On the Teachability of Randomized Learners

The present paper introduces a new model for teaching {em randomized learners}. Our new model, though based on the classical teaching dimension model, allows to study the influence of various parameters such as the learner\u27s memory size, its ability to provide or to not provide feedback, and the influence of the order in which examples are presented. Furthermore, within the new model it is possible to investigate new aspects of teaching like teaching from positive data only or teaching with inconsistent teachers. Furthermore, we provide characterization theorems for teachability from positive data for both ordinary teachers and inconsistent teachers with and without feedback

The Effect of Enhancing Learner Input via Computer Assisted Language Learning Tools: On the Acquisition of Clitics by Spanish Second Language Learners

The current project contributes to the growing body of research in second language acquisition that investigates the facilitative effects of drawing learner attention to problematic aspects of linguistic input through input enhancement. Specifically, the research examines the extent to which input enhancement (Sharwood Smith 1991, 1993) via typographically altered texts facilitates the acquisition of third person dative and accusative clitic pronouns in Spanish for university level native English speakers enrolled in both beginner and advanced levels of Spanish second language courses. A number of past studies have indicated that all verbal clitics have been an obstacle in gaining L2 Spanish proficiency. Prior research has indicated that the most difficult pronominal system for L1 English speakers learning L2 Spanish are the third person dative and accusative clitic pronouns (VanPatten 1984). These students also tend to misinterpret preverbal clitics as subjects (VanPatten 1984). The significance of the project is twofold. First, it will consider whether input enhancement used to facilitate the identification of referents of anaphoric pronouns aides in the acquisition of the pronouns. Secondly, it examines at which level, beginner or advanced, input enhancement could be most beneficial for the L2 Spanish student. It also takes into account local comprehension, whereas prior input enhancement studies have investigated global comprehension. Furthermore, the results may have a direct impact on future computer technology that could be developed for foreign language instruction as it investigates the effects of this external attention drawing device in a Computer Assisted Language Learning setting. Results of the investigation indicated that input enhancement at the advanced level was successful in aiding L2 Spanish students to comprehend anaphora resolution with third person dative and accusative clitic pronouns in Spanish

Recent Developments in Algorithmic Teaching

Abstract. The present paper surveys recent developments in algorith-mic teaching. First, the traditional teaching dimension model is recalled. Starting from the observation that the teaching dimension model some-times leads to counterintuitive results, recently developed approaches are presented. Here, main emphasis is put on the following aspects derived from human teaching/learning behavior: the order in which examples are presented should matter; teaching should become harder when the memory size of the learners decreases; teaching should become easier if the learners provide feedback; and it should be possible to teach infinite concepts and/or finite and infinite concept classes. Recent developments in the algorithmic teaching achieving (some) of these aspects are presented and compared.

On self-reported use of communication strategies by CLIL learners in primary education

The use of communication strategies (CSs) in oral and written second language (L2) production has been widely investigated (e.g. Muñoz, 2007). As for content and language integrated learning (CLIL) settings, learners seem to resort to the first language (L1) less often than in traditional foreign language instruction (e.g. Celaya & Ruiz de Zarobe, 2010). However, few studies have examined what L2 learners say about their use of CSs by means of questionnaires – e.g. Ehrman & Oxford (1990), with adult English as a foreign language (EFL) learners – and little is known about the reported use of CSs by young learners (Purdie & Oliver, 1999), and much less by young CLIL learners. This study examines learners’ self-reported opinions about the use of CSs (guessing, miming, morphological creativity, dictionary, predicting, paraphrasing, borrowing, calque, foreignizing, avoidance and appeal for assistance). An adapted survey (Kellerman, Bongaerts, & Poulisse, 1987; Oxford, 1989; O’Malley & Chamot, 1990; Yule & Tarone, 1990) was administered to CLIL learners of English in grades 5 and 6 of primary education. Quantitative differences in terms of the type of strategies used were explored. Analyses showed striking similarities between grades 5 and 6 as well as significant differences in the use of the different CSs, paraphrasing and appeal for assistance being the most frequent strategies, whereas morphological creativity and miming obtained the lowest frequency. Findings are discussed in the light of learners’ age and the nature of CLIL instruction.The authors would like to acknowledge the grants awarded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (FFI2012-32212) and (FFI2016-74950-P), the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) (UFI 11/06) and the Basque Government (IT904-16)

Understanding the Role of Adaptivity in Machine Teaching: The Case of Version Space Learners

In real-world applications of education, an effective teacher adaptively chooses the next example to teach based on the learner's current state. However, most existing work in algorithmic machine teaching focuses on the batch setting, where adaptivity plays no role. In this paper, we study the case of teaching consistent, version space learners in an interactive setting. At any time step, the teacher provides an example, the learner performs an update, and the teacher observes the learner's new state. We highlight that adaptivity does not speed up the teaching process when considering existing models of version space learners, such as "worst-case" (the learner picks the next hypothesis randomly from the version space) and "preference-based" (the learner picks hypothesis according to some global preference). Inspired by human teaching, we propose a new model where the learner picks hypotheses according to some local preference defined by the current hypothesis. We show that our model exhibits several desirable properties, e.g., adaptivity plays a key role, and the learner's transitions over hypotheses are smooth/interpretable. We develop efficient teaching algorithms and demonstrate our results via simulation and user studies.Comment: NeurIPS 2018 (extended version

Lexical Development in Adult Beginning Second Language Learners

This research tests the hypothesis that knowledge of derivational morphology facilitates vocabulary acquisition in beginning adult second language learners. Participants were mono-lingual English-speaking college students aged 18 years and older enrolled inintroductory Spanish courses. Knowledge of Spanish derivational morphology was tested through the use of a forced-choice translation task. Spanish lexical knowledge was measured by a translation task using direct translation (English word) primes and conceptual (picture) primes. A 2x2x2 mixed factor ANOVA examined the relationships between morphological knowledge (strong, moderate), error type (form-based, conceptual), and prime type (direct translation, picture). The results are consistent with the existence of a relationship between knowledge of derivational morphology andacquisition of second language vocabulary. Participants made more conceptually-based errors than form-based errors F (1,22)=7.744, p=.011. This result is consistent with Clahsen & Felser’s (2006) and Ullman’s (2004) models of second language processing. Additionally, participants with Strong morphological knowledge made fewer errors onthe lexical knowledge task than participants with Moderate morphological knowledge t(23)=-2.656, p=.014. I suggest future directions to clarify the relationship between morphological knowledge and lexical development in adult second language learners