Semantic radical consistency and character transparency effects in Chinese: an ERP study

BACKGROUND: This event-related potential (ERP) study aims to investigate the representation and temporal dynamics of Chinese orthography-to-semantics mappings by simultaneously manipulating character transparency and semantic radical consistency. Character components, referred to as radicals, make up the building blocks used dur...postprin

Reconnaissance de la parole pour l’aide à la communication pour les sourds et malentendants

This thesis is part of the RAPSODIE project which aims at proposing a speech recognition device specialized on the needs of deaf and hearing impaired people. Two aspects are studied: optimizing the lexical models and extracting para-lexical information. Regarding the lexical modeling, we focused on optimizing the choice of lexical units defining the vocabulary and the associated language model. We evaluated various lexical units, such as phonemes and words, and proposed the use of syllables.We also proposed a new approach based on the combination of words and syllables in a hybrid language model. This kind of model aims to ensure proper recognition of the most frequent words and to offer sequences of syllables for speech segments corresponding to out-of-vocabulary words. Another focus was on adding new words into the language model, in order to ensure proper recognition of specific words in a certain area. We proposed and evaluated a new approach based on a principle of similarity between words ; two words are similar if they have similar neighbor distributions. The approach involves three steps: using a few examples of sentences including the new word, looking for invocabulary words similar to the new word, defining the n-grams associated with the new word based on the n-grams of its similar in-vocabulary words.Regarding the extraction of para-lexical information, we focused mainly on the detection of questions and statements, in order to inform the deaf and hearing impaired people when a question is addressed to them. In our study, several approaches were analyzed using only prosodic features (extracted from the audio signal), using only linguistic features (extracted from word sequences and sequences of POS tags) or using both types of information. The evaluation of the classifiers is performed using linguistic and prosodic features (alone or in combination) extracted from automatic transcriptions (to study the performance under real conditions) and from manual transcriptions (to study the performance under ideal conditions).Cette thèse fait partie du projet RAPSODIE dont l’objectif est de proposer une reconnaissance vocale spécialisée sur les besoins des personnes sourdes et malentendantes. Deux axes sont étudiées : la modélisation lexicale et l’extraction d’informations para-lexicales.En ce qui concerne la modélisation lexicale, nous nous sommes intéressés au choix des unités lexicales définissant le lexique et le modèle de langage associé. Nous avons évalué différentes unités lexicales, comme les phonèmes et les mots, et proposé l’utilisation des syllabes. Nous avons également proposé une nouvelle approche reposant sur la combinaison de mots et de syllabes dans un seul modèle de langage, dit hybride. L’utilisation d’un tel modèle vise à assurer une reconnaissance correcte des mots les plus fréquents et à proposer des suites de syllabes pour les segments de parole correspondant à des mots hors vocabulaire. Afin d’assurer une bonne reconnaissance des mots spécifiques à un certain domaine, nous avons approfondi l’ajout de nouveaux mots dans le modèle de langage. Nous avons proposé et évalué une nouvelle approche qui repose sur un principe de similarité entre mots ; deux mots sont considérés comme similaires s’ils ont des distributions similaires de voisins. L’approche implique plusieurs étapes : utiliser quelques phrases exemples pour le nouveau mot, chercher dans le modèle de langage des mots similaires au nouveau mot, puis définir les n-grammes associés à ce nouveau mot à partir des n-grammes des mots similaires.Concernant l’extraction d’informations para-lexicales, nous nous sommes intéressés principalement à la détection des questions et des affirmations, afin de signaler aux personnes sourdes ou malentendantes quand une question leur est adressée. Dans notre étude, plusieurs approches ont été analysées reposant sur l’utilisation des paramètres prosodiques (extraits du signal audio), des paramètres linguistiques (extraits des séquences de mots et de classes grammaticales) ou des deux types d’information. L’extraction des informations est faite à partir des signaux audio et des transcriptions automatiques ou des transcriptions manuelles, ce qui permet de comparer les performances des classifieurs dans ces deux conditions (avec ou sans erreurs sur les mots)

Effects Of Explicit Reading Comprehension Strategy Instruction For English Learners With Specific Learning Disabilities

In this intervention study, I engaged principles of culturally responsive research to examine the effectiveness of explicit reading comprehension strategy instruction for English Learners (ELs) with specific learning disabilities (SLD). This study replicated and extended previous research (Jitendra, Hoppes, & Xin, 2000) by modifying instruction found to be effective for native English speakers (i.e., explicit reading comprehension strategy instruction with a self-monitoring procedure). Modifications included: (a) integrating culturally relevant text, (b) providing native language support, and (c) melding strategies from the fields of teaching English as a second language and special education. Through a co-teaching model, I provided instruction to four participants during a 135-min literacy block in a fifth-grade general education classroom for 13 weeks. A multiple probe across participants design (Gast & Ledford, 2010) evaluated effects of instruction on two dependent variables: (a) participants\u27 sophistication with applying comprehension thinking strategies while reading, as measured by comprehension thinking strategy rubrics (Keene, 2006) and (b) participants\u27 comprehension, as measured through percentage accuracy with responding to verbally-posed, researcher-developed literal and inferential comprehension questions. I assessed maintenance of effects for up to 8 weeks after participants exited the intervention. I assessed generalization to on-grade-level text and to a standardized achievement test (Woodcock Johnson Tests of Academic Achievement III-R; Woodcock, McGrew, & Mather, 2001). Additionally, I examined participants\u27 self-efficacy as readers at pre- and postintervention by collecting information from the Motivation to Read Profile survey and interview (Gambrell, Palmer, Coddling, & Mazzoni, 1996). Finally, I measured participants\u27 perceptions of the social acceptability of intervention procedures and outcomes through a researcher-developed, 9-item, Likert-scale survey. Results of this study show a functional relation for accuracy with answering literal and inferential comprehension questions and for sophistication with applying comprehension thinking strategies to read instructional-level text. All four participants performed within a similar range on on-grade-level probes as compared to instructional-level probes before and after the intervention. Participants improved or maintained scores on a standardized achievement test. Intervention effects maintained at the end of a 2- to 8-week period at a level above respective baseline performance. Moreover, participants\u27 attitudes toward reading and their motivation toward reading increased or maintained at high levels. Results from social validation questionnaires showed favorable impressions of the intervention\u27s procedures and outcomes. Findings are discussed with regard to the need for future research and the implications for practice