An integrated theory of language production and comprehension

Currently, production and comprehension are regarded as quite distinct in accounts of language processing. In rejecting this dichotomy, we instead assert that producing and understanding are interwoven, and that this interweaving is what enables people to predict themselves and each other. We start by noting that production and comprehension are forms of action and action perception. We then consider the evidence for interweaving in action, action perception, and joint action, and explain such evidence in terms of prediction. Specifically, we assume that actors construct forward models of their actions before they execute those actions, and that perceivers of others' actions covertly imitate those actions, then construct forward models of those actions. We use these accounts of action, action perception, and joint action to develop accounts of production, comprehension, and interactive language. Importantly, they incorporate well-defined levels of linguistic representation (such as semantics, syntax, and phonology). We show (a) how speakers and comprehenders use covert imitation and forward modeling to make predictions at these levels of representation, (b) how they interweave production and comprehension processes, and (c) how they use these predictions to monitor the upcoming utterances. We show how these accounts explain a range of behavioral and neuroscientific data on language processing and discuss some of the implications of our proposal

Development of an Arabic Receptive Proficiency Test Instrument Based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages

This research develops a Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR)-based Arabic receptive proficiency test instrument at the Institut Agama Islam Negeri (IAIN) Sheikh Nurjati Cirebon. This study addresses the lack of international standard measures to test Arabic receptive competency, including listening and reading. This work created a CEFR-compliant test instrument that matches Arabic language specifics. The Research and Development (RnD) strategy using the ADDIE modelanalysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluationis applied. The steps include identifying needs, instrument design, feedback-based iterative development, implementation in an authentic setting, and detailed efficacy evaluation. This study found that the instrument is valid, reliable, and effective in testing CEFR-level Arabic receptive proficiency. The instrument considers Arabic's intricacies and complexities to assess receptive performance holistically and contextually. This work enriches Arabic language competency measuring literature and provides a valuable measurement tool for educators and learners, particularly in Islamic education

Tradition and Technology: A Design-Based Prototype of an Online Ginan Semantization Tool

The heritage of ginans of the Nizari Ismaili community comprises over 1,000 individual hymn-like poems of varying lengths and languages. The ginans were originally composed to spread the teachings of the Satpanth Ismaili faith and served as scriptural texts that guided the normative understanding of the community in South Asia. The emotive melodies of the ginans continue to enchant the members of the community in the diaspora who do not necessarily understand the language of the ginans. The language of the ginans is mixed and borrows vocabulary from Indo-Aryan and Perso-Arabic dialects. With deliberate and purposeful use of information technology, the online tool blends the Western best practices of language learning with the traditional transmission methods and materials of the Ismaili community. This study is based on the premise that for the teachings of the ginans to survive in the Euro-American diaspora, the successive generations must learn and understand the vocabulary of the ginans. The process through which humans learn and master vocabulary is called semantization, which refers to the process of learning and understand various senses and uses of words in a language. To this end, a sample ginan corpus was chosen and semantically analyzed to develop an online ginan lexicon. This lexicon was then used to enrich ginan texts with online glosses to facilitate semantization of ginan vocabulary. The design based-research methodology for prototyping the tool comprised two design iterations of analysis, design, and review. In the first iteration, the initial design of the prototype was based on the multidisciplinary literature review and an in-depth semantic analysis of ginan materials. The initial design was then reviewed by community ginan experts and teachers to inform the next design iteration. In the second design iteration, the initial design was enhanced into a functional prototype by adding features based on the expert suggestions as well as the needs of community learners gathered by surveying a convenience sample of 515 community members across the globe. The analysis of the survey data revealed that over 90% of the survey participants preferred English materials for learning and understanding the language of the ginans. In addition, having online access to ginan materials was expressed as a dire need for the community to engage with the ginans. The development and dissemination of curriculum-based educational programs and supporting resources for the ginans emerged as the most urgent and unmet expectations of the community. The study also confirmed that the wide availability of an online ginan learning tool, such as the one designed in this study, is highly desirable by English-speaking community members who want to learn and understand the tradition and teachings of ginans. However, such a tool is only a part of the solution for fostering sustainable community engagement for the preservation of ginans. To ensure that the tradition is carried forward by the future generations with compassion and understanding, the community institutions must make ginans an educational priority and ensure educational resources for ginans are widely available to community members

Trialing project-based learning in a new EAP ESP course: A collaborative reflective practice of three college English teachers

Currently in many Chinese universities, the traditional College English course is facing the risk of being ‘marginalized’, replaced or even removed, and many hours previously allocated to the course are now being taken by EAP or ESP. At X University in northern China, a curriculum reform as such is taking place, as a result of which a new course has been created called ‘xue ke’ English. Despite the fact that ‘xue ke’ means subject literally, the course designer has made it clear that subject content is not the target, nor is the course the same as EAP or ESP. This curriculum initiative, while possibly having been justified with a rationale of some kind (e.g. to meet with changing social and/or academic needs of students and/or institutions), this is posing a great challenge for, as well as considerable pressure on, a number of College English teachers who have taught this single course for almost their entire teaching career. In such a context, three teachers formed a peer support group in Semester One this year, to work collaboratively co-tackling the challenge, and they chose Project-Based Learning (PBL) for the new course. This presentation will report on the implementation of this project, including the overall designing, operational procedure, and the teachers’ reflections. Based on discussion, pre-agreement was reached on the purpose and manner of collaboration as offering peer support for more effective teaching and learning and fulfilling and pleasant professional development. A WeChat group was set up as the chief platform for messaging, idea-sharing, and resource-exchanging. Physical meetings were supplementary, with sound agenda but flexible time, and venues. Mosoteach cloud class (lan mo yun ban ke) was established as a tool for virtual learning, employed both in and after class. Discussions were held at the beginning of the semester which determined only brief outlines for PBL implementation and allowed space for everyone to autonomously explore in their own way. Constant further discussions followed, which generated a great deal of opportunities for peer learning and lesson plan modifications. A reflective journal, in a greater or lesser detailed manner, was also kept by each teacher to record the journey of the collaboration. At the end of the semester, it was commonly recognized that, although challenges existed, the collaboration was overall a success and they were all willing to continue with it and endeavor to refine it to be a more professional and productive approach

Prediction in bilingual children: The missing piece of the puzzle

A wealth of studies has shown that more proficient monolingual speakers are better at predicting upcoming information during language comprehension. Similarly, prediction skills of adult second language (L2) speakers in their L2 have also been argued to be modulated by their L2 proficiency. How exactly language proficiency and prediction are linked, however, is yet to be systematically investigated. One group of language users which has the potential to provide invaluable insights into this link is bilingual children. In this paper, we compare bilingual children’s prediction skills with those of monolingual children and adult L2 speakers, and show how investigating bilingual children’s prediction skills may contribute to our understanding of how predictive processing works

A Study of the use of computational concept mapping situated in an authentic learning context (CCMAL) in enhancing English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students’ metacognition in reading comprehension classes

This thesis described a convergent mixed method research which aims to investigate the influence of computational concept mapping situated in an authentic learning context (CCMAL) on students’ metacognition in English as a foreign language (EFL) reading comprehension classes. A hundred first year English non-majored students were invited for this study. The students participated a two-hour session on a weekly basis during a seven-week reading course. While the fifty students of the experimental group (EG) were exposed to CCMAL, the fifty students of the control group (CG) were exposed to a traditional teaching environment during the reading course. Data was collected through the pre and post-test on reading comprehension, pre and post-survey on metacognition, students’ computational concept maps collected in week 1, week 4 and week 7 of the reading course, weekly learning journals and classroom observation, and individual interviews after the reading course. The study found that the students of the EG outperformed those of the CG in the post-test on reading comprehension. In terms of reading comprehension skills, data showed that CCMAL had positive influence on the students’ use of literal skills, interpretive and inferential skills. The study also found that CCMAL had a positive influence on the students’ metacognition. Specifically, CCMAL was found to have the greatest influence on students’ scores on monitoring followed by evaluation. However, there were no significant differences on the students’ scores on planning. The utilisation of CCMAL positively influence students’ use of metacognitive strategies, such as planning, monitoring and evaluation. Furthermore, the study discovered that the students’ CCMAL learning experience was influenced by factors as the relevance between the reading text topics and the students’ experiences, the students’ individual differences, and the affordances of Cmap which was the concept mapping software in this study. In conclusion, this study found that the use of CCMAL had positive influence on students’ metacognition and reading comprehension. It is recommended that CCMAL be widely used in reading comprehension classes to enhance students’ reading achievements. Moreover, it recommended further research into concept mapping related topics for improving the quality of English education in Vietnamese context

College Students\u27 Motivation When Acquiring a Language Other Than English

Foreign languages have been studied since the beginning of civilization; in the past few decades, there has been increased interest in understanding the role of motivation in learning a foreign language. Less than a quarter of studies on learning languages other than English (LOTE) have studied motivation. The purpose of this quantitative causal-comparative study was to determine if there was a difference in motivation between college students enrolled in French 100, French 200, French 300, and French 400. The study consisted of 79 college students at the freshman to senior level enrolled in French at a novice to advanced level at each university. The instrument selected to measure participants’ motivation was the Hybrid Questionnaire based on the Attitude/Motivation Test Battery and the L2 Motivation Self-System. Data were collected during French courses for face-to-face classes or at any location for online students and gathered electronically through Qualtrics. The one-way ANOVA statistical method by IBM SPSS 25, a statistics software, was used to analyze the data. The results showed no statistical difference in motivation between college students enrolled in French 100, French 200, French 300, and French 400. To augment this study, future researchers should investigate if there is a difference in motivation between college students enrolled in online and face-to-face French courses. Future researchers should also continue to augment research in the field of LOTE