Letter processing and font information during reading: beyond distinctiveness, where vision meets design

Letter identification is a critical front end of the reading process. In general, conceptualizations of the identification process have emphasized arbitrary sets of distinctive features. However, a richer view of letter processing incorporates principles from the field of type design, including an emphasis on uniformities across letters within a font. The importance of uniformities is supported by a small body of research indicating that consistency of font increases letter identification efficiency. We review design concepts and the relevant literature, with the goal of stimulating further thinking about letter processing during reading

Verb similarity: comparing corpus and psycholinguistic data

Similarity, which plays a key role in fields like cognitive science, psycholinguistics and natural language processing, is a broad and multifaceted concept. In this work we analyse how two approaches that belong to different perspectives, the corpus view and the psycholinguistic view, articulate similarity between verb senses in Spanish. Specifically, we compare the similarity between verb senses based on their argument structure, which is captured through semantic roles, with their similarity defined by word associations. We address the question of whether verb argument structure, which reflects the expression of the events, and word associations, which are related to the speakers' organization of the mental lexicon, shape similarity between verbs in a congruent manner, a topic which has not been explored previously. While we find significant correlations between verb sense similarities obtained from these two approaches, our findings also highlight some discrepancies between them and the importance of the degree of abstraction of the corpus annotation and psycholinguistic representations.La similitud, que desempeña un papel clave en campos como la ciencia cognitiva, la psicolingüística y el procesamiento del lenguaje natural, es un concepto amplio y multifacético. En este trabajo analizamos cómo dos enfoques que pertenecen a diferentes perspectivas, la visión del corpus y la visión psicolingüística, articulan la semejanza entre los sentidos verbales en español. Específicamente, comparamos la similitud entre los sentidos verbales basados en su estructura argumental, que se capta a través de roles semánticos, con su similitud definida por las asociaciones de palabras. Abordamos la cuestión de si la estructura del argumento verbal, que refleja la expresión de los acontecimientos, y las asociaciones de palabras, que están relacionadas con la organización de los hablantes del léxico mental, forman similitud entre los verbos de una manera congruente, un tema que no ha sido explorado previamente. Mientras que encontramos correlaciones significativas entre las similitudes de los sentidos verbales obtenidas de estos dos enfoques, nuestros hallazgos también resaltan algunas discrepancias entre ellos y la importancia del grado de abstracción de la anotación del corpus y las representaciones psicolingüísticas.La similitud, que exerceix un paper clau en camps com la ciència cognitiva, la psicolingüística i el processament del llenguatge natural, és un concepte ampli i multifacètic. En aquest treball analitzem com dos enfocaments que pertanyen a diferents perspectives, la visió del corpus i la visió psicolingüística, articulen la semblança entre els sentits verbals en espanyol. Específicament, comparem la similitud entre els sentits verbals basats en la seva estructura argumental, que es capta a través de rols semàntics, amb la seva similitud definida per les associacions de paraules. Abordem la qüestió de si l'estructura de l'argument verbal, que reflecteix l'expressió dels esdeveniments, i les associacions de paraules, que estan relacionades amb l'organització dels parlants del lèxic mental, formen similitud entre els verbs d'una manera congruent, un tema que no ha estat explorat prèviament. Mentre que trobem correlacions significatives entre les similituds dels sentits verbals obtingudes d'aquests dos enfocaments, les nostres troballes també ressalten algunes discrepàncies entre ells i la importància del grau d'abstracció de l'anotació del corpus i les representacions psicolingüístiques

The acquisition of English L2 prosody by Italian native speakers: experimental data and pedagogical implications

This paper investigates Yes-No question intonation patterns in English L2, Italian L1, and English L1. The aim is to test the hypothesis that L2 learners may show different acquisition strategies for different dimensions of intonation, and particularly the phonological and phonetic components. The study analyses the nuclear intonation contours of 4 target English words and 4 comparable Italian words consisting of sonorant segments, stressed on the semi-final or final syllable, and occurring in Yes-No questions in sentence-final position (e.g., Will you attend the memorial?, Hai sentito la Melania?). The words were contained in mini-dialogues of question-answer pairs, and read 5 times by 4 Italian speakers (Padova area, North-East Italy) and 3 English female speakers (London area, UK). The results show that: 1) different intonation patterns may be used to realize the same grammatical function; 2) different developmental processes are at work, including transfer of L1 categories and the acquisition of L2 phonological categories. These results suggest that the phonetic dimension of L2 intonation may be more difficult to learn than the phonological one

Factors that influence perception of seriousness of crime : The application of race, type of offence and dispositional empathy to an Australian context

The perception of seriousness of crime may be altered by numerous extra-legal factors within the criminal justice system. It is of significant importance to understand the ways in which various factors contribute to the differential treatment of defendants. Prejudicial attitudes towards Indigenous people pervade all areas of Australian society, including the criminal justice system (Paradies, 2005). For instance, although Indigenous people form approximately 2.4% of the general Australian population, they contribute to 24% of the total prison population (ABS, 2007; Paradies). Despite this, few studies have actively sought to better understand the factors that may contribute to varied perceptions of crimes committed by either Caucasian or Indigenous Australians. The aim of this review was to thus consider the effect of race of the defendant and type of crime committed upon offence perception. Furthermore, the psychological variable of dispositional empathy was reviewed in its application to the judgement of crime. The review found that there was a dire lack of research evident concerning the effect of factors upon the perceptions of crimes committed by Caucasian and Indigenous Australians. The studies conducted upon the effect of race in Australia have been inconclusive and contradictory. Furthermore, the effect of type of crime has not been actively explored within Australian studies, with only certain crimes, such as interpersonal and property offences, being applied to research. Finally, research into the effect of dispositional empathy on perceptions of crime is virtually non-existent. The area of perceptions of seriousness of crime thus requires significantly more research within an Australian context. It can be hoped that, from such research, the disadvantage of Indigenous Australians and also Caucasian Australians, within the justice system can be finally overcome. Indigenous Australians suffer disadvantage at all levels of Australian society. This is especially so within the criminal justice system, in which Indigenous Australians are chronically over-represented. However, little research has assessed the extra-legal factors that may contribute to the differential perception of and consequent disparity in sentencing of crimes committed by Indigenous and Caucasian Australian offenders. This study (n = 101) examined the effect of the three variables of type of crime committed, race of the offender, and dispositional empathy upon the perception of crime seriousness and consequent punishment of offences committed by either an Indigenous or Caucasian offender. It was hypothesised that assault would be perceived as more serious and thus more harshly punished than fraud. Furthermore, that crimes committed by Indigenous offenders would be perceived as more serious and thus more harshly punished. It was considered that racial disparity in perception of crime would be especially emphasised in crimes that were stereotypically consistent with an offenders race. Lastly, it was hypothesised that participants who shared racial similarity with an offender would thus have higher dispositional empathy towards them and consequently perceive the crime as less serious and punish less severely. Consistent with previous research, the type of crime committed was found to slightly impact the perceived severity of crime. Race of the offender was not found to effect perceptions of crime seriousness or punishment, which may have been due to a watchdog effect of modern racism or low prejudice rates amongst participants. Lastly, dispositional empathy did not have an impact on perceptions of crime seriousness and punishment in the present study. However, further research upon the impact of extra-legal variables within the Australian justice system is required, so that the over-representation of racial minority groups might be better understood

Factors that influence perception of seriousness of crime : The application of race, type of offence and dispositional empathy to an Australian context

The perception of seriousness of crime may be altered by numerous extra-legal factors within the criminal justice system. It is of significant importance to understand the ways in which various factors contribute to the differential treatment of defendants. Prejudicial attitudes towards Indigenous people pervade all areas of Australian society, including the criminal justice system (Paradies, 2005). For instance, although Indigenous people form approximately 2.4% of the general Australian population, they contribute to 24% of the total prison population (ABS, 2007; Paradies). Despite this, few studies have actively sought to better understand the factors that may contribute to varied perceptions of crimes committed by either Caucasian or Indigenous Australians. The aim of this review was to thus consider the effect of race of the defendant and type of crime committed upon offence perception. Furthermore, the psychological variable of dispositional empathy was reviewed in its application to the judgement of crime. The review found that there was a dire lack of research evident concerning the effect of factors upon the perceptions of crimes committed by Caucasian and Indigenous Australians. The studies conducted upon the effect of race in Australia have been inconclusive and contradictory. Furthermore, the effect of type of crime has not been actively explored within Australian studies, with only certain crimes, such as interpersonal and property offences, being applied to research. Finally, research into the effect of dispositional empathy on perceptions of crime is virtually non-existent. The area of perceptions of seriousness of crime thus requires significantly more research within an Australian context. It can be hoped that, from such research, the disadvantage of Indigenous Australians and also Caucasian Australians, within the justice system can be finally overcome. Indigenous Australians suffer disadvantage at all levels of Australian society. This is especially so within the criminal justice system, in which Indigenous Australians are chronically over-represented. However, little research has assessed the extra-legal factors that may contribute to the differential perception of and consequent disparity in sentencing of crimes committed by Indigenous and Caucasian Australian offenders. This study (n = 101) examined the effect of the three variables of type of crime committed, race of the offender, and dispositional empathy upon the perception of crime seriousness and consequent punishment of offences committed by either an Indigenous or Caucasian offender. It was hypothesised that assault would be perceived as more serious and thus more harshly punished than fraud. Furthermore, that crimes committed by Indigenous offenders would be perceived as more serious and thus more harshly punished. It was considered that racial disparity in perception of crime would be especially emphasised in crimes that were stereotypically consistent with an offenders race. Lastly, it was hypothesised that participants who shared racial similarity with an offender would thus have higher dispositional empathy towards them and consequently perceive the crime as less serious and punish less severely. Consistent with previous research, the type of crime committed was found to slightly impact the perceived severity of crime. Race of the offender was not found to effect perceptions of crime seriousness or punishment, which may have been due to a watchdog effect of modern racism or low prejudice rates amongst participants. Lastly, dispositional empathy did not have an impact on perceptions of crime seriousness and punishment in the present study. However, further research upon the impact of extra-legal variables within the Australian justice system is required, so that the over-representation of racial minority groups might be better understood

Teachers enacting a technology-rich curriculum for emergent literacy

PictoPal is the name of a technology-rich curriculum with a focus on emergent literacy of Dutch kindergarteners. A case study design was used to examine teacher technology integration within PictoPal along with their perceptions about teaching/learning, technology and technology-based innovations. Observations were undertaken on pupils’ engagement and teachers’ technology integration within PictoPal. Interviews were used to examine teachers’ perceptions. Pupils’ emergent literacy learning was examined in a nonequivalent control quasi experimental design. Four kindergarten teachers and four classes (N = 95 pupils) participated in the use of PictoPal. The findings suggest that a high extent of technology integration is related to: a developmental approach to teaching/learning; positive attitudes and expectations towards technology-based innovations; and positive perceptions of support in stressful work conditions. Significant learning gains were found for the experimental group using PictoPal. High pupil learning gains were not related to a high extent of technology integration. Senior kindergarteners engaged to a higher extent with PictoPal than junior kindergartener

Verb similarity: Comparing corpus and psycholinguistic data

Similarity, which plays a key role in fields like cognitive science, psycholinguistics and natural language processing, is a broad and multifaceted concept. In this work we analyse how two approaches that belong to different perspectives, the corpus view and the psycholinguistic view, articulate similarity between verb senses in Spanish. Specifically, we compare the similarity between verb senses based on their argument structure, which is captured through semantic roles, with their similarity defined by word associations. We address the question of whether verb argument structure, which reflects the expression of the events, and word associations, which are related to the speakers' organization of the mental lexicon, shape similarity between verbs in a congruent manner, a topic which has not been explored previously. While we find significant correlations between verb sense similarities obtained from these two approaches, our findings also highlight some discrepancies between them and the importance of the degree of abstraction of the corpus annotation and psycholinguistic representations

A Socio-Psycholinguistic Perspective on Biliteracy: The Use of Miscue Analysis as a Culturally Relevant Assessment Tool

Through the presentation of two bilingual reader profiles, this article will illustrate how miscue analysis can act as a culturally relevant assessment tool as it allows for the study of reading across different spoken and written languages. The research presented in this article integrates a socio-psycholinguistic perspective to reading and a translanguaging perspective to language use to highlight how differences in language and writing systems did not lead to difficulties or barriers in orally reading or comprehending texts. Contrarily, the use of miscue analysis was a culturally relevant assessment that provided a multidimensional perspective into the ways in which the readers constructed meaning. The article concludes with the benefits and the challenges of using miscue analysis with bilingual readers, and the implications of incorporating miscue analysis as a reading assessment tool in classrooms