"This is a Mummers' play I wrote": Modern compositions and their implications

It seems that may people feel compelled to rewrite folk plays. Working with a large sample of composed and adapted texts, the apparent personal and cultural motivations of these wannabe folk playwrights are explored. More specifically, this study examines the textual characteristics of the rewritten plays in an attempt to determine what it is that makes the authors think that they have written a mummers' play. These features are then compared with a historical database of “authentic” Quack Doctor plays. It is suggested that similar processes and criteria have existed throughout the history of the plays, and may indeed have been the prime factor in their evolution

JVNV: A Corpus of Japanese Emotional Speech with Verbal Content and Nonverbal Expressions

We present the JVNV, a Japanese emotional speech corpus with verbal content and nonverbal vocalizations whose scripts are generated by a large-scale language model. Existing emotional speech corpora lack not only proper emotional scripts but also nonverbal vocalizations (NVs) that are essential expressions in spoken language to express emotions. We propose an automatic script generation method to produce emotional scripts by providing seed words with sentiment polarity and phrases of nonverbal vocalizations to ChatGPT using prompt engineering. We select 514 scripts with balanced phoneme coverage from the generated candidate scripts with the assistance of emotion confidence scores and language fluency scores. We demonstrate the effectiveness of JVNV by showing that JVNV has better phoneme coverage and emotion recognizability than previous Japanese emotional speech corpora. We then benchmark JVNV on emotional text-to-speech synthesis using discrete codes to represent NVs. We show that there still exists a gap between the performance of synthesizing read-aloud speech and emotional speech, and adding NVs in the speech makes the task even harder, which brings new challenges for this task and makes JVNV a valuable resource for relevant works in the future. To our best knowledge, JVNV is the first speech corpus that generates scripts automatically using large language models

‘We don't have recipes; we just have loads of ingredients’: explanations of evidence and clinical decision making by speech and language therapists

Rationale, aims and objectives: Research findings consistently suggest that speech and language therapists (SLTs) are failing to draw effectively on research-based evidence to guide clinical practice. This study aimed to examine what constitutes the reasoning provided by SLTs for treatment choices and whether science plays a part in those decisions. Method: This study, based in Ireland, reports on the qualitative phase of a mixed-methods study, which examined attitudes underpinning treatment choices and the therapy process. SLTs were recruited from community, hospital and disability work settings via SLT managers who acted as gatekeepers. A total of three focus groups were run. Data were transcribed, anonymized and analysed using thematic analysis. Results: In total, 48 participants took part in the focus groups. The majority of participants were female, represented senior grades and had basic professional qualifications. Three key themes were identified: practice imperfect; practice as grounded and growing; and critical practice. Findings show that treatment decisions are scaffolded primarily on practice evidence. The uniqueness of each patient results in dynamic and pragmatic practice, constraining the application of unmodified therapies. Conclusion: The findings emerging from the data reflect the complexities and paradoxes of clinical practice as described by SLTs. Practice is pivoted on both the patient and clinician, through their membership of groups and as individuals. Scientific thinking is a component of decision making; a tool with which to approach the various ingredients and the dynamic nature of clinical practice. However, these scientific elements do not necessarily reflect evidence-based practice as typically constructed

Marking as judgment

An aspect of assessment which has received little attention compared with perennial concerns, such as standards or reliability, is the role of judgment in marking. This paper explores marking as an act of judgment, paying particular attention to the nature of judgment and the processes involved. It brings together studies which have explored marking from a psychological perspective for the purpose of critical discussion of the light they shed on each other and on the practice of marking. Later stages speculate on recent developments in psychology and neuroscience which may cast further light on educational assessment

The influence of drama in the speaking skills of tenth graders in the public institution Francisco José de Caldas

Este proyecto examina la efectividad de las técnicas del arte dramático para mejorar las habilidades verbales en términos de prosodia, de estudiantes de grado décimo grado en la institución pública Francisco José de Caldas. El proyecto fue desarrollado por medio de tres tipos diferentes de teatro: juego de roles, simulación y juegos teatrales. Este proyecto de aula describe los principales puntos y características del arte dramático en el aula de clase de inglés respecto a las habilidades de habla de los estudiantes, así como también sus actitudes y respuestas hacia este elemento innovador en el salón de clase. Se proporcionan sugerencias y creencias a lo largo de este escrito para usar el arte dramático en la clase de inglés, basadas en la experiencia particular de este proyecto. El proyecto concluye que el arte dramático es útil para promover las habilidades de habla de los estudiantes de forma natural y espontánea, mientras ellos se divierten durante el evento dramático. El arte dramático es un recurso adecuado para implementar didáctica en el aula de clase, y promover las habilidades de habla sin presión o ansiedad, lo cual conduce a una producción oral natural y dinámica. Este recurso no es habitual en el aula de inglés y usualmente no ha sido considerado como una estrategia para la enseñanza del inglés en escenarios educativos colombianos, lo cual hace esta exploración más interesante y útil en nuestro contexto para experiencias futuras de enseñanza basadas en el arte dramático

日英のコードスイッチング -バイリンガルのチャット分析を通して-

Code-switching は、バイリンガルによって日常的に使われるものだ。しかしながら、コードスイッチングは特定の物だけでなく、広範囲のカバーを対象に使われる言葉である。これは、コードスイッチングとは何か、そして何故バイリンガルはコードスイッチングを使うのかについての研究だ。この研究にはスカイプでのチャットメッセージが使われている。たいていのバイリンガルは文中コードスイッチング(Intra-sentential switching)を使う。この研究から、bilingual が何故コードスイッチングをするかが二つ分かった。一つ目は、感情の強調によるもの、二つ目は、話し相手による影響からだ

FLIPPING THE SCRIPT: PRIORITIZING THE AUTISTIC VOICE IN THE UNDERSTANDING OF SCRIPING AS “KEY TO AUTISTIC IDENTITY”

Traditional research regarding communication differences for autistic individuals, including scripting (“delayed echolalia”) is grounded in the pathology paradigm and thus emphasizes the elimination of scripting, without looking at the features and benefits it serves the individual utilizing it. This study, by prioritizing the autistic voices as the resounding experts on the topic of scripting, attempts to identify the communicative features and benefits of scripting, as well as how the dynamics of the conversation partner impact the exchange, both positively and negatively. Further, the research looks at the features of scripting as described by autistic adults. It also addresses the pressures placed on families regarding how to react to communication differences. Using qualitative methods, 21 autistic people completed an online, open-ended survey about their experiences with scripting. Further, two of the participants were part of a follow-up in depth interview, and a third participant was referred as a successful communication partner, or familiar listener. The results of the data support a variety of positive benefits of scripting in the realm of communication including; navigating small talk, communicating complex thoughts and emotions, and communicating during stressful situations. Further benefits include providing comfort and fun, as well as success in the workplace. Despite these benefits negative responses to scripting from communication partners have detrimental implications due to the isolation, embarrassment, and pressure to fit in that is put forth by society. This may have serious impacts on the mental health of the autistic community resulting in depression and anxiety. Features of scripting include their evolution over time as they become more subtle and complex based on life and social experiences. Familiar listeners report benefits for engaging in scripting with autistic family members, but also recognize outside pressures placed upon them regarding how to respond in an effort to normalize behavior

Metaphoric coherence: Distinguishing verbal metaphor from `anomaly\u27

Theories and computational models of metaphor comprehension generally circumvent the question of metaphor versus “anomaly” in favor of a treatment of metaphor versus literal language. Making the distinction between metaphoric and “anomalous” expressions is subject to wide variation in judgment, yet humans agree that some potentially metaphoric expressions are much more comprehensible than others. In the context of a program which interprets simple isolated sentences that are potential instances of cross‐modal and other verbal metaphor, I consider some possible coherence criteria which must be satisfied for an expression to be “conceivable” metaphorically. Metaphoric constraints on object nominals are represented as abstracted or extended along with the invariant structural components of the verb meaning in a metaphor. This approach distinguishes what is preserved in metaphoric extension from that which is “violated”, thus referring to both “similarity” and “dissimilarity” views of metaphor. The role and potential limits of represented abstracted properties and constraints is discussed as they relate to the recognition of incoherent semantic combinations and the rejection or adjustment of metaphoric interpretations