Contextualizing Language Learning in the Digital Wild: Tools and a Framework

[[abstract]]A premise of this paper is that there are distinctive qualities of the domain of language which render learning a language uniquely suitable for a radical contextualization within digital environments. The paper thus describes and illustrates an approach to supporting foreign language learning ubiquitously in unrestricted networked environments. The two tools presented focus on vocabulary learning. The collocator tool detects and highlights collocations (such as 'prescribe medicine' or 'stiff competition') in real time on any Web page the user is viewing. The user can select any of the highlighted collocations for focused attention, activating a 'push' mechanism that provides repeated examples of the collocation over the ensuing days. Word Spider allows users to select unknown words in any Web text and it responds by finding semantically related words in its context, automatically annotating these, exploiting them as contextual clues to the meaning of the targeted unknown word.[[notice]]補正完畢[[conferencetype]]國際[[conferencedate]]20040830~20040901[[iscallforpapers]]Y[[conferencelocation]]Finland, Joensu

[[alternative]]The Design and Construction of a Contrastive English-Chinese Verb Lexicon

計畫編號：NSC90-2411-H032-008研究期間：200108~200207研究經費：269,000[[sponsorship]]行政院國家科學委員

Detecting learner errors in the choice of content words using compositional distributional semantics

We describe a novel approach to error detection in adjective-noun combinations. We present and release a new dataset of annotated errors where the examples are extracted from learner texts and annotated with error types. We show how compositional distributional semantic approaches can be applied to discriminate between correct and incorrect word combinations from learner data. Finally, we show how the output of the compositional distributional semantic models can be used as features in a classifier yielding good precision and accuracy.We are grateful to Cambridge English Language Assessment and Cambridge University Press for supporting this research and for granting us access to the CLC for research purposes

Approaches to networked learning : an investigation into the nature of autonomous student interaction with web-based educational environments.

A Networked Learning Environment is an autonomously accessible web resource that combines hypertext course materials, online communication channels, multimedia and other interactive features. Constructivist learning theory makes many claims about the potential of such environments, and the educational ‘affordances’ inherent within them. Yet what we understand about the ways in which students learn online, and whether this is conducive to realising the potential benefits on offer, is somewhat limited. Research into learning style differences and attitudes towards online studying provides a partial insight. However, by using tools designed for assessing how students undertake learning in traditional contexts, and through having been predominantly quantitative, much of the research to date can only highlight the relevance of such factors. Consequently, many questions regarding the how and why of networked learning behaviour remain largely unanswered, and there is a growing consensus that an understanding that is informed by the subjective perspectives of learners is required. This thesis describes a primarily qualitative investigation that shared this concern. The main research element involved a phenomenographic study that focused on the perceptions, behaviours and experiences of students who interacted with NLEs that were the sole or primary means of course delivery in three undergraduate, campus- based contexts. Two case studies and a naturalistic experiment were conducted, and the phenomenographic study was supplemented with other data relating to assignment grades, online discussion contributions, and preferences for conventional studying. The phenomenographic analysis identified three distinct types of approach to networked learning that can be seen as increasingly effective in terms of networked learning interactions and outcomes. Based on the findings of the phenomenography, and other aspects of the research, the thesis argues that while many students will experience to some extent the affordances inherent within NLEs, there is an important distinction between students recognising the benefits of networked learning, and actually undertaking this in a way that is conducive to good knowledge development. This thesis concludes by presenting a theoretical framework that conceptualises the relationship between a range of individual and contextual factors that influence networked learning, and which has a number of implications for theory and practice

Content and language integrated learning (CLIL) in earth science

Savremeni obrazovni procesi u znaku su dinamičnih promena i reformskih integrativnih nastojanja. Konstatacija o integraciji i transformaciji odnosi se na sve aspekte savremenog obrazovanja, a svoj osoben i snaţan izraz nalazi na području primene CLIL metode, kao aktuelno dominantnog jezičkog modela. Pored navedenih polazišta, u radu se definiše, istraţuje i analizuje potreba za kreiranjem adekvatne kurikularne platforme na Rudarsko-geološkom fakultetu (RGF) u Beogradu, pratećeg silabusa i komplementarnih didaktičkih materijala, koji osiguravaju implementaciju CLIL metode, ujedno dopunjujući smer nacionalne obrazovne politike u pravcu meĎunarodne pozitivne prakse i orijentacije. U ravni pragmatičnog razmišljanja, pravoj aplikaciji CLIL koncepta na RGF-u prethodi intrainstitucionalna analiza mogućnosti i potreba, ograničenja i prednosti, kojim se osigurava iscrpno korišćenje intelektualnog i ifrastrukturnog potencijala. Funkcija kreiranja transformacionog kurikuluma, kao akademske nastavne platforme, otvara i nudi ključna pedagoška pitanja i potencijalna rešenja integrisanog učenja: domenskog-geološkog i lingvističkog-engleskog jezika, upućujući na preispitivanje pravaca podučavanja u kome nastavnik gubi svoju tradicionalnu poziciju, nastava prestaje da bude konačna i gotova, a studenti postaju središte nastavnog procesa kroz interakciju sa različitim kontekstima, metakontekstima, izvorima i ljudskim resursima. Razloge popularnosti i društvene prihvaćenosti CLIL metode našli smo u činjenici da ona nudi niz prosperitetnih i motivacionih rešenja integrisanog učenja u kojima su načini i sredstva stizanja do cilja znanja uvek novi i neograničeno maštoviti. Iz rada se zaključuje da CLIL metoda nudi studentima osećaj da su ušli u praktičan domen aktivnosti, povezan sa njihovim iskustvima i interesovanjima, što opravdava delotvornost učenja jezika. Uspešnost ponuĎenog modela se, pre svega, ogleda u ostvarenju ontološkog nivoa koji osigurava ubrzani razvoj prema naprednim standardima evropskog i svetskog okruţenja. iv Radom se takoĎe utvrĎuje da integrisano učenje putem CLIL metode na RGF-u postaje legitimni i multidisciplinarni istaţivački obrazovni domen, koji obezbeĎuje i rasvetljava pravce nameravanih obrazovnih reformi i razvoja nacije, koji se u kontekstu obrazovne okoline nameću kao neophodni.Modern educational processes are in the light of dynamic changes and reformative integrative tendencies. The ascertainment of integration and transformation refers to all aspects of modern education, and its specific and strong expression can be found in the field of application of CLIL method, as actually dominant linguistic model. Within the aforesaid grounds, the PhD thesis analyzes a need for discovering an adequate curricular platform of integrated learning of geology and foreign language at the Faculty of mining and geology in Belgrade, of the accompanying syllabus and complementary didactic material which would ensure implementation of CLIL method, at the same time complementing the direction of the educational policy towards the international positive practice and orientation. In the level of pragmatic reflection, the actual application of CLIL concept in RGF will be preceded by intra-institutional analysis of possibilities and needs, limitations and advantages, all in order to ensure the most comprehensive use of intellectual and infrastructural potentials. The function of creation of transformative curriculum, as an academic educational platform, opens and offers key pedagogical questions and potential solutions of integrated learning: domain-geological and linguistic-English language, as it directs towards reconsideration of directions of teaching in which the teachers lose their traditional position, classes cease to be final and completed, and the students become the focus of educational process through the interaction with various contexts, meta-contexts, sources and human resources. The reasons of popularity and the social acceptance of the CLIL method were found in the fact that it offers a whole range of promising and motivational solutions of integrated learning, in which the methods and the means of reaching the goal of knowledge are always new and unlimitedly imaginative. It can be concluded from the research that the CLIL method provides the students with the feeling of entering something practical, associated with their experience and interest, which justifies the efficiency of language learning. vi The success of our model is primarily reflected in the achievement of ontological level that ensures the rapid development of the advanced standards of European and global environment. The PhD thesis also shows that the integrated learning through CLIL method at RGF becomes legitimate and multidisciplinary research and educational domain providing and clarifying the intended direction of educational reform and development of the nation, which in the context of learning environment is imposed as necessary

Utilisation de méthodes linguistiques pour la détection et la correction automatisées d'erreurs produites par des francophones écrivant en anglais

The starting point of this research is the observation that French speakers writing in English in personal or professional contexts still encounter grammatical difficulties, even at intermediate to advanced levels. The first tools they can reach for to correct those errors, automatic grammar checkers, do not offer corrections for a large number of the errors produced by French-speaking users of English, especially because those tools are rarely designed for L2 users. We propose to identify the difficulties encountered by these speakers through the detection of errors in a representative corpus, and to create a linguistic model of errors and corrections. The model is the result of the thorough linguistic analysis of the phenomena at stake, based on grammatical information available in reference grammars, corpus studies, and the analysis of erroneous segments. The validity of the use of linguistic methods is established through the implementation of detection and correction rules in a functional platform, followed by the evaluation of the results of the application of those rules on L1 and L2 English corpora.Le point de départ de cette recherche est le constat des difficultés persistantes rencontrées par les francophones de niveau intermédiaire à avancé lors de la production de textes en anglais, dans des contextes personnels ou professionnels. Les premiers outils utilisés pour remédier à ces erreurs, les correcteurs grammaticaux automatiques, ne prennent pas en compte de nombreuses erreurs produites par les francophones utilisant l'anglais, notamment car ces correcteurs sont rarement adaptés à un public ayant l'anglais comme L2. Nous proposons d'identifier précisément les difficultés rencontrées par ce public cible à partir du relevé des erreurs dans un corpus adapté, et d'élaborer une modélisation linguistique des erreurs et des corrections à apporter. Cette modélisation est fondée sur une analyse linguistique approfondie des phénomènes concernés, à partir d'indications grammaticales, d'études de corpus, et de l'analyse des segments erronés. La validité de l'utilisation de méthodes linguistiques est établie par l'implémentation informatique des règles de détection et de correction, suivie de l'évaluation des résultats de l'application de ces règles sur des corpus d'anglais L1 et L2

Bootstrapping in a language learning environment

[[abstract]]This paper addresses a fundamental dilemma in the design of intelligent language learning environments: the more freedom a system offers to learners in the use of the target language, the more unwieldy the data is which the learners produce and the less able the system is to support inferences about learners from that data. It is shown how in a platform where learners and teachers interact, the teachers' feedback which is archived in the system and indexed to the learners' target language production can constitute affordances that support a process of bootstrapping from raw language output to potential insights into the learners' interlanguage and gaps in their grasp of the target language. The approach is illustrated with three types of learner errors uncovered in the corpus of learner English through this bootstrapping heuristic.[[notice]]補正完畢[[incitationindex]]SSC