15,273 research outputs found
Controlled language and readability
Controlled Language (CL) rules specify constraints on lexicon, grammar and style with the objective of improving text translatability, comprehensibility, readability and usability. A significant body of research exists demonstrating the positive effects CL rules can have on machine translation quality (e.g. Mitamura and Nyberg 1995; Kamprath et al 1998; Bernth 1999; Nyberg et al 2003), acceptability (Roturier 2006), and post-editing effort (OâBrien 2006). Since CL rules aim to reduce complexity and ambiguity, claims have been made that they consequently improve the readability of text (e.g., Spaggiari, Beaujard and Cannesson 2003; Reuther 2003). Little work, however, has been done on the effects of CL on readability. This paper represents an attempt to investigate the relationship in an empirical manner using both qualitative and quantitative methods
Traces to Entrenchment: A Mixed Methods Study Examining the Use of Reading and Writing to Facilitate Lexical Sequence Acquisition Among Bilingual Learners and Factors Influencing Their Language Learning
Informed by entrenchment and usage-based theories, this mixed methods study, modeled after Riazi\u27s mixed methods fully integrated design, examined how reading and writing may be used to facilitate lexical sequence acquisition for high school bilingual learners. The study compared the efficacy of two interventions on increasing the depth of knowledge of lexical sequences: a reading intervention requiring the reading of short informational texts embedded with eight target lexical sequences and a writing intervention requiring participants to follow the readings with the intentional use of target sequences in writing. A repeated measures factorial ANOVA found no impact of gender or first language on results; both groups made statistically significant gains on depth of knowledge during both interventions with large effect sizes, and they retained gains three to four weeks later. However, reading was found to be more impactful for one group, whereas reading and writing was found to be more impactful for the second group. Subsequent analyses of written responses by participants coupled with a repeated measures ANOVA measuring the acquisition of individual sequences demonstrated that participants were more likely to acquire and use some lexical sequences than others. Data from semi-structured interviews from 12 participants were analyzed through the lens of Anthiasâ multilevel model of intersectionality to determine factors influencing intervention results as well as English learning generally. Results of this qualitative strand revealed that the requirement to read twice weekly led reading to become a habit for some participants, that text interest impacted some participantsâ motivation to comprehend the text, and that interlinear glossing (providing synonyms above target sequences) was helpful for reading comprehension. Gender and L1 were found to influence learning through the long-lasting impact of bullying, which often led females and those with perceived accents to refrain from speaking English even years after bullying occurred. Other salient findings suggest that the employment of high school students may be underreported and that implicit teacher bias may impact the schooling of some bilingual learners. One LGBTQ bilingual learner narrative provided a positive example of empowerment despite the bullying of others. Several recommendations for research, policy, and teaching practices are discussed
Traces to Entrenchment: A Mixed Methods Study Examining the Use of Reading and Writing to Facilitate Lexical Sequence Acquisition Among Bilingual Learners and Factors Influencing Their Language Learning
Informed by entrenchment and usage-based theories, this mixed methods study, modeled after Riazi\u27s mixed methods fully integrated design, examined how reading and writing may be used to facilitate lexical sequence acquisition for high school bilingual learners. The study compared the efficacy of two interventions on increasing the depth of knowledge of lexical sequences: a reading intervention requiring the reading of short informational texts embedded with eight target lexical sequences and a writing intervention requiring participants to follow the readings with the intentional use of target sequences in writing. A repeated measures factorial ANOVA found no impact of gender or first language on results; both groups made statistically significant gains on depth of knowledge during both interventions with large effect sizes, and they retained gains three to four weeks later. However, reading was found to be more impactful for one group, whereas reading and writing was found to be more impactful for the second group. Subsequent analyses of written responses by participants coupled with a repeated measures ANOVA measuring the acquisition of individual sequences demonstrated that participants were more likely to acquire and use some lexical sequences than others. Data from semi-structured interviews from 12 participants were analyzed through the lens of Anthiasâ multilevel model of intersectionality to determine factors influencing intervention results as well as English learning generally. Results of this qualitative strand revealed that the requirement to read twice weekly led reading to become a habit for some participants, that text interest impacted some participantsâ motivation to comprehend the text, and that interlinear glossing (providing synonyms above target sequences) was helpful for reading comprehension. Gender and L1 were found to influence learning through the long-lasting impact of bullying, which often led females and those with perceived accents to refrain from speaking English even years after bullying occurred. Other salient findings suggest that the employment of high school students may be underreported and that implicit teacher bias may impact the schooling of some bilingual learners. One LGBTQ bilingual learner narrative provided a positive example of empowerment despite the bullying of others. Several recommendations for research, policy, and teaching practices are discussed
Investigating oculomotor control during the learning and scanning of character strings
Word spacing plays an important role in both word identification and saccadic targeting in the reading of spaced languages (e.g., English), however, the spacing facilitation is not present when word spacing is added in normally unspaced Chinese text in Chinese native speakers (e.g., Grade-3 children, young adults, old adults). Frequency effects are well-documented in the reading of normal text. However, it remains controversial as to whether frequency effects would occur in non-reading tasks, such as searching for a target in normal text or text-like strings. Furthermore, it is unclear whether spacing would also play an important role in the guidance of eye movement control in text-like string scanning as it does in the reading of spaced languages.
In three experiments, the present thesis examined how exposure frequency effects are established during the learning of novel stimuli in a learning session (Landolt-C clusters in Experiment 1 vs. pseudowords in Experiments 2 & 3) and how the simulated exposure frequency would affect the scanning of longer strings with or without boundary demarcation cues (spaced vs. unspaced shaded vs. unspaced) in a scanning session. Importantly, the present thesis investigated whether learning and scanning of novel character strings would be qualified by the stimulus type (Landolt-C vs. English pseudoword) and the population (English native speakers vs. Chinese participants).
In Experiment 1, robust interactive effects between exposure frequency and learning blocks (e.g., learning rate effects) occurred during the learning of target stimuli. However, the exposure frequency effects did not carry over to the scanning session. Robust spacing effects occurred. Spacing facilitated eye movements to a greater degree than the shading manipulation. In Experiments 2 & 3, again, robust learning rate effects occurred in learning target pseudowords. The exposure frequency was simulated successfully and effectively during learning, however, the exposure frequency showed no influence on eye movements in the scanning session. The meta-analysis across the three experiments demonstrated that learning was more effective using pseudoword stimuli relative to Landolt- C stimuli, and more effective in Chinese participants than English participants. Generally, the degree of shading facilitation was much smaller in the scanning of Landolt-C strings compared to pseudoword strings and it was smaller for English participants relative to Chinese participants. The constant occurrence of learning rate effects across experiments suggests the replicability and reliability of the current character learning paradigm. Spacing facilitation constantly occurred in scanning either Landolt-C strings or pseudoword strings, indicating that spacing plays an important role in non-reading string scanning tasks. The absence of exposure frequency effects in the scanning session across three experiments seems to suggest that exposure frequency effects might not occur in string scanning when the task is to search for a pre-learnt target in the string. The differential pattern of shading and spacing facilitation between Chinese participants and English participants suggests an influence from the writing system of the native language on eye movements in the current string scanning
Do Artificial Intelligence Systems Understand?
Are intelligent machines really intelligent? Is the underlying philosophical
concept of intelligence satisfactory for describing how the present systems
work? Is understanding a necessary and sufficient condition for intelligence?
If a machine could understand, should we attribute subjectivity to it? This
paper addresses the problem of deciding whether the so-called "intelligent
machines" are capable of understanding, instead of merely processing signs. It
deals with the relationship between syntaxis and semantics. The main thesis
concerns the inevitability of semantics for any discussion about the
possibility of building conscious machines, condensed into the following two
tenets: "If a machine is capable of understanding (in the strong sense), then
it must be capable of combining rules and intuitions"; "If semantics cannot be
reduced to syntaxis, then a machine cannot understand." Our conclusion states
that it is not necessary to attribute understanding to a machine in order to
explain its exhibited "intelligent" behavior; a merely syntactic and
mechanistic approach to intelligence as a task-solving tool suffices to justify
the range of operations that it can display in the current state of
technological development
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Developing Production Skills through Implicit Learning
Language proficiency largely relies on implicit knowledge, which is unconscious and operates independently of voluntary control. Implicit learning is a process of incidental learning which results in the acquisition of implicit knowledge. We know that adult learners can acquire knowledge of novel L2 linguistic rules through implicit learning, as evidenced by their performance on receptive tasks. However, it is unclear whether implicit learning processes can also support the development of L2 production skills. The central question of this dissertation was whether it would be possible for learners to acquire implicit knowledge of a new rule through implicit learning and use it directly in spoken production. Our second question concerns the relationship between production and comprehension: we asked whether implicit knowledge acquired through a production task would also lead to improved performance in comprehension. To address these questions, we trained participants on a semiartificial language based on a rule naturally found in Czech: specifically, the usage rule for a pair of spatial prepositions (v and na) which alternate depending on the distinction between open and enclosed spaces. Training was carried out using a novel methodology based on elicited oral imitation, which was also used to test productive knowledge. Participants were also tested on comprehension, using both reaction time and recognition memory paradigms. Our findings suggest that it is possible to acquire implicit productive knowledge through a production-based task, and to generalise it to new instances in spoken production. The results of our experiments also show that learning outcomes were sensitive to the specific procedure used to train participants, which appeared to interact with individual differences in working memory. Finally, we found limited evidence that implicit knowledge acquired through production could be transferred to comprehension, supporting a skill-specific account of implicit knowledge
Speech intelligibility in multilingual spaces
This thesis examines speech intelligibility and multi-lingual communication, in terms of
acoustics and perceptual factors. More specifically, the work focused on the impact of
room acoustic conditions on the speech intelligibility of four languages representative of
a wide range of linguistic properties (English, Polish, Arabic and Mandarin). Firstly,
diagnostic rhyme tests (DRT), phonemically balanced (PB) word lists and phonemically
balanced sentence lists have been compared under four room acoustic conditions
defined by their speech transmission index (STI = 0.2, 0.4, 0.6 and 0.8). The results
obtained indicated that there was a statistically significant difference between the word
intelligibility scores of languages under all room acoustic conditions, apart from the STI
= 0.8 condition. English was the most intelligible language under all conditions, and
differences with other languages were larger when conditions were poor (maximum
difference of 29% at STI = 0.2, 33% at STI = 0.4 and 14% at STI = 0.6). Results also
showed that Arabic and Polish were particularly sensitive to background noise, and that
Mandarin was significantly more intelligible than those languages at STI = 0.4.
Consonant-to-vowel ratios and languagesâ distinctive features and acoustical properties
explained some of the scores obtained. Sentence intelligibility scores confirmed
variations between languages, but these variations were statistically significant only at
the STI = 0.4 condition (sentence tests being less sensitive to very good and very poor
room acoustic conditions). Additionally, perceived speech intelligibility and soundscape
perception associated to these languages was also analysed in three multi-lingual
environments: an airport check-in area, a hospital reception area, and a café. Semantic
differential analysis showed that perceived speech intelligibility of each language varies
with the type of environment, as well as the type of background noise, reverberation
time, and signal-to-noise ratio. Variations between the perceived speech intelligibility of
the four languages were only marginally significant (p = 0.051), unlike objective
intelligibility results. Perceived speech intelligibility of English appeared to be mostly
affected negatively by the information content and distracting sounds present in the
background noise. Lastly, the study investigated several standards and design guidelines
and showed how adjustments could be made to recommended STI values in order to
achieve consistent speech intelligibility ratings across languages
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