An analysis of machine translation errors on the effectiveness of an Arabic-English QA system

The aim of this paper is to investigate how much the effectiveness of a Question Answering (QA) system was affected by the performance of Machine Translation (MT) based question translation. Nearly 200 questions were selected from TREC QA tracks and ran through a question answering system. It was able to answer 42.6% of the questions correctly in a monolingual run. These questions were then translated manually from English into Arabic and back into English using an MT system, and then re-applied to the QA system. The system was able to answer 10.2% of the translated questions. An analysis of what sort of translation error affected which questions was conducted, concluding that factoid type questions are less prone to translation error than others

Learning from expository text in L2 reading: Memory for casual relations and L2 reading proficiency

This study explored the relation between second-language (L2) readers’ memory for causal relations and their learning outcomes from expository text. Japanese students of English as a foreign language (EFL) with high and low L2 reading proficiency read an expository text. They completed a causal question and a problem-solving test as measures of memory for causal relations and learning from the text, respectively. It was found that memory for causal relations contributed to text learning in high-proficiency readers, but not in low-proficiency readers. The quantitative and qualitative analysis of causal question answers revealed that low-proficiency readers recalled fewer causal relations and made more incorrect inferences than high-proficiency ones. Additionally, low-proficiency readers tended to perform the problem solving using inappropriate causal sequences and irrelevant information. These findings suggest that low-proficiency readers struggled with processes at both textbase and situation-model levels; consequently, they failed to learn causal relations in the text as knowledge

A Conversation Analytic Study on Participation Practices in the American Graduate Classroom: East Asian Students Vs. L1 English-Speaking Students

In an increasingly global world, there has been a steep rise in the population of East Asian students (EASs) arriving in the United States to pursue post-secondary degrees. This has made EASs’ reticent and passive behaviors in the American classroom—a problem that has been raised and discussed for years—more salient today than ever before. While there has been a sizable amount of previous research investigating EASs who did not participate in class, very little attention has been paid to EASs who did participate and how they participate. This study examines EASs’ participation practices and how they differ from those of native-English-speaking students (NESSs). Using the conversation analysis (CA) method, I examined 38 hours of video-recorded and transcribed graduate classroom sessions from a university in the U.S., paying particular attention to both linguistic and non-linguistic features as well as various facets of embodiment, including gaze, gestures, and body movement. The analysis shows that both EASs and NESSs undertook three distinct stages of self-selection: namely, registering, gearing up, and launching. While EASs tended to faithfully follow the three full stages, NESSs tended to economize their process to reach self-selection faster and more effortlessly. In addition, in responding to teacher questions, EASs typically utilized the answering style that pursues a narrow focus on answering the teacher question, while NESSs were found to engage in the exploring style without such a narrow focus. Finally, in making affiliative or disaffiliative contributions to class discussions without any teacher questions or prompts, EASs were found to display a factual stance, without much use of affective elements, while NESSs tended to express an affective stance. Findings of this study contribute to the literature on EASs’ class participation as the first CA study on this topic and to that of classroom discourse in general. Pedagogically, these findings can constitute a useful basis for equipping instructors with better tools for working with EASs and training EASs to develop a more effective style of participation in the American graduate classroom

SCREWS: A Modular Framework for Reasoning with Revisions

Large language models (LLMs) can improve their accuracy on various tasks through iteratively refining and revising their output based on feedback. We observe that these revisions can introduce errors, in which case it is better to roll back to a previous result. Further, revisions are typically homogeneous: they use the same reasoning method that produced the initial answer, which may not correct errors. To enable exploration in this space, we present SCREWS, a modular framework for reasoning with revisions. It is comprised of three main modules: Sampling, Conditional Resampling, and Selection, each consisting of sub-modules that can be hand-selected per task. We show that SCREWS not only unifies several previous approaches under a common framework, but also reveals several novel strategies for identifying improved reasoning chains. We evaluate our framework with state-of-the-art LLMs (ChatGPT and GPT-4) on a diverse set of reasoning tasks and uncover useful new reasoning strategies for each: arithmetic word problems, multi-hop question answering, and code debugging. Heterogeneous revision strategies prove to be important, as does selection between original and revised candidates

The bank lending survey for the euro area

This occasional paper explains why the bank lending survey was developed by the ECB and describes its main features. It discusses the importance of credit developments for both the economy and the functioning of monetary policy, and further clarifies why the survey was introduced. Furthermore, the paper demonstrates that the value added of implementing a bank lending survey for the euro area lies in particular in the way it provides greater insight into developments in credit standards, non-interest rate credit conditions and terms, the risk perception of banks and the willingness of banks to lend. Credit standards are the internal guidelines or criteria of a bank which reflect the bank’s loan policy. The terms and conditions of a loan refer to the specific obligations agreed upon by the lender and the borrower. This occasional paper also considers similar surveys conducted by the Federal Reserve System in the US and by the Bank of Japan.Survey; Banks; Credit Standards; Credit Markets; European Central Bank; Federal Reserve; Bank of Japan

“I guess I am not that harsh on myself anymore” : - Foreign Language Anxiety Among Young Finnish Professionals

Communication apprehension as a phenomenon has been widely studied, but the earlier research has not explored professionalism as an affecting factor in communication apprehension levels. This study attempts to answer the question “What is the relationship between communication apprehension and the length of full-time employment after the completion of the final degree?”. In addition to the factor of length of full-time employment, the relationship between the levels of communication apprehension (CA) and other factors including amount of English used at work, the subjects’ educational background and biological sex are explored. The target group consisted of 56 young professionals of which 31 were university graduates and 25 university of applied sciences graduates. All subjects were English as a Foreign Language learners with a period of full-time employment varying from 0 to 10 years after completing their final degree. The data was collected through an online questionnaire and further explored with interviews. The methods for the analysis were quantitative and qualitative. The theoretical background introduces earlier research on the topic and creates a basis for the discussion. The quantitative analysis resulted in statistically insignificant relationships between the levels of CA and the factors studied. The analysis did imply that the subjects with a longer period of full-time employment and higher frequency of oral communication in English at work reported lower levels of CA. The educational background factor showed close to non-existent differences in levels of CA and the male target group reported higher levels of CA than the female target group. The qualitative analysis supported the findings of the quantitative analysis. The results suggest that a relationship between length of full-time employment, frequency of English used in oral communication and levels of CA exists, but due to the size of the target group no generalizations can be made

The impact of speech rate reduction techniques on the listening comprehension performance of Egyptian high school students

The speech rate (SR) of the recorded aural native input has been recurrently reported by EFL listeners worldwide as being the major obstacle to achieve successful listening comprehension (LC). To investigate the efficacy of natural rate reduction techniques in facilitating LC, this study was designed to compare and contrast the immediate effect(s) of exposing two intact classes (n=46) of Egyptian high school students enrolled in the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) to two SR reduction techniques. The first technique was the deliberate articulation (DA), and the second was inserting three-second pauses at T-unit boundaries. The dependent variables were the students\u27 LC task scores on the one hand, and their perceptions of the slow speeds appropriateness to their LC needs, on the other hand. LC proficiency was considered as a moderating variable. A Control group (n=26) was included to collect baseline data on these students\u27 LC performance in the normal SRs adopted in Cambridge exams. A mixed design approach was followed in collecting data. Five sets of LC task scores were gathered in five weeks. During the 1st, 3rd and 5th weeks, the experimental classes completed the LC tasks in the normal speed (NS) condition. In the 2nd and the 4th weeks, the experimental classes performed their LC tasks while listening to texts modified according to the two techniques under investigation. This design was meant to allow each of these two classes to experience the two reduced SR conditions. Triangulation of data collection tools was achieved. Thus, beside task scores and class observations, retrospective semi-structured interviews were held with 14 students representing three LC proficiency levels immediately after each of the five tasks to examine in depth the interaction between the listeners\u27 LC proficiency level and their perceptions of the reduced SRs appropriateness. SPSS analyses of significance of variance (one-way ANOVA and independent t-tests) of mean scores showed a statistically significant drop in LC scores in the reduced SR conditions compared to the normal ones. Further, the interviewees\u27 input clarified the observed discrepancy between perceptions of improved overall understanding and poor task performance. Although both techniques provided the participants with added processing time to deduce meanings, and to read questions thoroughly before listening, the reduced SRs interfered with the introspective task management leading to concentration breakdown and feelings of boredom. Despite this interference, a number of intermediate and all of the low-level interviewees received improved task scores, and reported facilitated LC. One implication of the results is that English as a Foreign Language learners (EFLs) of advanced, intermediate and low LC proficiency are recommended to be instructed in rapid speech phonology (Cauldwell, 2002) by a variety of SR reduction techniques to develop sound LC bottom-up skills before their exposure to the spontaneous native talk