1,834 research outputs found
The Effects of Chunk Reading Training on the Syntactic Processing Skills and Reading Spans of Japanese Learners of English
The present study investigated the impact of chunk reading training (CRT) on the online syntactic processing and verbal working memory (WM) of Japanese EFL (English as a foreign language) learners in secondary school. For four weeks, the treatment group (N = 31) underwent CRT, while the control group (N = 25) participated in reading training in block format. A reading span test (RST) was administered as the pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest in this study to assess learnersâ online syntactic processing and verbal WM. The results showed that syntactic processing and verbal WM increased only in the treatment group after training, but the differences between the two groups were not statistically significant. Nevertheless, these results suggest that CRT has the potential to positively affect the development of learnersâ online syntactic processing skills and verbal WM
Text-based recall and extra-textual generations resulting from simplified and authentic texts
This study uses a moving windows self-paced reading task to assess text comprehension of beginning and intermediate-level simplified texts and authentic texts by L2 learners engaged in a text-retelling task. Linear mixed effects (LME) models revealed statistically significant main effects for reading proficiency and text level on the number of text-based propositions recalled: More proficient readers recalled more propositions. However, text level was a stronger predictor of propositional recall than reading proficiency. LME models also revealed main effects for language proficiency and text level on the number of extra-textual propositions produced. Text level, however, emerged as a stronger predictor than language proficiency. Post-hoc analyses indicated that there were more irrelevant elaborations for authentic texts and intermediate and authentic texts led to a greater number of relevant elaborations compared to beginning texts
Syntactic Topic Models
The syntactic topic model (STM) is a Bayesian nonparametric model of language
that discovers latent distributions of words (topics) that are both
semantically and syntactically coherent. The STM models dependency parsed
corpora where sentences are grouped into documents. It assumes that each word
is drawn from a latent topic chosen by combining document-level features and
the local syntactic context. Each document has a distribution over latent
topics, as in topic models, which provides the semantic consistency. Each
element in the dependency parse tree also has a distribution over the topics of
its children, as in latent-state syntax models, which provides the syntactic
consistency. These distributions are convolved so that the topic of each word
is likely under both its document and syntactic context. We derive a fast
posterior inference algorithm based on variational methods. We report
qualitative and quantitative studies on both synthetic data and hand-parsed
documents. We show that the STM is a more predictive model of language than
current models based only on syntax or only on topics
The placement of the head that maximizes predictability. An information theoretic approach
The minimization of the length of syntactic dependencies is a
well-established principle of word order and the basis of a mathematical theory
of word order. Here we complete that theory from the perspective of information
theory, adding a competing word order principle: the maximization of
predictability of a target element. These two principles are in conflict: to
maximize the predictability of the head, the head should appear last, which
maximizes the costs with respect to dependency length minimization. The
implications of such a broad theoretical framework to understand the
optimality, diversity and evolution of the six possible orderings of subject,
object and verb are reviewed.Comment: in press in Glottometric
Moses and the Ark: exploring semantic illusions
In Part One, three experiments investigated the effects of the surface structure of semantic illusion sentences upon semantic illusion rate (Chapters 3 to 6), but only a comparison of question and statements revealed any significant effects, with questions leading to more semantic illusion responses. To explore the implications of this lack of effect, a rating scale study was designed to provide an overview of how semantic illusion sentences compare to sentences used in ordinary discourse: semantic illusion type sentences were found to differ significantly from other sentences along a number of salient dimensions.
In Part Two, three further experiments related semantic illusions to problem solving and examined the processing requirements of semantic illusions. Findings indicated that semantic illusions are subject to a kind of âfunctional fixednessâ, which prevents thorough processing (Chapters 9 and 10). This may in part be explained by the load that semantic illusion sentences place on working memory, as was indicated by the results of two further experiments, which investigated the role that the different components of working memory play in semantic illusion processing (Chapter 11)
How robust is the language architecture? The case of mood
In neurocognitive research on language, the processing principles of the system at hand are usually assumed to be relatively invariant. However, research on attention, memory, decision-making, and social judgment has shown that mood can substantially modulate how the brain processes information. For example, in a bad mood, people typically have a narrower focus of attention and rely less on heuristics. In the face of such pervasive mood effects elsewhere in the brain, it seems unlikely that language processing would remain untouched. In an EEG experiment, we manipulated the mood of participants just before they read texts that confirmed or disconfirmed verb-based expectations about who would be talked about next (e.g., that âDavid praised Linda because ⊠â would continue about Linda, not David), or that respected or violated a syntactic agreement rule (e.g., âThe boys turnsâ). ERPs showed that mood had little effect on syntactic parsing, but did substantially affect referential anticipation: whereas readers anticipated information about a specific person when they were in a good mood, a bad mood completely abolished such anticipation. A behavioral follow-up experiment suggested that a bad mood did not interfere with verb-based expectations per se, but prevented readers from using that information rapidly enough to predict upcoming reference on the fly, as the sentence unfolds. In all, our results reveal that background mood, a rather unobtrusive affective state, selectively changes a crucial aspect of real-time language processing. This observation fits well with other observed interactions between language processing and affect (emotions, preferences, attitudes, mood), and more generally testifies to the importance of studying âcoldâ cognitive functions in relation to âhotâ aspects of the brain
Component skills of inferential processing in older readers
Thesis (M.S.)--Boston UniversityThe ability to make inferences has been shown to be a crucial component of successful reading in older students. The current project investigates differences in comprehension of text-based (factual) and inferential information across grade levels and modalities, and seeks to determine which component language and reading skills that are important in making inferences.
1,836 students in grades 6-12 were tested on a computerized battery of language subtests in the auditory and written modalities. Eleven subtests examining performance on lower levels of were administered in addition to a measure of factual and inferential discourse comprehension.
Results demonstrated that students performed better overall in the written modality. Students in older grades were consistently faster and more accurate. Vocabulary knowledge had the biggest effect for performance on inferential questions in the written modality in middle school, while sentence-level skills were most important in high school. In the auditory modality, sentence-level skills were most predictive across question types and grade levels. Implications for theories of inferential processing and for teaching inferences within literacy education frameworks will be discussed
Exploring SL Writing and SL Sensitivity during Writing Tasks : poor and advanced writing in a context of second language other than English
This study integrates a larger research empirical project that examines second language (SL) learnersâ profiles and valid procedures to perform complete and diagnostic assessment in schools. 102 learners of Portuguese as a SL aged 7 and 17 years speakers of distinct home languages were assessed in several linguistic tasks. In this article, we focused on writing performance in the specific task of narrative essay composition. The written outputs were measured using the score in six components adapted from an English SL assessment context (Alberta Education): linguistic vocabulary, grammar, syntax, strategy, socio-linguistic, and discourse. The writing processes and strategies in Portuguese language used by different immigrant students were analysed to determine features and diversity of deficits on authentic texts performed by SL writers. Differentiated performance was based on the diversity of the following variables: grades, previous schooling, home language, instruction in first language, and exposure to Portuguese as Second Language. Indo-Aryan languages speakers showed low writing scores compared to their peers and the type of language and respective cognitive mapping (such as Mandarin and Arabic) was the predictor, not linguistic distance. Home language instruction should also be prominently considered in further research to understand specificities of cognitive academic profile in a Romance languages learning context. Additionally, this study also examined the teachers representations that will be here addressed to understand educational implications of second language teaching in psychological distress of different minorities in schools of specific host countries.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
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