational approaches aimed at sustainability. Language contains the roots of conceptual thinking (including scientific knowledge) and each culture and society are defined and limited by the language that is used to describe and act upon the world. Within a scenario of sustainability, a discussion of scientific language is in order to retrace the connections between language and culture, and to promote a holistic view based on pluralism and dialogue. Drawing on the linguistic reflection, the third part gives examples of teaching and learning situations involving prospective science teachers in action-research contexts: these activities are set out to promote linguistic integration and to introduce reflexive process into science learning. Discussion will focus on the methodological features of a learning process that is akin to a communal and emancipatory research process within a sustainability scenario.

Cognitive Approach to Assessing Pragmatic Language Comprehension in Children with Specific Language Impairment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ryder, Nuala; Leinonen, Eeva; Schulz, Joerg

2008-01-01

Background: Pragmatic language impairment in children with specific language impairment has proved difficult to assess, and the nature of their abilities to comprehend pragmatic meaning has not been fully investigated. Aims: To develop both a cognitive approach to pragmatic language assessment based on Relevance Theory and an assessment tool for…

The Whole Language Approach versus the Basal Reading Approach and the Effects on Reading Achievement Scores.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Puorro, Michelle

A study examined two first-grade classrooms implementing the whole language approach and two utilizing the basal reading approach to determine the differences, if any, between the treatments. The hypothesis was that the whole language reading approach when combined with a phonics program would not result in higher test scores on a standardized…

Auditory-Verbal Music Play Therapy: An Integrated Approach (AVMPT).

PubMed

Mohammad Esmaeilzadeh, Sahar; Sharifi, Shahla; Tayarani Niknezhad, Hamid

2013-09-01

Hearing loss occurs when there is a problem with one or more parts of the ear or ears and causes children to have a delay in the language-learning process. Hearing loss affects children's lives and their development. Several approaches have been developed over recent decades to help hearing-impaired children develop language skills. Auditory-verbal therapy (AVT) is one such approach. Recently, researchers have found that music and play have a considerable effect on the communication skills of children, leading to the development of music therapy (MT) and play therapy (PT). There have been several studies which focus on the impact of music on hearing-impaired children. The aim of this article is to review studies conducted in AVT, MT, and PT and their efficacy in hearing-impaired children. Furthermore, the authors aim to introduce an integrated approach of AVT, MT, and PT which facilitates language and communication skills in hearing-impaired children. In this article we review studies of AVT, MT, and PT and their impact on hearing-impaired children. To achieve this goal, we searched databases and journals including Elsevier, Chor Teach, and Military Psychology, for example. We also used reliable websites such as American Choral Directors Association and Joint Committee on Infant Hearing websites. The websites were reviewed and key words in this article used to find appropriate references. Those articles which are related to ours in content were selected. VT, MT, and PT enhance children's communication and language skills from an early age. Each method has a meaningful impact on hearing loss, so by integrating them we have a comprehensive method in order to facilitate communication and language learning. To achieve this goal, the article offers methods and techniques to perform AVT and MT integrated with PT leading to an approach which offers all advantages of these three types of therapy.

Auditory-Verbal Music Play Therapy: An Integrated Approach (AVMPT)

PubMed Central

Mohammad Esmaeilzadeh, Sahar; Sharifi, Shahla; Tayarani Niknezhad, Hamid

2013-01-01

Introduction: Hearing loss occurs when there is a problem with one or more parts of the ear or ears and causes children to have a delay in the language-learning process. Hearing loss affects children's lives and their development. Several approaches have been developed over recent decades to help hearing-impaired children develop language skills. Auditory-verbal therapy (AVT) is one such approach. Recently, researchers have found that music and play have a considerable effect on the communication skills of children, leading to the development of music therapy (MT) and play therapy (PT). There have been several studies which focus on the impact of music on hearing-impaired children. The aim of this article is to review studies conducted in AVT, MT, and PT and their efficacy in hearing-impaired children. Furthermore, the authors aim to introduce an integrated approach of AVT, MT, and PT which facilitates language and communication skills in hearing-impaired children. Materials and Methods: In this article we review studies of AVT, MT, and PT and their impact on hearing-impaired children. To achieve this goal, we searched databases and journals including Elsevier, Chor Teach, and Military Psychology, for example. We also used reliable websites such as American Choral Directors Association and Joint Committee on Infant Hearing websites. The websites were reviewed and key words in this article used to find appropriate references. Those articles which are related to ours in content were selected. Conclusion: VT, MT, and PT enhance children’s communication and language skills from an early age. Each method has a meaningful impact on hearing loss, so by integrating them we have a comprehensive method in order to facilitate communication and language learning. To achieve this goal, the article offers methods and techniques to perform AVT and MT integrated with PT leading to an approach which offers all advantages of these three types of therapy. PMID:24303441

In Defense of Theory.

PubMed

Jackendoff, Ray

2017-03-01

Formal theories of mental representation have receded from the importance they had in the early days of cognitive science. I argue that such theories are crucial in any mental domain, not just for their own sake, but to guide experimental inquiry, as well as to integrate the domain into the mind as a whole. To illustrate the criteria of adequacy for theories of mental representation, I compare two theoretical approaches to language: classical generative grammar (Chomsky, 1965, 1981, 1995) and the parallel architecture (Jackendoff, 1997, 2002). The grounds for comparison include (a) the internal coherence of the theory across phonology, syntax, and semantics; (b) the relation of language to other mental faculties; (c) the relationship between grammar and lexicon; (d) relevance to theories of language processing; and (e) the possibility of languages with little or no syntax. Copyright © 2015 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Software engineering and Ada in design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Oneill, Don

1986-01-01

Modern software engineering promises significant reductions in software costs and improvements in software quality. The Ada language is the focus for these software methodology and tool improvements. The IBM FSD approach, including the software engineering practices that guide the systematic design and development of software products and the management of the software process are examined. The revised Ada design language adaptation is revealed. This four level design methodology is detailed including the purpose of each level, the management strategy that integrates the software design activity with the program milestones, and the technical strategy that maps the Ada constructs to each level of design. A complete description of each design level is provided along with specific design language recording guidelines for each level. Finally, some testimony is offered on education, tools, architecture, and metrics resulting from project use of the four level Ada design language adaptation.

Sign language recognition and translation: a multidisciplined approach from the field of artificial intelligence.

PubMed

Parton, Becky Sue

2006-01-01

In recent years, research has progressed steadily in regard to the use of computers to recognize and render sign language. This paper reviews significant projects in the field beginning with finger-spelling hands such as "Ralph" (robotics), CyberGloves (virtual reality sensors to capture isolated and continuous signs), camera-based projects such as the CopyCat interactive American Sign Language game (computer vision), and sign recognition software (Hidden Markov Modeling and neural network systems). Avatars such as "Tessa" (Text and Sign Support Assistant; three-dimensional imaging) and spoken language to sign language translation systems such as Poland's project entitled "THETOS" (Text into Sign Language Automatic Translator, which operates in Polish; natural language processing) are addressed. The application of this research to education is also explored. The "ICICLE" (Interactive Computer Identification and Correction of Language Errors) project, for example, uses intelligent computer-aided instruction to build a tutorial system for deaf or hard-of-hearing children that analyzes their English writing and makes tailored lessons and recommendations. Finally, the article considers synthesized sign, which is being added to educational material and has the potential to be developed by students themselves.

Emergent Verbal Behavior and Analogy: Skinnerian and Linguistic Approaches

PubMed Central

Matos, Maria Amelia; de Lourdes Passos, Maria

2010-01-01

The production of verbal operants not previously taught is an important aspect of language productivity. For Skinner, new mands, tacts, and autoclitics result from the recombination of verbal operants. The relation between these mands, tacts, and autoclitics is what linguists call analogy, a grammatical pattern that serves as a foundation on which a speaker might emit new linguistic forms. Analogy appears in linguistics as a regularity principle that characterizes language and has been related to how languages change and also to creativity. The approaches of neogrammarians like Hermann Paul, as well as those of Jespersen and Bloomfield, appear to have influenced Skinner's understanding of verbal creativity. Generalization and stimulus equivalence are behavioral processes related to the generative grammatical behavior described in the analogy model. Linguistic forms and grammatical patterns described in analogy are part of the contingencies of reinforcement that produce generalization and stimulus equivalence. The analysis of verbal behavior needs linguistic analyses of the constituents of linguistic forms and their combination patterns. PMID:22479127

Making Cancer Health Text on the Internet Easier to Read for Deaf People Who Use American Sign Language.

PubMed

Kushalnagar, Poorna; Smith, Scott; Hopper, Melinda; Ryan, Claire; Rinkevich, Micah; Kushalnagar, Raja

2018-02-01

People with relatively limited English language proficiency find the Internet's cancer and health information difficult to access and understand. The presence of unfamiliar words and complex grammar make this particularly difficult for Deaf people. Unfortunately, current technology does not support low-cost, accurate translations of online materials into American Sign Language. However, current technology is relatively more advanced in allowing text simplification, while retaining content. This research team developed a two-step approach for simplifying cancer and other health text. They then tested the approach, using a crossover design with a sample of 36 deaf and 38 hearing college students. Results indicated that hearing college students did well on both the original and simplified text versions. Deaf college students' comprehension, in contrast, significantly benefitted from the simplified text. This two-step translation process offers a strategy that may improve the accessibility of Internet information for Deaf, as well as other low-literacy individuals.

A Complex Network Approach to Stylometry

PubMed Central

Amancio, Diego Raphael

2015-01-01

Statistical methods have been widely employed to study the fundamental properties of language. In recent years, methods from complex and dynamical systems proved useful to create several language models. Despite the large amount of studies devoted to represent texts with physical models, only a limited number of studies have shown how the properties of the underlying physical systems can be employed to improve the performance of natural language processing tasks. In this paper, I address this problem by devising complex networks methods that are able to improve the performance of current statistical methods. Using a fuzzy classification strategy, I show that the topological properties extracted from texts complement the traditional textual description. In several cases, the performance obtained with hybrid approaches outperformed the results obtained when only traditional or networked methods were used. Because the proposed model is generic, the framework devised here could be straightforwardly used to study similar textual applications where the topology plays a pivotal role in the description of the interacting agents. PMID:26313921

English for Specific Purposes: Teaching English for Science and Technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Musikhin, I. A.

2016-06-01

In the era of globalization, English communication for scientists and engineers whose native language is not English has become as important as their major related abilities. The paper describes the results of a four-year experience in the development of English for specific purpose manuals in the field of photogrammetry, interferometry, and GNSS technologies, as well as key teaching methods and didactic approaches used in class and out-of-class activities. The focus of the present study is to provide a detailed description of the development and systematic updating of a relevant manual, aimed at professional language training of learners. The findings of the study reflect the importance of an ESP course for scientists and engineers: conducting a needs analysis for carrying out a specific search of relevant and reliable authentic materials, defining proper teaching methods, software and didactic approaches used in the educational process to develop the language skills necessary to be active and contributive players in the competitive world.

Electrocortical Dynamics in Children with a Language-Learning Impairment Before and After Audiovisual Training.

PubMed

Heim, Sabine; Choudhury, Naseem; Benasich, April A

2016-05-01

Detecting and discriminating subtle and rapid sound changes in the speech environment is a fundamental prerequisite of language processing, and deficits in this ability have frequently been observed in individuals with language-learning impairments (LLI). One approach to studying associations between dysfunctional auditory dynamics and LLI, is to implement a training protocol tapping into this potential while quantifying pre- and post-intervention status. Event-related potentials (ERPs) are highly sensitive to the brain correlates of these dynamic changes and are therefore ideally suited for examining hypotheses regarding dysfunctional auditory processes. In this study, ERP measurements to rapid tone sequences (standard and deviant tone pairs) along with behavioral language testing were performed in 6- to 9-year-old LLI children (n = 21) before and after audiovisual training. A non-treatment group of children with typical language development (n = 12) was also assessed twice at a comparable time interval. The results indicated that the LLI group exhibited considerable gains on standardized measures of language. In terms of ERPs, we found evidence of changes in the LLI group specifically at the level of the P2 component, later than 250 ms after the onset of the second stimulus in the deviant tone pair. These changes suggested enhanced discrimination of deviant from standard tone sequences in widespread cortices, in LLI children after training.

The DYNAMO Simulation Language--An Alternate Approach to Computer Science Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bronson, Richard

1986-01-01

Suggests the use of computer simulation of continuous systems as a problem solving approach to computer languages. Outlines the procedures that the system dynamics approach employs in computer simulations. Explains the advantages of the special purpose language, DYNAMO. (ML)

Specification, Design, and Analysis of Advanced HUMS Architectures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mukkamala, Ravi

2004-01-01

During the two-year project period, we have worked on several aspects of domain-specific architectures for HUMS. In particular, we looked at using scenario-based approach for the design and designed a language for describing such architectures. The language is now being used in all aspects of our HUMS design. In particular, we have made contributions in the following areas. 1) We have employed scenarios in the development of HUMS in three main areas. They are: (a) To improve reusability by using scenarios as a library indexing tool and as a domain analysis tool; (b) To improve maintainability by recording design rationales from two perspectives - problem domain and solution domain; (c) To evaluate the software architecture. 2) We have defined a new architectural language called HADL or HUMS Architectural Definition Language. It is a customized version of xArch/xADL. It is based on XML and, hence, is easily portable from domain to domain, application to application, and machine to machine. Specifications written in HADL can be easily read and parsed using the currently available XML parsers. Thus, there is no need to develop a plethora of software to support HADL. 3) We have developed an automated design process that involves two main techniques: (a) Selection of solutions from a large space of designs; (b) Synthesis of designs. However, the automation process is not an absolute Artificial Intelligence (AI) approach though it uses a knowledge-based system that epitomizes a specific HUMS domain. The process uses a database of solutions as an aid to solve the problems rather than creating a new design in the literal sense. Since searching is adopted as the main technique, the challenges involved are: (a) To minimize the effort in searching the database where a very large number of possibilities exist; (b) To develop representations that could conveniently allow us to depict design knowledge evolved over many years; (c) To capture the required information that aid the automation process.

Network Controllability in the Inferior Frontal Gyrus Relates to Controlled Language Variability and Susceptibility to TMS.

PubMed

Medaglia, John D; Harvey, Denise Y; White, Nicole; Kelkar, Apoorva; Zimmerman, Jared; Bassett, Danielle S; Hamilton, Roy H

2018-06-08

In language production, humans are confronted with considerable word selection demands. Often, we must select a word from among similar, acceptable, and competing alternative words in order to construct a sentence that conveys an intended meaning. In recent years, the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) has been identified as critical to this ability. Despite a recent emphasis on network approaches to understanding language, how the LIFG interacts with the brain's complex networks to facilitate controlled language performance remains unknown. Here, we take a novel approach to understand word selection as a network control process in the brain. Using an anatomical brain network derived from high-resolution diffusion spectrum imaging (DSI), we computed network controllability underlying the site of transcranial magnetic stimulation in the LIFG between administrations of language tasks that vary in response (cognitive control) demands: open-response (word generation) vs. closed-response (number naming) tasks. We find that a statistic that quantifies the LIFG's theoretically predicted control of communication across modules in the human connectome explains TMS-induced changes in open-response language task performance only. Moreover, we find that a statistic that quantifies the LIFG's theoretically predicted control of difficult-to-reach states explains vulnerability to TMS in the closed-ended (but not open-ended) response task. These findings establish a link between network controllability, cognitive function, and TMS effects. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT This work illustrates that network control statistics applied to anatomical connectivity data demonstrate relationships with cognitive variability during controlled language tasks and TMS effects. Copyright © 2018 the authors.

Exploration as a mediator of the relation between the attainment of motor milestones and the development of spatial cognition and spatial language.

PubMed

Oudgenoeg-Paz, Ora; Leseman, Paul P M; Volman, M Chiel J M

2015-09-01

The embodied-cognition approach views cognition and language as grounded in daily sensorimotor child-environment interactions. Therefore, the attainment of motor milestones is expected to play a role in cognitive-linguistic development. Early attainment of unsupported sitting and independent walking indeed predict better spatial cognition and language at later ages. However, evidence linking these milestones with the development of spatial language and evidence regarding factors that might mediate this relation are scarce. The current study examined whether exploration of spatial-relational object properties (e.g., the possibility of containing or stacking) and exploration of the space through self-locomotion mediate the effect of, respectively, age of sitting and age of walking on spatial cognition and spatial language. Thus, we hypothesized that an earlier age of sitting and walking predicts, respectively, higher levels of spatial-relational object exploration and exploration through self-locomotion, which in turn, predict better spatial cognition and spatial language at later ages. Fifty-nine Dutch children took part in a longitudinal study. A combination of tests, observations, and parental reports was used to measure motor development, exploratory behavior (age 20 months), spatial memory (age 24 months), spatial processing (age 32 months), and spatial language (age 36 months). Results show that attainment of sitting predicted spatial memory and spatial language, but spatial-relational object exploration did not mediate these effects. Attainment of independent walking predicted spatial processing and spatial language, and exploration through self-locomotion (partially) mediated these relations. These findings extend previous work and provide partial support for the hypotheses about the mediating role of exploration. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Sentiment analysis of Arabic tweets using text mining techniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Al-Horaibi, Lamia; Khan, Muhammad Badruddin

2016-07-01

Sentiment analysis has become a flourishing field of text mining and natural language processing. Sentiment analysis aims to determine whether the text is written to express positive, negative, or neutral emotions about a certain domain. Most sentiment analysis researchers focus on English texts, with very limited resources available for other complex languages, such as Arabic. In this study, the target was to develop an initial model that performs satisfactorily and measures Arabic Twitter sentiment by using machine learning approach, Naïve Bayes and Decision Tree for classification algorithms. The datasets used contains more than 2,000 Arabic tweets collected from Twitter. We performed several experiments to check the performance of the two algorithms classifiers using different combinations of text-processing functions. We found that available facilities for Arabic text processing need to be made from scratch or improved to develop accurate classifiers. The small functionalities developed by us in a Python language environment helped improve the results and proved that sentiment analysis in the Arabic domain needs lot of work on the lexicon side.

Abnormal frequency discrimination in children with SLI as indexed by mismatch negativity (MMN).

PubMed

Rinker, Tanja; Kohls, Gregor; Richter, Cathrin; Maas, Verena; Schulz, Eberhard; Schecker, Michael

2007-02-14

For several decades, the aetiology of specific language impairment (SLI) has been associated with a central auditory processing deficit disrupting the normal language development of affected children. One important aspect for language acquisition is the discrimination of different acoustic features, such as frequency information. Concerning SLI, studies to date that examined frequency discrimination abilities have been contradictory. We hypothesized that an auditory processing deficit in children with SLI depends on the frequency range and the difference between the tones used. Using a passive mismatch negativity (MMN)-design, 13 boys with SLI and 13 age- and IQ-matched controls (7-11 years) were tested with two sine tones of different frequency (700Hz versus 750Hz). Reversed hemispheric activity between groups indicated abnormal processing in SLI. In a second time window, MMN2 was absent for the children with SLI. It can therefore be assumed that a frequency discrimination deficit in children with SLI becomes particularly apparent for tones below 750Hz and for a frequency difference of 50Hz. This finding may have important implications for future research and integration of various research approaches.

[Evolution, emotion, language and conscience in the postrationalist psychotherapy].

PubMed

De Pascale, Adele

2011-01-01

A complex system process oriented approach, in other words a constructivistic postrationalist cognitive one to psychology and to psychopathology, stresses the close interdependency among processes as evolution, emotion, language and conscience. During evolution, emotions, whose biological roots we share with superior primates, should be specialized and refined. Along this process should become necessary a more and more abstract way of scaffolding the enormous quantity of data a brain could manage. Cognitive abilities, rooted in the emotional quality of experience, allow - during the phylogenetic development - more and more complex patterns of reflexivity until to the necessary ability of recognizing other's intention and consequently of lying. Language, abstract ability usefull to give increasing experiential data scaffolding, probably coming from motor skills development, brings at the same time the possibility, for a human knowing system, of self-consciousness: to do this it's owed to detach from itself, that is experience a deep sense of loneliness. Here it is that the progressive cognitive skills development is linked to the possibility of lying and of self-deception as long as the acquiring of advanced levels of selfconsciousness.

Speech perception in older adults: the importance of speech-specific cognitive abilities.

PubMed

Sommers, M S

1997-05-01

To provide a critical evaluation of studies examining the contribution of changes in language-specific cognitive abilities to the speech perception difficulties of older adults. A review of the literature on aging and speech perception. The research considered in the present review suggests that age-related changes in absolute sensitivity is the principal factor affecting older listeners' speech perception in quiet. However, under less favorable listening conditions, changes in a number of speech-specific cognitive abilities can also affect spoken language processing in older people. Clinically, these findings suggest that hearing aids, which have been the traditional treatment for improving speech perception in older adults, are likely to offer considerable benefit in quiet listening situations because the amplification they provide can serve to compensate for age-related hearing losses. However, such devices may be less beneficial in more natural environments, (e.g., noisy backgrounds, multiple talkers, reverberant rooms) because they are less effective for improving speech perception difficulties that result from age-related cognitive declines. It is suggested that an integrative approach to designing test batteries that can assess both sensory and cognitive abilities needed for processing spoken language offers the most promising approach for developing therapeutic interventions to improve speech perception in older adults.

Literacy and Bilingualism: A Handbook for ALL Teachers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brisk, Maria Estela; Harrington, Margaret M.

This handbook provides background information, ideas for classroom instruction, and suggestions for reflective practice for teachers of literacy and bilingual students. All approaches described here encourage the integration of all language skills in teaching literacy. An introductory chapter examines the principles and processes of literacy…

The Cognitive as the Social: An Ethnomethodological Approach to Writing Process Research.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brandt, Deborah

1992-01-01

Uses ethnomethodological perspectives to translate the language of Flower and Hayes's cognitive theory of writing into a more thoroughly social vocabulary as a way of articulating the role of social context and social structure in individual acts of writing. (SR)

Ontological Approach to Military Knowledge Modeling and Management

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-03-01

federated search mechanism has to reformulate user queries (expressed using the ontology) in the query languages of the different sources (e.g. SQL...ontologies as a common terminology – Unified query to perform federated search • Query processing – Ontology mapping to sources reformulate queries

Detection of interaction articles and experimental methods in biomedical literature.

PubMed

Schneider, Gerold; Clematide, Simon; Rinaldi, Fabio

2011-10-03

This article describes the approaches taken by the OntoGene group at the University of Zurich in dealing with two tasks of the BioCreative III competition: classification of articles which contain curatable protein-protein interactions (PPI-ACT) and extraction of experimental methods (PPI-IMT). Two main achievements are described in this paper: (a) a system for document classification which crucially relies on the results of an advanced pipeline of natural language processing tools; (b) a system which is capable of detecting all experimental methods mentioned in scientific literature, and listing them with a competitive ranking (AUC iP/R > 0.5). The results of the BioCreative III shared evaluation clearly demonstrate that significant progress has been achieved in the domain of biomedical text mining in the past few years. Our own contribution, together with the results of other participants, provides evidence that natural language processing techniques have become by now an integral part of advanced text mining approaches.

Identifying Falls Risk Screenings Not Documented with Administrative Codes Using Natural Language Processing

PubMed Central

Zhu, Vivienne J; Walker, Tina D; Warren, Robert W; Jenny, Peggy B; Meystre, Stephane; Lenert, Leslie A

2017-01-01

Quality reporting that relies on coded administrative data alone may not completely and accurately depict providers’ performance. To assess this concern with a test case, we developed and evaluated a natural language processing (NLP) approach to identify falls risk screenings documented in clinical notes of patients without coded falls risk screening data. Extracting information from 1,558 clinical notes (mainly progress notes) from 144 eligible patients, we generated a lexicon of 38 keywords relevant to falls risk screening, 26 terms for pre-negation, and 35 terms for post-negation. The NLP algorithm identified 62 (out of the 144) patients who falls risk screening documented only in clinical notes and not coded. Manual review confirmed 59 patients as true positives and 77 patients as true negatives. Our NLP approach scored 0.92 for precision, 0.95 for recall, and 0.93 for F-measure. These results support the concept of utilizing NLP to enhance healthcare quality reporting. PMID:29854264

Is a Response to Intervention (RTI) Approach to Preschool Language and Early Literacy Instruction Needed?

PubMed Central

Greenwood, Charles R.; Carta, Judith J.; Atwater, Jane; Goldstein, Howard; Kaminski, Ruth; McConnell, Scott

2014-01-01

Preschool experience plays a role in children's development. However, for programs with language and early literacy goals, the question remains whether or not preschool instructional experiences are sufficiently effective to achieve these goals for all children. In a multisite study, we conducted a process-product description of preschool instruction and children's growth and outcomes in typical programs (i.e., Pre-Kindergarten, Title 1, Head Start, Tuition-Based) using a Response to Intervention (RTI) perspective. Results indicated that (a) students in their preschool year prior to kindergarten made small gains, but students starting the year in lower Tier 2 and 3 performance levels did not close initial skills gaps, (b) variations were noted by program types with varying socio-demographics and instructional processes, and (c) the quality of instruction (Tier 1) received by all was low with room for improvement. Implications for future research on the application of the RTI approach and potential benefits are discussed. PMID:24899769

From Cultural Knowledge to Intercultural Communicative Competence: Changing Perspectives on the Role of Culture in Foreign Language Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Piatkowska, Katarzyna

2015-01-01

Approaches to the concept of culture and teaching cultural competence in a foreign language classroom have been changing over the last decades. The paper summarises, compares, contrasts and evaluates four major approaches to teaching cultural competence in foreign language teaching, that is, knowledge-based approach, contrastive approach,…

A Comparative Study : Microprogrammed Vs Risc Architectures For Symbolic Processing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heudin, J. C.; Metivier, C.; Demigny, D.; Maurin, T.; Zavidovique, B.; Devos, F.

1987-05-01

It is oftenclaimed that conventional computers are not well suited for human-like tasks : Vision (Image Processing), Intelligence (Symbolic Processing) ... In the particular case of Artificial Intelligence, dynamic type-checking is one example of basic task that must be improved. The solution implemented in most Lisp work-stations consists in a microprogrammed architecture with a tagged memory. Another way to gain efficiency is to design a well suited instruction set for symbolic processing, which reduces the semantic gap between the high level language and the machine code. In this framework, the RISC concept provides a convenient approach to study new architectures for symbolic processing. This paper compares both approaches and describes our projectof designing a compact symbolic processor for Artificial Intelligence applications.

Legacy model integration for enhancing hydrologic interdisciplinary research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dozier, A.; Arabi, M.; David, O.

2013-12-01

Many challenges are introduced to interdisciplinary research in and around the hydrologic science community due to advances in computing technology and modeling capabilities in different programming languages, across different platforms and frameworks by researchers in a variety of fields with a variety of experience in computer programming. Many new hydrologic models as well as optimization, parameter estimation, and uncertainty characterization techniques are developed in scripting languages such as Matlab, R, Python, or in newer languages such as Java and the .Net languages, whereas many legacy models have been written in FORTRAN and C, which complicates inter-model communication for two-way feedbacks. However, most hydrologic researchers and industry personnel have little knowledge of the computing technologies that are available to address the model integration process. Therefore, the goal of this study is to address these new challenges by utilizing a novel approach based on a publish-subscribe-type system to enhance modeling capabilities of legacy socio-economic, hydrologic, and ecologic software. Enhancements include massive parallelization of executions and access to legacy model variables at any point during the simulation process by another program without having to compile all the models together into an inseparable 'super-model'. Thus, this study provides two-way feedback mechanisms between multiple different process models that can be written in various programming languages and can run on different machines and operating systems. Additionally, a level of abstraction is given to the model integration process that allows researchers and other technical personnel to perform more detailed and interactive modeling, visualization, optimization, calibration, and uncertainty analysis without requiring deep understanding of inter-process communication. To be compatible, a program must be written in a programming language with bindings to a common implementation of the message passing interface (MPI), which includes FORTRAN, C, Java, the .NET languages, Python, R, Matlab, and many others. The system is tested on a longstanding legacy hydrologic model, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), to observe and enhance speed-up capabilities for various optimization, parameter estimation, and model uncertainty characterization techniques, which is particularly important for computationally intensive hydrologic simulations. Initial results indicate that the legacy extension system significantly decreases developer time, computation time, and the cost of purchasing commercial parallel processing licenses, while enhancing interdisciplinary research by providing detailed two-way feedback mechanisms between various process models with minimal changes to legacy code.

MorphoSaurus--design and evaluation of an interlingua-based, cross-language document retrieval engine for the medical domain.

PubMed

Markó, K; Schulz, S; Hahn, U

2005-01-01

We propose an interlingua-based indexing approach to account for the particular challenges that arise in the design and implementation of cross-language document retrieval systems for the medical domain. Documents, as well as queries, are mapped to a language-independent conceptual layer on which retrieval operations are performed. We contrast this approach with the direct translation of German queries to English ones which, subsequently, are matched against English documents. We evaluate both approaches, interlingua-based and direct translation, on a large medical document collection, the OHSUMED corpus. A substantial benefit for interlingua-based document retrieval using German queries on English texts is found, which amounts to 93% of the (monolingual) English baseline. Most state-of-the-art cross-language information retrieval systems translate user queries to the language(s) of the target documents. In contra-distinction to this approach, translating both documents and user queries into a language-independent, concept-like representation format is more beneficial to enhance cross-language retrieval performance.

Lexicons, contexts, events, and images: commentary on Elman (2009) from the perspective of dual coding theory.

PubMed

Paivio, Allan; Sadoski, Mark

2011-01-01

Elman (2009) proposed that the traditional role of the mental lexicon in language processing can largely be replaced by a theoretical model of schematic event knowledge founded on dynamic context-dependent variables. We evaluate Elman's approach and propose an alternative view, based on dual coding theory and evidence that modality-specific cognitive representations contribute strongly to word meaning and language performance across diverse contexts which also have effects predictable from dual coding theory. Copyright © 2010 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

An approach to separating the levels of hierarchical structure building in language and mathematics.

PubMed

Makuuchi, Michiru; Bahlmann, Jörg; Friederici, Angela D

2012-07-19

We aimed to dissociate two levels of hierarchical structure building in language and mathematics, namely 'first-level' (the build-up of hierarchical structure with externally given elements) and 'second-level' (the build-up of hierarchical structure with internally represented elements produced by first-level processes). Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we investigated these processes in three domains: sentence comprehension, arithmetic calculation (using Reverse Polish notation, which gives two operands followed by an operator) and a working memory control task. All tasks required the build-up of hierarchical structures at the first- and second-level, resulting in a similar computational hierarchy across language and mathematics, as well as in a working memory control task. Using a novel method that estimates the difference in the integration cost for conditions of different trial durations, we found an anterior-to-posterior functional organization in the prefrontal cortex, according to the level of hierarchy. Common to all domains, the ventral premotor cortex (PMv) supports first-level hierarchy building, while the dorsal pars opercularis (POd) subserves second-level hierarchy building, with lower activation for language compared with the other two tasks. These results suggest that the POd and the PMv support domain-general mechanisms for hierarchical structure building, with the POd being uniquely efficient for language.

Second Language Acquisition of Gender Agreement in Explicit and Implicit Training Conditions: An Event-Related Potential Study

PubMed Central

Morgan-Short, Kara; Sanz, Cristina; Steinhauer, Karsten; Ullman, Michael T.

2011-01-01

This study employed an artificial language learning paradigm together with a combined behavioral/event-related potential (ERP) approach to examine the neurocognition of the processing of gender agreement, an aspect of inflectional morphology that is problematic in adult second language (L2) learning. Subjects learned to speak and comprehend an artificial language under either explicit (classroomlike) or implicit (immersionlike) training conditions. In each group, both noun-article and noun-adjective gender agreement processing were examined behaviorally and with ERPs at both low and higher levels of proficiency. Results showed that the two groups learned the language to similar levels of proficiency but showed somewhat different ERP patterns. At low proficiency, both types of agreement violations (adjective, article) yielded N400s, but only for the group with implicit training. Additionally, noun-adjective agreement elicited a late N400 in the explicit group at low proficiency. At higher levels of proficiency, noun-adjective agreement violations elicited N400s for both the explicit and implicit groups, whereas noun-article agreement violations elicited P600s for both groups. The results suggest that interactions among linguistic structure, proficiency level, and type of training need to be considered when examining the development of aspects of inflectional morphology in L2 acquisition. PMID:21359123

Flexible Environmental Modeling with Python and Open - GIS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pryet, Alexandre; Atteia, Olivier; Delottier, Hugo; Cousquer, Yohann

2015-04-01

Numerical modeling now represents a prominent task of environmental studies. During the last decades, numerous commercial programs have been made available to environmental modelers. These software applications offer user-friendly graphical user interfaces that allow an efficient management of many case studies. However, they suffer from a lack of flexibility and closed-source policies impede source code reviewing and enhancement for original studies. Advanced modeling studies require flexible tools capable of managing thousands of model runs for parameter optimization, uncertainty and sensitivity analysis. In addition, there is a growing need for the coupling of various numerical models associating, for instance, groundwater flow modeling to multi-species geochemical reactions. Researchers have produced hundreds of open-source powerful command line programs. However, there is a need for a flexible graphical user interface allowing an efficient processing of geospatial data that comes along any environmental study. Here, we present the advantages of using the free and open-source Qgis platform and the Python scripting language for conducting environmental modeling studies. The interactive graphical user interface is first used for the visualization and pre-processing of input geospatial datasets. Python scripting language is then employed for further input data processing, call to one or several models, and post-processing of model outputs. Model results are eventually sent back to the GIS program, processed and visualized. This approach combines the advantages of interactive graphical interfaces and the flexibility of Python scripting language for data processing and model calls. The numerous python modules available facilitate geospatial data processing and numerical analysis of model outputs. Once input data has been prepared with the graphical user interface, models may be run thousands of times from the command line with sequential or parallel calls. We illustrate this approach with several case studies in groundwater hydrology and geochemistry and provide links to several python libraries that facilitate pre- and post-processing operations.

Cultural adaptation of a pediatric functional assessment for rehabilitation outcomes research.

PubMed

Arestad, Kristen E; MacPhee, David; Lim, Chun Y; Khetani, Mary A

2017-09-15

Significant racial and ethnic health care disparities experienced by Hispanic children with special health care needs (CSHCN) create barriers to enacting culturally competent rehabilitation services. One way to minimize the impact of disparities in rehabilitation is to equip practitioners with culturally relevant functional assessments to accurately determine service needs. Current approaches to culturally adapting assessments have three major limitations: use of inconsistent translation processes; current processes assess for some, but not all, elements of cultural equivalence; and limited evidence to guide decision making about whether to undertake cultural adaptation with and without language translation. The aims of this observational study are (a) to examine similarities and differences of culturally adapting a pediatric functional assessment with and without language translation, and (b) to examine the feasibility of cultural adaptation processes. The Young Children's Participation and Environment Measure (YC-PEM), a pediatric functional assessment, underwent cultural adaptation (i.e., language translation and cognitive testing) to establish Spanish and English pilot versions for use by caregivers of young CSHCN of Mexican descent. Following language translation to develop a Spanish YC-PEM pilot version, 7 caregivers (4 Spanish-speaking; 3 English-speaking) completed cognitive testing to inform decisions regarding content revisions to English and Spanish YC-PEM versions. Participant responses were content coded to established cultural equivalencies. Coded data were summed to draw comparisons on the number of revisions needed to achieve cultural equivalence between the two versions. Feasibility was assessed according to process data and data quality. Results suggest more revisions are required to achieve cultural equivalence for the translated (Spanish) version of the YC-PEM. However, issues around how the participation outcome is conceptualized were identified in both versions. Feasibility results indicate that language translation processes require high resource investment, but may increase translation quality. However, use of questionnaires versus interview methods for cognitive testing may have limited data saturation. Results lend preliminary support to the need for and feasibility of cultural adaptation with and without language translation. Results inform decisions surrounding cultural adaptations with and without language translation and thereby enhance cultural competence and quality assessment of healthcare need within pediatric rehabilitation.

A natural language interface plug-in for cooperative query answering in biological databases.

PubMed

Jamil, Hasan M

2012-06-11

One of the many unique features of biological databases is that the mere existence of a ground data item is not always a precondition for a query response. It may be argued that from a biologist's standpoint, queries are not always best posed using a structured language. By this we mean that approximate and flexible responses to natural language like queries are well suited for this domain. This is partly due to biologists' tendency to seek simpler interfaces and partly due to the fact that questions in biology involve high level concepts that are open to interpretations computed using sophisticated tools. In such highly interpretive environments, rigidly structured databases do not always perform well. In this paper, our goal is to propose a semantic correspondence plug-in to aid natural language query processing over arbitrary biological database schema with an aim to providing cooperative responses to queries tailored to users' interpretations. Natural language interfaces for databases are generally effective when they are tuned to the underlying database schema and its semantics. Therefore, changes in database schema become impossible to support, or a substantial reorganization cost must be absorbed to reflect any change. We leverage developments in natural language parsing, rule languages and ontologies, and data integration technologies to assemble a prototype query processor that is able to transform a natural language query into a semantically equivalent structured query over the database. We allow knowledge rules and their frequent modifications as part of the underlying database schema. The approach we adopt in our plug-in overcomes some of the serious limitations of many contemporary natural language interfaces, including support for schema modifications and independence from underlying database schema. The plug-in introduced in this paper is generic and facilitates connecting user selected natural language interfaces to arbitrary databases using a semantic description of the intended application. We demonstrate the feasibility of our approach with a practical example.

The Gender Gap in Second Language Acquisition: Gender Differences in the Acquisition of Dutch among Immigrants from 88 Countries with 49 Mother Tongues.

PubMed

van der Slik, Frans W P; van Hout, Roeland W N M; Schepens, Job J

2015-01-01

Gender differences were analyzed across countries of origin and continents, and across mother tongues and language families, using a large-scale database, containing information on 27,119 adult learners of Dutch as a second language. Female learners consistently outperformed male learners in speaking and writing proficiency in Dutch as a second language. This gender gap remained remarkably robust and constant when other learner characteristics were taken into account, such as education, age of arrival, length of residence and hours studying Dutch. For reading and listening skills in Dutch, no gender gap was found. In addition, we found a general gender by education effect for all four language skills in Dutch for speaking, writing, reading, and listening. Female language learners turned out to profit more from higher educational training than male learners do in adult second language acquisition. These findings do not seem to match nurture-oriented explanatory frameworks based for instance on a human capital approach or gender-specific acculturation processes. Rather, they seem to corroborate a nature-based, gene-environment correlational framework in which language proficiency being a genetically-influenced ability interacting with environmental factors such as motivation, orientation, education, and learner strategies that still mediate between endowment and acquiring language proficiency at an adult stage.

Language learning and the technology of international communications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Batley, Edward

1991-03-01

The author posits a reciprocal relationship between the recent popularisation of computer-based technology and the democratisation of Central and Eastern Europe. Brief reference is made to their common denominator, language and language change. The advent of the communicative approach to language learning and the new wave of language authenticity arising from it, both enhanced by the technological revolution, have made the defining of acceptability in the classroom and of communication in the process of testing more problematic than ever, although several advantages have also accrued. Advances in technology have generally outstripped our ability to apply their full or characteristic potential. While technology can personalise learning and in this way make learning more efficient, it can also impede motivation. Old methods, drills and routines are tending to be sustained by it. Lack of technology can also widen the gulf between developed, developing and underdeveloped countries of the world. The author proposes international partnerships as a means of preventing an imbalance which could threaten stability. Single language dominance is another threat to international understanding, given the growing awareness of our multilingual and multicultural environment. Enlightened language policies reaching from the individual to beyond the national community are needed, which adopt these aspects of language learning, explain decisions about the state's choice of languages and, at the same time, promote individual choice wherever practicable.

Automatic classification of written descriptions by healthy adults: An overview of the application of natural language processing and machine learning techniques to clinical discourse analysis.

PubMed

Toledo, Cíntia Matsuda; Cunha, Andre; Scarton, Carolina; Aluísio, Sandra

2014-01-01

Discourse production is an important aspect in the evaluation of brain-injured individuals. We believe that studies comparing the performance of brain-injured subjects with that of healthy controls must use groups with compatible education. A pioneering application of machine learning methods using Brazilian Portuguese for clinical purposes is described, highlighting education as an important variable in the Brazilian scenario. The aims were to describe how to:(i) develop machine learning classifiers using features generated by natural language processing tools to distinguish descriptions produced by healthy individuals into classes based on their years of education; and(ii) automatically identify the features that best distinguish the groups. The approach proposed here extracts linguistic features automatically from the written descriptions with the aid of two Natural Language Processing tools: Coh-Metrix-Port and AIC. It also includes nine task-specific features (three new ones, two extracted manually, besides description time; type of scene described - simple or complex; presentation order - which type of picture was described first; and age). In this study, the descriptions by 144 of the subjects studied in Toledo 18 were used,which included 200 healthy Brazilians of both genders. A Support Vector Machine (SVM) with a radial basis function (RBF) kernel is the most recommended approach for the binary classification of our data, classifying three of the four initial classes. CfsSubsetEval (CFS) is a strong candidate to replace manual feature selection methods.

From open source communications to knowledge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Preece, Alun; Roberts, Colin; Rogers, David; Webberley, Will; Innes, Martin; Braines, Dave

2016-05-01

Rapid processing and exploitation of open source information, including social media sources, in order to shorten decision-making cycles, has emerged as an important issue in intelligence analysis in recent years. Through a series of case studies and natural experiments, focussed primarily upon policing and counter-terrorism scenarios, we have developed an approach to information foraging and framing to inform decision making, drawing upon open source intelligence, in particular Twitter, due to its real-time focus and frequent use as a carrier for links to other media. Our work uses a combination of natural language (NL) and controlled natural language (CNL) processing to support information collection from human sensors, linking and schematising of collected information, and the framing of situational pictures. We illustrate the approach through a series of vignettes, highlighting (1) how relatively lightweight and reusable knowledge models (schemas) can rapidly be developed to add context to collected social media data, (2) how information from open sources can be combined with reports from trusted observers, for corroboration or to identify con icting information; and (3) how the approach supports users operating at or near the tactical edge, to rapidly task information collection and inform decision-making. The approach is supported by bespoke software tools for social media analytics and knowledge management.

Language, Religion and Cosmopolitanism: Language Use in the Catholic Church in Yaounde, Cameroon

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kouega, Jean-Paul

2008-01-01

This paper presents the beginning of an approach to the study of language use and religion, a sub-area of language and religion that has been little explored. Essential features of the approach include segmenting a religious service into its constituent parts and checking what language is used in what part and for what purpose. The proposed…

The Philological and Exegetical Approach to Language and Culture in the History of Language Study in Japan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eto, Hiroyuki

2008-01-01

In the history of language study in Japan, there are two main streams: foreign language study and an inquiry into the mother tongue. For both types of language study, the philological and exegetical interpretation of texts had generally been the central approach for many centuries, particularly in the "koku-gaku" movement--a fierce…

An Evaluation of a Counseling-Community Learning Approach to Foreign Language Teaching or Counseling-Learning Theory Applied to Foreign Language Learning. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gallagher, Rosina Mena

This study evaluates the counseling-learning approach to foreign language instruction as compared with traditional methods in terms of language achievement and change in personal orientation and in attitude toward learning. Twelve students volunteered to learn Spanish or German under simultaneous exposure to both languages using the…

Using XML Configuration-Driven Development to Create a Customizable Ground Data System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nash, Brent; DeMore, Martha

2009-01-01

The Mission data Processing and Control Subsystem (MPCS) is being developed as a multi-mission Ground Data System with the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) as the first fully supported mission. MPCS is a fully featured, Java-based Ground Data System (GDS) for telecommand and telemetry processing based on Configuration-Driven Development (CDD). The eXtensible Markup Language (XML) is the ideal language for CDD because it is easily readable and editable by all levels of users and is also backed by a World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standard and numerous powerful processing tools that make it uniquely flexible. The CDD approach adopted by MPCS minimizes changes to compiled code by using XML to create a series of configuration files that provide both coarse and fine grained control over all aspects of GDS operation.

UMLS content views appropriate for NLP processing of the biomedical literature vs. clinical text.

PubMed

Demner-Fushman, Dina; Mork, James G; Shooshan, Sonya E; Aronson, Alan R

2010-08-01

Identification of medical terms in free text is a first step in such Natural Language Processing (NLP) tasks as automatic indexing of biomedical literature and extraction of patients' problem lists from the text of clinical notes. Many tools developed to perform these tasks use biomedical knowledge encoded in the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) Metathesaurus. We continue our exploration of automatic approaches to creation of subsets (UMLS content views) which can support NLP processing of either the biomedical literature or clinical text. We found that suppression of highly ambiguous terms in the conservative AutoFilter content view can partially replace manual filtering for literature applications, and suppression of two character mappings in the same content view achieves 89.5% precision at 78.6% recall for clinical applications. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Text Comprehension and Oral Language as Predictors of Word-Problem Solving: Insights into Word-Problem Solving as a Form of Text Comprehension

PubMed Central

Fuchs, Lynn S.; Gilbert, Jennifer K.; Fuchs, Douglas; Seethaler, Pamela M.; Martin, BrittanyLee N.

2018-01-01

This study was designed to deepen insights on whether word-problem (WP) solving is a form of text comprehension (TC) and on the role of language in WPs. A sample of 325 second graders, representing high, average, and low reading and math performance, was assessed on (a) start-of-year TC, WP skill, language, nonlinguistic reasoning, working memory, and foundational skill (word identification, arithmetic) and (b) year-end WP solving, WP-language processing (understanding WP statements, without calculation demands), and calculations. Multivariate, multilevel path analysis, accounting for classroom and school effects, indicated that TC was a significant and comparably strong predictor of all outcomes. Start-of-year language was a significantly stronger predictor of both year-end WP outcomes than of calculations, whereas start-of-year arithmetic was a significantly stronger predictor of calculations than of either WP measure. Implications are discussed in terms of WP solving as a form of TC and a theoretically coordinated approach, focused on language, for addressing TC and WP-solving instruction. PMID:29643723

Approaches to Learning and Student Acceptance of Self-Study Packages.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Alice; Kember, David

1994-01-01

Examines the attitudes of physiotherapy students toward the replacement of conventional lectures with self-learning packages at the Hong Kong Polytechnic. Highlights include learning processes; a comparison of physiotherapy students with other students; and correlations between evaluation questions and English language fluency. (Contains 10…

A Probabilistic Approach to Crosslingual Information Retrieval

DTIC Science & Technology

2001-06-01

language expansion step can be performed before the translation process. Implemented as a call to the INQUERY function get_modified_query with one of the...database consists of American English while the dictionary is British English. Therefore, e.g. the Spanish word basura is translated to rubbish and

Modeling Learning Processes in Lexical CALL.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goodfellow, Robin; Laurillard, Diana

1994-01-01

Studies the performance of a novice Spanish student using a Computer-assisted language learning (CALL) system designed for vocabulary enlargement. Results indicate that introspective evidence may be used to validate performance data within a theoretical framework that characterizes the learning approach as "surface" or "deep." (25 references)…

Structured Programming on the 380-Z.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Horton, Graeme

1983-01-01

With the production of SBAS, a combination of language and machine allowing for a disciplined and error-free approach to teaching programming is available. Instructional strategies for use with SBAS and basic concepts (decisions, repetitions/iterations, actions/processes) are discussed. Sample flow charts and program listings are provided. (JN)

Component Models for Semantic Web Languages

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Henriksson, Jakob; Aßmann, Uwe

Intelligent applications and agents on the Semantic Web typically need to be specified with, or interact with specifications written in, many different kinds of formal languages. Such languages include ontology languages, data and metadata query languages, as well as transformation languages. As learnt from years of experience in development of complex software systems, languages need to support some form of component-based development. Components enable higher software quality, better understanding and reusability of already developed artifacts. Any component approach contains an underlying component model, a description detailing what valid components are and how components can interact. With the multitude of languages developed for the Semantic Web, what are their underlying component models? Do we need to develop one for each language, or is a more general and reusable approach achievable? We present a language-driven component model specification approach. This means that a component model can be (automatically) generated from a given base language (actually, its specification, e.g. its grammar). As a consequence, we can provide components for different languages and simplify the development of software artifacts used on the Semantic Web.

One Approach to Teaching the Specific Language Disabled Adult Language Arts.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peterson, Binnie L.

1981-01-01

One approach never before used in adult language arts instruction--the Slingerland Simultaneous Multisensory Technique--has been found useful for specific language disabled adults in multisensory programs at Anchorage Community College. The Slingerland method builds from single sight, sound, and feel of letters through combinations, encoding,…

The Complexity of Language Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nelson, Charles

2011-01-01

This paper takes a complexity theory approach to looking at language learning, an approach that investigates how language learners adapt to and interact with people and their environment. Based on interviews with four graduate students, it shows how complexity theory can help us understand both the situatedness of language learning and also…

Teaching a Foreign Language: One Teacher's Practical Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mangubhai, Francis; Marland, Perce; Dashwood, Ann; Son, Jeong-Bae

2004-01-01

In recent decades, teachers of second languages in many countries, including Australia, have been encouraged to use an approach known as communicative language teaching (CLT). This approach advocates the development of communicative competence as a primary goal through the extensive use of the second language as a means of communication during…

Exploring EFL Literature Approaches in Dutch Secondary Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bloemert, Jasmijn; Jansen, Ellen; van de Grift, Wim

2016-01-01

There is an increasing awareness that the inclusion of literature in foreign language (FL) curricula can be beneficial to language learners. Especially, the move towards integrated language and literature curricula is gaining ground. In this study we investigated the way English as a foreign language (EFL) is approached in Dutch secondary…

Practice Theory in Language Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Young, Richard F.; Astarita, Alice C.

2013-01-01

Ortega (2011) has argued that second language acquisition is stronger and better after the social turn. Of the post-cognitive approaches she reviews, several focus on the social context of language learning rather than on language as the central phenomenon. In this article, we present Practice Theory not as yet another approach to language…

Spoken Language Processing Model: Bridging Auditory and Language Processing to Guide Assessment and Intervention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Medwetsky, Larry

2011-01-01

Purpose: This article outlines the author's conceptualization of the key mechanisms that are engaged in the processing of spoken language, referred to as the spoken language processing model. The act of processing what is heard is very complex and involves the successful intertwining of auditory, cognitive, and language mechanisms. Spoken language…

Whorfian effects on colour memory are not reliable.

PubMed

Wright, Oliver; Davies, Ian R L; Franklin, Anna

2015-01-01

The Whorfian hypothesis suggests that differences between languages cause differences in cognitive processes. Support for this idea comes from studies that find that patterns of colour memory errors made by speakers of different languages align with differences in colour lexicons. The current study provides a large-scale investigation of the relationship between colour language and colour memory, adopting a cross-linguistic and developmental approach. Colour memory on a delayed matching-to-sample (XAB) task was investigated in 2 language groups with differing colour lexicons, for 3 developmental stages and 2 regions of colour space. Analyses used a Bayesian technique to provide simultaneous assessment of two competing hypotheses (H1-Whorfian effect present, H0-Whorfian effect absent). Results of the analyses consistently favoured H0. The findings suggest that Whorfian effects on colour memory are not reliable and that the importance of such effects should not be overestimated.

Iplt--image processing library and toolkit for the electron microscopy community.

PubMed

Philippsen, Ansgar; Schenk, Andreas D; Stahlberg, Henning; Engel, Andreas

2003-01-01

We present the foundation for establishing a modular, collaborative, integrated, open-source architecture for image processing of electron microscopy images, named iplt. It is designed around object oriented paradigms and implemented using the programming languages C++ and Python. In many aspects it deviates from classical image processing approaches. This paper intends to motivate developers within the community to participate in this on-going project. The iplt homepage can be found at http://www.iplt.org.

At the Crossroads of Learning and Culture: Identifying a Construct for Effective Computer-Assisted Language Learning for English Language Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shaw, Yun

2010-01-01

Many of the commercial Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) programs available today typically take a generic approach. This approach standardizes the program so that it can be used to teach any language merely by translating the content from one language to another. These CALL programs rarely consider the cultural background or preferred…

A verification strategy for web services composition using enhanced stacked automata model.

PubMed

Nagamouttou, Danapaquiame; Egambaram, Ilavarasan; Krishnan, Muthumanickam; Narasingam, Poonkuzhali

2015-01-01

Currently, Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) is becoming the most popular software architecture of contemporary enterprise applications, and one crucial technique of its implementation is web services. Individual service offered by some service providers may symbolize limited business functionality; however, by composing individual services from different service providers, a composite service describing the intact business process of an enterprise can be made. Many new standards have been defined to decipher web service composition problem namely Business Process Execution Language (BPEL). BPEL provides an initial work for forming an Extended Markup Language (XML) specification language for defining and implementing business practice workflows for web services. The problems with most realistic approaches to service composition are the verification of composed web services. It has to depend on formal verification method to ensure the correctness of composed services. A few research works has been carried out in the literature survey for verification of web services for deterministic system. Moreover the existing models did not address the verification properties like dead transition, deadlock, reachability and safetyness. In this paper, a new model to verify the composed web services using Enhanced Stacked Automata Model (ESAM) has been proposed. The correctness properties of the non-deterministic system have been evaluated based on the properties like dead transition, deadlock, safetyness, liveness and reachability. Initially web services are composed using Business Process Execution Language for Web Service (BPEL4WS) and it is converted into ESAM (combination of Muller Automata (MA) and Push Down Automata (PDA)) and it is transformed into Promela language, an input language for Simple ProMeLa Interpreter (SPIN) tool. The model is verified using SPIN tool and the results revealed better recital in terms of finding dead transition and deadlock in contrast to the existing models.

Primary progressive aphasia: a clinical approach.

PubMed

Marshall, Charles R; Hardy, Chris J D; Volkmer, Anna; Russell, Lucy L; Bond, Rebecca L; Fletcher, Phillip D; Clark, Camilla N; Mummery, Catherine J; Schott, Jonathan M; Rossor, Martin N; Fox, Nick C; Crutch, Sebastian J; Rohrer, Jonathan D; Warren, Jason D

2018-06-01

The primary progressive aphasias are a heterogeneous group of focal 'language-led' dementias that pose substantial challenges for diagnosis and management. Here we present a clinical approach to the progressive aphasias, based on our experience of these disorders and directed at non-specialists. We first outline a framework for assessing language, tailored to the common presentations of progressive aphasia. We then consider the defining features of the canonical progressive nonfluent, semantic and logopenic aphasic syndromes, including 'clinical pearls' that we have found diagnostically useful and neuroanatomical and other key associations of each syndrome. We review potential diagnostic pitfalls and problematic presentations not well captured by conventional classifications and propose a diagnostic 'roadmap'. After outlining principles of management, we conclude with a prospect for future progress in these diseases, emphasising generic information processing deficits and novel pathophysiological biomarkers.

Automated identification of wound information in clinical notes of patients with heart diseases: Developing and validating a natural language processing application.

PubMed

Topaz, Maxim; Lai, Kenneth; Dowding, Dawn; Lei, Victor J; Zisberg, Anna; Bowles, Kathryn H; Zhou, Li

2016-12-01

Electronic health records are being increasingly used by nurses with up to 80% of the health data recorded as free text. However, only a few studies have developed nursing-relevant tools that help busy clinicians to identify information they need at the point of care. This study developed and validated one of the first automated natural language processing applications to extract wound information (wound type, pressure ulcer stage, wound size, anatomic location, and wound treatment) from free text clinical notes. First, two human annotators manually reviewed a purposeful training sample (n=360) and random test sample (n=1100) of clinical notes (including 50% discharge summaries and 50% outpatient notes), identified wound cases, and created a gold standard dataset. We then trained and tested our natural language processing system (known as MTERMS) to process the wound information. Finally, we assessed our automated approach by comparing system-generated findings against the gold standard. We also compared the prevalence of wound cases identified from free-text data with coded diagnoses in the structured data. The testing dataset included 101 notes (9.2%) with wound information. The overall system performance was good (F-measure is a compiled measure of system's accuracy=92.7%), with best results for wound treatment (F-measure=95.7%) and poorest results for wound size (F-measure=81.9%). Only 46.5% of wound notes had a structured code for a wound diagnosis. The natural language processing system achieved good performance on a subset of randomly selected discharge summaries and outpatient notes. In more than half of the wound notes, there were no coded wound diagnoses, which highlight the significance of using natural language processing to enrich clinical decision making. Our future steps will include expansion of the application's information coverage to other relevant wound factors and validation of the model with external data. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Bilingual Language Interaction Network for Comprehension of Speech*

PubMed Central

Marian, Viorica

2013-01-01

During speech comprehension, bilinguals co-activate both of their languages, resulting in cross-linguistic interaction at various levels of processing. This interaction has important consequences for both the structure of the language system and the mechanisms by which the system processes spoken language. Using computational modeling, we can examine how cross-linguistic interaction affects language processing in a controlled, simulated environment. Here we present a connectionist model of bilingual language processing, the Bilingual Language Interaction Network for Comprehension of Speech (BLINCS), wherein interconnected levels of processing are created using dynamic, self-organizing maps. BLINCS can account for a variety of psycholinguistic phenomena, including cross-linguistic interaction at and across multiple levels of processing, cognate facilitation effects, and audio-visual integration during speech comprehension. The model also provides a way to separate two languages without requiring a global language-identification system. We conclude that BLINCS serves as a promising new model of bilingual spoken language comprehension. PMID:24363602

Talking Cure Models: A Framework of Analysis

PubMed Central

Marx, Christopher; Benecke, Cord; Gumz, Antje

2017-01-01

Psychotherapy is commonly described as a “talking cure,” a treatment method that operates through linguistic action and interaction. The operative specifics of therapeutic language use, however, are insufficiently understood, mainly due to a multitude of disparate approaches that advance different notions of what “talking” means and what “cure” implies in the respective context. Accordingly, a clarification of the basic theoretical structure of “talking cure models,” i.e., models that describe therapeutic processes with a focus on language use, is a desideratum of language-oriented psychotherapy research. Against this background the present paper suggests a theoretical framework of analysis which distinguishes four basic components of “talking cure models”: (1) a foundational theory (which suggests how linguistic activity can affect and transform human experience), (2) an experiential problem state (which defines the problem or pathology of the patient), (3) a curative linguistic activity (which defines linguistic activities that are supposed to effectuate a curative transformation of the experiential problem state), and (4) a change mechanism (which defines the processes and effects involved in such transformations). The purpose of the framework is to establish a terminological foundation that allows for systematically reconstructing basic properties and operative mechanisms of “talking cure models.” To demonstrate the applicability and utility of the framework, five distinct “talking cure models” which spell out the details of curative “talking” processes in terms of (1) catharsis, (2) symbolization, (3) narrative, (4) metaphor, and (5) neurocognitive inhibition are introduced and discussed in terms of the framework components. In summary, we hope that our framework will prove useful for the objective of clarifying the theoretical underpinnings of language-oriented psychotherapy research and help to establish a more comprehensive understanding of how curative language use contributes to the process of therapeutic change. PMID:28955286

Scientific Programming Using Java and C: A Remote Sensing Example

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Prados, Donald; Johnson, Michael; Mohamed, Mohamed A.; Cao, Chang-Yong; Gasser, Jerry; Powell, Don; McGregor, Lloyd

1999-01-01

This paper presents results of a project to port code for processing remotely sensed data from the UNIX environment to Windows. Factors considered during this process include time schedule, cost, resource availability, reuse of existing code, rapid interface development, ease of integration, and platform independence. The approach selected for this project used both Java and C. By using Java for the graphical user interface and C for the domain model, the strengths of both languages were utilized and the resulting code can easily be ported to other platforms. The advantages of this approach are discussed in this paper.

Modern Approaches to Foreign Language Teaching: World Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shumskyi, Oleksandr

2016-01-01

The problem of applying communicative approach to foreign language teaching of students in non-language departments of higher education institutions in a number of countries has been analyzed in the paper. The brief overview of main historic milestones in the development of communicative approach has been presented. It has been found out that…

From “cracking the orthographic code” to “playing with language”: toward a usage-based foundation of the reading process

PubMed Central

Wallot, Sebastian

2014-01-01

The empirical study of reading dates back more than 125 years. But despite this long tradition, the scientific understanding of reading has made rather heterogeneous progress: many factors that influence the process of text reading have been uncovered, but theoretical explanations remain fragmented; no general theory pulls together the diverse findings. A handful of scholars have noted that properties thought to be at the core of the reading process do not actually generalize across different languages or from situations single-word reading to connected text reading. Such observations cast doubt on many of the traditional conceptions about reading. In this article, I suggest that the observed heterogeneity in the research is due to misguided conceptions about the reading process. Particularly problematic are the unrefined notions about meaning which undergird many reading theories: most psychological theories of reading implicitly assume a kind of elemental token semantics, where words serve as stable units of meaning in a text. This conception of meaning creates major conceptual problems. As an alternative, I argue that reading shoud be rather understood as a form of language use, which circumvents many of the conceptual problems and connects reading to a wider range of linguistic communication. Finally, drawing from Wittgenstein, the concept of “language games” is outlined as an approach to language use that can be operationalized scientifically to provide a new foundation for reading research. PMID:25202285

Monitoring Different Phonological Parameters of Sign Language Engages the Same Cortical Language Network but Distinctive Perceptual Ones.

PubMed

Cardin, Velia; Orfanidou, Eleni; Kästner, Lena; Rönnberg, Jerker; Woll, Bencie; Capek, Cheryl M; Rudner, Mary

2016-01-01

The study of signed languages allows the dissociation of sensorimotor and cognitive neural components of the language signal. Here we investigated the neurocognitive processes underlying the monitoring of two phonological parameters of sign languages: handshape and location. Our goal was to determine if brain regions processing sensorimotor characteristics of different phonological parameters of sign languages were also involved in phonological processing, with their activity being modulated by the linguistic content of manual actions. We conducted an fMRI experiment using manual actions varying in phonological structure and semantics: (1) signs of a familiar sign language (British Sign Language), (2) signs of an unfamiliar sign language (Swedish Sign Language), and (3) invented nonsigns that violate the phonological rules of British Sign Language and Swedish Sign Language or consist of nonoccurring combinations of phonological parameters. Three groups of participants were tested: deaf native signers, deaf nonsigners, and hearing nonsigners. Results show that the linguistic processing of different phonological parameters of sign language is independent of the sensorimotor characteristics of the language signal. Handshape and location were processed by different perceptual and task-related brain networks but recruited the same language areas. The semantic content of the stimuli did not influence this process, but phonological structure did, with nonsigns being associated with longer RTs and stronger activations in an action observation network in all participants and in the supramarginal gyrus exclusively in deaf signers. These results suggest higher processing demands for stimuli that contravene the phonological rules of a signed language, independently of previous knowledge of signed languages. We suggest that the phonological characteristics of a language may arise as a consequence of more efficient neural processing for its perception and production.

"Language Is the Skin of My Thought": Integrating Wikipedia and AI to Support a Guillotine Player

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lops, Pasquale; Basile, Pierpaolo; de Gemmis, Marco; Semeraro, Giovanni

This paper describes OTTHO (On the Tip of my THOught), a system designed for solving a language game, called Guillotine, which demands knowledge covering a broad range of topics, such as movies, politics, literature, history, proverbs, and popular culture. The rule of the game is simple: the player observes five words, generally unrelated to each other, and in one minute she has to provide a sixth word, semantically connected to the others. The system exploits several knowledge sources, such as a dictionary, a set of proverbs, and Wikipedia to realize a knowledge infusion process. The paper describes the process of modeling these sources and the reasoning mechanism to find the solution of the game. The main motivation for designing an artificial player for Guillotine is the challenge of providing the machine with the cultural and linguistic background knowledge which makes it similar to a human being, with the ability of interpreting natural language documents and reasoning on their content. Experiments carried out showed promising results. Our feeling is that the presented approach has a great potential for other more practical applications besides solving a language game.

LANGUAGE TEACHING, A SCIENTIFIC APPROACH.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

LADO, ROBERT

DESIGNED TO UPDATE THE CONTEMPORARY LANGUAGE TEACHER'S KNOWLEDGE OF THE INNOVATIONS IN HIS FIELD, THIS BOOK INTRODUCES SOME OF THE ESSENTIAL MAJOR AREAS OF WHICH HE SHOULD HAVE AN UNDERSTANDING TO APPROACH HIS WORK SCIENTIFICALLY. PART ONE, DEALING IN GENERAL TERMS WITH LANGUAGE AND LANGUAGE LEARNING, SETS THE TONE OF THE BOOK WITH DISCUSSIONS OF…

Tuning University Undergraduates for High Mobility and Employability under the Content and Language Integrated Learning Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yang, Wenhsien

2017-01-01

Globalisation affects both language use and the economics of higher education. Considering how to design new instructional approaches to prepare graduates with competence in using language and professional knowledge interactively and interculturally has thus become a major concern of higher education institutes. Content and language integrated…

Transformative World Language Learning: An Approach for Environmental and Cultural Sustainability and Economic and Political Security

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goulah, Jason

2008-01-01

In this article, the author responds to the Modern Language Association's report, "Foreign Languages and Higher Education: New Structures for a Changed World" (2007) by arguing for an explicit and interdisciplinary transformative world language learning approach toward environmental and cultural sustainability and economic and political…

Using Whole Language Materials in the Adult ESOL Classroom.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schiffer, Edward W.

A practicum explored the use of instructional materials based on the whole language approach to second language learning in adult English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) instruction. The approach was implemented in a beginning ESL classroom at an adult education center that had previously used publisher textbooks, which were not thought to provide…

Urban Explorations for Language Learning: A Gamified Approach to Teaching Italian in a University Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Charitonos, Koula; Morini, Luca; Arnab, Sylvester; Cervi-Wilson, Tiziana; Brick, Billy

2016-01-01

The recent technological developments and widespread use of mobile technologies challenge traditional knowledge and skills, with language learning increasingly taking place beyond the language classroom in learners' own environments. The paper presents the ImparApp study that focuses on a pervasive and gamified approach to language teaching and…

Foreign Languages and Higher Education: New Structures for a Changed World

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Modern Language Association, 2007

2007-01-01

The Modern Language Association (MLA) supports a broad, intellectually driven approach to teaching language and culture in higher education. To study the best ways of implementing this approach in today's world, the MLA Executive Council established an Ad Hoc Committee on Foreign Languages. The committee was charged with examining the current…

Teaching Programming to Novices: A Review of Approaches and Tools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brusilovsky, P.; And Others

Three different approaches to teaching introductory programming are reviewed: the incremental approach, the sub-language approach, and the mini-language approach. The paper analyzes all three approaches, providing a brief history of each and describing an example of a programming environment supporting this approach. In the incremental approach,…

Utilizing Oral-Motor Feedback in Auditory Conceptualization.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Howard, Marilyn

The Auditory Discrimination in Depth (ADD) program, an oral-motor approach to beginning reading instruction, trains first grade children in auditory skills by a process in which language and oral-motor feedback are used to integrate auditory properties with visual properties. This emphasis of the ADD program makes the child's perceptual…

LMOOCs, Classifying Design: Survey Findings from LMOOC Providers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beirne, Elaine; Mhichíl, Mairéad Nic Giolla; Cleircín, Gearóid Ó

2017-01-01

Many of the major Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) platforms support learning approaches which can be roughly categorised as transmission-based and asynchronous (Morris & Lambe, 2014), with limited forms of interactive elements. Language learning is viewed within this study as an active process which includes knowledge, skills, and cultural…

An Instructional Systems Technology Model for Institutional Change.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dudgeon, Paul J.

A program based on instructional systems technology was developed at Canadore College as a means of devising the optimal learning experience for each individual student. The systems approach is used to solve educational problems through a process of analysis, synthesis, modeling, and simulation, based on the LOGOS (Language for Optimizing…

Indigenous Knowledge Construction and Experiential Learning of Taiwanese Aborigines

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Ying

2009-01-01

Indigenous peoples in Taiwan belong to the Austronesian racial group. Confined to their oral language tradition, knowledge about Taiwan aborigines based on written documents reflected the positionality of dominant ethnic groups. This qualitative study employed participatory research approach to explore the process of producing their own knowledge…

Using Learning Analytics for Preserving Academic Integrity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Amigud, Alexander; Arnedo-Moreno, Joan; Daradoumis, Thanasis; Guerrero-Roldan, Ana-Elena

2017-01-01

This paper presents the results of integrating learning analytics into the assessment process to enhance academic integrity in the e-learning environment. The goal of this research is to evaluate the computational-based approach to academic integrity. The machine-learning based framework learns students' patterns of language use from data,…

Overcoming the Grammar Deficit: The Role of Information Technology in Teaching German Grammar to Undergraduates.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hall, Christopher

1998-01-01

Examines how application of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) and information technology can be used to overcome "grammar deficit" seen in many British undergraduate German students. A combination of explicit, implicit, and exploratory grammar teaching approaches uses diverse resources, including word processing packages,…

Semantic Search of Web Services

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hao, Ke

2013-01-01

This dissertation addresses semantic search of Web services using natural language processing. We first survey various existing approaches, focusing on the fact that the expensive costs of current semantic annotation frameworks result in limited use of semantic search for large scale applications. We then propose a vector space model based service…