51 research outputs found
Dictionary form in decoding, encoding and retention: Further insights
© European Association for Computer Assisted Language Learning
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/recall/article/dictionary-form-in-decoding-encoding-and-retention-further-insights/A91F5AB5CBF5C8538844D1DF2D65F070 doi:10.1017/S0958344017000131 doi:10.1017/S095834401700013
SUBJECT-VERB CONCORD WITH COLLECTIVE NOUNS OR THE COUNT-MASS DISTINCTION: WHICH IS MORE DIFFICULT FOR POLISH LEARNERS OF ENGLISH?
Two aspects of English syntax were chosen for closer analysis in the present paper, i.e., subject- verb concord involving collective nouns in the singular and the syntactic marking of noun reclas- sification from the category of uncountable nouns to that of countable ones with the help of the indefinite article. The study aims to find out which of them is more difficult for Polish learners of English and whether the degree of difficulty depends on the learners’ proficiency in the foreign language. The discussion is based on the results yielded by an empirical study in which interme- diate and advanced Polish students of English took part. The subjects had to complete partial English translations of Polish sentences with specific low-frequency English nouns which substi- tuted true English equivalents of the Polish nouns shown in the sentences. The study reveals that marking subject-verb concord in the case of collective subject nouns was as difficult for the sub- jects as signaling the count-mass distinction by means of the indefinite article and the zero arti- cle, respectively
Modelling eye movements and visual attention in synchronous visual and linguistic processing
This thesis focuses on modelling visual attention in tasks in which vision interacts
with language and other sources of contextual information. The work is based on
insights provided by experimental studies in visual cognition and psycholinguistics,
particularly cross-modal processing.
We present a series of models of eye-movements in situated language comprehension
capable of generating human-like scan-paths. Moreover we investigate the existence
of high level structure of the scan-paths and applicability of tools used in Natural
Language Processing in the analysis of this structure.
We show that scan paths carry interesting information that is currently neglected
in both experimental and modelling studies. This information, studied at a level beyond
simple statistical measures such as proportion of looks, can be used to extract
knowledge of more complicated patterns of behaviour, and to build models capable of
simulating human behaviour in the presence of linguistic material.
We also revisit classical model saliency and its extensions, in particular the Contextual
Guidance Model of Torralba et al. (2006), and extend it with memory of target
positions in visual search. We show that models of contextual guidance should contain
components responsible for short term learning and memorisation. We also investigate
the applicability of this type of model to prediction of human behaviour in tasks with
incremental stimuli as in situated language comprehension.
Finally we investigate the issue of objectness and object saliency, including their
effects on eye-movements and human responses to experimental tasks. In a simple
experiment we show that when using an object-based notion of saliency it is possible
to predict fixation locations better than using pixel-based saliency as formulated by Itti
et al. (1998). In addition we show that object based saliency fits into current theories
such as cognitive relevance and can be used to build unified models of cross-referential
visual and linguistic processing.
This thesis forms a foundation towards a more detailed study of scan-paths within
an object-based framework such as Cognitive Relevance Framework (Henderson et al.,
2007, 2009) by providing models capable of explaining human behaviour, and the
delivery of tools and methodologies to predict which objects would be attended to
during synchronous visual and linguistic processing
Dictionaries and their users
It is only recently that dictionary users have become a central consideration in the design of dictionaries, and this focus has both stimulated and benefited from research into dictionary use. The present contribution reviews the major issues in dictionary design from the user perspective, taking stock of the relevant findings from user research, insofar as such research can assist lexicographers in producing improved lexical tools
Lacunarity, lexicography and beyond: integration of the introduction of a linguo-cultural concept and the development of L2 learners’ dictionary skills
The paper discusses the integration of presenting theoretical linguocultural
knowledge and developing dictionary skills in advanced students of a
foreign language. The proposed approach allows showing students the interdisciplinary
character of various issues, one of which is cross-linguistic lacunarity. It is
given as an example of a phenomenon, whose introduction can be combined with
the development of students’ dictionary use abilities. Lacunarity consists in the lack
of some source language elements in the target language. Two main kinds of
lacunae are distinguished: linguistic and referential ones. The focal issue of the
paper is how the information on the lacunary character of words can be presented to
advanced students of English as a foreign language, in this paper Polish learners, so
that they could consider the phenomenon in terms of bilingual lexicography: first,
becoming aware of the specifics of their description; second, practising their dictionary
skills by analysing entries for selected lacunary lexical and phraseological
units; third, combining the information and skills in doing creative tasks, related to
lacunarity and its bilingual lexicographic descriptions. Furthermore, additional
activities are proposed for revising the acquired knowledge on lacunarity and
advancing dictionary use. Offering students tasks, which require them to adopt a
different perspective, aims to increase their involvement in the learning process and
to foster their autonomy as learners. Encouraging learners to reflect on lacunae and
their lexicographic description is expected to familiarize them with the phenomenon
and simultaneously to develop their dictionary skills by doing especially designed
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