LL-regular grammars

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nijholt, Antinus

1980-01-01

Culik II and Cogen introduced the class of LR-regular grammars, an extension of the LR(k) grammars. In this paper we consider an analogous extension of the LL(k) grammars called the LL-regular grammars. The relation of this class of grammars to other classes of grammars will be shown. Any LL-regular

Forest Grammar(Ⅰ)

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

张松懋

1994-01-01

Forest grammar,a new type of high-dimensional grammar,is proposed in this paper,of which both the left and the right parts of every production are concatenations of tree structures.A classification of forest grammar is studied,especially,a subclass of the forest grammar,i.e.the context-sensitive forest grammar,and one of its subclasses is defined,called the weak precedence forest grammar.

Grammar-translation and CLT in L2 Grammar Teaching

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

缪杉莎

2013-01-01

This paper puts forward to compare teaching method between grammar-translation and CLT in grammar teaching. Gram⁃mar leaning is a basic concept in English learning as grammar is an important element in a communicative approach to language. This paper discussed CLT method can help and encourage student to study, however, grammar-translation method is able to under⁃stand.

XPath Node Selection over Grammar-Compressed Trees

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sebastian Maneth

2013-11-01

Full Text Available XML document markup is highly repetitive and therefore well compressible using grammar-based compression. Downward, navigational XPath can be executed over grammar-compressed trees in PTIME: the query is translated into an automaton which is executed in one pass over the grammar. This result is well-known and has been mentioned before. Here we present precise bounds on the time complexity of this problem, in terms of big-O notation. For a given grammar and XPath query, we consider three different tasks: (1 to count the number of nodes selected by the query, (2 to materialize the pre-order numbers of the selected nodes, and (3 to serialize the subtrees at the selected nodes.

Reading and Grammar Learning through Mobile Phones

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Shudong; Smith, Simon

2013-01-01

This paper describes an ongoing language-learning project, three years into its development. We examine both the feasibility and the limitations of developing English reading and grammar skills through the interface of mobile phones. Throughout the project, reading and grammar materials were regularly sent to students' mobile phones. Students read…

Grammar and Communication

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

刘辉

2007-01-01

Instead of being a boring subject, grammar is in fact one of the most exciting, creative, relevant subjects. It is sometimes described as the skeleton of a language, but it is much more than bones. It is the language's heartbeat, for without grammar; there can be no meaningful or effective communication. And grammar has different definitions and categories according to different contexts. By first reviewing the past linguists, especially those grammarians and their research, the paper makes some comparisons between some categories of grammar and puts forward that there is no 'good' or 'bad' grammar but knowing grammar or knowing about grammar really has a close relationship with effective communication.

Functional and cognitive grammars

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Anna Siewierska

2011-01-01

This paper presents a comprehensive review of the functional approach and cognitive approach to the nature of language and its relation to other aspects of human cognition. The paper starts with a brief discussion of the origins and the core tenets of the two approaches in Section 1. Section 2 discusses the similarities and differences between the three full-fledged structural functional grammars subsumed in the functional approach： Halliday＇s Systemic Functional Grammar （SFG）, Dik＇s Functional Grammar （FG）, and Van Valin＇s Role and Reference Grammar （RRG）. Section 3 deals with the major features of the three cognitive frameworks： Langacker＇s Cognitive Grammar （CG）, Goldberg＇s Cognitive Construction Grammar （CCG）, and Croft＇s Radical Construction Grammar （RCG）. Section 4 compares the two approaches and attempts to provide a unified functional-cognitive grammar. In the last section, the author concludes the paper with remarks on the unidirectional shift from functional grammar to cognitive grammar that may indicate a reinterpretation of the traditional relationship between functional and cognitive models of grammar.

REEP Grammar Favorites.

Science.gov (United States)

Arlington County Public Schools, VA. REEP, Arlington Education and Employment Program.

This document provides the Arlington Education and Employment Program's (REEP) favorite techniques for teaching English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) grammar. The focus, levels, and materials needed are presented for each of the techniques as well as the steps to follow. (Adjunct ERIC Clearinghouse for ESL Literacy Education) (Author/VWL)

Essential French grammar

CERN Document Server

Thacker, Mike

2014-01-01

Essential French Grammar is an innovative reference grammar and workbook for intermediate and advanced undergraduate students of French (CEFR levels B2 to C1). Its clear explanations of grammar are supported by contemporary examples and lively cartoon drawings.  Each chapter contains: * real-life language examples in French, with English translations * a 'key points' box and tables that summarise grammar concepts * a variety of exercises to reinforce learning * a contemporary primary source or literary extract to illustrate grammar in context. To aid your understanding, this book also contains a glossary of grammatical terms in French and English, useful verb tables and a key to the exercises. Together, these features all help you to grasp complex points of grammar and develop your French language skills.

Vector grammars and PN machines

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

蒋昌俊

1996-01-01

The concept of vector grammars under the string semantic is introduced.The dass of vector grammars is given,which is similar to the dass of Chomsky grammars.The regular vector grammar is divided further.The strong and weak relation between the vector grammar and scalar grammar is discussed,so the spectrum system graph of scalar and vector grammars is made.The equivalent relation between the regular vector grammar and Petri nets (also called PN machine) is pointed.The hybrid PN machine is introduced,and its language is proved equivalent to the language of the context-free vector grammar.So the perfect relation structure between vector grammars and PN machines is formed.

The Nature of Grammar

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

王楠

2012-01-01

This paper describes the nature of grammar as "universalness". The universal grammar indicates that all the languages in the world have identical grammar. This is discussed from three aspects, which gives insight into grammar acquisition.

Presenting New Grammar

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

WU Cai-ling; WANG Xi

2015-01-01

More and more researchers have now agreed upon the necessity of teaching grammar, but it still remains controversial as how to teach the forms, with the central consideration of not to harm the meaning-focused communicative teaching method. In this essay, one of the issues in grammar teaching will be discussed as how to present new grammar to learners, through evaluating and modifying a particular presentation activity in a grammar-teaching textbook.

Grammar! A Conference Report.

Science.gov (United States)

King, Lid, Ed.; Boaks, Peter, Ed.

Papers from a conference on the teaching of grammar, particularly in second language instruction, include: "Grammar: Acquisition and Use" (Richard Johnstone); "Grammar and Communication" (Brian Page); "Linguistic Progression and Increasing Independence" (Bernardette Holmes); "La grammaire? C'est du bricolage!" ("Grammar? That's Hardware!") (Barry…

Triumph through Texting: Restoring Learners' Interest in Grammar

Science.gov (United States)

Hedjazi Moghari, Mona; Marandi, S. Susan

2017-01-01

It is usually the case that learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) are exposed to language materials in class only, and of course in such a short space of time, they do not always find enough chance to practice English grammar features and become aware of their grammar mistakes. As a potential solution to this problem, the current study…

Understanding the Models of Grammar

OpenAIRE

Mahaputri, Ratna Andhika

2013-01-01

This article provides comprehensive explanation about several models of grammar. The first model of grammar which is explained is considered from the functional grammar and associated with the American linguist Noam Chomsky that is Transformational Grammar. This model of grammar is consisted of three components they are phrase structure rule, the lexicon, and transformation. The second model of grammar which is explained in this article is Minimalist Grammar. This article also compares her...

Grammar Coding in the "Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English."

Science.gov (United States)

Wekker, Herman

1992-01-01

Focuses on the revised system of grammar coding for verbs in the fourth edition of the "Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English" (OALD4), comparing it with two other similar dictionaries. It is shown that the OALD4 is found to be more favorable on many criteria than the other comparable dictionaries. (16 references) (VWL)

Compiler generation based on grammar inheritance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Aksit, Mehmet; Mostert, Rene; Haverkort, Boudewijn R.H.M.

1990-01-01

The concept of grammar inheritance is introduced. Grammar inheritance is a structural organization of grammar rules by which a grammar inherits rules from ancestor grammars or may have its own rules inherited by descendant grammars. Grammar inheritance supports reusability and extensibility of

Teaching grammar, structure and meaning exploring theory and practice for post-16 English language teachers

CERN Document Server

Giovanelli, Marcello

2014-01-01

Teaching Grammar, Structure and Meaning introduces teachers to some basic ideas from the increasingly popular field of cognitive linguistics as a way of explaining and teaching key grammatical concepts. Particularly suitable for those teaching post-16 English Language, this book offers a methodology for teaching key aspects of linguistic form and an extensive set of learning activities. Written by an experienced linguist and teacher, this book contains:· an evaluation of current approaches to the teaching of grammar and linguistic form· a revised pedagogy based on principles from cognitive sci

Group Grammar

Science.gov (United States)

Adams, Karen

2015-01-01

In this article Karen Adams demonstrates how to incorporate group grammar techniques into a classroom activity. In the activity, students practice using the target grammar to do something they naturally enjoy: learning about each other.

The Use of Genre-Specific Evaluation Criteria for Revision

Science.gov (United States)

Philippakos, Zoi A.; MacArthur, Charles A.

2016-01-01

Revision is a challenging step of the writing process and students often focus their attention to mechanics or grammar instead of making organizational and meaning changes. It is important for students to critically read and independently evaluate their work when revising. This practitioner article discusses the importance of genre-specific…

Closure properties of Watson-Crick grammars

Science.gov (United States)

Zulkufli, Nurul Liyana binti Mohamad; Turaev, Sherzod; Tamrin, Mohd Izzuddin Mohd; Azeddine, Messikh

2015-12-01

In this paper, we define Watson-Crick context-free grammars, as an extension of Watson-Crick regular grammars and Watson-Crick linear grammars with context-free grammar rules. We show the relation of Watson-Crick (regular and linear) grammars to the sticker systems, and study some of the important closure properties of the Watson-Crick grammars. We establish that the Watson-Crick regular grammars are closed under almost all of the main closure operations, while the differences between other Watson-Crick grammars with their corresponding Chomsky grammars depend on the computational power of the Watson-Crick grammars which still need to be studied.

Subverting the grammar

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bárbara Amaral da Silva

2015-03-01

Full Text Available From the notion of parody, credibility and legitimacy, coming mainly from studies in discourse analysis, and ideas from the sociolinguistic we intend to develop a brief comparison between the Expositive Grammar – Advanced Course (46st ed.:1926 of Eduardo Carlos Pereira, who initially presents itself as a merely descriptive grammar, and the Portuguese Grammar by the Confused Method, written by Mendes Fradique (4st ed.: 1985. We observed that the first one claims to be “expositive” when it is cle­arly prescriptive. The work of Mendes Fradique uses humor and irony to parody pres­criptive grammars, criticizing the “good use”. In order to prove the above statement, we selected some of the concepts presented by those works, checking the position taken by each one. Among them is the very concept of grammar, language etc.

A Brief Survey of Grammar

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

陈福生

1984-01-01

@@ There are two kinds of grammar, prescriptive grammar and descriptive grammar. The prescriptive grammar gives orders how a language ought to be used rather than simply describing how it is used.This type of grammar lays down a lot of rules for the student to follow but the gifted philologist Edward Sapir points out that all grammatical rules leak. This type of grammar also warns the student against what are called ‘Shall-nots', but these ‘Shall-nots' are more likely to cause the student muchconcern rather than helping him to exprese his ideas in English. On the contrary, the descriptive grammar just describes how a language is used.

Teaching Grammar

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Michael Swan

2008-01-01

@@ The trouble with teaching grammar is that we are never quite sure whether it works or not:its effects are uncertain and hard to assess.Michael Swan looks at grammar teaching and the carry-over to spontaneous production by students.

Grammar

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

JeanetteDeCarrico; DianeLarsen-Freeman

2004-01-01

When it comes to definitions of grammar,confusion abounds.One problem is that the word grammar means different things to different people.For many,the term sugges tsa list of do's and don't's,rules that tell us we should say It is I,not It is me,that we should not say ain't,or that weshould avoid ending a sentence with a preposition.For oth

SERIOUS GRAMMAR CAN BE FUN

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

1996-01-01

IntroductionToday many Chinese students think of English grammar as an unpopular and difficult part of theirEnglish lessons Even more worryingly,that attitude is one they have usually picked up from theirteachers.Namely,grammar seems to be hard work for EFL teachers and students.So should grammarteaching be abolishedWhy do many teachers and students take a negative attitude toward grammarInthis paper,first,I will attempt to discuss the place of grammar in EFL teaching.Next,I will outline thetraditional methods of grammar teaching and the results of this kind of grammar teaching.Finally,I willput forward some suggestions on how to make grammar teaching more interesting in Chinese classrooms.

Effect of X-Word Grammar and Traditional Grammar Instruction on Grammatical Accuracy

Science.gov (United States)

Livingston, Sue; Toce, Andi; Casey, Toce; Montoya, Fernando; Hart, Bonny R.; O'Flaherty, Carmela

2018-01-01

This study first briefly describes an instructional approach to teaching grammar known as X-Word Grammar and then compares its effectiveness in assisting students in achieving grammatical accuracy with traditionally taught grammar. Two groups of L2 pre-college students were taught using curricula and practice procedures in two different grammar…

Interactive Russian Grammar: The Case System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rimma Gam

2009-01-01

Full Text Available My paper addresses a problem many of us in North American college language programs confront regularly, the solution to which regularly and frustratingly remains just out of our reach. I refer to the teaching of the most basic and most crucial element of Russian grammar, namely, its case system, and teaching it to our students whose native language, English, does not have such a system. As I teach the Russian cases, I see vividly the disconnect between grammar presented for students (simplified, episodic, based on the "pick it up along the way" principle and the learned papers on Russian grammar by linguists, which are barely comprehensible to a non-linguist. Materials in the middle are lacking-materials to help a literature professor acting as a "de facto" language instructor understand and address the needs of students as they learn this crucial segment of basic Russian grammar. This core element of Russian grammar is presented to students in the first year of college language study, is revisited in the second year, and very often by the third year students either manage to completely block it out from their memory (as if it were some traumatic experience that happened "a long time ago"-that is, before .summer break-but most importantly due to the lack of practice or demonstrate a partial or even complete lack of understanding or misunderstanding of this system forcing us to deal with it again in the third year. Not only is it frustrating for both the students and the language instructor; but from the point of view of their overall proficiency, the lack of control of the case system holds our students back. There can be no talk of advanced language proficiency without a complete and automatic mastery of this basic system. Unfortunately, regardless of the specific textbooks used, the students very often manage not to have a general idea and mastery of this system even by the third year of study.

Grammar

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

JeanetteDecarrico; DianeLarsen-Freeman

2004-01-01

Previous sections have reviewed issues in describing grammar, issues that were mainly concerned with what to describe, how to describe it and how to account for differing approaches and their implications in terms of theory and pedagogy in applied linguistics. But however precise and thorough researchers may attempt to be in addressing these issues, there are certain limitations to descriptions of grammar given in isolation from all other parts of the language system

Spoken Grammar for Chinese Learners

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

徐晓敏

2013-01-01

Currently, the concept of spoken grammar has been mentioned among Chinese teachers. However, teach-ers in China still have a vague idea of spoken grammar. Therefore this dissertation examines what spoken grammar is and argues that native speakers’ model of spoken grammar needs to be highlighted in the classroom teaching.

Spoken grammar awareness raising: Does it affect the listening ability of Iranian EFL learners?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mojgan Rashtchi

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Advances in spoken corpora analysis have brought about new insights into language pedagogy and have led to an awareness of the characteristics of spoken language. Current findings have shown that grammar of spoken language is different from written language. However, most listening and speaking materials are concocted based on written grammar and lack core spoken language features. The aim of the present study was to explore the question whether awareness of spoken grammar features could affect learners’ comprehension of real-life conversations. To this end, 45 university students in two intact classes participated in a listening course employing corpus-based materials. The instruction of the spoken grammar features to the experimental group was done overtly through awareness raising tasks, whereas the control group, though exposed to the same materials, was not provided with such tasks for learning the features. The results of the independent samples t tests revealed that the learners in the experimental group comprehended everyday conversations much better than those in the control group. Additionally, the highly positive views of spoken grammar held by the learners, which was elicited by means of a retrospective questionnaire, were generally comparable to those reported in the literature.

Phonology without universal grammar.

Science.gov (United States)

Archangeli, Diana; Pulleyblank, Douglas

2015-01-01

The question of identifying the properties of language that are specific human linguistic abilities, i.e., Universal Grammar, lies at the center of linguistic research. This paper argues for a largely Emergent Grammar in phonology, taking as the starting point that memory, categorization, attention to frequency, and the creation of symbolic systems are all nonlinguistic characteristics of the human mind. The articulation patterns of American English rhotics illustrate categorization and systems; the distribution of vowels in Bantu vowel harmony uses frequencies of particular sequences to argue against Universal Grammar and in favor of Emergent Grammar; prefix allomorphy in Esimbi illustrates the Emergent symbolic system integrating phonological and morphological generalizations. The Esimbi case has been treated as an example of phonological opacity in a Universal Grammar account; the Emergent analysis resolves the pattern without opacity concerns.

k-visit Attribute Grammars

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielson, Hanne Riis; Skyum, S.

1981-01-01

It is shown that any well-defined attribute grammar is k-visit for some k. Furthermore, it is shown that given a well-defined grammar G and an integer k, it is decidable whether G is k-visit. Finally it is shown that the k-visit grammars specify a proper hierarchy with respect to translations...

Explicit teaching of grammar and improvement in the grammar of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Explicit teaching of grammar and improvement in the grammar of student writing. J Parkinson. Abstract. No Abstract. Full Text: EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT · DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT. Article Metrics. Metrics Loading ... Metrics powered by PLOS ALM

Strictness Analysis for Attribute Grammars

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rosendahl, Mads

1992-01-01

interpretation of attribute grammars. The framework is used to construct a strictness analysis for attribute grammars. Results of the analysis enable us to transform an attribute grammar such that attributes are evaluated during parsing, if possible. The analysis is proved correct by relating it to a fixpoint...... semantics for attribute grammars. An implementation of the analysis is discussed and some extensions to the analysis are mentioned....

French grammar in context

CERN Document Server

Jubb, Margaret

2013-01-01

Instructors' edition without answer keysDiscount of 20% offered when 10 ebooks are sold- e.g. they will be sold for 263.60/ £151.90 instead of 329.50/£189.90French Grammar in Context presents a unique and exciting approach to learning grammar. Authentic texts from a rich variety of sources, literary and journalistic, are used as the starting point for the illustration and explanation of key areas of French grammar. Each point is consolidated with a wide range of written and spoken exercises. Grammar is presented not as an end in itself, but as a

Forest Grammar (Ⅱ)

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

张松懋

1994-01-01

The syntactic parsing algorithm of weak precedence forest grammar has been introduced and the correctness and unambiguity of this algorithm have been proved. An example is given to the syntactic parsing procedure of weak precedence forest grammar.

Analyzing Ambiguity of Context-Free Grammars

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brabrand, Claus; Giegerich, Robert; Møller, Anders

2007-01-01

It has been known since 1962 that the ambiguity problem for context-free grammars is undecidable. Ambiguity in context-free grammars is a recurring problem in language design and parser generation, as well as in applications where grammars are used as models of real-world physical structures. We...... observe that there is a simple linguistic characterization of the grammar ambiguity problem, and we show how to exploit this to conservatively approximate the problem based on local regular approximations and grammar unfoldings. As an application, we consider grammars that occur in RNA analysis...

Importance of Grammar in English Teaching

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

赵天毓

2011-01-01

Grammar teaching is one of the most difficult and important points in the middle school. However, there exist some problems with present grammar teaching, such as students＇ poor knowledge of grammar, improper teaching methods and the ignorance of grammar

TEACHING GRAMMAR IN CONTEXT: WHY AND HOW?

OpenAIRE

Noor Maulidiyah

2017-01-01

Grammar is an important component of English. Without grammar, it is not possible to communicate meaning successfully. Therefore, teachers and educators have to pay close attention to teaching grammar effectively. Based on the writer‘s experience in teaching grammar using the traditional way, many students still had difficulty in acquiring the grammar points. The grammar meetings were not effective, and the students did not thoroughly understand the grammar exercises. The students seemed bore...

Generic Graph Grammar: A Simple Grammar for Generic Procedural Modelling

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christiansen, Asger Nyman; Bærentzen, Jakob Andreas

2012-01-01

in a directed cyclic graph. Furthermore, the basic productions are chosen such that Generic Graph Grammar seamlessly combines the capabilities of L-systems to imitate biological growth (to model trees, animals, etc.) and those of split grammars to design structured objects (chairs, houses, etc.). This results...

On Construction Grammar

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

XIAO Kunxue

2005-01-01

Constructionist approach with its brand-new perspective has begun to demonstrate its dynamic power. This paper attempts to review the basic ideas, achievements and comparison with generative grammar of Construction Grammar and generalize some problems and future research prospects.

How to Learn English Grammar?

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

肖琳燃

2017-01-01

Grammar is an aspect of language about which learners have different opinions. Some learners are very interested in ifnding out or learning grammar rules and doing lots of grammar exercises. Others hate grammar and think it is the most boring part of learning a new language. Whatever opinion you have, however, you cannot escape from grammar; it is in every sentence you read or write, speak or hear. Grammar is simply the word for the rules that people follow when they use a language. We need those rules in the same way as we need the rules in a game. If there are no rules, or if everybody follows their own rules, the game would soon break down. It's the same with language; without rules we would not be able to communicate with other people. So you cannot escape from grammar, but the key question here is: what is the best way to learn grammar? You can learn the rules of a game by simply playing the game. You will certainly make mistakes; you may even get hurt. Eventually, however, you will know how to play. Of course, the rules of a language are very much more complicated than the rules of any game, but in fact this is exactly how you learned your own language. Nobody taught you the rules of your mother tongue as you were growing up but now you never make a grammar mistake.

How to describe grammar and vocabulary in ELT

CERN Document Server

Liu, Dilin

2013-01-01

Language description plays an important role in language learning/teaching because it often determines what specific language forms, features, and usages are taught and how. A good understanding of language description is vital for language teachers and material writers and should constitute an important part of their knowledge. This book provides a balanced treatment of both theory and practice. It focuses on some of the most important and challenging grammar and vocabulary usage questions. Using these questions as examples, it shows how theory can inform practice and how grammar and vocab

A Task-driven Grammar Refactoring Algorithm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ivan Halupka

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents our proposal and the implementation of an algorithm for automated refactoring of context-free grammars. Rather than operating under some domain-specific task, in our approach refactoring is perfomed on the basis of a refactoring task defined by its user. The algorithm and the corresponding refactoring system are called mARTINICA. mARTINICA is able to refactor grammars of arbitrary size and structural complexity. However, the computation time needed to perform a refactoring task with the desired outcome is highly dependent on the size of the grammar. Until now, we have successfully performed refactoring tasks on small and medium-size grammars of Pascal-like languages and parts of the Algol-60 programming language grammar. This paper also briefly introduces the reader to processes occurring in grammar refactoring, a method for describing desired properties that a refactored grammar should fulfill, and there is a discussion of the overall significance of grammar refactoring.

Grammar Games: A Case for Instructionist Game Models to Enhance Grammar Awareness and Accuracy

Science.gov (United States)

Raftery, Brian; Santos, Jennifer

2015-01-01

Based on our own experiences teaching grammar in developmental writing classes and classes not dedicated to writing instruction, along with a history of scholarship that indicates a need for grammar pedagogies (e.g., Dougherty, 2012), instructor-designed grammar games can likely help facilitate learning about these mechanics of writing while…

The Teaching of English Grammar

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

祖凤霞

2009-01-01

Acquiring the grammar system is vital in the foreign language learning, and there has always been the debate on how learners can best acquire the English grammar. Inthis paper, two methods for teaching grammar will be presented--traditional practice and consciousness-raising. Both thetwo methods have their ad-vantages and disadvantages. But in practice, it is a better idea to combine different methods to make grammar teaching more effective. In addition, the consideration of different individual learners is also very important.

Classroom Grammar Teaching for Adult Learners

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

石怡

2014-01-01

As Wight (1999, p.33) pointed out to“know a language was to know the grammar of it”, hence grammar teaching is usually the main approach in second or foreign language teaching. This paper presents an analysis from three aspects to il-lustrate why classroom grammar teaching benefits adult learners. However, if grammar is overstated, some negative results will occur. Therefore a balance between grammar teaching and communicative skill teaching is need, as is a balance between accuracy and fluency.

Procedure Of Teaching Grammar Using Memory Enhancement

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Herri Susanto

2011-11-01

Full Text Available Teaching grammar has been regarded as a process of understanding from the context. It means a teacher teaches the pupils contextually more than just the rules. However, I have my own experience that teaching grammar methods must depend on the purposes of learning grammar. Some people learn grammar as a means to fulfill the syllabus needs for schools but other people learn grammar for special purposes out of school syllabus, such as for entrance test. For these reasons, the methods of teaching grammar should be different. The students who learn grammar based on the school syllabus probably needs longer procedure of learning that usually uses contextual teaching through listening, speaking, writing, and reading. Nevertheless, students who learn grammar for test need shorter procedure of learning such as memorizing. Therefore, I propose giving a workshop of teaching grammar using memory enhancement as another alternative teaching grammar method. This workshop would show the class that grammar can be learnt through memory enhancement process, i.e.; mind map, music, memory technique and drill to boost up students understanding for test preparation.

Teaching Grammar and Testing Grammar in the English Primary School: The Impact on Teachers and Their Teaching of the Grammar Element of the Statutory Test in Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar (SPaG)

Science.gov (United States)

Safford, Kimberly

2016-01-01

The research examined the impact on teachers of the grammar element of a new statutory test in Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar (SPaG) in primary schools in England. The research aimed to evaluate the nature and the extent of changes to the teaching of grammar and to wider literacy teaching since the introduction of the test in 2013. The research…

Regular extensions of some classes of grammars

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nijholt, Antinus

Culik and Cohen introduced the class of LR-regular grammars, an extension of the LR(k) grammars. In this report we consider the analogous extension of the LL(k) grammers, called the LL-regular grammars. The relations of this class of grammars to other classes of grammars are shown. Every LL-regular

The Necessity of Grammar Teaching

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Fengjuan

2010-01-01

Mastering grammar is the foundation in the proficiency of a language. Grammar teaching is also an essential part of language teaching. However, with the communicative approach was introduced into China, many foreign language teachers gradually make little of grammar teaching. In terms of the theory of linguistics, this paper specifically explores…

English Language Teaching Methods: State of the Art in Grammar Instruction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rusdiana Junaid

2014-02-01

Full Text Available The teaching of grammar has fluctuated and shifted over years. This paper addresses issues such as different ways of teaching grammar, changes in ideas, and practices at the present stage of its development as well as the current state of the art in grammar instruction. Several grammar textbooks which were published in different years also are looked at in order to discover the extent of change in terms of the materials used to teach grammar from time to time. A considerable array of English language teaching methods is available for teacher to utilize since 1980s. Before deciding to employ a particular method, however, educational practitioners need to take several things into consideration such as the objectives of the instruction, the needs, the interests, the expectation, the age, and the level of the learners, and the available supporting facilities. Equally important, the possible constraints such as the environment where the students are learning, the time, and the expectation of the institution are also needed to be considered.

Structural priming, action planning, and grammar.

Science.gov (United States)

MacDonald, Maryellen C; Weiss, Daniel J

2017-01-01

Structural priming is poorly understood and cannot inform accounts of grammar for two reasons. First, those who view performance as grammar + processing will always be able to attribute psycholinguistic data to processing rather than grammar. Second, structural priming may be simply an example of hysteresis effects in general action planning. If so, then priming offers no special insight into grammar.

LexGram - a practical categorial grammar formalism -

OpenAIRE

Koenig, Esther

1995-01-01

We present the LexGram system, an amalgam of (Lambek) categorial grammar and Head Driven Phrase Structure Grammar (HPSG), and show that the grammar formalism it implements is a well-structured and useful tool for actual grammar development.

TEACHING GRAMMAR IN CONTEXT: WHY AND HOW?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Noor Maulidiyah

2017-04-01

Then the paper explains the concept of context in teaching grammar and describes the reasons for teaching grammar in context. The last part of the paper demonstrates how grammar is taught in context. These sample lessons are taken from different sources based on experts when teaching grammar in context.Teaching grammar in context is more useful and can help the students to master English better.

Style representation in design grammars

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ahmad, Sumbul; Chase, Scott Curland

2012-01-01

The concept of style is relevant for both the analysis and synthesis of designs. New styles are often formed by the adaptation of previous ones based on changes in design criteria and context. A formal characterization of style is given by shape grammars, which describe the compositional rules...... underlying a set of designs. Stylistic change can be modelled by grammar transformations, which allow the transformation of the structure and vocabulary of a grammar that is used to describe a particular style. In order for grammars to be useful beyond a single application, they should have the capability...... to be transformed according to changing design style needs. Issues of formalizing stylistic change necessitate a lucid and formal definition of style in the design language generated by a grammar. Furthermore, a significant aspect of the definition of style is the representation of aesthetic qualities attributed...

French grammar for dummies

CERN Document Server

Mazet, Veronique

2013-01-01

The easy way to master French grammar French Grammar For Dummies is a logical extension and complement to the successful language learning book, French For Dummies. In plain English, it teaches you the grammatical rules of the French language, including parts of speech, sentence construction, pronouns, adjectives, punctuation, stress and verb tenses, and moods. Throughout the book, you get plenty of practice opportunities to help you on your goal of mastering basic French grammar and usage. Grasp the grammatical rules of French including parts of speech, sentenc

Utilisation de l'assistant grammatical Antidote dans le cadre d'activités de révision - Analyse exploratoire de protocoles d'observation Using Antidote in Revision Tasks: An Exploratory Study of Grammar Checker Usage Through Verbal Protocol Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Patrick Durel

2006-06-01

Full Text Available Cette étude examine les opérations mentales d'apprenants utilisant l'assistant grammatical Antidote en phase de révision de leurs productions écrites. Analysant des données obtenues à partir de la méthode des protocoles verbaux, ce travail montre comment ce type d'activité de révision assistée par ordinateur conduit l'apprenant à manipuler, construire, renforcer ou élargir le champ d'application de ses connaissances, qu'elles soient déclaratives ou procédurales. Les éléments dégagés indiquent que l'utilisation d'Antidote peut être vecteur d'apprentissage et offrent quelques pistes permettant de concevoir des activités de révision assistée par ordinateur qui s'inscrivent dans le cadre d'une didactique de la production scripturale.This study explores learners' cognitive processes when using the grammar assistant software Antidote during the revision phase of their composition. Analysing data obtained using a hybrid form of verbal protocols, it shows how computer-assisted revision activity can lead learners to manipulate, build or reinforce declarative and procedural knowledge. We argue that using grammar assistant software can be conducive to learning. The results of the analysis provide an insight into how such a tool can be integrated into classroom activities, contributing to writing quality and the acquisition of revision strategies.

The History of Modern Chinese Grammar Studies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Peverelli, P.J.

2015-01-01

This book discusses the way Chinese scholars developed a national grammar. Chinese didnt develop grammar until Chinas contact with Western grammar books in the 19th Century. The first indigenous grammar was published in 1889. It included some traditional notions, but mainly imitated European

A Learning Algorithm for Multimodal Grammar Inference.

Science.gov (United States)

D'Ulizia, A; Ferri, F; Grifoni, P

2011-12-01

The high costs of development and maintenance of multimodal grammars in integrating and understanding input in multimodal interfaces lead to the investigation of novel algorithmic solutions in automating grammar generation and in updating processes. Many algorithms for context-free grammar inference have been developed in the natural language processing literature. An extension of these algorithms toward the inference of multimodal grammars is necessary for multimodal input processing. In this paper, we propose a novel grammar inference mechanism that allows us to learn a multimodal grammar from its positive samples of multimodal sentences. The algorithm first generates the multimodal grammar that is able to parse the positive samples of sentences and, afterward, makes use of two learning operators and the minimum description length metrics in improving the grammar description and in avoiding the over-generalization problem. The experimental results highlight the acceptable performances of the algorithm proposed in this paper since it has a very high probability of parsing valid sentences.

English grammar in use a self-study reference and practice book for intermediate learners of English : with answers and CD-ROM

CERN Document Server

Murphy, Raymond

2012-01-01

English Grammar in Use Fourth edition is an updated version of the world's best-selling grammar title. It has a fresh, appealing new design and clear layout, with revised and updated examples, but retains all the key features of clarity and accessibility that have made the book popular with millions of learners and teachers around the world. The CD-ROM contains lots of additional practice exercises to consolidate learning, ideal for self-study but also suitable for reinforcement work in the classroom. An online version and book without answers are available separately.

Ambiguity Detection Methods for Context-Free Grammars

NARCIS (Netherlands)

H.J.S. Basten (Bas)

2007-01-01

textabstractThe Meta-Environment enables the creation of grammars using the SDF formalism. From these grammars an SGLR parser can be generated. One of the advantages of these parsers is that they can handle the entire class of context-free grammars (CFGs). The grammar developer does not have to

A Construction Grammar for the Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Holme, Randal

2010-01-01

Construction grammars (Lakoff, Women, fire and dangerous things: What categories reveal about the Mind, University of Chicago Press, 1987; Langacker, Foundations of cognitive grammar: Theoretical pre-requisites, Stanford University Press, 1987; Croft, Radical construction grammar: Syntactic theory in typological perspective, Oxford University…

Bringing Fun and Meaning into Grammar Learning: A Case Study of a Secondary-Level EFL Class in Hong Kong

Science.gov (United States)

Hua, Congchao; Li, Bin

2015-01-01

Popular culture materials are generally believed to have positive effects on L2 learning. This study examined the effectiveness of popular culture materials in enhancing Hong Kong EFL students' grammar learning. In a quasi-experimental design, 20 secondary school students were taught grammar in two ways: with the use of popular culture materials,…

Machine Translation Using Constraint-Based Synchronous Grammar

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

WONG Fai; DONG Mingchui; HU Dongcheng

2006-01-01

A synchronous grammar based on the formalism of context-free grammar was developed by generalizing the first component of production that models the source text. Unlike other synchronous grammars,the grammar allows multiple target productions to be associated to a single production rule which can be used to guide a parser to infer different possible translational equivalences for a recognized input string according to the feature constraints of symbols in the pattern. An extended generalized LR algorithm was adapted to the parsing of the proposed formalism to analyze the syntactic structure of a language. The grammar was used as the basis for building a machine translation system for Portuguese to Chinese translation. The empirical results show that the grammar is more expressive when modeling the translational equivalences of parallel texts for machine translation and grammar rewriting applications.

Researches on Problems in College Students'Grammar Learning and Countermeasures%Researches on Problems in College Students' Grammar Learning and Countermeasures

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

廖芳

2016-01-01

Grammar is the guiding rules of language, and a good mastery of grammar is the basis of English learning. This paper starts from the problems in college students' current grammar learning and put forwards some strategies to improve their English grammar.

Grammar and Teaching ESL

Science.gov (United States)

Morrissey, Glenda; Young, Barbara N.

2005-01-01

The variety of theories relating to teaching ESL learners leads to contradictory ideas about teaching a second language. This paper focuses on the continuing importance of grammar in teaching and the current resurgence in interest in returning to grammar as an important component in the classroom.

REFLECTIONS ON GRAMMAR TEACHING

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

2000-01-01

This article aims to answer three questions:(1)Why there exists a discrepancy between the learner’sgrammar knowledge and their communicative skills?(2)What problems are there with grammar tests andteaching?(3)How should grammar be taught as"away of talking"rather than"a description of rules"?

GRAMMAR IN LANGUAGE TEACHING

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Jiang Nongxin

2003-01-01

@@ 1 Definition of grammar Grammar is the science dealing with the systematic rules of a language, its forms, inflections, syntax, and the art of using them correctly. It is summarized from language use and practice, and reflects the logic of thinking in people's speech or writing.

HIGHER ORDER THINKING IN TEACHING GRAMMAR

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Citra Dewi

2017-04-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper discussed about how to enhance students’ higher order thinking that should be done by teacher in teaching grammar. Usually teaching grammar was boring and has the same way to learn like change the pattern of sentence into positive, negative and introgative while the students’ need more various way to develop their thinking. The outcome of students’ competence in grammar sometimes not sufficient enough when the students’ occured some test international standart like Test of English Foreign Language, International English Language Testing. Whereas in TOEFL test it needed higher order thinking answer, so teacher should develop students’ higher order thingking in daily teaching grammar in order to make the students’ enhance their thinking are higher. The method was used in this paper by using field study based on the experience of teaching grammar. It can be shown by students’ toefl score was less in stucture and written expression. The result of this paper was after teacher gave some treatments to enhance students’ higher order thinking in teaching grammar, the students’ toefl scores are sufficient enough as a part of stucture and written expression. It can concluded that it needed some strategies to enhancce students higher order thinking by teaching grammar it can make students’ higher toefl score. Teachers should be creative and inovative to teach the students’ started from giving the students’ question or test in teaching grammar.

Knowing Chinese character grammar.

Science.gov (United States)

Myers, James

2016-02-01

Chinese character structure has often been described as representing a kind of grammar, but the notion of character grammar has hardly been explored. Patterns in character element reduplication are particularly grammar-like, displaying discrete combinatoriality, binarity, phonology-like final prominence, and potentially the need for symbolic rules (X→XX). To test knowledge of these patterns, Chinese readers were asked to judge the acceptability of fake characters varying both in grammaticality (obeying or violating reduplication constraints) and in lexicality (of the reduplicative configurations). While lexical knowledge was important (lexicality improved acceptability and grammatical configurations were accepted more quickly when also lexical), grammatical knowledge was important as well, with grammaticality improving acceptability equally for lexical and nonlexical configurations. Acceptability was also higher for more frequent reduplicative elements, suggesting that the reduplicative configurations were decomposed. Chinese characters present an as-yet untapped resource for exploring fundamental questions about the nature of the human capacity for grammar. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Visual artificial grammar learning by rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta): exploring the role of grammar complexity and sequence length.

Science.gov (United States)

Heimbauer, Lisa A; Conway, Christopher M; Christiansen, Morten H; Beran, Michael J; Owren, Michael J

2018-03-01

Humans and nonhuman primates can learn about the organization of stimuli in the environment using implicit sequential pattern learning capabilities. However, most previous artificial grammar learning studies with nonhuman primates have involved relatively simple grammars and short input sequences. The goal in the current experiments was to assess the learning capabilities of monkeys on an artificial grammar-learning task that was more complex than most others previously used with nonhumans. Three experiments were conducted using a joystick-based, symmetrical-response serial reaction time task in which two monkeys were exposed to grammar-generated sequences at sequence lengths of four in Experiment 1, six in Experiment 2, and eight in Experiment 3. Over time, the monkeys came to respond faster to the sequences generated from the artificial grammar compared to random versions. In a subsequent generalization phase, subjects generalized their knowledge to novel sequences, responding significantly faster to novel instances of sequences produced using the familiar grammar compared to those constructed using an unfamiliar grammar. These results reveal that rhesus monkeys can learn and generalize the statistical structure inherent in an artificial grammar that is as complex as some used with humans, for sequences up to eight items long. These findings are discussed in relation to whether or not rhesus macaques and other primate species possess implicit sequence learning abilities that are similar to those that humans draw upon to learn natural language grammar.

Analyzing Ambiguity of Context-Free Grammars

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brabrand, Claus; Giegerich, Robert; Møller, Anders

2010-01-01

It has been known since 1962 that the ambiguity problem for context-free grammars is undecidable. Ambiguity in context-free grammars is a recurring problem in language design and parser generation, as well as in applications where grammars are used as models of real-world physical structures. We...... observe that there is a simple linguistic characterization of the grammar ambiguity problem, and we show how to exploit this by presenting an ambiguity analysis framework based on conservative language approximations. As a concrete example, we propose a technique based on local regular approximations...

Grammar Teaching in Chinese Tertiary Education

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

LAN Hui-hui

2016-01-01

Grammar teaching, as one essential aspect of English language teaching (ELT), has been and continues to be an area of some controversy and debates, which entails the emergency of diverse classroom practices for language teachers:Focus on Form or Focus on FormS. Connected with the specific context of grammar teaching in Chinese higher education, this paper tends to re-consider the place of grammar teaching in the classroom, and come up with some feasible approaches to instructing grammar so as to make appropriate connections between grammatical forms and the meanings.

Reframing the English Grammar Schools Debate

Science.gov (United States)

Morris, Rebecca; Perry, Thomas

2017-01-01

In October 2015 the Department for Education (DfE) permitted a grammar school in Tonbridge, Kent, to open up an annexe in Sevenoaks, 10 miles away. Amidst claims that the annexe was essentially a new grammar school, the decision reignited an old debate about the value of academically-selective "grammar" schools in England. The intensity…

Some Key Principles for Developing Grammar Skills

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

张威

2008-01-01

Grammar is sometimes defined aft"the way words are put together to make correct sentences"(Ur,2004,P.75).The aim of teaching grammar is to raise the rates of the correctness of language use and help the students transfer the isolated language points to apply language.In this essay，the author introduces two kinds of Conlnlon methods in English grammar class. And there are some key principles in grammar teaching.

Implicit Learning of Recursive Context-Free Grammars

Science.gov (United States)

Rohrmeier, Martin; Fu, Qiufang; Dienes, Zoltan

2012-01-01

Context-free grammars are fundamental for the description of linguistic syntax. However, most artificial grammar learning experiments have explored learning of simpler finite-state grammars, while studies exploring context-free grammars have not assessed awareness and implicitness. This paper explores the implicit learning of context-free grammars employing features of hierarchical organization, recursive embedding and long-distance dependencies. The grammars also featured the distinction between left- and right-branching structures, as well as between centre- and tail-embedding, both distinctions found in natural languages. People acquired unconscious knowledge of relations between grammatical classes even for dependencies over long distances, in ways that went beyond learning simpler relations (e.g. n-grams) between individual words. The structural distinctions drawn from linguistics also proved important as performance was greater for tail-embedding than centre-embedding structures. The results suggest the plausibility of implicit learning of complex context-free structures, which model some features of natural languages. They support the relevance of artificial grammar learning for probing mechanisms of language learning and challenge existing theories and computational models of implicit learning. PMID:23094021

Implicit learning of recursive context-free grammars.

Science.gov (United States)

Rohrmeier, Martin; Fu, Qiufang; Dienes, Zoltan

2012-01-01

Context-free grammars are fundamental for the description of linguistic syntax. However, most artificial grammar learning experiments have explored learning of simpler finite-state grammars, while studies exploring context-free grammars have not assessed awareness and implicitness. This paper explores the implicit learning of context-free grammars employing features of hierarchical organization, recursive embedding and long-distance dependencies. The grammars also featured the distinction between left- and right-branching structures, as well as between centre- and tail-embedding, both distinctions found in natural languages. People acquired unconscious knowledge of relations between grammatical classes even for dependencies over long distances, in ways that went beyond learning simpler relations (e.g. n-grams) between individual words. The structural distinctions drawn from linguistics also proved important as performance was greater for tail-embedding than centre-embedding structures. The results suggest the plausibility of implicit learning of complex context-free structures, which model some features of natural languages. They support the relevance of artificial grammar learning for probing mechanisms of language learning and challenge existing theories and computational models of implicit learning.

Implicit learning of recursive context-free grammars.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Martin Rohrmeier

Full Text Available Context-free grammars are fundamental for the description of linguistic syntax. However, most artificial grammar learning experiments have explored learning of simpler finite-state grammars, while studies exploring context-free grammars have not assessed awareness and implicitness. This paper explores the implicit learning of context-free grammars employing features of hierarchical organization, recursive embedding and long-distance dependencies. The grammars also featured the distinction between left- and right-branching structures, as well as between centre- and tail-embedding, both distinctions found in natural languages. People acquired unconscious knowledge of relations between grammatical classes even for dependencies over long distances, in ways that went beyond learning simpler relations (e.g. n-grams between individual words. The structural distinctions drawn from linguistics also proved important as performance was greater for tail-embedding than centre-embedding structures. The results suggest the plausibility of implicit learning of complex context-free structures, which model some features of natural languages. They support the relevance of artificial grammar learning for probing mechanisms of language learning and challenge existing theories and computational models of implicit learning.

The Importance of English Grammar Teaching at College

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

孙丽伟

2012-01-01

This paper attempts to elaborate the importance of grammar teaching at college through the four linguistic skills: listening, speaking, reading,and writing.The nature of grammar determines the significance of grammar teaching. This paper shows the importance of grammar teaching from its relationship with listening,speaking,reading and writing.

A Survey of Grammar Instruction from Scholastic Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Peng, Yanghua

2017-01-01

The study of grammar has been paid much attention and the grammar instruction becomes an emphasis and key problem in English language teaching and learning. How to instruct students grammar appropriately becomes controversial for some English teachers increasingly. Some linguistics, theorists and teachers hold that the grammar instruction should…

Functional discourse grammar: pragmatic aspects

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hannay, M.; Hengeveld, K.; Brisard, F.; Östman, J.O.; Verschueren, J.

2009-01-01

This chapter introduces Functional Discourse Grammar, focusing on the way in which this model is capable of accounting for the grammatical encoding of pragmatic distinctions and for the typological variation found in this area of grammar.

What English Teachers Need to Know about Grammar.

Science.gov (United States)

Murdick, William

1996-01-01

Suggests that English teachers need to know that grammar is a difficult subject; know what children know about grammar; know that grammatical error is complex; and know more about language than just grammar. Concludes with the advice of Noam Chomsky--that grammar should be taught for its own intrinsic interest. (RS)

Revised legislation affecting the transport of radioactive materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rowlands, R.P.

1976-01-01

The revised edition of the model Regulations for the safe transport of radioactive materials (1973, Vienna, International Atomic Energy Agency Safety Series no.6) has acted as the basis for the conditions of carriage and regulatory requirements in Great Britain. The changes introduced in this revised edition are discussed, and the current Regulations and Codes of Practice covering U.K. and international transport by road, sea, rail and air reviewed. (U.K.)

Ch(k) grammars: A characterization of LL(k) languages

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Becvar, J.; Nijholt, Antinus; Soisalon-Soininen, E.

In this paper we introduce the class of so called Ch(k) grammars [pronounced "chain k grammars"]. This class of grammars is properly contained in the class of LR(k) grammars and it properly contains the LL(k) grammars. However, the family of Ch[k) languages coincides with the family of LL(k)

Chargaff's "Grammar of Biology": New Fractal-like Rules

OpenAIRE

Yamagishi, Michel Eduardo Beleza; Herai, Roberto H.

2011-01-01

Chargaff once said that "I saw before me in dark contours the beginning of a grammar of Biology". In linguistics, "grammar" is the set of natural language rules, but we do not know for sure what Chargaff meant by "grammar" of Biology. Nevertheless, assuming the metaphor, Chargaff himself started a "grammar of Biology" discovering the so called Chargaff's rules. In this work, we further develop his grammar. Using new concepts, we were able to discovery new genomic rules that seem to be invaria...

English Grammar Workbook For Dummies

CERN Document Server

O'Sullivan, Nuala

2010-01-01

English Grammar Workbook For Dummies, UK Edition is grammar First Aid for anyone wanting to perfect their English and develop the practical skills needed to write and speak correctly. Each chapter focuses on key grammatical principles, with easy-to-follow theory and examples as well as practice questions and explanations. From verbs, prepositions and tenses, to style, expressions and tricky word traps, this hands-on workbook is essential for both beginners looking to learn and practise the basics of English grammar, and those who want to brush up skills they already have - quickly, easily, and

Practising French grammar a workbook

CERN Document Server

Dr Roger Hawkins; Towell, Richard

2015-01-01

This new edition of Practising French Grammar offers a set of varied and accessible exercises for developing a practical awareness of French as it is spoken and written today. The lively examples and authentic texts and cartoons have been updated to reflect current usage. A new companion website provides a wealth of additional interactive exercises to help consolidate challenging grammar points. Practising French Grammar provides concise summaries of key grammatical points at the beginning of each exercise, as well as model answers to the exercises and translations of difficult words, making i

Teachers'Perceptions of Teaching Grammar in Young Learners'Classroom%Teachers' Perceptions of Teaching Grammar in Young Learners' Classroom

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

余媛

2016-01-01

The present essay studies the role of grammar in young learners' classroom, perceived by the English teachers in China. The study gives a detailed description of what the role of grammar is like in young learners' classroom, by interviewing primary school teachers both from a city in a developed coastal city and a less developed city in central China. It highlights the differences in the perceptions of teachers on the prominence of grammar in their classes. These differences may indicate regional disparity and potential factors for teachers' teaching approaches to grammar instruction.

CLIMB grammars: three projects using metagrammar engineering

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Fokkens, A.S.; Avgustinova, T.; Zhang, Yi

2012-01-01

This paper introduces the CLIMB (Comparative Libraries of Implementations with Matrix Basis) methodology and grammars. The basic idea behind CLIMB is to use code generation as a general methodology for grammar development in order to create a more systematic approach to grammar development. The

Learning of pitch and time structures in an artificial grammar setting.

Science.gov (United States)

Prince, Jon B; Stevens, Catherine J; Jones, Mari Riess; Tillmann, Barbara

2018-04-12

Despite the empirical evidence for the power of the cognitive capacity of implicit learning of structures and regularities in several modalities and materials, it remains controversial whether implicit learning extends to the learning of temporal structures and regularities. We investigated whether (a) an artificial grammar can be learned equally well when expressed in duration sequences as when expressed in pitch sequences, (b) learning of the artificial grammar in either duration or pitch (as the primary dimension) sequences can be influenced by the properties of the secondary dimension (invariant vs. randomized), and (c) learning can be boosted when the artificial grammar is expressed in both pitch and duration. After an exposure phase with grammatical sequences, learning in a subsequent test phase was assessed in a grammaticality judgment task. Participants in both the pitch and duration conditions showed incidental (not fully implicit) learning of the artificial grammar when the secondary dimension was invariant, but randomizing the pitch sequence prevented learning of the artificial grammar in duration sequences. Expressing the artificial grammar in both pitch and duration resulted in disproportionately better performance, suggesting an interaction between the learning of pitch and temporal structure. The findings are relevant to research investigating the learning of temporal structures and the learning of structures presented simultaneously in 2 dimensions (e.g., space and time, space and objects). By investigating learning, the findings provide further insight into the potential specificity of pitch and time processing, and their integrated versus independent processing, as previously debated in music cognition research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

LR-parsing of Extended Context-free Grammars

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Madsen, Ole Lehrmann; Kristensen, Bent Bruun

1976-01-01

To improve the readability of a grammar it is common to use extended context free grammars (ECFGs) which are context free grammars (CFGs) extended with the repetition operator (*), the alternation operator (¦) and parentheses to express the right hand sides of the productions. The topic treated h...

Grammar in Context using Comprehended Input

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mariam Mohamed Nor

2014-03-01

Full Text Available There have been so many ongoing disputes on different approaches to teaching grammar. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of teaching grammar using Gass comprehended Input technique (GCI (1997 (implicit and to explore the undergraduates’ perception on the GCI technique. The respondents consisted of 30 undergraduates’ who are currently pursuing their Bachelor of English. Using the qualitative method, the research instrument was a set of 23- item interview and content analysis of the students’ written work. Results showed that the teaching of grammar using explicit instructions was more preferred than implicit instruction for complex components in grammatical rules. However, implicit instruction is equally effective regardless of the proficiency levels to enable pedagogy to be executed. It is also noted that there is lots of room for improvement, since the undergraduates have a weak grasp of the basic tense aspect of English grammar. Therefore, the Malaysian Ministry of Education should consider having grammar formally taught in isolation as what was practised previously.

Introducing English grammar

CERN Document Server

Borjars, Kersti

2013-01-01

Answering key questions such as 'Why study grammar?' and 'What is standard English?', Introducing English Grammar guides readers through the practical analysis of the syntax of English sentences. With all special terms carefully explained as they are introduced, the book is written for readers with no previous experience of grammatical analysis. It is ideal for all those beginning their study of linguistics, English language or speech pathology, as well as students with primarily literary interests who need to cover the basics of linguistic analysis. The approach taken is in line with current research in grammar, a particular advantage for students who may go on to study syntax in more depth. All the examples and exercises use real language taken from newspaper articles, non-standard dialects and include excerpts from studies of patients with language difficulties. Students are encouraged to think about the terminology as a tool kit for studying language and to test what can and cannot be described using thes...

The Grammar Movie Project

Science.gov (United States)

Kreutner, Edith

2015-01-01

In this case study, I will show how directing a movie on grammar can help students improve their oral skills as well as their language competency, team working and planning skills, and also teach them about learning itself. I will present an innovative teaching project that uses the medium of film to get students engaged with grammar and that aims…

Drama Grammar: Towards a Performative Postmethod Pedagogy

Science.gov (United States)

Even, Susanne

2011-01-01

This article presents the original concept of drama grammar, the synthesis of grammar instruction and drama pedagogy, which integrates both structural and communicative paradigms through a dialectic combination of acting and linguistic analysis. Based on the principles of drama pedagogy, drama grammar makes use of techniques from the performing…

Conceptualisations of "Grammar Teaching": L1 English Teachers' Beliefs about Teaching Grammar for Writing

Science.gov (United States)

Watson, Annabel Mary

2015-01-01

This paper reports on an investigation of L1 English teachers' conceptual and evaluative beliefs about teaching grammar, one strand of a larger Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)-funded investigation into the impact of contextualised grammar teaching [RES-062-23-0775]. Thirty-one teachers in English secondary schools were interviewed…

Missionary Pragmalinguistics: Father Diego Luis de Sanvitores’ grammar within the tradition of Philippine grammars

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Winkler, A.P.

2016-01-01

The grammar written in Latin, in 1668, by the Jesuit missionary Father Diego Luis de Sanvitores (1627-1672) is the oldest description we have of Chamorro, a language spoken on the Mariana islands. The grammar received a number of bad reviews and as a consequence has become neglected and almost

Does Teaching Grammar Really Hinder Students＇ Speaking Abilities？

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Kazumi Araki

2015-01-01

In the history of formal English education in Japan, grammar used to be the mainstream. In the secondary education system, teachers used to spend many hours teaching grammar to the students. However, it has been replaced by the aural/oral method of teaching a foreign language. There was even a remark that teaching grammar hinders students from communicating fluently. Literally, there was a time when grammar was set aside in formal English education. However, the author noticed that in grammar classes, the students speak English more loudly and confidently without much hesitation than in other types of English classes. One of the reasons is that they are not worried about the contents of the speeches. They are simply concentrating on the forms. They are not afraid of making major mistakes, and the errors they make are minor so they do not feel embarrassed in public. The atmosphere of the grammar classes is very positive and the students enjoy speaking English. In this paper, the author shows how grammar classes can contribute to the acquisition of the students＇ speaking abilities and manners. ＂Learning grammar was a precious experience＂, one student reported after the course.

Grammar and Its Teaching: Challenging the Myths

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Diane Larsen-Freeman

2008-01-01

@@ Grammar is often misunderstood in the language teaching field.The misconception lies in the view that grammar is a collection of arbitrary rules about static structures in the language.Further questionable claims are that the structures do not have to be taught,learners will acquire them on their own,or if the structures are taught,the lessons that ensue will he boring.Consequently,communicative and proficiency-based teaching approaches sometimes unduly limit grammar instruction.Of the many claims about grammar that deserve to be called myths,this digest will challenge ten.

Abductive Logic Grammars

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christiansen, Henning; Dahl, Veronica

2009-01-01

By extending logic grammars with constraint logic, we give them the ability to create knowledge bases that represent the meaning of an input string. Semantic information is thus defined through extra-grammatical means, and a sentence's meaning logically follows as a by-product of string rewriting....... We formalize these ideas, and exemplify them both within and outside first-order logic, and for both fixed and dynamic knowledge bases. Within the latter variety, we consider the usual left-to-right derivations that are traditional in logic grammars, but also -- in a significant departure from...

REVIEW: A GRAMMAR OF GUÌQIÓNG

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jesse P. Gates

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Jiāng Lì. 2015. A Grammar of Guìqióng: A Language of Sichuan. Leiden: Brill. xiv + 452 pp. ISBN 9789004292093 (hardback 213USD - E-ISBN 9789004293045 (electronic 217USD. Jiang Li's A Grammar of Guìqióng (henceforth, AGG is a revision of her PhD dissertation at the University of Berne under the supervision of George Van Driem. It is a most welcome contribution to our understanding of this under-described language. The primary dialects of Guiqiong described in AGG are spoken in Changma Village of Maibeng Township and Qianxi Village of Qianxi Township, both in Kangding County, Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, China. Some praiseworthy aspects of AGG include a plethora of examples sentences; a total of about 1500 example sentences are in the book. Included in the list of abbreviations are the linguistic forms from Guiqiong. The inclusion of photographs of the Guiqiong people and their geographic setting adds interest and appeal to the book. Appendix 1 (321-347 contains six texts of "sayings, stories, and recollections." This review is divided into sections similar to the divisions that the chapters of AGG provide: Introduction to AGG, Phonology, Morphology, Syntax, Errata, and Conclusion. Comments on AGG's chapter on pragmatics will be incorporated into the section on syntax since AGG's chapter on pragmatics is very short. Back-matter will also be briefly overviewed in the syntax section. ...

The equivalence problem for LL- and LR-regular grammars

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nijholt, Antinus

1982-01-01

The equivalence problem for context-free grammars is "given two arbitrary grammars, do they generate the same language?" Since this is undecidable in general, attention has been restricted to decidable subclasses of the context-free grammars. For example, the classes of LL(k) grammars and real-time

Recovering grammar relationships for the Java language specification

NARCIS (Netherlands)

R. Lämmel (Ralf); V. Zaytsev (Vadim)

2011-01-01

textabstractGrammar convergence is a method that helps in discovering relationships between different grammars of the same language or different language versions. The key element of the method is the operational, transformation-based representation of those relationships. Given input grammars for

Performance Grammars

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Robinson, Jane J

1974-01-01

.... The theory of systematic variation affords better direction for gathering data on rule-governed language use and a means for representing the results in formal grammars that predict speech behavior...

DEVELOPING A SOUND POLICY FOR THE TREATMENT OF GRAMMAR

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

2001-01-01

Should grammar be taught at all?Is it a hindrance or anaid?Communicative language teaching approach seems to havecast doubts on the value of grammar teaching.The present paperargues that the positive effect of grammar in College Englishteaching and learning should not be overlooked.Grammar servesas a means to the final achievement of language proficiency.Itis time for language teachers to reconsider the role of grammarand to come up with a more appropriate and thus,moreeffective treatment of grammar in College English teaching.

RAISING YOUNG LEARNERS‟ AWARENESS OF GRAMMAR THROUGH CREATIVE LANGUAGE ACTIVITIES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. Murni Wahyanti

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Current developments in foreign language teaching have shown the need to reconsider the role of grammar. It is argued that grammar understanding can promote more precise use of the foreign language. This belief has led to an increased interest in grammar teaching, including grammar teaching for young learners. In teaching English to young learners, activities that can promote grammar awareness are needed. The activities should be presented in context to make sure that the meaning is clear. The activities should also be creatively designed in order to challenge students‘ motivation and involvement. Grammar activities presented creatively in meaningful contexts are useful for noticing the language patterns. This paper focuses on the changing status of grammar, the importance of grammar in the young learner classroom, and how to raise grammar awareness through creative language activities. It also reports the result of a small-scale study on implementing grammarawareness activities for teaching English to Elementary School students.

EXPLAIN AND EXPLORE——THE INDUCTIVE APPROACH TO EFL GRAMMAR INSTRUCTION

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

YuGuoxing

2004-01-01

The new role of grammar instruction now is based on the increasing understandings that grammar per se is a comprehensive conglomerate. The paper examines the inductive approach to EFL grammar instruction. It starts with some theoretical considerations on inductive approach to formal grammar instruction, followed by its methodological considerations such as how to deal with grammar generalizations and exceptions, learner variables, and grammar complexity, and proposes a sensitive and dynamic balance of explorations and explanations in EFL grammar instruction.

A Communicative Approach to College English Grammar Teaching and Learning

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

LI Yong-xian

2016-01-01

In response to the misconception that Communicative Language Teaching means no teaching of grammar, it is argued that grammar is as important as traffic rules for safe and smooth traffic on the road. To achieve appropriate and effective commu-nication, a communicative approach to college grammar teaching and learning is proposed. Both teachers and learners should change their attitudes toward and conceptions about grammar teaching and learning;additionally, teaching grammar in the com-pany of reading and writing helps learners learn and acquire grammar in meaningful contexts.

Teachers' Perceptions about Grammar Teaching

Science.gov (United States)

Thu, Tran Hoang

2009-01-01

This study investigates English as a second language (ESL) teachers' beliefs in grammar teaching. A 32-item questionnaire was administered to 11 ESL teachers in a language school in California. The results show that the participants generally believe that the formal study of grammar is essential to the eventual mastery of a foreign or second…

Grammars with two-sided contexts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mikhail Barash

2014-05-01

Full Text Available In a recent paper (M. Barash, A. Okhotin, "Defining contexts in context-free grammars", LATA 2012, the authors introduced an extension of the context-free grammars equipped with an operator for referring to the left context of the substring being defined. This paper proposes a more general model, in which context specifications may be two-sided, that is, both the left and the right contexts can be specified by the corresponding operators. The paper gives the definitions and establishes the basic theory of such grammars, leading to a normal form and a parsing algorithm working in time O(n^4, where n is the length of the input string.

Linearly Ordered Attribute Grammar Scheduling Using SAT-Solving

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bransen, Jeroen; van Binsbergen, L.Thomas; Claessen, Koen; Dijkstra, Atze

2015-01-01

Many computations over trees can be specified using attribute grammars. Compilers for attribute grammars need to find an evaluation order (or schedule) in order to generate efficient code. For the class of linearly ordered attribute grammars such a schedule can be found statically, but this problem

Object grammars and random generation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. Dutour

1998-12-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a new systematic approach for the uniform random generation of combinatorial objects. The method is based on the notion of object grammars which give recursive descriptions of objects and generalize context-freegrammars. The application of particular valuations to these grammars leads to enumeration and random generation of objects according to non algebraic parameters.

The role of the grammar teaching: from communicative approaches to the common European framework of reference for languages THE ROLE OF THE GRAMAMAR TEACHING: FROM COMMUNCATIVE APPROACHES TO THE COMMON EUROPEAN FRAMEWORK OF REFERENCE FOR LANGUAGES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

José López Rama

2012-07-01

Full Text Available In the history of language teaching, the role of grammar has been addressed by a number of linguistic theories, pedagogies and, currently, within the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEF. The way grammar is considered has a decisive influence on pedagogical practices, learning processes and many other areas involved in language teaching. This paper constitutes a revision of how grammar has evolved in the last fifty years paying special attention to its evolving role in both communicative (CLT and post-communicative approaches and in the CEF.From this revision, some controversial issues concerning the pedagogic value of teaching grammar will arise as well, such as whether grammar is worth teaching in the classroom or not and how it should be taught.Even though there exists a parallel linguistic framework between CLT and the CEF, some issues still need revision concerning the notion of grammatical competence and its role for language teaching.Históricamente, el papel de la gramática en la enseñanza de lenguas se ha justificado y cuestionado tanto por teorías lingüísticas como, actualmente, dentro del Marco Común Europeo de Referencia. La forma de contemplar la gramática influye de modo fundamental en la metodología docente, en la elaboración de manuales de texto y en los procesos de aprendizaje, entre otros. Este artículo revisa el papel de la gramática en los últimos cincuenta años prestando especial atención al método comunicativo, los post-comunicativos y dentro del Marco Común Europeo de Referencia. En respuesta, se revisa la posible controversia sobre la propia definición de gramática y su valor en enseñanza de lenguas extranjeras.

76 FR 43631 - Revision of the Materiality to Patentability Standard for the Duty To Disclose Information in...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-07-21

... 0651-AC58 Revision of the Materiality to Patentability Standard for the Duty To Disclose Information in... revise the standard for materiality for the duty to disclose information in patent applications and... revise the materiality standard for the duty to disclose to match the materiality standard, as defined in...

Constraints and Logic Programming in Grammars and Language Analysis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christiansen, Henning

2014-01-01

Constraints are an important notion in grammars and language analysis, and constraint programming techniques have been developed concurrently for solving a variety of complex problems. In this chapter we consider the synthesis of these branches into practical and effective methods for language...... methods that combine constraints with logic grammars such as Definite Clause Grammars and CHR Grammars, and show also a direct relationship to abductive reasoning....

Teaching English Grammar Through Communicative Language Teaching Approach

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

王玮

2013-01-01

Grammar is an important part of language learning. In order for students to have a functional knowledge of a language (in other words, that they can spontaneously produce language) they must have at least some knowledge about the grammatical con⁃structs of the language in question. How grammar can be taught? Considering various second language teaching methods, teaching grammar through Communicative Language Teaching Approach is the most talked. Emphasis in this article is put on the applica⁃tion of Communicative Language Teaching Approach in grammar teaching in college English classes.

A Contrastive Study of Two Approaches to Teach Grammar

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Cai; Lin

2007-01-01

There are many kinds of methods of teaching grammar, no matter what they are, these approaches can generally be classified into two approaches-deductive and inductive. What an appropriate grammar teaching approach is by examining the inductive and deductive approaches to grammar teaching and learning. It starts with the definitions of inductive and deductive approaches to grammar teaching, followed by a contrastive study of these two approaches in terms of both the bases and the application. Finally, it explores the inductive approach and outlines the benefits of this approach and suggests an alternative view of grammar teaching.

Unsupervised grammar induction of clinical report sublanguage

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Kate Rohit J

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Clinical reports are written using a subset of natural language while employing many domain-specific terms; such a language is also known as a sublanguage for a scientific or a technical domain. Different genres of clinical reports use different sublaguages, and in addition, different medical facilities use different medical language conventions. This makes supervised training of a parser for clinical sentences very difficult as it would require expensive annotation effort to adapt to every type of clinical text. Methods In this paper, we present an unsupervised method which automatically induces a grammar and a parser for the sublanguage of a given genre of clinical reports from a corpus with no annotations. In order to capture sentence structures specific to clinical domains, the grammar is induced in terms of semantic classes of clinical terms in addition to part-of-speech tags. Our method induces grammar by minimizing the combined encoding cost of the grammar and the corresponding sentence derivations. The probabilities for the productions of the induced grammar are then learned from the unannotated corpus using an instance of the expectation-maximization algorithm. Results Our experiments show that the induced grammar is able to parse novel sentences. Using a dataset of discharge summary sentences with no annotations, our method obtains 60.5% F-measure for parse-bracketing on sentences of maximum length 10. By varying a parameter, the method can induce a range of grammars, from very specific to very general, and obtains the best performance in between the two extremes.

Unsupervised grammar induction of clinical report sublanguage.

Science.gov (United States)

Kate, Rohit J

2012-10-05

Clinical reports are written using a subset of natural language while employing many domain-specific terms; such a language is also known as a sublanguage for a scientific or a technical domain. Different genres of clinical reports use different sublaguages, and in addition, different medical facilities use different medical language conventions. This makes supervised training of a parser for clinical sentences very difficult as it would require expensive annotation effort to adapt to every type of clinical text. In this paper, we present an unsupervised method which automatically induces a grammar and a parser for the sublanguage of a given genre of clinical reports from a corpus with no annotations. In order to capture sentence structures specific to clinical domains, the grammar is induced in terms of semantic classes of clinical terms in addition to part-of-speech tags. Our method induces grammar by minimizing the combined encoding cost of the grammar and the corresponding sentence derivations. The probabilities for the productions of the induced grammar are then learned from the unannotated corpus using an instance of the expectation-maximization algorithm. Our experiments show that the induced grammar is able to parse novel sentences. Using a dataset of discharge summary sentences with no annotations, our method obtains 60.5% F-measure for parse-bracketing on sentences of maximum length 10. By varying a parameter, the method can induce a range of grammars, from very specific to very general, and obtains the best performance in between the two extremes.

E-Learning Turkish Language and Grammar: Analyzing Learners' Behavior

Science.gov (United States)

Georgalas, Panagiotis

2012-01-01

This study analyses the behavior and the preferences of the Greek learners of Turkish language, who use a particular e-learning website in parallel with their studies, namely: http://turkish.pgeorgalas.gr. The website offers free online material in Greek and English language for learning the Turkish language and grammar. The traffic of several…

ncRNA consensus secondary structure derivation using grammar strings.

Science.gov (United States)

Achawanantakun, Rujira; Sun, Yanni; Takyar, Seyedeh Shohreh

2011-04-01

Many noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) function through both their sequences and secondary structures. Thus, secondary structure derivation is an important issue in today's RNA research. The state-of-the-art structure annotation tools are based on comparative analysis, which derives consensus structure of homologous ncRNAs. Despite promising results from existing ncRNA aligning and consensus structure derivation tools, there is a need for more efficient and accurate ncRNA secondary structure modeling and alignment methods. In this work, we introduce a consensus structure derivation approach based on grammar string, a novel ncRNA secondary structure representation that encodes an ncRNA's sequence and secondary structure in the parameter space of a context-free grammar (CFG) and a full RNA grammar including pseudoknots. Being a string defined on a special alphabet constructed from a grammar, grammar string converts ncRNA alignment into sequence alignment. We derive consensus secondary structures from hundreds of ncRNA families from BraliBase 2.1 and 25 families containing pseudoknots using grammar string alignment. Our experiments have shown that grammar string-based structure derivation competes favorably in consensus structure quality with Murlet and RNASampler. Source code and experimental data are available at http://www.cse.msu.edu/~yannisun/grammar-string.

Fast Parsing using Pruning and Grammar Specialization

OpenAIRE

Rayner, Manny; Carter, David

1996-01-01

We show how a general grammar may be automatically adapted for fast parsing of utterances from a specific domain by means of constituent pruning and grammar specialization based on explanation-based learning. These methods together give an order of magnitude increase in speed, and the coverage loss entailed by grammar specialization is reduced to approximately half that reported in previous work. Experiments described here suggest that the loss of coverage has been reduced to the point where ...

A Review of the Development of Systemic-Functional Grammar

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

张晶

2014-01-01

50 years has seen Systemic-Functional Grammar(SFG)growing into its prosperity. With the efforts of Halliday and many other linguists, SFG has developed from Scale and Category Grammar to Systemic Grammar and then to Functional Gram-mar. The development of this general linguistic theory’s features and framework is the main focus of this study. SFG views lan-guage as a social semiotic resource people use to express meanings in context.

The Use Of Authentic Materials In Improving Learners’ Understanding In Using Grammar: A Case Study At Pamulang University And Binus University

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Djasminar Anwar

2012-11-01

Full Text Available This study discusses the use of authentic materials for non-English Department Students at Pamulang University, Tangerang, and BINUS University, Jakarta. Both universities have classes of English III which uses published materials and TOEFL course books. Authentic materials are provided to support the materials in the compulsory textbook. It is done to encourage students to more understand the grammar. The approach used in this study involves a pre-test, quizzes, and a post test. All these tools are used to measure whether there is a progress of the students’ performance. The students’ progress is summarized and shown in tables. Additionally, at the end of the semester, after the post test is given, a questionnaire is distributed to the students to know the students’ opinion about the provided authentic materials.

The structure of modern standard French a student grammar

CERN Document Server

Hansen, Maj-Britt Mosegaard

2016-01-01

This book is an advanced student's grammar of French that integrates traditional grammar with knowledge and insights from modern linguistics. It assumes some prior knowledge of French grammar but is designed to be accessible to those with no background in linguistics.

English Grammar and Thai University Students: An Insurmountable Linguistic Battle?

Science.gov (United States)

Saengboon, Saksit

2017-01-01

This study aimed at investigating English grammar knowledge of a group of Thai university students. The three main research questions revolved around their knowledge of English grammar, the kinds of difficulties they had encountered in using the grammar as well as their perceptions of the roles of grammar in using English. The participants were…

Analyses of Common Grammar Mistakes in High-school English

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Yang Liou

2017-01-01

English has an important position in the basic education stage as a language subject. English teaching requires students to have the abilities of listening, speaking, reading and writing in high school. If students want to learn these skills well, they should not only memorize vocabularies, but also master grammar knowledge. This paper illustrates the importance of English grammar for learning English and lists the common grammar mistakes. It also introduces some skills of learning English grammar.

An Attempt to Employ Diagrammatic Illustrations in Teaching English Grammar: Pictorial English Grammar

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kaoru Takahashi

2013-08-01

Full Text Available In order for intermediate students poor at English grammar to enjoy learning it, a unique methodology has been improved in the classroom. In this article illustrated vehicles relevant to the five basic sentence patterns are presented in order to show how helpful this method is to understand English grammar. Also, more enhanced areas of this theory are discussed, which clarifies the feasibility of this methodology. The items to be introduced in my method are gerund, the passive voice, the relative pronoun and so on.

Using a Linguistic Theory of Humour in Teaching English Grammar

Science.gov (United States)

Abdulmajeed, Rufaidah Kamal; Hameed, Sarab Khalil

2017-01-01

Teachers who teach a new language grammar do not usually have the time and the proper situation to introduce humour when starting a new topic in grammar. There are many different opinions about teaching grammar. Many teachers seem to believe in the importance of grammar lessons devoted to a study of language rules and practical exercises. Other…

French grammar and usage

CERN Document Server

Hawkins, Roger

2015-01-01

Long trusted as the most comprehensive, up-to-date and user-friendly grammar available, French Grammar and Usage is a complete guide to French as it is written and spoken today. It includes clear descriptions of all the main grammatical phenomena of French, and their use, illustrated by numerous examples taken from contemporary French, and distinguishes the most common forms of usage, both formal and informal.Key features include:Comprehensive content, covering all the major structures of contemporary French User-friendly organisation offering easy-to-find sections with cross-referencing and i

English Grammar For Dummies

CERN Document Server

Ward, Lesley J

2009-01-01

If you're confused by commas, perplexed by pronouns, and plain terrified by tenses, English Grammar For Dummies will put your fears to rest. Packed with expert guidance, it covers everything from sentence basics to rules even your English teacher didn't know - if you want to brush up on your grammar, this is the only guide you'll ever need. Discover how to: avoid common grammatical errors; get to grips with apostrophes; structure sentences correctly; use verbs and find the right tense; and decide when to use slang or formal English.  

Incremental Learning of Context Free Grammars by Parsing-Based Rule Generation and Rule Set Search

Science.gov (United States)

Nakamura, Katsuhiko; Hoshina, Akemi

This paper discusses recent improvements and extensions in Synapse system for inductive inference of context free grammars (CFGs) from sample strings. Synapse uses incremental learning, rule generation based on bottom-up parsing, and the search for rule sets. The form of production rules in the previous system is extended from Revised Chomsky Normal Form A→βγ to Extended Chomsky Normal Form, which also includes A→B, where each of β and γ is either a terminal or nonterminal symbol. From the result of bottom-up parsing, a rule generation mechanism synthesizes minimum production rules required for parsing positive samples. Instead of inductive CYK algorithm in the previous version of Synapse, the improved version uses a novel rule generation method, called ``bridging,'' which bridges the lacked part of the derivation tree for the positive string. The improved version also employs a novel search strategy, called serial search in addition to minimum rule set search. The synthesis of grammars by the serial search is faster than the minimum set search in most cases. On the other hand, the size of the generated CFGs is generally larger than that by the minimum set search, and the system can find no appropriate grammar for some CFL by the serial search. The paper shows experimental results of incremental learning of several fundamental CFGs and compares the methods of rule generation and search strategies.

Essential grammar for today's writers, students, and teachers

CERN Document Server

Sullivan, Nancy

2014-01-01

This innovative grammar text is an ideal resource for writers, language students, and current and future classroom teachers who need an accessible "refresher" in a step-by-step guide to essential grammar. Rather than becoming mired in overly detailed linguistic definitions, Nancy Sullivan helps writers and students understand and apply grammatical concepts and develop the skills they need to enhance their own writing. Along with engaging discussions of both contemporary and traditional terminology, Sullivan's text provides clear explanations of the basics of English grammar and a highly practical, hands-on approach to mastering the use of language. Complementing the focus on constructing excellent sentences, every example and exercise set is contextually grounded in language themes. Teachers, students, and writers will appreciate the streamlined, easy-to-understand coverage of essential grammar, as well as the affordable price. This is an ideal textbook for future teachers enrolled in an upper-level grammar c...

Grammar as a Programming Language. Artificial Intelligence Memo 391.

Science.gov (United States)

Rowe, Neil

Student projects that involve writing generative grammars in the computer language, "LOGO," are described in this paper, which presents a grammar-running control structure that allows students to modify and improve the grammar interpreter itself while learning how a simple kind of computer parser works. Included are procedures for…

The equivalence problem for LL- and LR-regular grammars

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nijholt, Antinus; Gecsec, F.

It will be shown that the equivalence problem for LL-regular grammars is decidable. Apart from extending the known result for LL(k) grammar equivalence to LLregular grammar equivalence, we obtain an alternative proof of the decidability of LL(k) equivalence. The equivalence prob]em for LL-regular

Shape Grammars for Innovative Hybrid Typological Design

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Al-kazzaz, Dhuha; Bridges, Alan; Chase, Scott Curland

2010-01-01

This paper describes a new methodology of deriving innovative hybrid designs using shape grammars of heterogeneous designs. The method is detailed within three phases of shape grammars: analysis, synthesis and evaluation. In the analysis phase, the research suggests that original rules of each...... design component are grouped in subclass rule sets to facilitate rule choices. Additionally, adding new hybrid rules to original rules expands the options available to the grammar user. In the synthesis phase, the research adopts state labels and markers to drive the design generation. The former...... is implemented with a user guide grammar to ensure hybridity in the generated design, while the latter aims to ensure feasible designs. Lastly evaluation criteria are added to measure the degree of innovation of the hybrid designs. This paper describes the derivation of hybrid minaret designs from a corpus...

Left-forbidding cooperating distributed grammar systems

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Goldefus, F.; Masopust, Tomáš; Meduna, A.

2010-01-01

Roč. 411, 40-42 (2010), s. 3661-3667 ISSN 0304-3975 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10190503 Keywords : cooperating distributed grammar system * cooperating derivation mode * left-forbidding grammar * generative power * descriptional complexity Subject RIV: BA - General Mathematics Impact factor: 0.838, year: 2010 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304397510003440

Studying Grammar in the Technological Age

Science.gov (United States)

Ediger, Marlow

2012-01-01

When being a student in grade school as well as in high school (1934-1946), grammar was heavily emphasized in English/language arts classes, particularly in grades four through the senior year in high school. Evidently, teachers and school administrators then saw a theoretical way to assist pupils in writing achievement. Grammar and writing were…

Propelling Students into Active Grammar Participation

Science.gov (United States)

Jurhill, Dennis A.

2011-01-01

"O! this learning, what a thing it is." -W. Shakespeare, "The Taming of the Shrew." The aim of this action research was to find out if active grammar involvement amongst students might lead to better results. My approach was to activate my students during grammar instruction by using cooperative learning: that is a form of…

Teaching english grammar through interactive methods

OpenAIRE

Aminova N.

2016-01-01

The article is devoted for the effective ways of teaching grammar. Actuality of the theme is justified as it sets conditions for revealing high progress in teaching a foreign language and for developing effective methods which can be helpful for foreign language teachers. Different progressive methods of teaching English grammar are given in this paper as well.

High-level methodologies for grammar engineering, introduction to the special issue

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Denys Duchier

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Grammar Engineering is the task of designing and implementing linguistically motivated electronic descriptions of natural language (so-called grammars. These grammars are expressed within well-defined theoretical frameworks, and offer a fine-grained description of natural language. While grammars were first used to describe syntax, that is to say, the relations between constituents in a sentence, they often go beyond syntax and include semantic information. Grammar engineering provides precise descriptions which can be used for natural language understanding and generation, making these valuable resources for various natural language applications, including textual entailment, dialogue systems, or machine translation. The first attempts at designing large-scale resource grammars were costly because of the complexity of the task (Erbach et al. 1990 and of the number of persons that were needed (see e.g. Doran et al. 1997. Advances in the field have led to the development of environments for semi-automatic grammar engineering, borrowing ideas from compilation (grammar engineering is compared with software development and machine learning. This special issue reports on new trends in the field, where grammar engineering benefits from elaborate high-level methodologies and techniques, dealing with various issues (both theoretical and practical.

The contribution of phonological short-term memory to artificial grammar learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Andrade, Jackie; Baddeley, Alan

2011-05-01

Three experiments investigated the contribution of phonological short-term memory (STM) to grammar learning by manipulating rehearsal during study of an auditory artificial grammar made up from a vocabulary of spoken Mandarin syllables. Experiment 1 showed that concurrent, irrelevant articulation impaired grammar learning compared with a nonverbal control task. Experiment 2 replicated and extended this finding, showing that repeating the grammatical strings at study improved grammar learning compared with suppressing rehearsal or remaining silent during learning. Experiment 3 found no effects of rehearsal on grammar learning once participants had learned the component syllables. The findings suggest that phonological STM aids artificial grammar learning via effects on vocabulary learning.

Evolving stochastic context-free grammars for RNA secondary structure prediction

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Anderson, James WJ; Tataru, Paula Cristina; Stains, Joe

2012-01-01

Background Stochastic Context-Free Grammars (SCFGs) were applied successfully to RNA secondary structure prediction in the early 90s, and used in combination with comparative methods in the late 90s. The set of SCFGs potentially useful for RNA secondary structure prediction is very large, but a few...... to structure prediction as has been previously suggested. Results These search techniques were applied to predict RNA secondary structure on a maximal data set and revealed new and interesting grammars, though none are dramatically better than classic grammars. In general, results showed that many grammars...... with quite different structure could have very similar predictive ability. Many ambiguous grammars were found which were at least as effective as the best current unambiguous grammars. Conclusions Overall the method of evolving SCFGs for RNA secondary structure prediction proved effective in finding many...

Understanding the Complex Processes in Developing Student Teachers' Knowledge about Grammar

Science.gov (United States)

Svalberg, Agneta M.-L.

2015-01-01

This article takes the view that grammar is driven by user choices and is therefore complex and dynamic. This has implications for the teaching of grammar in language teacher education and how teachers' cognitions about grammar, and hence their own grammar teaching, might change. In this small, interpretative study, the participants--students on…

Towards a Pedagogy of Grammar Instruction

Science.gov (United States)

Richards, Jack C.; Reppen, Randi

2014-01-01

Grammar can be viewed both as knowledge and as ability. When viewed as knowledge, the focus is on rules for sentence formation. When viewed as ability, the focus is on how grammar is used as a resource in the creation of spoken and written texts. Twelve principles are proposed as the basis for a pedagogy that focusses on acquiring learning to use…

Grammar and Usage: History and Myth

Science.gov (United States)

Watson, Ken

2010-01-01

The paper first traces the history of thinking about language from the Greek writers of the fifth century BC to the development of the first Greek grammar in about 100 BC. Since the glories of Ancient Greek literature predate the development of grammar, there is every reason to doubt the received wisdom that one must have an explicit knowledge of…

An Exploration of the Relationship between Vietnamese Students' Knowledge of L1 Grammar and Their English Grammar Proficiency

Science.gov (United States)

Tran, Tammie M.

2010-01-01

The problem. This research study explores an important issue in the field of TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) and second language acquisition (SLA). Its purpose is to examine the relationship between Vietnamese students' L1 grammar knowledge and their English grammar proficiency. Furthermore, it investigates the extent to…

An Overview of the Nigel Text Generation Grammar.

Science.gov (United States)

1983-04-01

34 76b, Hudson 76, Halliday 81, de Joia 80, Fawcett 80].3 1.2. Design Goals for the Grammar Three kinds of goals have guided the work of creating Nigel...Davey 79] Davey, A., Discourse Production, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 1979. [ de Joia 80] de Joia , A., and A. Stenton, Terms in Systemic...1 1.1. The Text Generation Task as a Stimulus for Grammar Design .........................1I -1.2. Design Goals for the Grammar

A constraint-based bottom-up counterpart to definite clause grammars

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christiansen, Henning

2004-01-01

A new grammar formalism, CHR Grammars (CHRG), is proposed that provides a constraint-solving approach to language analysis, built on top of the programming language of Constraint Handling Rules in the same way as Definite Clause Grammars (DCG) on Prolog. CHRG works bottom-up and adds the following......, integrity constraints, operators a la assumption grammars, and to incorporate other constraint solvers. (iv)~Context-sensitive rules that apply for disambiguation, coordination in natural language and tagger-like rules....

Grammar-Based Specification and Parsing of Binary File Formats

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

William Underwood

2012-03-01

Full Text Available The capability to validate and view or play binary file formats, as well as to convert binary file formats to standard or current file formats, is critically important to the preservation of digital data and records. This paper describes the extension of context-free grammars from strings to binary files. Binary files are arrays of data types, such as long and short integers, floating-point numbers and pointers, as well as characters. The concept of an attribute grammar is extended to these context-free array grammars. This attribute grammar has been used to define a number of chunk-based and directory-based binary file formats. A parser generator has been used with some of these grammars to generate syntax checkers (recognizers for validating binary file formats. Among the potential benefits of an attribute grammar-based approach to specification and parsing of binary file formats is that attribute grammars not only support format validation, but support generation of error messages during validation of format, validation of semantic constraints, attribute value extraction (characterization, generation of viewers or players for file formats, and conversion to current or standard file formats. The significance of these results is that with these extensions to core computer science concepts, traditional parser/compiler technologies can potentially be used as a part of a general, cost effective curation strategy for binary file formats.

Measuring strategic control in artificial grammar learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Norman, Elisabeth; Price, Mark C; Jones, Emma

2011-12-01

In response to concerns with existing procedures for measuring strategic control over implicit knowledge in artificial grammar learning (AGL), we introduce a more stringent measurement procedure. After two separate training blocks which each consisted of letter strings derived from a different grammar, participants either judged the grammaticality of novel letter strings with respect to only one of these two grammars (pure-block condition), or had the target grammar varying randomly from trial to trial (novel mixed-block condition) which required a higher degree of conscious flexible control. Random variation in the colour and font of letters was introduced to disguise the nature of the rule and reduce explicit learning. Strategic control was observed both in the pure-block and mixed-block conditions, and even among participants who did not realise the rule was based on letter identity. This indicated detailed strategic control in the absence of explicit learning. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Research into Practice: Grammar Learning and Teaching

Science.gov (United States)

Larsen-Freeman, Diane

2015-01-01

This selective review of the second language acquisition and applied linguistics research literature on grammar learning and teaching falls into three categories: where research has had little impact (the non-interface position), modest impact (form-focused instruction), and where it potentially can have a large impact (reconceiving grammar).…

How Should English Grammar Be Taught in Middle Schools By Wang Shikun

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王仕坤

2014-01-01

This paper mainly deals with the idea that whether grammar teaching should be weakened or not ,the importance of grammar teaching,the present situation of grammar and some suggestions on how to teach grammar ,aiming at the improvement of English teaching and learning.

A brief analysis of the necessity of grammar teaching in CLT

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

胡晓; 王榛

2017-01-01

Grammar teaching is the important component of communicative language teaching, and also the teaching content of communicative approach. This study is going to analyze the status of English grammar learning, the theoretical basis of CLT, and some difficulties with regard to grammar education in China, while discussing teachers might try to adjust the current grammar approach in communicative English teaching.

The short short story as a teaching resource for the acquisition of grammar in SFL

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

María Nayra Rodríguez Rodríguez

2016-07-01

Full Text Available In the present article we intend to make a reflection on the introduction of target language literature in foreign language classrooms. We will analyze the use of short-short stories as a didactic resource in Spanish as Foreign Language classrooms. To this end, we will research different teaching methodologies that have been implemented and investigate the validity of this genre as a suitable material for teaching grammar. We will make an approximation to Focus on Form as an effective approach, which integrates grammar teaching within a communicative context.

Flexible Processing and the Design of Grammar

Science.gov (United States)

Sag, Ivan A.; Wasow, Thomas

2015-01-01

We explore the consequences of letting the incremental and integrative nature of language processing inform the design of competence grammar. What emerges is a view of grammar as a system of local monotonic constraints that provide a direct characterization of the signs (the form-meaning correspondences) of a given language. This…

GRAMMAR IN TEFL: A CRITIQUE OF INDONESIAN HIGH SCHOOL TEXTBOOKS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter Collins

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract: The aim of this paper is to critically assess the presentation of English grammar in textbooks used in secondary schools in Indonesia. The influence of the Communicative Approach is in evidence in the books examined, and yet the importance of explicit grammar instruction is not ignored, reflecting the view of many today that grammatical forms cannot be successfully learnt merely on the basis of comprehensible input. Despite recognition of its central role, the grammar instruction presented in the textbooks invites questions as to its linguistic adequacy and accuracy. Writers often seem unwilling to take on board the insights recorded in the influential and authoritative descriptive grammars of recent years, continuing to accept tacitly the principles exposed in Traditional Grammar.

The Role of Simple Semantics in the Process of Artificial Grammar Learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Öttl, Birgit; Jäger, Gerhard; Kaup, Barbara

2017-10-01

This study investigated the effect of semantic information on artificial grammar learning (AGL). Recursive grammars of different complexity levels (regular language, mirror language, copy language) were investigated in a series of AGL experiments. In the with-semantics condition, participants acquired semantic information prior to the AGL experiment; in the without-semantics control condition, participants did not receive semantic information. It was hypothesized that semantics would generally facilitate grammar acquisition and that the learning benefit in the with-semantics conditions would increase with increasing grammar complexity. Experiment 1 showed learning effects for all grammars but no performance difference between conditions. Experiment 2 replicated the absence of a semantic benefit for all grammars even though semantic information was more prominent during grammar acquisition as compared to Experiment 1. Thus, we did not find evidence for the idea that semantics facilitates grammar acquisition, which seems to support the view of an independent syntactic processing component.

Missionary Pragmalinguistics: Father Diego Luis de Sanvitores’ grammar (1668) within the tradition of Philippine grammars

OpenAIRE

Winkler, A.P.

2016-01-01

The grammar written in Latin, in 1668, by the Jesuit missionary Father Diego Luis de Sanvitores (1627-1672) is the oldest description we have of Chamorro, a language spoken on the Mariana islands. The grammar received a number of bad reviews and as a consequence has become neglected and almost forgotten. The main point of criticism has been that Sanvitores used the Latin grammatical framework to explain a language that in many ways does not fit this framework. In this thesis it is argued inst...

A few thoughts about teaching listening and grammar

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

吴西

2014-01-01

Listening and grammar are the most difficult subjects for both teacher and students. This passage discussed how to visual aid and brain storming in the listening class;and the importance of confidence in the grammar teaching and learning.

On the Balance of Grammar and Communication Teaching for Chinese Students

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

秦耀咏

2002-01-01

To the problem of neglecting grammar teaching when the Communicative approach is encouraged,this paper tries to analyze the position of teaching grammar and put forward some suggestions on how to balance grammar and communication teaching.

Spoken Grammar and Its Role in the English Language Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Hilliard, Amanda

2014-01-01

This article addresses key issues and considerations for teachers wanting to incorporate spoken grammar activities into their own teaching and also focuses on six common features of spoken grammar, with practical activities and suggestions for teaching them in the language classroom. The hope is that this discussion of spoken grammar and its place…

Probe into Methods of Teaching English Grammar

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

刘春华

2011-01-01

@@ 1 Definition of grammar People sometlmes descibe grammaras the "rules" of a language, to be accurate,grammar is the science dealing with thesystematic rules of a language,its forms,inflections,syntax,and the rules of usingthem correctly.It is summarized from lan-guage use and practice,and reflects thelogic of thinking in people's speech orwriting.

Associative Cognitive CREED for Successful Grammar Learning

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Andrias Tri Susanto

2016-06-01

Full Text Available This research article reports a qualitative study which was conducted to investigate ways successful EFL learners learned English grammar. The subjects of this research were eight successful EFL learners from six different countries in Asia: China, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam. The data was collected by interviewing each subject in person individually at an agreed time and place. The result showed that all the grammar learning processes described by the subjects were closely linked to the framework of Associative Cognitive CREED. There were also some contributing factors that could be integrally combined salient to the overall grammar learning process. However, interestingly, each subject emphasized different aspects of learning.

Business Rules Definition for Decision Support System Using Matrix Grammar

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Eva Zámečníková

2016-06-01

Full Text Available This paper deals with formalization of business rules by formal grammars. In our work we focus on methods for high frequency data processing. We process data by using complex event platforms (CEP which allow to process high volume of data in nearly real time. Decision making process is contained by one level of processing of CEP. Business rules are used for decision making process description. For the business rules formalization we chose matrix grammar. The use of formal grammars is quite natural as the structure of rules and its rewriting is very similar both for the business rules and for formal grammar. In addition the matrix grammar allows to simulate dependencies and correlations between the rules. The result of this work is a model for data processing of knowledge-based decision support system described by the rules of formal grammar. This system will support the decision making in CEP. This solution may contribute to the speedup of decision making process in complex event processing and also to the formal verification of these systems.

Difficulties in Teaching and Learning Grammar in an EFL Context

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Mekhlafi, Abdu Mohammed; Nagaratnam, Ramani Perur

2011-01-01

The role of grammar instruction in an ESL/EFL context has been for decades a major issue for students and teachers alike. Researchers have debated whether grammar should be taught in the classroom and students, for their part, have generally looked upon grammar instruction as a necessary evil at best, and an avoidable burden at worst. The paper…

Communicating Grammatically: Evaluating a Learner Strategy Website for Spanish Grammar

Science.gov (United States)

Cohen, Andrew D.; Pinilla-Herrera, Angela; Thompson, Jonathan R.; Witzig, Lance E.

2011-01-01

After a brief introduction to language learner strategies and grammar strategies as a subcategory, it is pointed out that research on the use of grammar strategies by learners of a second language (L2) has been limited. The article then describes the construction of a website with strategies for learning and performing Spanish grammar, with a…

Enhancing Empirical Research for Linguistically Motivated Precision Grammars

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Fokkens, A.S.

2014-01-01

Grammars of natural language are highly complex objects. This complexity is reflected in formal analyses found in both syntactic theory and computational grammars. In particular, there are two factors that make it notoriously difficult to make strong assertions about analyses for natural language

TG Grammar's Implications for the Foreign Language Teaching

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

殷彩

2009-01-01

Chomsky's Transformational-Generative (TG) grammar is another revolution to linguistics after Saussure's strueturalism, and it plays an important role in the modem linguistics. Introducing the research perspective and method of TG grammar, this paper analyses its implications for the foreign language teaching.

On the Equivalence of Formal Grammars and Machines.

Science.gov (United States)

Lund, Bruce

1991-01-01

Explores concepts of formal language and automata theory underlying computational linguistics. A computational formalism is described known as a "logic grammar," with which computational systems process linguistic data, with examples in declarative and procedural semantics and definite clause grammars. (13 references) (CB)

Metagrammar Engineering: Towards systematic exploration of implemented grammars

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Fokkens, A.S.

2011-01-01

When designing grammars of natural language, typically, more than one formal analysis can account for a given phenomenon. Moreover, because analyses interact, the choices made by the engineer influence the possibilities available in further grammar development. The order in which phenomena are

A Pure Object-Oriented Embedding of Attribute Grammars

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sloane, A.M.; Kats, L.C.L.; Visser, E.

2010-01-01

Attribute grammars are a powerful specification paradigm for many language processing tasks, particularly semantic analysis of programming languages. Recent attribute grammar systems use dynamic scheduling algorithms to evaluate attributes by need. In this paper, we show how to remove the need for a

Gender stereotyping in EFL grammar textbooks. A diachronic approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marcin Lewandowski

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Gender stereotyping in educational materials (especially in EFL textbooks has been a common theme in linguistic research (cf., e. g., Hellinger 1980; Porreca 1984; Freebody/Baker 1987; Sunderland 1994; Lee/Collins 2010. However, very little attention has been paid to the representation of men and women in EFL/ESL grammar textbooks; i. e. the way both genders are portrayed in constructed examples of usage and practice sentences. The present contribution is intended to fill this gap. The paper investigates the scope of gender stereotyping from a diachronic perspective: it seeks to demonstrate whether and how the images of men and women have changed following the dissemination of guidelines for non-sexist language and equal treatment of the two genders in English language educational materials. To this aim, two corpora have been compiled. The first one includes sentences derived from three EFL textbooks published in the 1970s and 1980s, while the other one contains analogous data from three 21st century titles. The contrastive analysis of the sentences in the two corpora across 11 semantic domains has found that the recently published grammar textbooks portray the two genders in a much less stereotyped way than the 20th century course books.

Negotiated Grammar Transformation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

V. Zaytsev (Vadim)

2012-01-01

htmlabstractIn this paper, we study controlled adaptability of metamodel transformations. We consider one of the most rigid metamodel transformation formalisms — automated grammar transformation with operator suites, where a transformation script is built in such a way that it is essentially meant

Indirect Positive Evidence in the Acquisition of a Subset Grammar

Science.gov (United States)

Schwartz, Misha; Goad, Heather

2017-01-01

This article proposes that second language learners can use indirect positive evidence (IPE) to acquire a phonological grammar that is a subset of their L1 grammar. IPE is evidence from errors in the learner's L1 made by native speakers of the learner's L2. It has been assumed that subset grammars may be acquired using direct or indirect negative…

Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Materials. 1964 Revised Edition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1965-01-01

In 1961 the International Atomic Energy Agency, within the framework of its statutory functions and in accordance with recommendations made by its Preparatory Commission and by the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, published safety regulations which could be applied to the national and international transport of radio active materials by all means of transport. At the same time, the Director General of the Agency indicated that these regulations would be revised at appropriate intervals in consultation with Member States and the organizations concerned and invited suggestions for their improvement in the light of experience and increased knowledge. In preparing the revised regulations presented in this document, the Agency has received considerable support from its Member States and the organizations concerned, which have made extensive studies and suggestions in order to assist in its work. The Agency also convened several meetings of experts from its Member States and of representatives of a number of international organizations, and has been represented in several meetings convened by those organizations. In publishing the revised transport regulations which result from that co-ordinated effort, the Agency aims at proposing a lasting framework of principles and rules, complemented by appropriate technical data, acceptable for the safe transport of radio active materials by air, land and water. In particular, the developments which have been introduced concerning the packaging requirements, the nuclear safety criteria for the transport of fissile materials and the methods for testing packages should facilitate the international acceptance of packages by the authorities concerned. The Board of Governors of the Agency approved the revised regulations in June and September 1964. It authorized the Director General to apply them, as appropriate, to Agency operations and Agency assisted operations and to recommend to Member States and to the

Discovery Learning and Teaching with Electronic Corpora in an Advanced German Grammar Course

Science.gov (United States)

Vyatkina, Nina

2013-01-01

This study describes the design and implementation of a usage-based and corpus-based advanced German grammar course. Teaching materials for the course included DWDS, or "Digitales Worterbuch der deutschen Sprache": a large, representative, free and publicly available corpus of contemporary German texts. The article outlines specific…

Handbook of graph grammars and computing by graph transformation

CERN Document Server

Engels, G; Kreowski, H J; Rozenberg, G

1999-01-01

Graph grammars originated in the late 60s, motivated by considerations about pattern recognition and compiler construction. Since then, the list of areas which have interacted with the development of graph grammars has grown quite impressively. Besides the aforementioned areas, it includes software specification and development, VLSI layout schemes, database design, modeling of concurrent systems, massively parallel computer architectures, logic programming, computer animation, developmental biology, music composition, visual languages, and many others.The area of graph grammars and graph tran

Dwie (antyfilozoficzne „gramatyki” Wittgensteina [Two (anti philosophical grammars of Ludwig Wittgenstein

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Adam Nowaczyk

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Wittgenstein is the author of two conceptions of “grammar”, that were meant to be tools of reaching the same goal: discrediting of the traditional, i.e. “metaphysical” questions of philosophy. His early conception concerns logical grammar being the language of logic notation, which is devoid of logical constants. This idea was supported by the ontological thesis that there are no logical objects. In fact, it was not indispensable for achieving the intended purpose, since the elimination of philosophical problems was provided by the semantic argument that the only sensible statements are those of the natural sciences. The second concept of grammar, presented in the writings of the later Wittgenstein, seems more ambiguous. Grammar is a set of rules of the language game, having a status of grammatical statements. Examples of such statements are diverse, and desirable, according to the authors, reformulation of them all into concrete orders or prohibitions seems problematic. In the Investigations Wittgenstein distinguishes between deep and surface grammar, which serves to determine the proper task of philosophy as description of the deep grammar (especially the grammar of philosophically relevant words. In this sense New Philosophy is a kind of philosophical grammar. Wittgensteinian grammar is also anti-philosophical, as it aims at the elimination of erroneous (pseudometaphysical claims derived from misleading forms of surface grammar. Despite the differences in the concepts of language and grammar in the early and late Wittgenstein, he has not changed his critical approach to the traditional philosophical questions.

Kiss my asterisk a feisty guide to punctuation and grammar

CERN Document Server

Baranick, Jenny

2014-01-01

Grammar has finally let its hair down! Unlike uptight grammar books that overwhelm us with every single grammar rule, Kiss My Asterisk is like a bikini: it's fun, flirty, and covers only the most important bits. Its lessons, which are 100 percent free of complicated grammar jargon, have been carefully selected to include today's most common, noticeable errors—the ones that confuse our readers or make them wonder if we are, in fact, smarter than a fifth grader. What is the proper use of an apostrophe? When should an ellipsis be used instead of an em dash? Why do we capitalize President Obama bu

Nigel: A Systemic Grammar for Text Generation.

Science.gov (United States)

1983-02-01

presumed. Basic references on the systemic framework include [Berry 75, Berry 77, Halliday 76a, Halliday 76b, Hudson 76, Halliday 81, de Joia 80...Edinburgh, 1979. [do Joia 80] de Joia , A., and A. Stanton, Terms in Systemic Linguistics, Batsford Academic and Educational, Ltd., London, 1980. -’C...1 A Grammar for Text Generation- -The Challenge ................................. 1 *1.2 A Grammar for Text Generation--The Design

The Role of Grammar Instruction in Language Teaching

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

无

2001-01-01

@@ The role of grammar instruction in foreign or second language acquisition is one of the most con troversial issues in foreign/second language teach ing and learning research. The advocators of gram mar instruction argue that grammar should be the core of language instruction and formal instruction enhances formal accuracy. On the other hand, crit ics naintain that the grammar knowledge has lim ited uses and may hinder the students from acquir ing the communicative competence and efficiency. Undoubtedly these two extreme theories often put teachers into a dilemma. What theory should they believe then? Do they accept the one and ignore the other?

The minimalist grammar of action

Science.gov (United States)

Pastra, Katerina; Aloimonos, Yiannis

2012-01-01

Language and action have been found to share a common neural basis and in particular a common ‘syntax’, an analogous hierarchical and compositional organization. While language structure analysis has led to the formulation of different grammatical formalisms and associated discriminative or generative computational models, the structure of action is still elusive and so are the related computational models. However, structuring action has important implications on action learning and generalization, in both human cognition research and computation. In this study, we present a biologically inspired generative grammar of action, which employs the structure-building operations and principles of Chomsky's Minimalist Programme as a reference model. In this grammar, action terminals combine hierarchically into temporal sequences of actions of increasing complexity; the actions are bound with the involved tools and affected objects and are governed by certain goals. We show, how the tool role and the affected-object role of an entity within an action drives the derivation of the action syntax in this grammar and controls recursion, merge and move, the latter being mechanisms that manifest themselves not only in human language, but in human action too. PMID:22106430

RADTRAN II: revised computer code to analyze transportation of radioactive material

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Taylor, J.M.; Daniel, S.L.

1982-10-01

A revised and updated version of the RADTRAN computer code is presented. This code has the capability to predict the radiological impacts associated with specific schemes of radioactive material shipments and mode specific transport variables

On the interaction of Linguistic Typology and Functional Grammar

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rijkhoff, J.

2002-01-01

of adjectives as a distinct word class. Conversely it will be shown that facts from many different languages have played an important role in the development of a layered model of the noun phrase in Functional Grammar and how currently these facts are used to test hypotheses concerning parallels between NPs...... empirical research in a wide variety of languages as practiced in the context of linguistic typology and one particular theory, Simon Dik's theory of Functional Grammar. In my view, the relationship between Functional Grammar and linguistic typology is an excellent example of the fruitful combination...... of theory driven data collection and data driven hypothesis formation. Furthermore, typological facts do not only serve to confirm the theory of Functional Grammar, but they also serve as a heuristics for an extension of the theory.Research conducted within the wider theoretical framework of Dik...

Grammar for College Writing: A Sentence-Composing Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Killgallon, Don; Killgallon, Jenny

2010-01-01

Across America, in thousands of classrooms, from elementary school to high school, the time-tested sentence-composing approach has given students tools to become better writers. Now the authors present a much anticipated sentence-composing grammar worktext for college writing. This book presents a new and easier way to understand grammar: (1) Noun…

Current Developments in Research on the Teaching of Grammar

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Hossein Nassaji; Sandra Fotos

2006-01-01

@@ With the rise of communicative methodology in the late 1970s, the role of grammar instruction in second language learning was downplayed, and it was even suggested that teaching grammar was not only unhelpful but might actually be detrimental.

78 FR 37132 - Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans; Revised Format for Materials Being...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-06-20

... Promulgation of Implementation Plans; Revised Format for Materials Being Incorporated by Reference for Florida... the ``good cause'' exemption in section 553(b)(3)(B) of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) which... recodification and miscellaneous revisions to the Florida SIP. EPA also finds that there is good cause under APA...

STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TO EXPLICIT GRAMMAR TEACHING AND ITS RELATIONAHIP TO COMMUNICATION

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

2000-01-01

Grammar teaching is greatly emphasised in English language teaching in China, but does it really attain the goal the students desire? An investigation was made with overseas students about their attitudes to explicit grammar teaching. The investigation reveals that grammar teaching should focus on developing the learners’ communicative ability more than presenting and explaining grammatical rules.

Grammar Maturity Model

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zaytsev, V.; Pierantonio, A.; Schätz, B.; Tamzalit, D.

2014-01-01

The evolution of a software language (whether modelled by a grammar or a schema or a metamodel) is not limited to development of new versions and dialects. An important dimension of a software language evolution is maturing in the sense of improving the quality of its definition. In this paper, we

Grammar-Supported 3d Indoor Reconstruction from Point Clouds for As-Built Bim

Science.gov (United States)

Becker, S.; Peter, M.; Fritsch, D.

2015-03-01

The paper presents a grammar-based approach for the robust automatic reconstruction of 3D interiors from raw point clouds. The core of the approach is a 3D indoor grammar which is an extension of our previously published grammar concept for the modeling of 2D floor plans. The grammar allows for the modeling of buildings whose horizontal, continuous floors are traversed by hallways providing access to the rooms as it is the case for most office buildings or public buildings like schools, hospitals or hotels. The grammar is designed in such way that it can be embedded in an iterative automatic learning process providing a seamless transition from LOD3 to LOD4 building models. Starting from an initial low-level grammar, automatically derived from the window representations of an available LOD3 building model, hypotheses about indoor geometries can be generated. The hypothesized indoor geometries are checked against observation data - here 3D point clouds - collected in the interior of the building. The verified and accepted geometries form the basis for an automatic update of the initial grammar. By this, the knowledge content of the initial grammar is enriched, leading to a grammar with increased quality. This higher-level grammar can then be applied to predict realistic geometries to building parts where only sparse observation data are available. Thus, our approach allows for the robust generation of complete 3D indoor models whose quality can be improved continuously as soon as new observation data are fed into the grammar-based reconstruction process. The feasibility of our approach is demonstrated based on a real-world example.

E-LEARNING TURKISH LANGUAGE AND GRAMMAR: Analyzing Learners' Behavior

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Panagiotis GEORGALAS

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This study analyses the behavior and the preferences of the Greek learners of Turkish language, who use a particular e-learning website in parallel with their studies, namely: http://turkish.pgeorgalas.gr. The website offers free online material in Greek and English language for learning the Turkish language and grammar. The traffic of several modules of the website has been measured, examined and analyzed. The research was carried out between the years 2010- 2011 and included the analysis of several million clicks. The results show particular attitudes, habits and preferences throughout the e-learning process. There is a preference of users to exercises against theory. Fast cross-link exercises are preferred to slower “fill in” ones. During the weekends, visitors tend to use less e-learning facilities and select more light activities than the rest days of the week. Society trends and fashions like TV serials have a serious impact to the number of people who decide to learn a new foreign language, in particular Turkish. There is a strong preference of the audience to use online TV against online radio facilities for language practice. The subjects that Greek learners of Turkish language spend more time are verbs conjugation and vocabulary learning. They focus on elementary grammar subjects like the Alphabet, the numbers and the formation of plural. Finally, they try to learn the syntax of Turkish language through sentence structure puzzles and give priority to special grammar issues like noun compounds that are not present in Greek language.

Linear grammar as a possible stepping-stone in the evolution of language.

Science.gov (United States)

Jackendoff, Ray; Wittenberg, Eva

2017-02-01

We suggest that one way to approach the evolution of language is through reverse engineering: asking what components of the language faculty could have been useful in the absence of the full complement of components. We explore the possibilities offered by linear grammar, a form of language that lacks syntax and morphology altogether, and that structures its utterances through a direct mapping between semantics and phonology. A language with a linear grammar would have no syntactic categories or syntactic phrases, and therefore no syntactic recursion. It would also have no functional categories such as tense, agreement, and case inflection, and no derivational morphology. Such a language would still be capable of conveying certain semantic relations through word order-for instance by stipulating that agents should precede patients. However, many other semantic relations would have to be based on pragmatics and discourse context. We find evidence of linear grammar in a wide range of linguistic phenomena: pidgins, stages of late second language acquisition, home signs, village sign languages, language comprehension (even in fully syntactic languages), aphasia, and specific language impairment. We also find a full-blown language, Riau Indonesian, whose grammar is arguably close to a pure linear grammar. In addition, when subjects are asked to convey information through nonlinguistic gesture, their gestures make use of semantically based principles of linear ordering. Finally, some pockets of English grammar, notably compounds, can be characterized in terms of linear grammar. We conclude that linear grammar is a plausible evolutionary precursor of modern fully syntactic grammar, one that is still active in the human mind.

Explicit Grammar Instruction in L2 Learners’Writing Development:Effective or Ineffective?

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

田秀峰

2012-01-01

　　It has long been in dispute about whether explicit grammar teaching is more effective in second language learning or implicit grammar teaching is. However, there are more than one factor to take into consideration while discussing which way is better for L2 learners. This short essay aims at depicting three respects concerning grammar teaching, namely learning context, language learners’beliefs and needs, and grammar instruction. When educators and practitioners try to adopt grammar instruction either implicitly or explicitly in L2 learners’writing development, they probably need to consider the above three factors and to find out the best way to produce more effective teaching results among their students

The autonomy of grammar and semantic internalism

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dobler Tamara

2014-01-01

Full Text Available In his post-Tractatus work on natural language use, Wittgenstein defended the notion of what he dubbed the autonomy of grammar. According to this thought, grammar - or semantics, in a more recent idiom - is essentially autonomous from metaphysical considerations, and is not answerable to the nature of things. The argument has several related incarnations in Wittgenstein’s post-Tractatus writings, and has given rise to a number of important insights, both critical and constructive. In this paper I will argue for a potential connection between Wittgenstein’s autonomy argument and some more recent internalist arguments for the autonomy of semantics. My main motivation for establishing this connection comes from the fact that the later Wittgenstein’s comments on grammar and meaning stand in opposition to some of the core assumptions of semantic externalism.

From LL-regular to LL(1) grammars: Transformations, covers and parsing

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nijholt, Antinus

1982-01-01

In this paper it is shown that it is possible to transform any LL-regular grammar G into an LL(1) grammar G' in such a way that parsing G' is as good as parsing G. That is, a parse of a sentence of grammar G can be obtained with a simple string homomorphism from the parse of a corresponding sentence

Linearly Ordered Attribute Grammars : With Automatic Augmenting Dependency Selection

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Binsbergen, L. Thomas; Bransen, Jeroen; Dijkstra, Atze

2015-01-01

Attribute Grammars (AGs) extend Context-Free Grammars with attributes: information gathered on the syntax tree that adds semantics to the syntax. AGs are very well suited for describing static analyses, code-generation and other phases incorporated in a compiler. AGs are divided into classes based

What is the Spirit of the English Grammar Teaching?

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Haijiang Zhao

2016-01-01

In China,English is a foreign language,not a second language.Chinese students can't learn English well without learning its gram?mar first.As for English teachers,the most important is to help the students to grasp the spirit of English grammar learning.

The Effectiveness of Teaching Traditional Grammar on Writing Composition at the High School Level

Science.gov (United States)

Jaeger, Gina

2011-01-01

Traditional grammar instruction is a challenging element of the English curriculum; both students and teachers struggle with the rules and dull nature of grammar. However, understanding grammar is important because students need to understand the language they speak in order to be effective communicators, and teachers provide grammar instruction…

Theoretical Basics of the Transpositional Grammar of Russian Language

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Victor Vasilievich Shigurov

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The article presents the theoretical basics of the transpositional grammar of the Russian language (as the special areas of the functional grammar, which serves as a mechanism for describing the subject of the transposition of the linguistic units from one class (or interclass semantic-syntactic category to another (or others. The relation to the transposition of the grammar and vocabulary (word-formation was displayed; a typology of the transpositional processes in grammatical structure of the Russian language was submitted, and above all, in the parts of the speech and inter part-of-speech classes, grammatical categories and lexical-grammatical classes; general and specific objectives of the study types of transposition of the linguistic units were defined; the fragments of the description of the transition and syncretism of the language units were offered using the technique of opposition analysis and indexation. The results can be used in the development of the theory of the transpositional grammar of the Russian language.

Access, Rank, and Select in Grammar-compressed Strings

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Belazzougui, Djamal; Cording, Patrick Hagge; Puglisi, Simon J.

2015-01-01

Given a string S of length N on a fixed alphabet of σ symbols, a grammar compressor produces a context-free grammar G of size n that generates S and only S. In this paper we describe data structures to support the following operations on a grammar-compressed string: access(S,i,j) (return substring...... consecutive symbols from S. Alternatively, we can achieve \\O(logτN+m/logσN) query time using \\O(nτlogτ(N/n)logN) bits of space, matching a lower bound stated by Verbin and Yu for strings where N is polynomially related to n when τ = log ε N. For rank and select we describe data structures of size \\O...

Impact of Consciousness-Raising Activities on Young English Language Learners' Grammar Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Fatemipour, Hamidreza; Hemmati, Shiva

2015-01-01

Grammar Consciousness-Raising (GCR) is an approach to teaching of grammar which learners instead of being taught the given rules, experience language data. The data challenge them to rethink, restructure their existing mental grammar and construct an explicit rule to describe the grammatical feature which the data illustrate (Ellis, 2002). And…

A Python-based Interface for Wide Coverage Lexicalized Tree-adjoining Grammars

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wang Ziqi

2015-04-01

Full Text Available This paper describes the design and implementation of a Python-based interface for wide coverage Lexicalized Tree-adjoining Grammars. The grammars are part of the XTAG Grammar project at the University of Pennsylvania, which were hand-written and semi-automatically curated to parse real-world corpora. We provide an interface to the wide coverage English and Korean XTAG grammars. Each XTAG grammar is lexicalized, which means at least one word selects a tree fragment (called an elementary tree or etree. Derivations for sentences are built by combining etrees using substitution (replacement of a tree node with an etree at the frontier of another etree and adjunction (replacement of an internal tree node in an etree by another etree. Each etree is associated with a feature structure representing constraints on substitution and adjunction. Feature structures are combined using unification during the combination of etrees. We plan to integrate our toolkit for XTAG grammars into the Python-based Natural Language Toolkit (NLTK: nltk.org. We have provided an API capable of searching the lexicalized etrees for a given word or multiple words, searching for a etree by name or function, display the lexicalized etrees to the user using a graphical view, display the feature structure associated with each tree node in an etree, hide or highlight features based on a regular expression, and browsing the entire tree database for each XTAG grammar.

What do animals learn in artificial grammar studies?

Science.gov (United States)

Beckers, Gabriël J L; Berwick, Robert C; Okanoya, Kazuo; Bolhuis, Johan J

2017-10-01

Artificial grammar learning is a popular paradigm to study syntactic ability in nonhuman animals. Subjects are first trained to recognize strings of tokens that are sequenced according to grammatical rules. Next, to test if recognition depends on grammaticality, subjects are presented with grammar-consistent and grammar-violating test strings, which they should discriminate between. However, simpler cues may underlie discrimination if they are available. Here, we review stimulus design in a sample of studies that use particular sounds as tokens, and that claim or suggest their results demonstrate a form of sequence rule learning. To assess the extent of acoustic similarity between training and test strings, we use four simple measures corresponding to cues that are likely salient. All stimulus sets contain biases in similarity measures such that grammatical test stimuli resemble training stimuli acoustically more than do non-grammatical test stimuli. These biases may contribute to response behaviour, reducing the strength of grammatical explanations. We conclude that acoustic confounds are a blind spot in artificial grammar learning studies in nonhuman animals. Copyright © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

A Theoretical Glimpse at Issues of Grammar Teaching

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

朱海涛

2012-01-01

When it comes to the description of the status of grammar in the field of second language teaching now,recent literature bears witness a good deal of discussion about a ’grammar revival’. More recently,theoretical perspectives on language teaching and learning have changed. The possibilities and feasibility of integrating form - focus instruction and meaningful communicative activities in the communicative language classroom have been explored.

The elements of grammar in 90 minutes

CERN Document Server

Hollander, Robert

2011-01-01

An eminent scholar explains the essentials of English grammar to those who never studied the basics as well as those who need a refresher course. Inspired by Strunk & White's classic The Elements of Style, this user-friendly guide focuses exclusively on grammar, explaining the individual parts of speech and their proper arrangement in sentence form. A modest investment of 90 minutes can provide readers of all ages with simple but important tools that will improve their communication skills. Dover (2011) original publication.

The Role of Teaching Grammar in First Language Education

Science.gov (United States)

Demir, Sezgin; Erdogan, Ayse

2018-01-01

Grammar; while originating from the natural structure of the language also is the system which makes it possible for different language functions meet within the body of common rules especially communication. Having command of the language used, speaking and writing it correctly require strong grammar knowledge actually. However only knowing the…

John Ash and the Rise of the Children's Grammar

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Navest, Karlijn Marianne

2011-01-01

From the second half of the eighteenth century onwards a knowledge of grammar served as an important marker of class in England. In order to enable their children to rise in society, middle-class parents expected their sons and daughters to learn English grammar. Since England did not have an

Multiword Constructions in the Grammar.

Science.gov (United States)

Culicover, Peter W; Jackendoff, Ray; Audring, Jenny

2017-07-01

There is ample evidence that speakers' linguistic knowledge extends well beyond what can be described in terms of rules of compositional interpretation stated over combinations of single words. We explore a range of multiword constructions (MWCs) to get a handle both on the extent of the phenomenon and on the grammatical constraints that may govern it. We consider idioms of various sorts, collocations, compounds, light verbs, syntactic nuts, and assorted other constructions, as well as morphology. Our conclusion is that MWCs highlight the central role that grammar plays in licensing MWCs in the lexicon and the creation of novel MWCs, and they help to clarify how the lexicon articulates with the rest of the grammar. Copyright © 2017 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Multiple Grammars and the Logic of Learnability in Second Language Acquisition.

Science.gov (United States)

Roeper, Tom W

2016-01-01

The core notion of modern Universal Grammar is that language ability requires abstract representation in terms of hierarchy, movement operations, abstract features on words, and fixed mapping to meaning. These mental structures are a step toward integrating representational knowledge of all kinds into a larger model of cognitive psychology. Examining first and second language at once provides clues as to how abstractly we should represent this knowledge. The abstract nature of grammar allows both the formulation of many grammars and the possibility that a rule of one grammar could apply to another grammar. We argue that every language contains Multiple Grammars which may reflect different language families. We develop numerous examples of how the same abstract rules can apply in various languages and develop a theory of how language modules (case-marking, topicalization, and quantification) interact to predict L2 acquisition paths. In particular we show in depth how Germanic Verb-second operations, based on Verb-final structure, can apply in English. The argument is built around how and where V2 from German can apply in English, seeking to explain the crucial contrast: "nothing" yelled out Bill/(*)"nothing" yelled Bill out in terms of the necessary abstractness of the V2 rule.

Vega-Lite: A Grammar of Interactive Graphics.

Science.gov (United States)

Satyanarayan, Arvind; Moritz, Dominik; Wongsuphasawat, Kanit; Heer, Jeffrey

2017-01-01

We present Vega-Lite, a high-level grammar that enables rapid specification of interactive data visualizations. Vega-Lite combines a traditional grammar of graphics, providing visual encoding rules and a composition algebra for layered and multi-view displays, with a novel grammar of interaction. Users specify interactive semantics by composing selections. In Vega-Lite, a selection is an abstraction that defines input event processing, points of interest, and a predicate function for inclusion testing. Selections parameterize visual encodings by serving as input data, defining scale extents, or by driving conditional logic. The Vega-Lite compiler automatically synthesizes requisite data flow and event handling logic, which users can override for further customization. In contrast to existing reactive specifications, Vega-Lite selections decompose an interaction design into concise, enumerable semantic units. We evaluate Vega-Lite through a range of examples, demonstrating succinct specification of both customized interaction methods and common techniques such as panning, zooming, and linked selection.

Construction Morphology and the Parallel Architecture of Grammar

Science.gov (United States)

Booij, Geert; Audring, Jenny

2017-01-01

This article presents a systematic exposition of how the basic ideas of Construction Grammar (CxG) (Goldberg, 2006) and the Parallel Architecture (PA) of grammar (Jackendoff, 2002]) provide the framework for a proper account of morphological phenomena, in particular word formation. This framework is referred to as Construction Morphology (CxM). As…

Spoken Grammar: An Urgent Necessity in the EFL Context

Science.gov (United States)

Al-wossabi, Sami A.

2014-01-01

Recent studies in corpus linguistics have revealed apparent inconsistencies between the prescriptive grammar presented in EFL textbooks and the type of grammar used in the speech of native speakers. Such variations and learning gaps deprive EFL learners of the actual use of English and delay their oral/aural developmental processes. The focus of…

Designing an Intelligent Mobile Learning Tool for Grammar Learning (i-MoL

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Munir Shuib

2015-01-01

Full Text Available English is the most important second language in most non-English speaking countries, including Malaysia. A good English proficiency comes from good grasp of grammar. To conquer the problems of low English proficiency among Malaysians, it is important to identify the key motivators that could facilitate the process of grammar learning. In this digital age, technology can play a very important role and mobile technology could be one of it. Thus, this study aims at designing a mobile learning tool, namely the Intelligent Mobile Learning Tool for Grammar Learning (i-MoL to act as the “on-the-go” grammar learning support via mobile phones. i-MoL helps reinforce grammar learning through mobile phone with game-like applications, inquiry-based activities and flashcard-like information. The intelligent part of i-MoL lies in its ability to map the mobile-based grammar learning content to individual’s preferred learning styles based on Felder-Silverman Learning Style Model (FSLSM. The instructional system design through the ADDIE model was used in this study as a systematic approach in designing a novel and comprehensive mobile learning tool for grammar learning. In terms of implications, this study provides insights on how mobile technologies can be utilized to meet the mobility demand among language learners today.

Modeling the Nature of Grammar and Vocabulary Trajectories From Prekindergarten to Third Grade.

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Hui; Logan, Jessica A; Jia, Rongfang

2018-04-17

This study investigated the longitudinal development of 2 important contributors to reading comprehension, grammar, and vocabulary skills. The primary interest was to examine the trajectories of the 2 skill areas from preschool to 3rd grade. The study involved a longitudinal sample of 420 children from 4 sites. Language skills, including grammar and vocabulary, were assessed annually with multiple measures. Multivariate latent growth curve modeling was used to examine the developmental trajectories of grammar and vocabulary, to test the correlation between the 2 domains, and to investigate the effects of demographic predictors on language growth. Results showed that both grammar and vocabulary exhibited decelerating growth from preschool to Grade 2. In Grade 3, grammar growth further flattened, whereas vocabulary continued to grow stably. Growth of vocabulary and grammar were positively correlated. Demographic characteristics, such as child gender and family socioeconomic status, were found to predict the intercept but not the slope of the growth trajectories. Children's growth in grammar skills is differentiated in a number of important ways from their growth in vocabulary skills. Results of this study suggest the need to differentiate these dimensions of language when seeking to closely examine growth from preschool to primary grades.

Where Is She? Gender Occurrences in Online Grammar Guides

Science.gov (United States)

Amare, Nicole

2007-01-01

This article examines seven online grammar guides for instances of linguistic sexism. The grammar sentences from .edu Websites were analyzed based on NCTE's "Guidelines for Gender-Fair Use of Language" (2002) using the criteria of generic he and man; titles, labels, and names; gender stereotypes; order of mention (firstness); and ratio of male to…

Linguistics deviation, a tool for teaching English grammar: evidence ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

We have always advocated that those teaching the Use of English must seek out novel ways of teaching the grammar of English to take out the drudgery of the present approach. Here, we proposed using Linguistic deviation as a tool for teaching English grammar. This approach will produce students who are both strong in ...

Grammar Engineering Support for Precedence Rule Recovery and Compatibility Checking

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bouwers, E.; Bravenboer, M.; Visser, E.

2007-01-01

A wide range of parser generators are used to generate parsers for programming languages. The grammar formalisms that come with parser generators provide different approaches for defining operator precedence. Some generators (e.g. YACC) support precedence declarations, others require the grammar to

DIFFICULTIES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING GRAMMAR IN AN EFL CONTEXT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abdu Mohammed Al-Mekhlafi

2011-07-01

Full Text Available The role of grammar instruction in an ESL/EFL context has been for decades a major issue for students and teachers alike. Researchers have debated whether grammar should be taught in the classroom and students, for their part, have generally looked upon grammar instruction as a necessary evil at best, and an avoidable burden at worst. The paper reports a study undertaken to investigate the difficulties teachers face in teaching grammar to EFL students as well as those faced by students in learning it, in the teachers' perception. The study aimed to find out whether there are significant differences in teachers' perceptions of difficulties in relation to their gender, qualification, teaching experience, and the level they teach in school, thus providing insights into their own and their students' difficulties. Mean scores and t-test were used to interpret the data. The main findings are reported with implications.

The Effects of Using Online Concordancers on Teaching Grammar

Science.gov (United States)

Türkmen, Yasemin; Aydin, Selami

2016-01-01

Studies conducted so far have mainly focused on the effects of online concordancers on teaching vocabulary, while there is a lack of research focusing on the effects of online concordancers on teaching and learning grammar. Thus, this study aims to review the studies on the effects of online concordancers on teaching and learning grammar and how…

Effect of Direct Grammar Instruction on Student Writing Skills

Science.gov (United States)

Robinson, Lisa; Feng, Jay

2016-01-01

Grammar Instruction has an important role to play in helping students to speak and write more effectively. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of direct grammar instruction on the quality of student's writing skills. The participants in this study included 18 fifth grade students and two fifth grade teachers. Based on the results…

Concept-Based Grammar Teaching: An Academic Responds to Azar

Science.gov (United States)

Hill, Kent

2007-01-01

This response to Azar (this volume) intends to discuss from an academic's perspective the main points raised in her paper (i.e., grammar-based instruction and its relation to focus on form and error correction) and, to encourage a more concept-based approach to grammar instruction (CBT). A CBT approach to language development argues that the…

The Effectiveness of Grammar Learning in Impro ving Reading Comprehension of English Majors

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

田晓

2015-01-01

The importance of grammar knowledge has al-ways been neglected in reading comprehension. To help English teachers and learners see the value of grammar analysis, this pa-per, therefore, explores the correlation between grammar and reading comprehension. Forty-four freshmen of English majors were involved in the experiment, completing two tests of grammar and reading comprehension respectively, and it was followed by a personal interview for some exceptional cases after a week. The result of data analysis shows that grammar analysis accompanying with vocabulary, emotion, as well as other factors produce an ef-fect on learners’reading comprehension to a certain degree. It is suggested that language teachers as well as learners therefore should attach importance to learning grammatical knowledge.

Does complexity matter? Meta-analysis of learner performance in artificial grammar tasks.

Science.gov (United States)

Schiff, Rachel; Katan, Pesia

2014-01-01

Complexity has been shown to affect performance on artificial grammar learning (AGL) tasks (categorization of test items as grammatical/ungrammatical according to the implicitly trained grammar rules). However, previously published AGL experiments did not utilize consistent measures to investigate the comprehensive effect of grammar complexity on task performance. The present study focused on computerizing Bollt and Jones's (2000) technique of calculating topological entropy (TE), a quantitative measure of AGL charts' complexity, with the aim of examining associations between grammar systems' TE and learners' AGL task performance. We surveyed the literature and identified 56 previous AGL experiments based on 10 different grammars that met the sampling criteria. Using the automated matrix-lift-action method, we assigned a TE value for each of these 10 previously used AGL systems and examined its correlation with learners' task performance. The meta-regression analysis showed a significant correlation, demonstrating that the complexity effect transcended the different settings and conditions in which the categorization task was performed. The results reinforced the importance of using this new automated tool to uniformly measure grammar systems' complexity when experimenting with and evaluating the findings of AGL studies.

Automating 3D reconstruction using a probabilistic grammar

Science.gov (United States)

Xiong, Hanwei; Xu, Jun; Xu, Chenxi; Pan, Ming

2015-10-01

3D reconstruction of objects from point clouds with a laser scanner is still a laborious task in many applications. Automating 3D process is an ongoing research topic and suffers from the complex structure of the data. The main difficulty is due to lack of knowledge of real world objects structure. In this paper, we accumulate such structure knowledge by a probabilistic grammar learned from examples in the same category. The rules of the grammar capture compositional structures at different levels, and a feature dependent probability function is attached for every rule. The learned grammar can be used to parse new 3D point clouds, organize segment patches in a hierarchal way, and assign them meaningful labels. The parsed semantics can be used to guide the reconstruction algorithms automatically. Some examples are given to explain the method.

Generative Graph Grammar of Neo-Vaiśeṣika Formal Ontology (NVFO)

Science.gov (United States)

Tavva, Rajesh; Singh, Navjyoti

NLP applications for Sanskrit so far work within computational paradigm of string grammars. However, to compute 'meanings', as in traditional śā bdabodha prakriyā-s, there is a need to develop suitable graph grammars. Ontological structures are fundamentally graphs. We work within the formal framework of Neo-Vaiśeṣika Formal Ontology (NVFO) to propose a generative graph grammar. The proposed formal grammar only produces well-formed graphs that can be readily interpreted in accordance with Vaiśeṣ ika Ontology. We show that graphs not permitted by Vaiśeṣ ika ontology are not generated by the proposed grammar. Further, we write Interpreter of these graphical structures. This creates computational environment which can be deployed for writing computational applications of Vaiśeṣ ika ontology. We illustrate how this environment can be used to create applications like computing śā bdabodha of sentences.

Using Webquest in Learning Grammar: Students' Perceptions in Higher Education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ira Irzawati

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Webquest is an internet based learning tool that can be used by students in learning English. This study investigates students’ perceptions about the use of Webquest to support learning grammar in Higher Education. Seventy-two of second semester students were involved as participants in this study. Questionnaire and interview were used to collect the data. The data were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. The result of this study revealed that students had positive perceptions toward the use of Webquest in learning grammar. They believed that Webquest can be used as one of effective internet based learning tools in studying grammar.

The place of exclamatives and miratives in grammar: a functional discourse grammar view

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Olbertz, H.

2012-01-01

The concept of mirativity has come to interfere in the recently developed framework of Functional Discourse Grammar with what would be considered to be exclamative elsewhere. In addition, the concept of exclamative itself turns out to be ill-defined in various studies within the functional paradigm.

The Effects of Communicative Grammar Teaching on Students' Achievement of Grammatical Knowledge and Oral Production

Science.gov (United States)

Ho, Pham Vu Phi; The Binh, Nguyen

2014-01-01

So far the students of Le Hong Phong Junior High School have been taught grammar with GTM (Grammar-Translation Method), which just prepares learners for conventional grammar-paper tests. Despite their considerable knowledge of grammar, the students fail to use the language they have learnt to communicate in real-life situations. The purpose of…

Automated Understanding of Financial Statements Using Neural Networks and Semantic Grammars

OpenAIRE

Markovitch, J. S.

1995-01-01

This article discusses how neural networks and semantic grammars may be used to locate and understand financial statements embedded in news stories received from on-line news wires. A neural net is used to identify where in the news story a financial statement appears to begin. A grammar then is applied to this text in an effort to extract specific facts from the financial statement. Applying grammars to financial statements presents unique parsing problems since the dollar amounts of financi...

Tracking Down the Origins of Ambiguity in Context-Free Grammars

NARCIS (Netherlands)

H.J.S. Basten (Bas)

2010-01-01

htmlabstractContext-free grammars are widely used but still hindered by ambiguity. This stresses the need for detailed detection methods that point out the sources of ambiguity in a grammar. In this paper we show how the approximative Noncanonical Unambiguity Test by Schmitz can be extended to

Sensing the Sentence: An Embodied Simulation Approach to Rhetorical Grammar

Science.gov (United States)

Rule, Hannah J.

2017-01-01

This article applies the neuroscientific concept of embodied simulation--the process of understanding language through visual, motor, and spatial modalities of the body--to rhetorical grammar and sentence-style pedagogies. Embodied simulation invigorates rhetorical grammar instruction by attuning writers to the felt effects of written language,…

Information theory and artificial grammar learning: inferring grammaticality from redundancy.

Science.gov (United States)

Jamieson, Randall K; Nevzorova, Uliana; Lee, Graham; Mewhort, D J K

2016-03-01

In artificial grammar learning experiments, participants study strings of letters constructed using a grammar and then sort novel grammatical test exemplars from novel ungrammatical ones. The ability to distinguish grammatical from ungrammatical strings is often taken as evidence that the participants have induced the rules of the grammar. We show that judgements of grammaticality are predicted by the local redundancy of the test strings, not by grammaticality itself. The prediction holds in a transfer test in which test strings involve different letters than the training strings. Local redundancy is usually confounded with grammaticality in stimuli widely used in the literature. The confounding explains why the ability to distinguish grammatical from ungrammatical strings has popularized the idea that participants have induced the rules of the grammar, when they have not. We discuss the judgement of grammaticality task in terms of attribute substitution and pattern goodness. When asked to judge grammaticality (an inaccessible attribute), participants answer an easier question about pattern goodness (an accessible attribute).

Compiling a corpus-based dictionary grammar: an example for ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

In this article it is shown how a corpus-based dictionary grammar may be compiled — that is, a mini-grammar fully based on corpus data and specifically written for use in and inte-grated with a dictionary. Such an effort is, to the best of our knowledge, a world's first. We exem-plify our approach for a Northern Sotho ...

A Grammar of Bih

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, Tam Thi Minh

2013-01-01

Bih is a Chamic (Austronesian) language spoken by approximately 500 people in the Southern highlands of Vietnam. This dissertation is the first descriptive grammar of the language, based on extensive fieldwork and community-based language documentation in Vietnam and written from a functional/typological perspective. The analysis in this work is…

A grammar of Lepcha

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Plaisier, Heleen

2006-01-01

This book is a descriptive grammar of Lepcha, a Tibeto-Burman language spoken in Sikkim, Darjeeling district in West Bengal in India, in Ilam district in Nepal, and in a few villages of Samtsi district in south-western Bhutan. The data for this study were collected during several sojourns amongst

Graph Grammar-Based Multi-Frontal Parallel Direct Solver for Two-Dimensional Isogeometric Analysis

KAUST Repository

Kuźnik, Krzysztof

2012-06-02

This paper introduces the graph grammar based model for developing multi-thread multi-frontal parallel direct solver for two dimensional isogeometric finite element method. Execution of the solver algorithm has been expressed as the sequence of graph grammar productions. At the beginning productions construct the elimination tree with leaves corresponding to finite elements. Following sequence of graph grammar productions generates element frontal matri-ces at leaf nodes, merges matrices at parent nodes and eliminates rows corresponding to fully assembled degrees of freedom. Finally, there are graph grammar productions responsible for root problem solution and recursive backward substitutions. Expressing the solver algorithm by graph grammar productions allows us to explore the concurrency of the algorithm. The graph grammar productions are grouped into sets of independent tasks that can be executed concurrently. The resulting concurrent multi-frontal solver algorithm is implemented and tested on NVIDIA GPU, providing O(NlogN) execution time complexity where N is the number of degrees of freedom. We have confirmed this complexity by solving up to 1 million of degrees of freedom with 448 cores GPU.

Environmental Peace Education in Foreign Language Learners' English Grammar Lessons

Science.gov (United States)

Arikan, Arda

2009-01-01

English language teachers create contexts to teach grammar so that meaningful learning occurs. In this study, English grammar is contextualized through environmental peace education activities to raise students' awareness of global issues. Two sources provided data to evaluate the success of this instructional process. Fourth-year pre-service…

Grammar Is a System That Characterizes Talk in Interaction.

Science.gov (United States)

Ginzburg, Jonathan; Poesio, Massimo

2016-01-01

Much of contemporary mainstream formal grammar theory is unable to provide analyses for language as it occurs in actual spoken interaction. Its analyses are developed for a cleaned up version of language which omits the disfluencies, non-sentential utterances, gestures, and many other phenomena that are ubiquitous in spoken language. Using evidence from linguistics, conversation analysis, multimodal communication, psychology, language acquisition, and neuroscience, we show these aspects of language use are rule governed in much the same way as phenomena captured by conventional grammars. Furthermore, we argue that over the past few years some of the tools required to provide a precise characterizations of such phenomena have begun to emerge in theoretical and computational linguistics; hence, there is no reason for treating them as "second class citizens" other than pre-theoretical assumptions about what should fall under the purview of grammar. Finally, we suggest that grammar formalisms covering such phenomena would provide a better foundation not just for linguistic analysis of face-to-face interaction, but also for sister disciplines, such as research on spoken dialogue systems and/or psychological work on language acquisition.

Inductive vs. Deductive Grammar Instruction and the Grammatical Performance of EFL Learners

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fatemeh Behjat

2008-02-01

Full Text Available Learning a foreign language offers a great challenge to students since it involves learning different skills and subskills. Quite a few number of researches have been done so far on the relationship between gender and learning a foreign language. On the other hand, two major approaches in teaching grammar have been offered by language experts, inductive and deductive. The present study examines which method of teaching grammar is more fruitful for Iranian male and female students. For this purpose, 150 freshman students, 110 females and 40 males, majoring in English were selected from all available students at Abadeh and Shiraz Azad universities. All the subjects took the NTC's grammar test prior to the instruction as pre-test. Then, they were divided into two groups and were taught grammar inductively and deductively in each group for one semester. At the end of the instruction, the same test was taken as post-test. The comparison between the students' pre and post-test indicated that there was a significant improvement in their knowledge of grammar. By the way, through a two-way ANOVA, it was found out that males learned grammar better when they were taught inductively and females showed a better performance when they were taught deductively.

Negative Transfer of L1 on English Grammar Learning in SLA

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

马秀琳

2015-01-01

At present,many scholars pay more attention to the positive transfer of native language on the English learning,while ignoring the negative transfer of L1 on English grammar learning.Therefore native transfer of L1 often appears on English grammar learning.This paper aims to point out that the negative transfer of L1 has a profound and vast influence on the English grammar learning,to find out the countermeasures to reduce the influence of negative transfer of L1 and finally to bring the benefits to the following relative studies.

Grammar-Lexicon Distinction in a Neurocognitive Context

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ishkhanyan, Byurakn

hypotheses and testing them through using various methods. The grammar-lexicon distinction and working memory are thus central topics of this thesis. The results suggest a potential for a successful integration of the two theories. The findings further provide evidence for Boye & Harder’s (2012......) understanding of the grammar-lexicon distinction, and for the involvement of working memory in language production, as the REF-model would predict. As a starting point for integrating the two theories, the present thesis gives directions for future research on the neurocognitive underpinning of language and its...... relation to working memory....

Transfer and access to universal grammar in adult second language acquisition

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sauter, Kim

2002-01-01

Summary This dissertation focuses on the roles of first language transfer and Universal Grammar in adult second (or foreign) language acquisition. It contributes to the ongoing debate whether second language acquisition is constrained by Universal Grammar. According to generative linguists,

Comparison of Context-free Grammars Based on Parsing Generated Test Data

NARCIS (Netherlands)

B. Fischer (Bernd); R. Lämmel (Ralf); V. Zaytsev (Vadim); U. Aßmann; J. Saraiva; A.M. Sloane

2011-01-01

textabstractThere exist a number of software engineering scenarios that essentially involve equivalence or correspondence assertions for some of the context-free grammars in the scenarios. For instance, when applying grammar transformations during parser development---be it for the sake of

The Role of Grammar in the Writing Curriculum: A Review of the Literature

Science.gov (United States)

Myhill, Debra; Watson, Annabel

2014-01-01

For most Anglophone countries, the history of grammar teaching over the past 50 years is one of contestation, debate and dissent: and 50 years on we are no closer to reaching a consensus about the role of grammar in the English/Language Arts curriculum. The debate has been described through the metaphor of battle and grammar wars (Kamler, 1995;…

76 FR 41705 - Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans; New York; Revised Format of Materials Being...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-07-15

...-year period, EPA will review its experience with the new table format and will decide whether or not to... the APA, since the reorganization and codification of the revised format for denoting IBR of the state... Promulgation of Implementation Plans; New York; Revised Format of Materials Being Incorporated by Reference...

A stochastic context free grammar based framework for analysis of protein sequences

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Nebel Jean-Christophe

2009-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background In the last decade, there have been many applications of formal language theory in bioinformatics such as RNA structure prediction and detection of patterns in DNA. However, in the field of proteomics, the size of the protein alphabet and the complexity of relationship between amino acids have mainly limited the application of formal language theory to the production of grammars whose expressive power is not higher than stochastic regular grammars. However, these grammars, like other state of the art methods, cannot cover any higher-order dependencies such as nested and crossing relationships that are common in proteins. In order to overcome some of these limitations, we propose a Stochastic Context Free Grammar based framework for the analysis of protein sequences where grammars are induced using a genetic algorithm. Results This framework was implemented in a system aiming at the production of binding site descriptors. These descriptors not only allow detection of protein regions that are involved in these sites, but also provide insight in their structure. Grammars were induced using quantitative properties of amino acids to deal with the size of the protein alphabet. Moreover, we imposed some structural constraints on grammars to reduce the extent of the rule search space. Finally, grammars based on different properties were combined to convey as much information as possible. Evaluation was performed on sites of various sizes and complexity described either by PROSITE patterns, domain profiles or a set of patterns. Results show the produced binding site descriptors are human-readable and, hence, highlight biologically meaningful features. Moreover, they achieve good accuracy in both annotation and detection. In addition, findings suggest that, unlike current state-of-the-art methods, our system may be particularly suited to deal with patterns shared by non-homologous proteins. Conclusion A new Stochastic Context Free

Functional Orientation and Practice of Inductive and Deductive Approaches to Grammar Teaching in EFL

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邵阳

2011-01-01

To solve the ambiguous understanding of Grammar Teaching position,based on explicit grammatical knowledge,this paper discusses the grammar position in EFL,compares both its pros and cons between deductive and inductive approaches,and indicates that grammar teaching by either approach alone has disadvantages,should adopt a combination technique.

Pre-Service English Teachers’ Beliefs Towards Grammar And Its Teaching At Two Turkish Universities

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İsmail Zeki DİKİCİ

2012-07-01

Full Text Available This paper examines pre-service English teachers’ beliefs towards grammar studying at two Turkish Universities. A total of 90 pre-service English teachers, 57 of whom were studying at Muğla University and 33 of whom were studying at Onsekiz Mart University in Turkey, were involved in this study. The research participants completed two questionnaires. The aim of this paper is to look into pre-service English teachers’ beliefs towards grammar and its teaching as well as their knowledge on the metalanguage of grammar. The findings reveal that although a great majority of the participants favour the use of metalanguage in teaching grammar, and support the deductive grammar teaching practises, they themselves still have serious problems even with the most basic grammatical terminology.

REA's handbook of English grammar, style, and writing

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REA, The Editors of

1992-01-01

The ability to write and speak correctly and effectively is a prerequisite for doing well in all subjects, including the physical and social sciences, math and the liberal arts. Writing and speaking skills become even more important when seeking a job and trying to succeed in a chosen career. This easy-to-understand, straightforward English handbook does not use the hard-to-understand technical jargon usually found in English grammar books. Instead, this handbook provides hundreds of examples from which it is possible to easily see what is correct and what is incorrect in all areas of English grammar and writing. Learn quickly and easily: 1. Rules and exceptions in grammar, 2. Spelling and proper punctuation, 3. Common errors in sentence structure, 4. 2,000 examples of correct usage, and 5. Effective writing skills. Complete practice exercises with answers follow each chapter.The handbook covers the following in detail: nouns, verbs, adjectives, paragraphs, composition, punctuation, spelling, and much more. A...

Insights from Skill Acquisition Theory for Grammar Activity Sequencing and Design in Foreign Language Teaching

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Criado, Raquel

2016-01-01

This article presents a framework for the elaboration of Foreign Language Teaching (FLT) grammar materials for adults based on the application to SLA of Skill Acquisition Theory (SAT). This theory is argued to compensate for the major drawbacks of FLT settings in comparison with second language contexts (lack of classroom learning time and limited…

Current Issues in the Teaching of Grammar: An SLA Perspective

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Ellis, Rod

2006-01-01

The study of how learners acquire a second language (SLA) has helped to shape thinking about how to teach the grammar of a second language. There remain, however, a number of controversial issues. This paper considers eight key questions relating to grammar pedagogy in the light of findings from SLA. As such, this article complements…

Noticing Grammar in L2 Writing and Problem-Solving Strategies

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Geist, Monika

2017-01-01

Noticing plays an important role for second language acquisition. Since the formulation of the output hypothesis (Swain, 1985), it has been proven that producing output can lead to noticing. Studies on noticing have revealed little focus on grammar, and an in-depth investigation of grammar noticing has not been conducted so far. Studies into…

Strategies Study On Communicative Awareness-raising Approachof Grammar Teaching for English Majors

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

吴俊芳; 童心

2013-01-01

The traditional grammar teaching method can’t make learners communicate in real contexts accurately and luently.The author will probe the effects of communicative approach applied in grammar teaching in this essay.

Freshman Students‟ Attitudes and Behavior towards Advanced Grammar and Composition Teaching

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Romel M. Aceron

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Teaching English advanced grammar and composition to college students is important as it provides them with high level of understanding and competence in the language. It guides them in putting words together into sentences and makes them orally produce sounds clearly and effectively. This paper aims to determine the attitudes and behavior towards advanced grammar and composition teaching among freshman college students of Batangas State University. Descriptive method of research has been used to analyze and interpret data. The following instruments such as self-made questionnaire, focus group discussion, data analysis, interview guide, have been utilized to gather data. To analyze and interpret data, mean scores have been used. Pearson’s (r Product Moment Correlation Method has been utilized to treat the null hypothesis with regard to the attitudes and behavior of the students towards advanced grammar and composition teaching. Based on the findings of the study, the students sometimes understand and feel the subject matters, i.e., morphology, phonology, grammar and usage, and mechanics and composition writing. They are also sometimes ready in particular lesson and activity which are given to them in class. The study also reveals that there is no significant relationship between the students’ attitudes and behavior towards AGCT. In this regard, college students taking advanced grammar and composition course must be well-motivated to understand, and must have the readiness to perform the activities entail in the subject areas of morphology, phonology, grammar and usage, and mechanics and composition writing through teacher’s varied approaches, strategies, researches, and integration.

Textual, Genre and Social Features of Spoken Grammar: A Corpus-Based Approach

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Carmen Pérez-Llantada

2009-02-01

Full Text Available This paper describes a corpus-based approach to teaching and learning spoken grammar for English for Academic Purposes with reference to Bhatia’s (2002 multi-perspective model for discourse analysis: a textual perspective, a genre perspective and a social perspective. From a textual perspective, corpus-informed instruction helps students identify grammar items through statistical frequencies, collocational patterns, context-sensitive meanings and discoursal uses of words. From a genre perspective, corpus observation provides students with exposure to recurrent lexico-grammatical patterns across different academic text types (genres. From a social perspective, corpus models can be used to raise learners’ awareness of how speakers’ different discourse roles, discourse privileges and power statuses are enacted in their grammar choices. The paper describes corpus-based instructional procedures, gives samples of learners’ linguistic output, and provides comments on the students’ response to this method of instruction. Data resulting from the assessment process and student production suggest that corpus-informed instruction grounded in Bhatia’s multi-perspective model can constitute a pedagogical approach in order to i obtain positive student responses from input and authentic samples of grammar use, ii help students identify and understand the textual, genre and social aspects of grammar in real contexts of use, and therefore iii help develop students’ ability to use grammar accurately and appropriately.

Existential Grammar for Composition.

Science.gov (United States)

Merchant, Frank

The teaching of grammar has been in sad decline since medieval times, when it included the whole skill of creating in language. Our textbook community has moved through a series of ineffective fashions, from those of Fries to post-Chomsky. All have presumed to replace prescriptive rules with realistic explanations. But all have fallen, like the…

Towards a Rationale for Research into Grammar Teaching in Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Fontich, Xavier; Camps, Anna

2014-01-01

This article hopes to bring new insights to the debate about the effect of grammar knowledge on language use, especially writing. It raises the question of the need to look more closely at the following three questions: (1) What is the aim of grammar teaching?; (2) How capable are students of conceptualising about language and how is their…

Functional Grammar and Its Implications for English Teaching and Learning

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Feng, Zhiwen

2013-01-01

Functional grammar has received more and more attention from domestic scholars in the world of linguistics since 1970s, but it is still new to most EFL teachers. In spite of controversies about its applications into classroom teaching, this new grammar model has its own advantages and can facilitate EFL students to achieve academic success. This…

ULTRA: Universal Grammar as a Universal Parser.

Science.gov (United States)

Medeiros, David P

2018-01-01

A central concern of generative grammar is the relationship between hierarchy and word order, traditionally understood as two dimensions of a single syntactic representation. A related concern is directionality in the grammar. Traditional approaches posit process-neutral grammars, embodying knowledge of language, put to use with infinite facility both for production and comprehension. This has crystallized in the view of Merge as the central property of syntax, perhaps its only novel feature. A growing number of approaches explore grammars with different directionalities, often with more direct connections to performance mechanisms. This paper describes a novel model of universal grammar as a one-directional, universal parser. Mismatch between word order and interpretation order is pervasive in comprehension; in the present model, word order is language-particular and interpretation order (i.e., hierarchy) is universal. These orders are not two dimensions of a unified abstract object (e.g., precedence and dominance in a single tree); rather, both are temporal sequences, and UG is an invariant real-time procedure (based on Knuth's stack-sorting algorithm) transforming word order into hierarchical order. This shift in perspective has several desirable consequences. It collapses linearization, displacement, and composition into a single performance process. The architecture provides a novel source of brackets (labeled unambiguously and without search), which are understood not as part-whole constituency relations, but as storage and retrieval routines in parsing. It also explains why neutral word order within single syntactic cycles avoids 213-like permutations. The model identifies cycles as extended projections of lexical heads, grounding the notion of phase. This is achieved with a universal processor, dispensing with parameters. The empirical focus is word order in noun phrases. This domain provides some of the clearest evidence for 213-avoidance as a cross

Linguistic grammar learning and DRD2-TAQ-IA polymorphism.

Science.gov (United States)

Wong, Patrick C M; Ettlinger, Marc; Zheng, Jing

2013-01-01

As research into the neurobiology of language has focused primarily on the systems level, fewer studies have examined the link between molecular genetics and normal variations in language functions. Because the ability to learn a language varies in adults and our genetic codes also vary, research linking the two provides a unique window into the molecular neurobiology of language. We consider a candidate association between the dopamine receptor D2 gene (DRD2) and linguistic grammar learning. DRD2-TAQ-IA polymorphism (rs1800497) is associated with dopamine receptor D2 distribution and dopamine impact in the human striatum, such that A1 allele carriers show reduction in D2 receptor binding relative to carriers who are homozygous for the A2 allele. The individual differences in grammatical rule learning that are particularly prevalent in adulthood are also associated with striatal function and its role in domain-general procedural memory. Therefore, we reasoned that procedurally-based grammar learning could be associated with DRD2-TAQ-IA polymorphism. Here, English-speaking adults learned artificial concatenative and analogical grammars, which have been respectively associated with procedural and declarative memory. Language learning capabilities were tested while learners' neural hemodynamic responses were simultaneously measured by fMRI. Behavioral learning and brain activation data were subsequently compared with the learners' DRD2 (rs1800497) genotype. Learners who were homozygous for the A2 allele were better at concatenative (but not analogical) grammar learning and had higher striatal responses relative to those who have at least one A1 allele. These results provide preliminary evidence for the neurogenetic basis of normal variations in linguistic grammar learning and its link to domain-general functions.

The Influence of Texting Language on Grammar and Executive Functions in Primary School Children.

Science.gov (United States)

van Dijk, Chantal N; van Witteloostuijn, Merel; Vasić, Nada; Avrutin, Sergey; Blom, Elma

2016-01-01

When sending text messages on their mobile phone to friends, children often use a special type of register, which is called textese. This register allows the omission of words and the use of textisms: instances of non-standard written language such as 4ever (forever). Previous studies have shown that textese has a positive effect on children's literacy abilities. In addition, it is possible that children's grammar system is affected by textese as well, as grammar rules are often transgressed in this register. Therefore, the main aim of this study was to investigate whether the use of textese influences children's grammar performance, and whether this effect is specific to grammar or language in general. Additionally, studies have not yet investigated the influence of textese on children's cognitive abilities. Consequently, the secondary aim of this study was to find out whether textese affects children's executive functions. To investigate this, 55 children between 10 and 13 years old were tested on a receptive vocabulary and grammar performance (sentence repetition) task and various tasks measuring executive functioning. In addition, text messages were elicited and the number of omissions and textisms in children's messages were calculated. Regression analyses showed that omissions were a significant predictor of children's grammar performance after various other variables were controlled for: the more words children omitted in their text messages, the better their performance on the grammar task. Although textisms correlated (marginally) significantly with vocabulary, grammar and selective attention scores and omissions marginally significantly with vocabulary scores, no other significant effects were obtained for measures of textese in the regression analyses: neither for the language outcomes, nor for the executive function tasks. Hence, our results show that textese is positively related to children's grammar performance. On the other hand, use of textese does

Using Games in Primary Schools for Effective Grammar Teaching: a Case Study from Sebha

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Mustafa Mubarak Pathan

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Teaching and learning a foreign language like English is not easy task. The situation become more difficult when the learners are primary school children and teaching and learning focus is grammar, an activity often regarded as ‘boring, ‘uninteresting’ and ‘’tedious’. However, one’s mastery over a language is determined by the appropriate use of language by that individual following grammatical rules and failing to follow the rules of grammar marks one’s use of language as erroneous. Therefore, systematic attempt is done to teach grammatical rules and structures to the language learners from the beginning of language teaching and learning process. However, the success or failure of learning, mastering and using the grammatical rules and structures is largely determined by the technique and approach used by the grammar teacher to teach. The leaner-cantered, interesting, motivating technique of grammar teaching is believed to generate positive results whereas traditional, teacher-centered, uninteresting, uninvolving method is believed to be a cause of failure for learners to learn and master grammar rules and structures. Therefore, the grammar teaching technique, which involves language learners, to maximum, in learning in amusing and creative way, motivating, challenging and stimulating his/her mental processes, and reducing classroom anxiety and fear, is desired and recommended for fruitful language teaching and learning process. In this respect, the present paper discusses the effectiveness of using games for teaching grammar to primary school students as a technique which could easily be utilised and exploited for maximum benefits for learners. The study is based on the practical experiment done on the students of two primary schools in Sebha city of Libya using grammar games. The results, which proved to be fruitful and positive, are discussed as a basis for the argument in support of using games for teaching grammar to school

The Influence of Texting Language on Grammar and Executive Functions in Primary School Children.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chantal N van Dijk

Full Text Available When sending text messages on their mobile phone to friends, children often use a special type of register, which is called textese. This register allows the omission of words and the use of textisms: instances of non-standard written language such as 4ever (forever. Previous studies have shown that textese has a positive effect on children's literacy abilities. In addition, it is possible that children's grammar system is affected by textese as well, as grammar rules are often transgressed in this register. Therefore, the main aim of this study was to investigate whether the use of textese influences children's grammar performance, and whether this effect is specific to grammar or language in general. Additionally, studies have not yet investigated the influence of textese on children's cognitive abilities. Consequently, the secondary aim of this study was to find out whether textese affects children's executive functions. To investigate this, 55 children between 10 and 13 years old were tested on a receptive vocabulary and grammar performance (sentence repetition task and various tasks measuring executive functioning. In addition, text messages were elicited and the number of omissions and textisms in children's messages were calculated. Regression analyses showed that omissions were a significant predictor of children's grammar performance after various other variables were controlled for: the more words children omitted in their text messages, the better their performance on the grammar task. Although textisms correlated (marginally significantly with vocabulary, grammar and selective attention scores and omissions marginally significantly with vocabulary scores, no other significant effects were obtained for measures of textese in the regression analyses: neither for the language outcomes, nor for the executive function tasks. Hence, our results show that textese is positively related to children's grammar performance. On the other hand

Abstract Interpretation Using Attribute Grammar

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rosendahl, Mads

1990-01-01

This paper deals with the correctness proofs of attribute grammars using methods from abstract interpretation. The technique will be described by defining a live-variable analysis for a small flow-chart language and proving it correct with respect to a continuation style semantics. The proof...

Grammar Correction in the Writing Centre: Expectations and Experiences of Monolingual and Multilingual Writers

Science.gov (United States)

Eckstein, Grant

2016-01-01

Although most writing centres maintain policies against providing grammar correction during writing tutorials, it is undeniable that students expect some level of grammar intervention there. Just how much students expect and receive is a matter of speculation. This article examines the grammar-correction issue by reporting on a survey of L1, L2,…

Deriving a probabilistic syntacto-semantic grammar for biomedicine based on domain-specific terminologies.

Science.gov (United States)

Fan, Jung-Wei; Friedman, Carol

2011-10-01

Biomedical natural language processing (BioNLP) is a useful technique that unlocks valuable information stored in textual data for practice and/or research. Syntactic parsing is a critical component of BioNLP applications that rely on correctly determining the sentence and phrase structure of free text. In addition to dealing with the vast amount of domain-specific terms, a robust biomedical parser needs to model the semantic grammar to obtain viable syntactic structures. With either a rule-based or corpus-based approach, the grammar engineering process requires substantial time and knowledge from experts, and does not always yield a semantically transferable grammar. To reduce the human effort and to promote semantic transferability, we propose an automated method for deriving a probabilistic grammar based on a training corpus consisting of concept strings and semantic classes from the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS), a comprehensive terminology resource widely used by the community. The grammar is designed to specify noun phrases only due to the nominal nature of the majority of biomedical terminological concepts. Evaluated on manually parsed clinical notes, the derived grammar achieved a recall of 0.644, precision of 0.737, and average cross-bracketing of 0.61, which demonstrated better performance than a control grammar with the semantic information removed. Error analysis revealed shortcomings that could be addressed to improve performance. The results indicated the feasibility of an approach which automatically incorporates terminology semantics in the building of an operational grammar. Although the current performance of the unsupervised solution does not adequately replace manual engineering, we believe once the performance issues are addressed, it could serve as an aide in a semi-supervised solution. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

THE USE OF THE GRAMMAR-TRANSLATION METHOD IN CHINA

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

1994-01-01

Introduction Among the plethora of foreign language teaching methods and approaches there are the grammar-translation method, the direct method, the audiolingual method and the communicative approach to name but a few. Of the major methods, grammar-translation gets the most criticism and is thought to be obsolete. However, in my view it is suitable for China given the country’s present language learning situation, and, in practice, is not at all ineffectual.

Grammar Learning Strategies and Language Attainment: Seeking a Relationship

OpenAIRE

Pawlak Mirosław

2009-01-01

Despite major advances in research on language learning strategies, there are still areas that have received only scant attention, and one of them is undoubtedly learning grammar. The paper contributes to the paucity of empirical investigations in this domain by presenting the findings of a study which sought to investigate the relationship between the use of grammar learning strategies (GLS) reported by 142 English Department students and target language attainment, operationalized as their ...

Performance of children with developmental dyslexia on high and low topological entropy artificial grammar learning task.

Science.gov (United States)

Katan, Pesia; Kahta, Shani; Sasson, Ayelet; Schiff, Rachel

2017-07-01

Graph complexity as measured by topological entropy has been previously shown to affect performance on artificial grammar learning tasks among typically developing children. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of graph complexity on implicit sequential learning among children with developmental dyslexia. Our goal was to determine whether children's performance depends on the complexity level of the grammar system learned. We conducted two artificial grammar learning experiments that compared performance of children with developmental dyslexia with that of age- and reading level-matched controls. Experiment 1 was a high topological entropy artificial grammar learning task that aimed to establish implicit learning phenomena in children with developmental dyslexia using previously published experimental conditions. Experiment 2 is a lower topological entropy variant of that task. Results indicated that given a high topological entropy grammar system, children with developmental dyslexia who were similar to the reading age-matched control group had substantial difficulty in performing the task as compared to typically developing children, who exhibited intact implicit learning of the grammar. On the other hand, when tested on a lower topological entropy grammar system, all groups performed above chance level, indicating that children with developmental dyslexia were able to identify rules from a given grammar system. The results reinforced the significance of graph complexity when experimenting with artificial grammar learning tasks, particularly with dyslexic participants.

Systemic functional grammar in natural language generation linguistic description and computational representation

CERN Document Server

Teich, Elke

1999-01-01

This volume deals with the computational application of systemic functional grammar (SFG) for natural language generation. In particular, it describes the implementation of a fragment of the grammar of German in the computational framework of KOMET-PENMAN for multilingual generation. The text also presents a specification of explicit well-formedness constraints on syntagmatic structure which are defined in the form of typed feature structures. It thus achieves a model of systemic functional grammar that unites both the strengths of systemics, such as stratification, functional diversification

Input-Based Approaches to Teaching Grammar: A Review of Classroom-Oriented Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Ellis, Rod

1999-01-01

Examines the theoretical rationales (universal grammar, information-processing theories, skill-learning theories) for input-based grammar teaching and reviews classroom-oriented research (i.e., enriched-input studies, input-processing studies) that has integrated this option. (Author/VWL)

Connectivity of the hippocampus and Broca's area during acquisition of a novel grammar.

Science.gov (United States)

Kepinska, Olga; de Rover, Mischa; Caspers, Johanneke; Schiller, Niels O

2018-01-15

Following Opitz and Friederici (2003) suggesting interactions of the hippocampal system and the prefrontal cortex as the neural mechanism underlying novel grammar learning, the present fMRI study investigated functional connectivity of bilateral BA 44/45 and the hippocampus during an artificial grammar learning (AGL) task. Our results, contrary to the previously reported interactions, demonstrated parallel (but separate) contributions of both regions, each with their own interactions, to the process of novel grammar acquisition. The functional connectivity pattern of Broca's area pointed to the importance of coherent activity of left frontal areas around the core language processing region for successful grammar learning. Furthermore, connectivity patterns of left and right hippocampi (predominantly with occipital areas) were found to be a strong predictor of high performance on the task. Finally, increasing functional connectivity over time of both left and right BA 44/45 with the right posterior cingulate cortex and the right temporo-parietal areas points to the importance of multimodal and attentional processes supporting novel grammar acquisition. Moreover, it highlights the right-hemispheric involvement in initial stages of L2 learning. These latter interactions were found to operate irrespective of the task performance, making them an obligatory mechanism accompanying novel grammar learning. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Journalism Writing Course: Evaluation of Hybrid versus Online Grammar Instruction

Science.gov (United States)

Moore, Jensen; Jones, Khristen

2015-01-01

This study examined introductory journalism writing courses and compared hybrid (part online/part classroom) versus online grammar instruction. The hybrid structure allowed for grammar topics to be taught online, with a pretest following, and then reviewing missed/difficult pretest concepts in class prior to a posttest. The quasi-experimental…

Template-based generation of natural language expressions with Controlled M-Grammar

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Appelo, Lisette; Leermakers, M.C.J.; Rous, J.H.G.

1993-01-01

A method is described for the generation of related natural-language expressions. The method is based on a formal grammar of the natural language in question, specified in the Controlled M-Grammar (CMG) formalism. In the CMG framework the generation of an utterance is controlled by a derivation

Network Analysis with Stochastic Grammars

Science.gov (United States)

2015-09-17

rules N = 0 //non-terminal index clusters = cluster(W) //number of clusters drive the number S productions //cluster function described in text...Essa, “Recognizing multitasked activities from video using stochastic context-free grammar,” AAAI/IAAI, pp. 770–776, 2002. [18] R. Nevatia, T. Zhao

A Grammar of Logba (Ikpana)

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dorvlo, Kofi

2008-01-01

This dissertation presents a comprehensive description of the grammar of Logba, one of the fourteen Ghana-Togo Mountain (GTM) languages spoken by approximately 7,500 speakers on the Southeastern frontier of the Ghana-Togo border. It is the outcome of fifteen months research in Logba speaking

Addressing grammar in the interaction task-based learning environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Davis Brent M.

2017-01-01

Full Text Available One of the major problems in language teaching is developing grammatical accuracy. This paper proposes that using error correction based on a functional grammar in a task-based learning approach may be a suitable solution. Towards this end an emic (using categories intrinsic to the language functional grammar of the verb phrase is proposed and a description of how this fits into the focus on form component of task-based learning is provided.

The Effect of MALL-Based Tasks on EFL Learners' Grammar Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Khodabandeh, Farzaneh; Alian, Jalal ed-din; Soleimani, Hassan

2017-01-01

Many studies have confirmed the importance of tasks on language learning. Nowadays, many teachers apply different kinds of tasks in their classrooms. The current study investigated the effect of mobile assisted language learning tasks (MALL) on participants' English grammar learning. The researcher administered a pre-validated grammar test to 90…

Linguistic grammar learning and DRD2-TAQ-IA polymorphism.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Patrick C M Wong

Full Text Available As research into the neurobiology of language has focused primarily on the systems level, fewer studies have examined the link between molecular genetics and normal variations in language functions. Because the ability to learn a language varies in adults and our genetic codes also vary, research linking the two provides a unique window into the molecular neurobiology of language. We consider a candidate association between the dopamine receptor D2 gene (DRD2 and linguistic grammar learning. DRD2-TAQ-IA polymorphism (rs1800497 is associated with dopamine receptor D2 distribution and dopamine impact in the human striatum, such that A1 allele carriers show reduction in D2 receptor binding relative to carriers who are homozygous for the A2 allele. The individual differences in grammatical rule learning that are particularly prevalent in adulthood are also associated with striatal function and its role in domain-general procedural memory. Therefore, we reasoned that procedurally-based grammar learning could be associated with DRD2-TAQ-IA polymorphism. Here, English-speaking adults learned artificial concatenative and analogical grammars, which have been respectively associated with procedural and declarative memory. Language learning capabilities were tested while learners' neural hemodynamic responses were simultaneously measured by fMRI. Behavioral learning and brain activation data were subsequently compared with the learners' DRD2 (rs1800497 genotype. Learners who were homozygous for the A2 allele were better at concatenative (but not analogical grammar learning and had higher striatal responses relative to those who have at least one A1 allele. These results provide preliminary evidence for the neurogenetic basis of normal variations in linguistic grammar learning and its link to domain-general functions.

Metrical presentation boosts implicit learning of artificial grammar.

Science.gov (United States)

Selchenkova, Tatiana; François, Clément; Schön, Daniele; Corneyllie, Alexandra; Perrin, Fabien; Tillmann, Barbara

2014-01-01

The present study investigated whether a temporal hierarchical structure favors implicit learning. An artificial pitch grammar implemented with a set of tones was presented in two different temporal contexts, notably with either a strongly metrical structure or an isochronous structure. According to the Dynamic Attending Theory, external temporal regularities can entrain internal oscillators that guide attention over time, allowing for temporal expectations that influence perception of future events. Based on this framework, it was hypothesized that the metrical structure provides a benefit for artificial grammar learning in comparison to an isochronous presentation. Our study combined behavioral and event-related potential measurements. Behavioral results demonstrated similar learning in both participant groups. By contrast, analyses of event-related potentials showed a larger P300 component and an earlier N2 component for the strongly metrical group during the exposure phase and the test phase, respectively. These findings suggests that the temporal expectations in the strongly metrical condition helped listeners to better process the pitch dimension, leading to improved learning of the artificial grammar.

Supporting intra-group social metacognitive activities with technology: A grammar learning game

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Molenaar, I.; Horvers, A.; Desain, P.W.M.

2017-01-01

This study investigates the effects of a technology enhanced collaborative grammar learning activity on students sentence parsing and formulation. These types of collaborative learning activities for grammar education are expected to support more effective learning. Yet, effective intra-group social

On restricted context-free grammars

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Dassow, J.; Masopust, Tomáš

2012-01-01

Roč. 78, č. 1 (2012), s. 293-304 ISSN 0022-0000 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10190503 Keywords : context-free grammars * derivation restriction * normal forms Subject RIV: BA - General Mathematics Impact factor: 1.000, year: 2012 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022000011000572

Bits of Experience in the Oral Practice of Teaching Grammar

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

王敏

2002-01-01

English learners may have such experience that most of them can't be able to speak English apropriately and fluently even if they have gained a lot of grammar knowledge. The approach of teaching grammar discussed in this paper focuses on training students' communicative ability. And it is benefical to stimulating the activeness and interest of students and fostering the ability to solve the problems independently.

Normal ordering problem and the extensions of the Stirling grammar

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, S.-M.; Mansour, T.; Schork, M.

2014-04-01

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the connection between context-free grammars and normal ordered problem, and then to explore various extensions of the Stirling grammar. We present grammatical characterizations of several well known combinatorial sequences, including the generalized Stirling numbers of the second kind related to the normal ordered problem and the r-Dowling polynomials. Also, possible avenues for future research are described.

The effect of event repetition on the production of story grammar in children's event narratives.

Science.gov (United States)

Feltis, Brooke B; Powell, Martine B; Roberts, Kim P

2011-03-01

This study examined the effect of event repetition on the amount and nature of story-grammar produced by children when recalling the event. Children aged 4 years (N=50) and 7 years (N=56) participated in either 1 or 6 occurrences of a highly similar event where details varied across the occurrences. Half the children in each age and event group recalled the last/single occurrence 5-6 days later and the other half recalled the last/single occurrence after 5-6 weeks (the final and single occurrence was the same). Children's free recall responses were classified according to the number and proportion of story-grammar elements (Stein & Glenn, 1979-setting, initiating event, internal response, plan, attempt, direct consequence, and resolution) as well as the prevalence of causal links between the individual story-grammar elements. More story-grammar detail and more links between individual story-grammar elements were reported about the final compared to single occurrence. The amount of story-grammar increased with age and decreased over time. Further, an interaction was revealed such that the effect of retention interval on the production of story-grammar was negligible for older children who experienced the repeated event. Event repetition has a beneficial effect on the production of children's story-grammar content in situations where event details varied from occasion to occasion. This study highlights the importance of eliciting free recall when conducting evidential interviews with child witnesses about repeated events. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The relationship between grammar and the psychological ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The relationship between grammar and the psychological processing of language. ... manner in which speakers perceive and psycholinguistically process information. ... order, metaphorical extensions, processing constraints, end-focus theory

Developmental Constraints on Learning Artificial Grammars with Fixed, Flexible and Free Word Order

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Iga Nowak

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Human learning, although highly flexible and efficient, is constrained in ways that facilitate or impede the acquisition of certain systems of information. Some such constraints, active during infancy and childhood, have been proposed to account for the apparent ease with which typically developing children acquire language. In a series of experiments, we investigated the role of developmental constraints on learning artificial grammars with a distinction between shorter and relatively frequent words (‘function words,’ F-words and longer and less frequent words (‘content words,’ C-words. We constructed 4 finite-state grammars, in which the order of F-words, relative to C-words, was either fixed (F-words always occupied the same positions in a string, flexible (every F-word always followed a C-word, or free. We exposed adults (N = 84 and kindergarten children (N = 100 to strings from each of these artificial grammars, and we assessed their ability to recognize strings with the same structure, but a different vocabulary. Adults were better at recognizing strings when regularities were available (i.e., fixed and flexible order grammars, while children were better at recognizing strings from the grammars consistent with the attested distribution of function and content words in natural languages (i.e., flexible and free order grammars. These results provide evidence for a link between developmental constraints on learning and linguistic typology.

Teachers' Attitudes towards Teaching English Grammar: A Scale Development Study

Science.gov (United States)

Polat, Murat

2017-01-01

In most ELT classes, the importance of grammar, how it should be taught or how much it should be integrated into language teaching are still matters of discussion. Considering this fact, learning teachers' attitudes towards teaching grammar is significantly valuable for researchers. This study thus aimed to design a scale that identifies teachers'…

Density of Visual Input Enhancement and Grammar Learning: A Research Proposal

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Tran, Thu Hoang

2009-01-01

Research in the field of second language acquisition (SLA) has been done to ascertain the effectiveness of visual input enhancement (VIE) on grammar learning. However, one issue remains unexplored: the effects of VIE density on grammar learning. This paper presents a research proposal to investigate the effects of the density of VIE on English…

Multiple Grammars and the Logic of Learnability in L2

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Tom W Roeper

2016-02-01

Full Text Available The goal of this article is to enhance the technical description of multi-lingual speakers in terms of a theoryof Multiple Grammars where more than one language utilizes a grammar. The challenge of V2 and itsimplications for interfaces from the perspective of the L2 learner is the focus. A number of constructionsare considered including: Quotation, Topicaliation, Empty subjects and Objects, Expletives, and Subject-auxiliary inversoni.

Teaching Grammar through Task-Based Language Teaching to Young EFL Learners

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Yildiz, Mustafa; Senel, Mufit

2017-01-01

The present study investigates the effects of Task-Based Language Teaching on students' grammar knowledge in the field of teaching grammar. It has been studied with 32 students from 8th grade during a two-and-a-half-month process. Throughout this process, students firstly are applied a pre-test to examine their level and to confirm whether there…

Contemporary Tutorial Call: Using Purpose-Built Video as a Grammar Tutor

Science.gov (United States)

Merlo, Jarrad R.; Gruba, Paul A.

2015-01-01

Despite an increased emphasis on form-focused instruction (FFI), the use of the computer as a grammar tutor has remained largely unexamined for nearly two decades. With new technologies at hand, there is a need to take a fresh look at online grammar tutors and link designs more strongly to contemporary second language acquisition (SLA) principles…

Graph Grammar-Based Multi-Frontal Parallel Direct Solver for Two-Dimensional Isogeometric Analysis

KAUST Repository

Kuźnik, Krzysztof; Paszyński, Maciej; Calo, Victor M.

2012-01-01

at parent nodes and eliminates rows corresponding to fully assembled degrees of freedom. Finally, there are graph grammar productions responsible for root problem solution and recursive backward substitutions. Expressing the solver algorithm by graph grammar

Grammar Texts and Consumerist Subtexts

Science.gov (United States)

Sokolik, M. E.

2007-01-01

While several checklists exist for the evaluation of ESL/EFL textbooks, none includes suggestions for looking for specific biases, especially those found in the content of examples and sample sentences. Growing awareness in publishing has reduced problems in the presentation of gender-based and racial biases in most ESL/EFL grammar textbooks, but…

Transformational Grammar and Cognitive Psycholinguistics.

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Lester, Mark

1973-01-01

An overview of Noam Chomsky's theories about transformational grammar and phonology is given. Since Chomsky was interested in characterizing what it is to know a language, the ways in which we demonstrate knowledge of our native language are discussed in detail. Particular emphasis is placed on describing how the transformational approach actually…

Readings in Applied Transformational Grammar.

Science.gov (United States)

Lester, Mark, Ed.

This volume contains nineteen essays, dealing with various aspects of transformational grammar, by scholars such as Noam Chomsky, Eric H. Lenneberg, and Leon Jakobovits. These essays have been reprinted from sources such as "College English" and "Language Learning" and are intended for the most part for a nontechnical audience. The anthology is…

Assessing Primary Literacy through Grammar Tests

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Hodgson, John

2017-01-01

Originally an editorial for "English in Education," this short article summarises key issues in the imposition of a separate test for grammar, punctuation and spelling. It illustrates the poor foundations, lack of clarity and distortion of curriculum which invalidate the test.

A Tentative Analysis of the Origin of Middle Chinese Grammar and Its Historical Position

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Liu Shizhen

2007-10-01

Full Text Available Middle Chinese is thelanguage used in the period from the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Sui Dynasty. Inrecent years researches of Middle Chinese have attracted scholars’ attention.While it inherited some characteristics from the grammar of Ancient Chinese,the morphology and syntax of Middle Chinese underwent obvious elimination andnew birth, an important content which laid the foundation for the furtherevolution of the Early Modern Chinese Grammar. Numerous grammatical phenomenonstarted to appear in Tang and Song Dynasties. The grammar was going through achange in which new forms replaced old ones, thus being the mediator ininheriting the archaic and beginning the early modern grammar, and thereforeoccupying an important position in the history of Chinese.

Mobile-Assisted Grammar Exercises: Effects on Self-Editing in L2 Writing

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Li, Zhi; Hegelheimer, Volker

2013-01-01

In this paper, we report on the development and implementation of a web-based mobile application, "Grammar Clinic," for an ESL writing class. Drawing on insights from the interactionist approach to Second Language Acquisition (SLA), the Noticing Hypothesis, and mobile-assisted language learning (MALL), "Grammar Clinic" was…

The Role of Simple Semantics in the Process of Artificial Grammar Learning

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Öttl, Birgit; Jäger, Gerhard; Kaup, Barbara

2017-01-01

This study investigated the effect of semantic information on artificial grammar learning (AGL). Recursive grammars of different complexity levels (regular language, mirror language, copy language) were investigated in a series of AGL experiments. In the with-semantics condition, participants acquired semantic information prior to the AGL…

TRAINING TREE ADJOINING GRAMMARS WITH HUGE TEXT CORPUS USING SPARK MAP REDUCE

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Vijay Krishna Menon

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Tree adjoining grammars (TAGs are mildly context sensitive formalisms used mainly in modelling natural languages. Usage and research on these psycho linguistic formalisms have been erratic in the past decade, due to its demanding construction and difficulty to parse. However, they represent promising future for formalism based NLP in multilingual scenarios. In this paper we demonstrate basic synchronous Tree adjoining grammar for English-Tamil language pair that can be used readily for machine translation. We have also developed a multithreaded chart parser that gives ambiguous deep structures and a par dependency structure known as TAG derivation. Furthermore we then focus on a model for training this TAG for each language using a large corpus of text through a map reduce frequency count model in spark and estimation of various probabilistic parameters for the grammar trees thereafter; these parameters can be used to perform statistical parsing on the trained grammar.

Teachers’ Attitudes towards Teaching English Grammar: A Scale Development Study

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Murat Polat

2017-12-01

Full Text Available In most ELT classes, the importance of grammar, how it should be taught or how much it should be integrated into language teaching are still matters of discussion. Considering this fact, learning teachers’ attitudes towards teaching grammar is significantly valuable for researchers. This study thus aimed to design a scale that identifies teachers’ attitudes towards the role of grammar in the process of teaching English, to pilot it, and to find out the psychometric qualities like reliability and validity of the scale designed. The scale was developed in two phases; it was first aimed to explore the factor structure of the scale, then to confirm the structure gained from the exploration of the items. The study was carried out in 2015 and 247 volunteer language teachers from 3 state universities in Eskişehir and Kütahya were included. The results of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed that the scale developed in this study was a considerably valid and reliable data collection tool including three factors. Finally, the analyses indicated that gender and graduate faculties did not create significant differences whereas age and the degrees obtained by the teachers created a considerable difference on language teachers’ attitudes towards grammar teaching (p<.05

Enhancing Competency in English: The Covert Approach a Complementary to the Overt Approach in Teaching Grammar

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Hussein Islam Abdullah

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Over the years, there has been a decline in the competency of the English Language in Malaysian schools. Many parties among them the Ministry of Education, relevant NGOs, academicians and people have expressed concern over the matter. The Education Ministry through its transformational policy has taken several measures to overcome the matter. It is employing appropriate strategies to solve the problems. The focus is on learning and teaching strategies as well as the content of the language. There is no doubt that grammar is a very important component in acquiring the language in primary and secondary schools. The English teachers mostly use the communicative approach in teaching grammar. This is in line with the KBSR syllabus in mid 1980s which emphasized on the communicative method. Teachers’ training and materials such as textbooks cater for the covert method. However, some tend to ignore the structural approach which is equally effective and meaningful to increase the level of the students’ proficiency which was popular in the 1960s. The paper discusses on the two different approaches used – the covert and overt approaches – their strengths as well as weaknesses. Application of both approaches is also taken into consideration giving a better view of how grammar should be taught in schools.

Learnable Classes of Categorial Grammars.

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Kanazawa, Makoto

Learnability theory is an attempt to illuminate the concept of learnability using a mathematical model of learning. Two models of learning of categorial grammars are examined here: the standard model, in which sentences presented to the learner are flat strings of words, and one in which sentences are presented in the form of functor-argument…

The Association between Expressive Grammar Intervention and Social and Emergent Literacy Outcomes for Preschoolers with SLI

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Washington, Karla N.

2013-01-01

Purpose: To determine whether (a) expressive grammar intervention facilitated social and emergent literacy outcomes better than no intervention and (b) expressive grammar gains and/or initial expressive grammar level predicted social and emergent literacy outcomes. Method: This investigation was a follow-up to a recently published study exploring…

Attribute And-Or Grammar for Joint Parsing of Human Pose, Parts and Attributes.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Seyoung; Nie, Xiaohan; Zhu, Song-Chun

2017-07-25

This paper presents an attribute and-or grammar (A-AOG) model for jointly inferring human body pose and human attributes in a parse graph with attributes augmented to nodes in the hierarchical representation. In contrast to other popular methods in the current literature that train separate classifiers for poses and individual attributes, our method explicitly represents the decomposition and articulation of body parts, and account for the correlations between poses and attributes. The A-AOG model is an amalgamation of three traditional grammar formulations: (i)Phrase structure grammar representing the hierarchical decomposition of the human body from whole to parts; (ii)Dependency grammar modeling the geometric articulation by a kinematic graph of the body pose; and (iii)Attribute grammar accounting for the compatibility relations between different parts in the hierarchy so that their appearances follow a consistent style. The parse graph outputs human detection, pose estimation, and attribute prediction simultaneously, which are intuitive and interpretable. We conduct experiments on two tasks on two datasets, and experimental results demonstrate the advantage of joint modeling in comparison with computing poses and attributes independently. Furthermore, our model obtains better performance over existing methods for both pose estimation and attribute prediction tasks.

Making sense of syntax – Innate or acquired? Contrasting universal grammar with other approaches to language acquisition

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Christian Kliesch

2012-05-01

Full Text Available Proponents of a Universal Grammar argue that humans are born with a dedicated language system that shapes and restricts the number of grammars found in human languages (Chomsky, 2005. It is essentially innate and has a genetic manifestation. Such an innate system is necessary because human grammars are too complex to be passed on through social interactions and probabilistic learning alone. However, this view is contested by a combination of emergentist approaches and a number of studies suggest that many of the core assumptions of Universal Grammar are either unnecessary or do not hold. Furthermore, this review will explore theoretical criticism of the Universal Grammar research programme.

Dynamic Systems Theory and Universal Grammar: Holding up a Turbulent Mirror to Development in Grammars

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Plaza-Pust, Carolina

2008-01-01

Research over the last decades has shown that language development in its multiple forms is characterized by a succession of stable and unstable states. However, the variation observed is neither expected nor can it be accounted for on the basis of traditional learning concepts conceived of within the Universal Grammar (UG) paradigm. In this…

The association between expressive grammar intervention and social and emergent literacy outcomes for preschoolers with SLI.

Science.gov (United States)

Washington, Karla N

2013-02-01

To determine whether (a) expressive grammar intervention facilitated social and emergent literacy outcomes better than no intervention and (b) expressive grammar gains and/or initial expressive grammar level predicted social and emergent literacy outcomes. This investigation was a follow-up to a recently published study exploring the impact of grammatical language intervention on expressive grammar outcomes for preschoolers with specific language impairment (SLI). Twenty-two 3- to 5-year-old preschoolers received ten 20-minute intervention sessions addressing primary deficits in grammatical morphology. Participants' social and emergent literacy skills were not targeted. Twelve children awaiting intervention, chosen from the same selection pool as intervention participants, served as controls. Blind assessments of social and emergent literacy outcomes were completed at preintervention, immediately postintervention, and 3 months postintervention. Only intervention participants experienced significant gains in social and emergent literacy outcomes and maintained these gains for 3 months postintervention. Expressive grammar gains was the only single significant predictor of these outcomes. Expressive grammar intervention was associated with broad impacts on social and emergent literacy outcomes that were maintained beyond the intervention period. Gains in expressive grammar predicted these outcomes. Social and emergent literacy skills were positively affected for preschoolers with SLI during a grammatical language intervention program.

Phrasal alignment in Functional Discourse Grammar

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Rijn, M.

2011-01-01

Although the term is alignment is typically associated with morphosyntactic expression of arguments of the Clause, alignment is also relevant to units of the Phrase. In Functional Discourse Grammar a basic distinction is made between two kinds of dependency relations obtaining both within Phrases

Regulations for the safe transport of radioactive materials. 1973 revised edition (as amended).

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1979-01-01

On the basis of a comprehensive review carried out by a panel of experts, a revised version of the International Atomic Energy Agency's Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Materials was approved by the Board of Governors in September 1972 and published in April 1973 as Safety Series No.6 - 1973 Revised Edition. Minor amendments, together with a number of changes of detail were promulgated by the Director General in 1975 and 1977. In October 1978, the Standing Advisory Group on the Safe Transport of Radioactive Materials, established by the Director General in 1977, reviewed and recommended a small number of additional amendments. The recommendations of SAGSTRAM were subsequently accepted by the Director General. All these minor amendments and changes of detail are incorporated in the present text of the Regulations. The purpose of these Regulations is to establish standards of safety which provide an acceptable level of control of the radiation hazards to persons, property and the environment that are associated with the transport of radioactive material. They apply to the transport by land, water or air, including transport on own account, of radioactive material other than that which is an integral part of the means of transport. Transport includes any operation incidental to the whole course of carriage, such as loading, unloading and storage in transit. The term includes both normal transport and that under accident conditions

What exactly is Universal Grammar, and has anyone seen it?

Science.gov (United States)

Dąbrowska, Ewa

2015-01-01

Universal Grammar (UG) is a suspect concept. There is little agreement on what exactly is in it; and the empirical evidence for it is very weak. This paper critically examines a variety of arguments that have been put forward as evidence for UG, focussing on the three most powerful ones: universality (all human languages share a number of properties), convergence (all language learners converge on the same grammar in spite of the fact that they are exposed to different input), and poverty of the stimulus (children know things about language which they could not have learned from the input available to them). I argue that these arguments are based on premises which are either false or unsubstantiated. Languages differ from each other in profound ways, and there are very few true universals, so the fundamental crosslinguistic fact that needs explaining is diversity, not universality. A number of recent studies have demonstrated the existence of considerable differences in adult native speakers' knowledge of the grammar of their language, including aspects of inflectional morphology, passives, quantifiers, and a variety of more complex constructions, so learners do not in fact converge on the same grammar. Finally, the poverty of the stimulus argument presupposes that children acquire linguistic representations of the kind postulated by generative grammarians; constructionist grammars such as those proposed by Tomasello, Goldberg and others can be learned from the input. We are the only species that has language, so there must be something unique about humans that makes language learning possible. The extent of crosslinguistic diversity and the considerable individual differences in the rate, style and outcome of acquisition suggest that it is more promising to think in terms of a language-making capacity, i.e., a set of domain-general abilities, rather than an innate body of knowledge about the structural properties of the target system.

What exactly is Universal Grammar, and has anyone seen it?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ewa eDabrowska

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Universal Grammar (UG is a suspect concept. There is little agreement on what exactly is in it; and the empirical evidence for it is very weak. This paper critically examines a variety of arguments that have been put forward as evidence for UG, focussing on the three most powerful ones: universality (all human languages share a number of properties, convergence (all language learners converge on the same grammar in spite of the fact that they are exposed to different input, and poverty of the stimulus (children know things about language which they could not have learned from the input available to them. I argue that these arguments are based on premises which are either false or unsubstantiated. Languages differ from each other in profound ways, and there are very few true universals, so the fundamental crosslinguistic fact that needs explaining is diversity, not universality. A number of recent studies have demonstrated the existence of considerable differences in adult native speakers’ knowledge of the grammar of their language, including aspects of inflectional morphology, passives, quantifiers, and a variety of more complex constructions, so learners do not in fact converge on the same grammar. Finally, the poverty of the stimulus argument presupposes that children acquire linguistic representations of the kind postulated by generative grammarians; constructionist grammars such as those proposed by Tomasello, Goldberg and others can be learned from the input. We are the only species that has language, so there must be something unique about humans that makes language learning possible. The extent of crosslinguistic diversity and the considerable individual differences in the rate, style and outcome of acquisition suggest that it is more promising to think in terms of a language-making capacity, i.e. a set of domain-general abilities, rather than an innate body of knowledge about the structural properties of the target system.

Phonological Memory and the Acquisition of Grammar in Child L2 Learners

Science.gov (United States)

Verhagen, Josje; Leseman, Paul; Messer, Marielle

2015-01-01

Previous studies show that second language (L2) learners with large phonological memory spans outperform learners with smaller memory spans on tests of L2 grammar. The current study investigated the relationship between phonological memory and L2 grammar in more detail than has been done earlier. Specifically, we asked how phonological memory…

Parallel communicating grammar systems with context-free components are Turing complete for any communication model

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Wilkin Mary Sarah Ruth

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Parallel Communicating Grammar Systems (PCGS were introduced as a language-theoretic treatment of concurrent systems. A PCGS extends the concept of a grammar to a structure that consists of several grammars working in parallel, communicating with each other, and so contributing to the generation of strings. PCGS are usually more powerful than a single grammar of the same type; PCGS with context-free components (CF-PCGS in particular were shown to be Turing complete. However, this result only holds when a specific type of communication (which we call broadcast communication, as opposed to one-step communication is used. We expand the original construction that showed Turing completeness so that broadcast communication is eliminated at the expense of introducing a significant number of additional, helper component grammars. We thus show that CF-PCGS with one-step communication are also Turing complete. We introduce in the process several techniques that may be usable in other constructions and may be capable of removing broadcast communication in general.

Ontological semantics in modified categorial grammar

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Szymczak, Bartlomiej Antoni

2009-01-01

Categorial Grammar is a well established tool for describing natural language semantics. In the current paper we discuss some of its drawbacks and how it could be extended to overcome them. We use the extended version for deriving ontological semantics from text. A proof-of-concept implementation...

The relation between receptive grammar and procedural, declarative, and working memory in specific language impairment.

Science.gov (United States)

Conti-Ramsden, Gina; Ullman, Michael T; Lum, Jarrad A G

2015-01-01

What memory systems underlie grammar in children, and do these differ between typically developing (TD) children and children with specific language impairment (SLI)? Whilst there is substantial evidence linking certain memory deficits to the language problems in children with SLI, few studies have investigated multiple memory systems simultaneously, examining not only possible memory deficits but also memory abilities that may play a compensatory role. This study examined the extent to which procedural, declarative, and working memory abilities predict receptive grammar in 45 primary school aged children with SLI (30 males, 15 females) and 46 TD children (30 males, 16 females), both on average 9;10 years of age. Regression analyses probed measures of all three memory systems simultaneously as potential predictors of receptive grammar. The model was significant, explaining 51.6% of the variance. There was a significant main effect of learning in procedural memory and a significant group × procedural learning interaction. Further investigation of the interaction revealed that procedural learning predicted grammar in TD but not in children with SLI. Indeed, procedural learning was the only predictor of grammar in TD. In contrast, only learning in declarative memory significantly predicted grammar in SLI. Thus, different memory systems are associated with receptive grammar abilities in children with SLI and their TD peers. This study is, to our knowledge, the first to demonstrate a significant group by memory system interaction in predicting grammar in children with SLI and their TD peers. In line with Ullman's Declarative/Procedural model of language and procedural deficit hypothesis of SLI, variability in understanding sentences of varying grammatical complexity appears to be associated with variability in procedural memory abilities in TD children, but with declarative memory, as an apparent compensatory mechanism, in children with SLI.

Grammar-based Automatic 3D Model Reconstruction from Terrestrial Laser Scanning Data

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Q.; Helmholz, P.; Belton, D.; West, G.

2014-04-01

The automatic reconstruction of 3D buildings has been an important research topic during the last years. In this paper, a novel method is proposed to automatically reconstruct the 3D building models from segmented data based on pre-defined formal grammar and rules. Such segmented data can be extracted e.g. from terrestrial or mobile laser scanning devices. Two steps are considered in detail. The first step is to transform the segmented data into 3D shapes, for instance using the DXF (Drawing Exchange Format) format which is a CAD data file format used for data interchange between AutoCAD and other program. Second, we develop a formal grammar to describe the building model structure and integrate the pre-defined grammars into the reconstruction process. Depending on the different segmented data, the selected grammar and rules are applied to drive the reconstruction process in an automatic manner. Compared with other existing approaches, our proposed method allows the model reconstruction directly from 3D shapes and takes the whole building into account.

"I'll Take Commas for $200": An Instructional Intervention Using Games to Help Students Master Grammar Skills

Science.gov (United States)

Bullard, Sue Burzynski; Anderson, Nancy

2014-01-01

Effective writing requires mastering grammar. For journalists, this mastery is critical because research shows poor grammar erodes media credibility. College writing instructors say students do not understand basic grammar concepts, and greater numbers of students are enrolling in remedial writing classes. This quasi-experimental mixed methods…

German Grammar in the Students' Words: The "Essentialization" of German Grammar by American College-Level Learners

Science.gov (United States)

Chavez, Monika

2011-01-01

This study of 134 college-level learners of German, enrolled in four years of instruction, showed them to "essentialize" German grammar when asked to describe it to a hypothetical friend. Kubota defined the term essentialization to capture learners' views of the target culture. Its main characteristic is the presupposition of "essential, stable,…

Route description in Iwaidja: grammar and conceptualisation of motion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cris Edmonds-Wathen

2016-09-01

Full Text Available This study focussed on the effect of grammar of Iwaidja, an indigenous Australian language, on mathematical conceptualisation. It investigated route description in Iwaidja. Spatial concepts such as direction, height and movement in relation to another object are briefly described using examples. Differences between English and Iwaidja are used to illustrate the some of the impact of grammar on mathematical conceptualisation. The implications are discussed in terms of how understanding these grammatical features can help teachers, especially when children are not fluent in the language of instruction, as well as providing keys to cross-linguistic investigations of mathematical cognition.

On Anaphora and the Binding Principles in Categorial Grammar

Science.gov (United States)

Morrill, Glyn; Valentín, Oriol

In type logical categorial grammar the analysis of an expression is a resource-conscious proof. Anaphora represents a particular challenge to this approach in that the antecedent resource is multiplied in the semantics. This duplication, which corresponds logically to the structural rule of contraction, may be treated lexically or syntactically. Furthermore, anaphora is subject to constraints, which Chomsky (1981) formulated as Binding Principles A, B, and C. In this paper we consider English anaphora in categorial grammar including reference to the binding principles. We invoke displacement calculus, modal categorial calculus, categorial calculus with limited contraction, and entertain addition of negation as failure.

An Evaluation of Universal Grammar and the Phonological Mind.

Science.gov (United States)

Everett, Daniel L

2016-01-01

This paper argues against the hypothesis of a "phonological mind" advanced by Berent. It establishes that there is no evidence that phonology is innate and that, in fact, the simplest hypothesis seems to be that phonology is learned like other human abilities. Moreover, the paper fleshes out the original claim of Philip Lieberman that Universal Grammar predicts that not everyone should be able to learn every language, i.e., the opposite of what UG is normally thought to predict. The paper also underscores the problem that the absence of recursion in Pirahã represents for Universal Grammar proposals.

The relationship between strategic control and conscious structural knowledge in artificial grammar learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Norman, Elisabeth; Scott, Ryan B; Price, Mark C; Dienes, Zoltan

2016-05-01

We address Jacoby's (1991) proposal that strategic control over knowledge requires conscious awareness of that knowledge. In a two-grammar artificial grammar learning experiment all participants were trained on two grammars, consisting of a regularity in letter sequences, while two other dimensions (colours and fonts) varied randomly. Strategic control was measured as the ability to selectively apply the grammars during classification. For each classification, participants also made a combined judgement of (a) decision strategy and (b) relevant stimulus dimension. Strategic control was found for all types of decision strategy, including trials where participants claimed to lack conscious structural knowledge. However, strong evidence of strategic control only occurred when participants knew or guessed that the letter dimension was relevant, suggesting that strategic control might be associated with - or even causally requires - global awareness of the nature of the rules even though it does not require detailed knowledge of their content. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The "Contextual Contact" in Grammar Microteachings in Teaching English as a Foreign Language: A Teacher Training Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Sarigöz, Iskender Hakki

2015-01-01

The grammar microteachings carried out by trainees in teacher education is a critical issue due to the fact that the teaching of grammar has always been a controversial issue throughout the foreign language teaching (FLT) acculturation. There is always some negative reaction to isolated teaching of grammar in communicative language teaching…

A Comparative Study on Beliefs of Grammar Teaching between High School English Teachers and Students in China

Science.gov (United States)

Deng, Fangfang; Lin, Yuewu

2016-01-01

Grammar is "a system of rules governing the conventional arrangement and relationship of words in a sentence" (Brown 1994) which can facilitate the acquisition of a foreign language and is conducive for cultivating comprehensive language competence. Most teachers regard grammar as a frame of English learning. The grammar teaching beliefs…

Single-View 3D Scene Reconstruction and Parsing by Attribute Grammar.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Xiaobai; Zhao, Yibiao; Zhu, Song-Chun

2018-03-01

In this paper, we present an attribute grammar for solving two coupled tasks: i) parsing a 2D image into semantic regions; and ii) recovering the 3D scene structures of all regions. The proposed grammar consists of a set of production rules, each describing a kind of spatial relation between planar surfaces in 3D scenes. These production rules are used to decompose an input image into a hierarchical parse graph representation where each graph node indicates a planar surface or a composite surface. Different from other stochastic image grammars, the proposed grammar augments each graph node with a set of attribute variables to depict scene-level global geometry, e.g., camera focal length, or local geometry, e.g., surface normal, contact lines between surfaces. These geometric attributes impose constraints between a node and its off-springs in the parse graph. Under a probabilistic framework, we develop a Markov Chain Monte Carlo method to construct a parse graph that optimizes the 2D image recognition and 3D scene reconstruction purposes simultaneously. We evaluated our method on both public benchmarks and newly collected datasets. Experiments demonstrate that the proposed method is capable of achieving state-of-the-art scene reconstruction of a single image.

Validity of a parent-report measure of vocabulary and grammar for Spanish-speaking toddlers.

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Thal, D; Jackson-Maldonado, D; Acosta, D

2000-10-01

The validity of the Fundación MacArthur Inventario del Desarrollo de Habilidades Comunicativas: Palabras y Enunciados (IDHC:PE) was examined with twenty 20- and nineteen 28-month-old, typically developing, monolingual, Spanish-speaking children living in Mexico. One measure of vocabulary (number of words) and two measures of grammar (mean of the three longest utterances and grammatical complexity score) from the IDHC:PE were compared to behavioral measures of vocabulary (number of different words from a language sample and number of objects named in a confrontation naming task) and one behavioral measure of grammar (mean length of utterance from a language sample). Only vocabulary measures were assessed in the 20-month-olds because of floor effects on the grammar measures. Results indicated validity for assessing expressive vocabulary in 20-month-olds and expressive vocabulary and grammar in 28-month-olds.

eLearning Mobile App for Android and Ios "English Grammar Learn & Test"

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Anca-Georgiana FODOR

2016-11-01

Full Text Available This article is aiming to present the architecture and few elements from the developing cycle of "English Grammar Learn & Test" app. This is an e-learning tool for people who want to improve their English Grammar and Vocabulary. The app was approved by Google Play and Apple Store and it is available for free on both platforms as following: Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.labsterzz.english_tests iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/english-grammar-learn-test/id1126468980 The app already reached350.000 users, it is rated at 4.43out of maximum 5.0 in Google Play Store. Since mid-June 2016, we launched the app also in the Apple Store iOS devices.

Advanced grammar in use a self-study reference and practice book for advanced students of English : with answers and CD-ROM

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Hewings, Martin

2013-01-01

An updated version of the highly successful Advanced Grammar in Use. This third edition, with answers and CD-ROM, is ideal for self-study. The book contains 100 units of grammar reference and practice materials, with illustrations in full colour and a user-friendly layout. It is ideal for learners preparing for the Cambridge Advanced, Proficiency or IELTS examinations, and is informed by the Cambridge International Corpus, which ensures the language is authentic and up-to-date. The CD-ROM includes 200 interactive exercises to reinforce the language learned in the book, plus customised tests and audio recordings to accompany the main exercises. Versions without answers and without the CD-ROM are available to purchase separately.

Cooperative Business Education - 7725 (Reinforcing Knowledge of Grammar): Department 48 - Course 7725.08.

Science.gov (United States)

Dade County Public Schools, Miami, FL.

The essential elements of grammar required to write business letters, memorandums, and reports are covered in this quinmester course. The course consists of a complete grammar review and the learning of proofreading skills for students in the Cooperative Business Education program in Dade County High Schools. Instruction techniques include group…

Using dual-task methodology to dissociate automatic from nonautomatic processes involved in artificial grammar learning.

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Hendricks, Michelle A; Conway, Christopher M; Kellogg, Ronald T

2013-09-01

Previous studies have suggested that both automatic and intentional processes contribute to the learning of grammar and fragment knowledge in artificial grammar learning (AGL) tasks. To explore the relative contribution of automatic and intentional processes to knowledge gained in AGL, we utilized dual-task methodology to dissociate automatic and intentional grammar- and fragment-based knowledge in AGL at both acquisition and at test. Both experiments used a balanced chunk strength grammar to assure an equal proportion of fragment cues (i.e., chunks) in grammatical and nongrammatical test items. In Experiment 1, participants engaged in a working memory dual-task either during acquisition, test, or both acquisition and test. The results showed that participants performing the dual-task during acquisition learned the artificial grammar as well as the single-task group, presumably by relying on automatic learning mechanisms. A working memory dual-task at test resulted in attenuated grammar performance, suggesting a role for intentional processes for the expression of grammatical learning at test. Experiment 2 explored the importance of perceptual cues by changing letters between the acquisition and test phase; unlike Experiment 1, there was no significant learning of grammatical information for participants under dual-task conditions in Experiment 2, suggesting that intentional processing is necessary for successful acquisition and expression of grammar-based knowledge under transfer conditions. In sum, it appears that some aspects of learning in AGL are indeed relatively automatic, although the expression of grammatical information and the learning of grammatical patterns when perceptual similarity is eliminated both appear to require explicit resources. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

Confidence and Competence among Community College Students: Self-Efficacy and Performance in Grammar

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Collins, Steve; Bissell, Kimberly

2004-01-01

Proper grammar is crucial for effective communication. Two surveys of students in an introductory writing course sought to identify predictors of grammar ability. Students demonstrated a limited grasp of the language, struggling with such issues as the distinction between "it's" and "its." Women performed better than men at the beginning of the…

Improving language mapping in clinical fMRI through assessment of grammar.

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Połczyńska, Monika; Japardi, Kevin; Curtiss, Susan; Moody, Teena; Benjamin, Christopher; Cho, Andrew; Vigil, Celia; Kuhn, Taylor; Jones, Michael; Bookheimer, Susan

2017-01-01

Brain surgery in the language dominant hemisphere remains challenging due to unintended post-surgical language deficits, despite using pre-surgical functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) and intraoperative cortical stimulation. Moreover, patients are often recommended not to undergo surgery if the accompanying risk to language appears to be too high. While standard fMRI language mapping protocols may have relatively good predictive value at the group level, they remain sub-optimal on an individual level. The standard tests used typically assess lexico-semantic aspects of language, and they do not accurately reflect the complexity of language either in comprehension or production at the sentence level. Among patients who had left hemisphere language dominance we assessed which tests are best at activating language areas in the brain. We compared grammar tests (items testing word order in actives and passives, wh -subject and object questions, relativized subject and object clauses and past tense marking) with standard tests (object naming, auditory and visual responsive naming), using pre-operative fMRI. Twenty-five surgical candidates (13 females) participated in this study. Sixteen patients presented with a brain tumor, and nine with epilepsy. All participants underwent two pre-operative fMRI protocols: one including CYCLE-N grammar tests (items testing word order in actives and passives, wh-subject and object questions, relativized subject and object clauses and past tense marking); and a second one with standard fMRI tests (object naming, auditory and visual responsive naming). fMRI activations during performance in both protocols were compared at the group level, as well as in individual candidates. The grammar tests generated more volume of activation in the left hemisphere (left/right angular gyrus, right anterior/posterior superior temporal gyrus) and identified additional language regions not shown by the standard tests (e.g., left anterior

LeadMine: a grammar and dictionary driven approach to entity recognition

Science.gov (United States)

2015-01-01

Background Chemical entity recognition has traditionally been performed by machine learning approaches. Here we describe an approach using grammars and dictionaries. This approach has the advantage that the entities found can be directly related to a given grammar or dictionary, which allows the type of an entity to be known and, if an entity is misannotated, indicates which resource should be corrected. As recognition is driven by what is expected, if spelling errors occur, they can be corrected. Correcting such errors is highly useful when attempting to lookup an entity in a database or, in the case of chemical names, converting them to structures. Results Our system uses a mixture of expertly curated grammars and dictionaries, as well as dictionaries automatically derived from public resources. We show that the heuristics developed to filter our dictionary of trivial chemical names (from PubChem) yields a better performing dictionary than the previously published Jochem dictionary. Our final system performs post-processing steps to modify the boundaries of entities and to detect abbreviations. These steps are shown to significantly improve performance (2.6% and 4.0% F1-score respectively). Our complete system, with incremental post-BioCreative workshop improvements, achieves 89.9% precision and 85.4% recall (87.6% F1-score) on the CHEMDNER test set. Conclusions Grammar and dictionary approaches can produce results at least as good as the current state of the art in machine learning approaches. While machine learning approaches are commonly thought of as "black box" systems, our approach directly links the output entities to the input dictionaries and grammars. Our approach also allows correction of errors in detected entities, which can assist with entity resolution. PMID:25810776

Effective intervention for expressive grammar in children with specific language impairment.

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Smith-Lock, Karen M; Leitao, Suze; Lambert, Lara; Nickels, Lyndsey

2013-01-01

Children with specific language impairment are known to struggle with expressive grammar. While some studies have shown successful intervention under laboratory conditions, there is a paucity of evidence for the effectiveness of grammar treatment in young children in community settings. To evaluate the effectiveness of a school-based intervention programme for expressive grammar in 5-year-olds with specific language impairment. Thirty-four 5-year-old children attending a specialized school for children with language impairment participated in the study. Nineteen children received treatment for expressive grammar (experimental group) and 15 children received a control treatment. Treatment consisted of weekly 1-h sessions of small group activities in a classroom setting for 8 weeks. Techniques included direct instruction, focused stimulation, recasting and imitation. Results were analysed at the group level and as a case series with each child as their own control in a single-subject design. There was a significant difference in grammatical performance pre- and post-treatment for children who received grammar treatment (Cohen's d = 1.24), but not for a group of children who received a control treatment. Further, no difference in performance was found in the equivalent time period prior to treatment, nor for an untreated target. Treatment success was more pronounced in children without articulation difficulties which interfered with their ability to produce the grammatical targets (Cohen's d = 1.66). Individual analyses indicated the treatment effect was significant for the majority of children. Individually targeted intervention delivered in small groups in a classroom setting was effective in improving production of expressive grammatical targets in 5-year-old children with specific language impairment. © 2013 Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

(In)Flexibility of Constituency in Japanese in Multi-Modal Categorial Grammar with Structured Phonology

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Kubota, Yusuke

2010-01-01

This dissertation proposes a theory of categorial grammar called Multi-Modal Categorial Grammar with Structured Phonology. The central feature that distinguishes this theory from the majority of contemporary syntactic theories is that it decouples (without completely segregating) two aspects of syntax--hierarchical organization (reflecting…

Grammar of Binding in the languages of the world: Innate or learned?

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Cole, Peter; Hermon, Gabriella; Yanti

2015-08-01

Languages around the world often appear to manifest nearly identical grammatical properties, but, at the same time, the grammatical differences can also be great, sometimes even seeming to support Joos's (1958) claim that "languages can differ from each other without limit and in unpredictable way" (p. 96). This state of affairs provides a puzzle for both nativist approaches to language like Generative Grammar that posit a fixed "Universal Grammar", and for approaches that minimize the contribution of innate grammatical structure. We approach this puzzling state of affairs by looking at one area of grammar, "Binding", the system of local and long distance anaphoric elements in a language. This is an area of grammar that has long been central to the Generative approach to language structure. We compare the anaphoric systems found in "familiar" (European-like) languages that contain dedicated classes of bound and free anaphors (pronouns and reflexives) with the anaphoric systems in endangered Austronesian languages of Indonesia, languages in which there is overlap or no distinction between pronouns and reflexives (Peranakan Javanese and Jambi Malay). What is of special interest about Jambi anaphora is not only that conservative dialects of Jambi Malay do not distinguish between pronouns and reflexives, but that Jambi anaphora appear to constitute a live snapshot of a unitary class of anaphora in the process of grammaticalization as a distinct system of pronouns and reflexives. We argue that the facts of Jambi anaphora cannot be explained by theories positing a Universal Grammar of Binding. Thus, these facts provide evidence that complex grammatical systems like Binding cannot be innate. Our results from Austronesian languages are confirmed by data from signed and creole languages. Our conclusion is that the human language learning capacity must include the ability to model the full complexity found in the syntax of the world's languages. From the perspective of child

Artificial grammar learning in individuals with severe aphasia.

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Zimmerer, Vitor C; Cowell, Patricia E; Varley, Rosemary A

2014-01-01

One factor in syntactic impairment in aphasia might be damage to general structure processing systems. In such a case, deficits would be evident in the processing of syntactically structured non-linguistic information. To explore this hypothesis, we examined performances on artificial grammar learning (AGL) tasks in which the grammar was expressed in non-linguistic visual forms. In the first experiment, AGL behavior of four aphasic participants with severe syntactic impairment, five aphasic participants without syntactic impairment, and healthy controls was examined. Participants were trained on sequences of nonsense stimuli with the structure A(n)B(n). Data were analyzed at an individual level to identify different behavioral profiles and account for heterogeneity in aphasic as well as healthy groups. Healthy controls and patients without syntactic impairment were more likely to learn configurational (item order) than quantitative (counting) regularities. Quantitative regularities were only detected by individuals who also detected the configurational properties of the stimulus sequences. By contrast, two individuals with syntactic impairment learned quantitative regularities, but showed no sensitivity towards configurational structure. They also failed to detect configurational structure in a second experiment in which sequences were structured by the grammar A(+)B(+). We discuss the potential relationship between AGL and processing of word order as well as the potential of AGL in clinical practice. © 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

The Lattice-Valued Turing Machines and the Lattice-Valued Type 0 Grammars

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Juan Tang

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Purpose. The purpose of this paper is to study a class of the natural languages called the lattice-valued phrase structure languages, which can be generated by the lattice-valued type 0 grammars and recognized by the lattice-valued Turing machines. Design/Methodology/Approach. From the characteristic of natural language, this paper puts forward a new concept of the l-valued Turing machine. It can be used to characterize recognition, natural language processing, and dynamic characteristics. Findings. The mechanisms of both the generation of grammars for the lattice-valued type 0 grammar and the dynamic transformation of the lattice-valued Turing machines were given. Originality/Value. This paper gives a new approach to study a class of natural languages by using lattice-valued logic theory.

TEACHING GRAMMAR-IN-CONTEXT AND ITS IMPACT IN MINIMIZING STUDENTS’ GRAMMATICAL ERRORS

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Yadhi Nur Amin

2015-11-01

Full Text Available This study is conducted to determine the effectiveness of teaching grammar-in-context to minimize students‘ grammatical errors in writing. The design of the study was a quasi-experimental with a non-randomized pretest-posttest control group. The samples of the study were taken from the population of the tenth-grade students. The control group was taught by conventional grammar which was separately given with writing skills. Likewise, the experimental one was treated by teaching grammar-in-context. The results of the study showed that the mean score in the post-test was higher than that in the pretest; and the mean score of experimental group increased 16.20 point after the treatment. This result indicated that teaching grammarin-context is considered to be effective in minimizing students‘ grammatical errors in writing.

Information packaging in Functional Discourse Grammar

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Niels Smit

2007-07-01

Full Text Available

The paper addresses the modelling of information packaging in Functional Discourse Grammar (FDG, in particular the treatment of Topic, Comment and Focus. Current FDG has inherited the traditional Functional Grammar (FG representation of these categories as functions, which attach to Subacts of evocation. However, arguments of a formal, notional and descriptive nature can be advanced against pragmatic function assignment and in favour of an alternative analysis in which informational and evocational structures are dissociated so as to command their own primitives. In the context of a model of discourse knowledge organisation in which communicated contents are associated with packaging instructions that tell the Addressee how to treat the evoked knowledge, it is argued that focality can be modelled by means of a Focus operator that can attach to various constituents at the Interpersonal Level. Topicality, on the other hand, concerns binomial and monomial modes of presenting communicated contents. This can be rendered by means of the dedicated informational units Topic (Top and Comment (Cm, that interact in frames.

The Problem of Grammar Teaching: A Case Study of the Relationship between a Teacher's Beliefs and Pedagogical Practice

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Watson, Annabel

2015-01-01

Through a case study of a first-language English teacher's approach to teaching writing, the significance of conceptual and affective beliefs about grammar for pedagogical practice is explored. The study explores a perceived dichotomy between grammar and creativity, examining a belief that attention to grammar is separate and secondary to the…

Grammar predicts procedural learning and consolidation deficits in children with Specific Language Impairment.

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Hedenius, Martina; Persson, Jonas; Tremblay, Antoine; Adi-Japha, Esther; Veríssimo, João; Dye, Cristina D; Alm, Per; Jennische, Margareta; Bruce Tomblin, J; Ullman, Michael T

2011-01-01

The Procedural Deficit Hypothesis (PDH) posits that Specific Language Impairment (SLI) can be largely explained by abnormalities of brain structures that subserve procedural memory. The PDH predicts impairments of procedural memory itself, and that such impairments underlie the grammatical deficits observed in the disorder. Previous studies have indeed reported procedural learning impairments in SLI, and have found that these are associated with grammatical difficulties. The present study extends this research by examining consolidation and longer-term procedural sequence learning in children with SLI. The Alternating Serial Reaction Time (ASRT) task was given to children with SLI and typically developing (TD) children in an initial learning session and an average of three days later to test for consolidation and longer-term learning. Although both groups showed evidence of initial sequence learning, only the TD children showed clear signs of consolidation, even though the two groups did not differ in longer-term learning. When the children were re-categorized on the basis of grammar deficits rather than broader language deficits, a clearer pattern emerged. Whereas both the grammar impaired and normal grammar groups showed evidence of initial sequence learning, only those with normal grammar showed consolidation and longer-term learning. Indeed, the grammar-impaired group appeared to lose any sequence knowledge gained during the initial testing session. These findings held even when controlling for vocabulary or a broad non-grammatical language measure, neither of which were associated with procedural memory. When grammar was examined as a continuous variable over all children, the same relationships between procedural memory and grammar, but not vocabulary or the broader language measure, were observed. Overall, the findings support and further specify the PDH. They suggest that consolidation and longer-term procedural learning are impaired in SLI, but that these

Grammar Predicts Procedural Learning and Consolidation Deficits in Children with Specific Language Impairment

Science.gov (United States)

Hedenius, Martina; Persson, Jonas; Tremblay, Antoine; Adi-Japha, Esther; Veríssimo, João; Dye, Cristina D.; Alm, Per; Jennische, Margareta; Tomblin, J. Bruce; Ullman, Michael T.

2011-01-01

The Procedural Deficit Hypothesis (PDH) posits that Specific Language Impairment (SLI) can be largely explained by abnormalities of brain structures that subserve procedural memory. The PDH predicts impairments of procedural memory itself, and that such impairments underlie the grammatical deficits observed in the disorder. Previous studies have indeed reported procedural learning impairments in SLI, and have found that these are associated with grammatical difficulties. The present study extends this research by examining the consolidation and longer-term procedural sequence learning in children with SLI. The Alternating Serial Reaction Time (ASRT) task was given to children with SLI and typically-developing (TD) children in an initial learning session and an average of three days later to test for consolidation and longer-term learning. Although both groups showed evidence of initial sequence learning, only the TD children showed clear signs of consolidation, even though the two groups did not differ in longer-term learning. When the children were re-categorized on the basis of grammar deficits rather than broader language deficits, a clearer pattern emerged. Whereas both the grammar impaired and normal grammar groups showed evidence of initial sequence learning, only those with normal grammar showed consolidation and longer-term learning. Indeed, the grammar-impaired group appeared to lose any sequence knowledge gained during the initial testing session. These findings held even when controlling for vocabulary or a broad non-grammatical language measure, neither of which were associated with procedural memory. When grammar was examined as a continuous variable over all children, the same relationships between procedural memory and grammar, but not vocabulary or the broader language measure, were observed. Overall, the findings support and further specify the PDH. They suggest that consolidation and longer-term procedural learning are impaired in SLI, but that

Adaptable Grammars for Non-Context-Free Languages

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christiansen, Henning

2009-01-01

languages that are considered as prototype representatives of non-context-free phenomena in natural languages. We define a grammar formalism with these characteristics and show how it can be implemented in logic programming in a surprisingly straightforward way, compared with the expressive...

Construction Grammar as a tool for diachronic analysis

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Fried, Mirjam

2009-01-01

Roč. 1, č. 2 (2009), s. 262-291 ISSN 1876-1933 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z90610518 Keywords : grammatical change * gradualness of change * internal reconstruction * Construction Grammar Subject RIV: AI - Linguistics

A Grammar of Spoken Brazilian Portuguese.

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas, Earl W.

This is a first-year text of Portuguese grammar based on the Portuguese of moderately educated Brazilians from the area around Rio de Janeiro. Spoken idiomatic usage is emphasized. An important innovation is found in the presentation of verb tenses; they are presented in the order in which the native speaker learns them. The text is intended to…

English Grammar for Students of French.

Science.gov (United States)

Morton, Jacqueline

This grammar is a self-study manual intended to aid native speakers of English who are beginning the study of French. It is designed to supplement the French textbook, not to replace it. The common grammatical terms that are necessary for learning to speak and write French are explained in English and illustrated by examples in both French and…

“Grammar-translation” method, a linguistic historic err or of perspective: origins, dynamics and inconsistencies

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Camilo Andrés Bonilla Carvajal

2013-07-01

Full Text Available The Grammar-Translation method is frequently referred to as the traditional ineffective approach par excellence. Such view is often justified by the claim that before the Audiolingual method oral performance in foreign language was not reached, and language classes were reduced to memorizing grammar rules and lists of vocabulary. Nevertheless, this opinion is derived from unproved claims, mainly made by misinformed authors for they offer no compelling empirical evidence to validate their restrictive descriptions where translation is shown as an invalid metacognitive strategy. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that Grammar-Translation is merely an arbitrary historic label, developed by methodologists and theoreticians to encompass the history of language teaching from 1790 through 1950. References to Grammar-Translation are critically reviewed to make evident they are biased inferences based on partial evidence to account for the existence of any such methodology. The assumption that Grammar-Translation did exist, and that it is the negative model of teaching practices that should be better avoided at all costs, might reflect an unconstructive and unfounded ideological interest of mainstream theoreticians and unsuspecting teachers.

Grammar Is the Heart of Language: Grammar and Its Role in Language Learning among Finnish University Students

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Saaristo, Pekka

2015-01-01

This article presents and discusses views on grammar and its role in formal language learning amongst Finnish university students. The results are based on a questionnaire which was distributed to students at the University of Jyväskylä as part of institutional action research. The background to the project was a feeling amongst some teachers of…

THE USE OF GRAMMAR TRANSLATION METHOD IN TEACHING ENGLISH

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Catharina Elmayantie

2015-09-01

Full Text Available This study aims to describe the patterns of Grammar Translation Method (GTM and to know the reasons why the teachers used the method. Descriptive qualitative method was applied. The subjects were two English teachers at the seventh grade of SMP Negeri 1 Palangka Raya. It was used observation and questionnaires to collect the data. The data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing were applied for data analysis. The findings show nine major patterns of GTM applied: (1 The classes were taught mainly in mother tongue; (2 the vocabulary was taught in the form of lists of isolated words; (3 the grammar provided the rules for putting words together; (4 it focused on the form and inflection of words; (5 the reading difficult classical texts were begun early; (6 it was little attention to the content of the texts; (7 the drills were exercises in translating; (8 it was little attention to pronunciation; and (9 it focused on accuracy. Meanwhile, the reasons of the teachers used the method are: (1 It is suitable for the students; (2 it helps the students comprehend the text; (3 it  improves the vacabulary; and (4 by using this method teaching-learning activities work well. Keywords: English subject, grammar translation method, teaching-learning activities

Designing a Competence-Based Syllabus for Turkish Speaking Learners of English in Terms of Accessibility to Universal Grammar

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Seker, Emrullah

2016-01-01

This study focuses on designing an English grammar syllabus for Turkish speaking English learners, which is based on the assumption that learning English grammar will be simpler and easier for Turkish speaking learners if it is introduced in a way by which they can achieve accessibility to Universal Grammar. In this study, I analyze almost all…

75 FR 63 - Hazardous Materials: Revision to Requirements for the Transportation of Batteries and Battery...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-04

... contained in equipment, fuel cell systems must not charge batteries during transport; (3) For transportation... 2137-AE54 Hazardous Materials: Revision to Requirements for the Transportation of Batteries and Battery... batteries and battery-powered devices. This final rule corrects several errors in the January 14, 2009 final...

The Application of Communicative Approach toEnglish Grammar Teaching%交际法在英语语法教学中的应用

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

李梅

2008-01-01

How to teach English grammar effectively is an important subject of the comprehensive course for English majors.The Communicative approach must be applied to the English grammar teaching.This paper illustrates the features of communicative grammar teaching and necessity of applying communicative approach to English Grammar Teaching and how to apply communicative approach to English Grammar Teaching.In classroom teaching,a variety of communicative situations should be created without dull teaching;a colorful of classroom activities should be designed;real situation communicative practices should be intensified to make English grammar teaching active and efficient.

Teaching English tense and aspect with the help of cognitive grammar: An empirical study

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Jakub Bielak

2011-10-01

Full Text Available Form-focused instruction is usually based on traditional practical/pedagogical grammar descriptions of grammatical features. The comparison of such traditional accounts with cognitive grammar (CG descriptions seems to favor CG as a basis of pedagogical rules. This is due to the insistence of CG on the meaningfulness of grammar and its detailed analyses of the meanings of particular grammatical features. The differences between traditional and CG rules/descriptions are exemplified by juxtaposing the two kinds of principles concerning the use of the present simple and present progressive to refer to situations happening or existing at speech time. The descriptions provided the bases for the instructional treatment in a quasi-experimental study exploring the effectiveness of using CG descriptions of the two tenses, and of their interplay with stative (imperfective and dynamic (perfective verbs, and comparing this effectiveness with the value of grammar teaching relying on traditional accounts found in standard pedagogical grammars. The study involved 50 participants divided into three groups, with one of them constituting the control group and the other two being experimental ones. One of the latter received treatment based on CG descriptions and the other on traditional accounts. CG-based instruction was found to be at least moderately effective in terms of fostering mostly explicit grammatical knowledge and its effectiveness turned out be comparable to that of teaching based on traditional descriptions.

An ERP study of structural anomalies in native and semantic free artificial grammar: evidence for shared processing mechanisms.

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Tabullo, Ángel; Sevilla, Yamila; Segura, Enrique; Zanutto, Silvano; Wainselboim, Alejandro

2013-08-21

Artificial grammars have been widely applied to the study of sequential learning in language, but few studies have directly compared the neural correlates of artificial and native grammar processing. In this study, we examined Event Related Potentials (ERPs) elicited by structural anomalies in semantic-free artificial grammar sequences and sentences in the subjects' native language (Spanish). Although ERPs differed during early stages, we observed similar posterior negativities (N400) and P600 effects in a late stage. We interpret these results as evidence of at least partially shared neural mechanisms for processing of language and artificial grammars. We suggest that in both the natural and artificial grammars, the N400 and P600 components we observed can be explained as the result of unfulfilled predictions about incoming stimuli. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Supporting French Teachers for a Paradigm Shift in Grammar Education: A Teacher Trainer's Perspective

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Thibeault, Joël

2016-01-01

This article presents a series of pedagogical workshops that was offered over two years to a cohort of 50 teachers practising in Ontarian French schools. Focusing on grammar teaching, the workshops' objectives were to: (a) contribute to the teachers' development of linguistic knowledge consistent with the grammar under new provincial standards and…

On defining semantics of extended attribute grammars

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Madsen, Ole Lehrmann

1980-01-01

Knuth has introduced attribute grammars (AGs) as a tool to define the semanitcs of context-free languages. The use of AGs in connection with programming language definitions has mostly been to define the context-sensitive syntax of the language and to define a translation in code for a hypothetic...

Aligning English grammar testing with European language standards

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Bodrič Radmila

2015-01-01

Full Text Available In recent years, foreign language testing has gained in significance with the advent of The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (2001 (CEFR, a European language document which set comparable standards for learning, teaching and assessing foreign languages. The CEFR was used to set the research aim of this paper - testing grammar at level B2. The main aim of the research was to determine grammatical competence at level B2 and additional aims included: (a determining which particular areas of grammar need to be learned by students at level B2, (b formulating grammatical descriptors for each individual area of grammar, (c determining the test’s threshold level which would fulfil the criteria for grammatical competence at level B2, and (d determining the extent to which students have mastered the given areas. The pre-testing was followed by the main testing on the sample of 164 students in two secondary schools. The results indicated that the quantity and quality of grammatical competence was lower than expected: 47% of the population failed to fulfil the basic level of grammatical competence. The causes may be attributed to the factors of a subjective and objective nature. Level B2 is demanding qualitatively as well as quantitatively, regarding both the formal and the functional complexity and scope of language use, which requires intensive language production, high levels of motivation and sound working habits in order to master the given grammatical structures.

Creation Myths of Generative Grammar and the Mathematics of Syntactic Structures

Science.gov (United States)

Pullum, Geoffrey K.

Syntactic Structures (Chomsky [6]) is widely believed to have laid the foundations of a cognitive revolution in linguistic science, and to have presented (i) the first use in linguistics of powerful new ideas regarding grammars as generative systems, (ii) a proof that English was not a regular language, (iii) decisive syntactic arguments against context-free phrase structure grammar description, and (iv) a demonstration of how transformational rules could provide a formal solution to those problems. None of these things are true. This paper offers a retrospective analysis and evaluation.

Sequential learning in individuals with agrammatic aphasia: evidence from artificial grammar learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Schuchard, Julia; Thompson, Cynthia K

2017-01-01

We examined sequential learning in individuals with agrammatic aphasia ( n = 12) and healthy age-matched participants ( n = 12) using an artificial grammar. Artificial grammar acquisition, 24-hour retention, and the potential benefits of additional training were examined by administering an artificial grammar judgment test (1) immediately following auditory exposure-based training, (2) one day after training, and (3) after a second training session on the second day. An untrained control group ( n = 12 healthy age-matched participants) completed the tests on the same time schedule. The trained healthy and aphasic groups showed greater sensitivity to the detection of grammatical items than the control group. No significant correlations between sequential learning and language abilities were observed among the aphasic participants. The results suggest that individuals with agrammatic aphasia show sequential learning, but the underlying processes involved in this learning may be different than for healthy adults.

Grammar in 3D: on linguistic theory design

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Contreras García, L.

2013-01-01

Each model of grammar represents linguistic phenomena differently. The main architectural tenets of a grammatical framework determine whether it makes use of devices such as mismatches, empty categories or derivation. This study develops a metatheoretical methodology for the assessment of and

Grammar-Based Multi-Frontal Solver for One Dimensional Isogeometric Analysis with Multiple Right-Hand-Sides

KAUST Repository

Kuźnik, Krzysztof

2013-06-01

This paper introduces a grammar-based model for developing a multi-thread multi-frontal parallel direct solver for one- dimensional isogeometric finite element method. The model includes the integration of B-splines for construction of the element local matrices and the multi-frontal solver algorithm. The integration and the solver algorithm are partitioned into basic indivisible tasks, namely the grammar productions, that can be executed squentially. The partial order of execution of the basic tasks is analyzed to provide the scheduling for the execution of the concurrent integration and multi-frontal solver algo- rithm. This graph grammar analysis allows for optimal concurrent execution of all tasks. The model has been implemented and tested on NVIDIA CUDA GPU, delivering logarithmic execution time for linear, quadratic, cubic and higher order B-splines. Thus, the CUDA implementation delivers the optimal performance predicted by our graph grammar analysis. We utilize the solver for multiple right hand sides related to the solution of non-stationary or inverse problems.

The English Definite Article: What ESL/EFL Grammars Say and What Corpus Findings Show

Science.gov (United States)

WonHo Yoo, Isaiah

2009-01-01

To ascertain whether what ESL/EFL grammars say is informed by what scholars discuss in the literature and supported by what corpus findings actually show, this paper first presents a brief overview of the literature on the English definite article and then compares popular ESL/EFL grammars' coverage of "the" and corpus findings on definite article…

Study of Applying Cognitive Linguistic Theory into Japanese Grammar Teaching——Taking Causative Sentence as an Example

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Zhang Yu[1

2016-01-01

The traditional Japanese grammar teaching often only pays attention to the interpretation of syntax and the integrity of grammar structure. This violates the cultivation of communicative competence, and is not in conformity with the society’s requirements of applied foreign language talents. Cognitive linguistics theory, which links language form with semantic concept, reveals the internal relation of man’s thinking and language. If we can subtly apply cognitive linguistic theory into Japanese grammar teaching to explore the cognitive process in the speakers’ brain while expressing, we can get a good understanding of diffi cult points and “special case”. This paper explores the introductory methods and efficacy of the cognitive linguistics theory applied in Japanese grammar teaching method, by lecturing causative sentences an example.

The emergence of grammar in very-low-birth-weight Finnish children at two years of age.

Science.gov (United States)

Stolt, Suvi; Matomäki, Jaakko; Haataja, Leena; Lapinleimu, Helena; Lehtonen, Liisa

2013-03-01

It is not well understood how grammar emerges in very-low-birth-weight (VLBW) children. The main aim of the present study was to gain information on the emergence of grammar in this group at 2 ; 0. The Finnish version of the Communicative Development Inventory was used to collect data from VLBW children (N = 156) and full-term controls (N = 146). At a group level, the grammatical skills of the VLBW children were significantly weaker than those of the controls. However, when the effect of lexicon size and premature birth on the emergence of grammar was analyzed in detail, few significant differences were found between the groups. The results suggest that even though grammar emerges more slowly for the VLBW children, it emerges in a manner comparable to that of the controls, when the effect of lexicon size is taken into consideration.

Exploring the outcomes of a novel computer-assisted treatment program targeting expressive-grammar deficits in preschoolers with SLI.

Science.gov (United States)

Washington, Karla N; Warr-Leeper, Genese; Thomas-Stonell, Nancy

2011-01-01

The impact of a newly designed computer-assisted treatment (C-AT) program, My Sentence Builder, for the remediation of expressive-grammar deficits in children with specific language impairment (SLI) was explored. This program was specifically designed with features to directly address expressive-grammar difficulties, thought to be associated with hypothesized deficits in verbal working memory (VWM). Thirty-four preschoolers with deficits in expressive-grammar morphology participated. Using the randomization procedure of consecutive sampling, participants were recruited. Twenty-two participants were consecutively assigned to one of two treatment groups, C-AT or non C-AT (nC-AT). The nC-AT utilized conventional language stimulation procedures containing features which have been traditionally used to address expressive-grammar deficits. A group of equivalent children awaiting treatment and chosen from the same sample of children as the treatment participants served as a control group. Blind assessments of outcomes were completed pre-, post-, and 3-months post-treatment in a formal and informal context. C-AT and nC-AT participants significantly outperformed controls pre-to-post to 3-months post-treatment in both assessment contexts. No significant differences in treatment gains were found between C-AT and nC-AT. Results suggested that treatments designed to directly address expressive-grammar deficits were better than no treatment for preschool SLI. Further, use of a C-AT program may be another feasible treatment method for this disorder population. As a result of this activity, the reader will recognize that: (1) expressive-grammar treatment is better than no treatment for immediate and continued language growth, (2) use of a C-AT program containing specific features designed to directly address expressive-grammar deficits is another viable, but not necessarily a better treatment option for the remediation of expressive-grammar deficits in preschool children with SLI

A human-assisted computer generated LA-grammar for simple ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies ... of computer programs to generate Left Associative Grammars (LAGs) for natural languages is described. The generation proceeds from examples of correct sentences and needs ...

A BRIEF HINDI REFERENCE GRAMMAR. PRELIMINARY VERSION.

Science.gov (United States)

GUMPERZ, JOHN J.; MISRA, VIDYA NIWAS

THIS BRIEF OUTLINE OF HINDI PHONOLOGY AND GRAMMAR IS INTENDED FOR FIRST AND SECOND YEAR STUDENTS OF HINDI WHO HAVE SOME PREVIOUS KNOWLEDGE OF THE ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE BUT WHO MAY HAVE HAD NO PREVIOUS TRAINING IN LINGUISTIC TERMINOLOGY. THE AUTHORS HAVE THEREFORE EMPHASIZED SIMPLICITY AND READABILITY RATHER THAN EXHAUSTIVENESS OR ORIGINALITY…

Teacher beliefs and practices of grammar teaching: focusing on ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

focused communicative approaches over the years, studies report that most language teachers still follow transmission-based grammar-oriented approaches. It is known that the success of any curriculum innovation is dependent on teachers.

TEACHING THE GRAMMAR OF RUSSIAN LANGUAGE AS FOREIGN IN RUSSIAN TEXTBOOKS FOR BEGINNERS (OPINION OF THE CHINESE TEACHER)

OpenAIRE

Zeng, T.

2017-01-01

Increased interest towards studying the Russian language in China evokes the interest of Chinese teachers of the Russian language to educational and methodological materials created by their Russian colleagues. First and foremost, Chinese philologists are interested in nationally oriented textbooks. In this article, we discuss the main features of grammar in Russian textbooks aimed at Chinese students who are just beginning to learn Russian. This paper compares nationally oriented textbooks “...

Excuse me, your participle's dangling how to use grammar to make your writing powers soar

CERN Document Server

DePino, Catherine

2013-01-01

Excuse Me, Your Participle's Dangling will give you all the bare essentials of grammar that you need to write like a pro. If you're a businessperson, college student, or ESL student seeking a user-friendly grammar book that aims to make you a better writer, this book is for you!

Towards a construction grammar account of the distributive PO in Polish

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adam Przepiórkowski

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Towards a construction grammar account of the distributive PO in Polish Polish distributive constructions involving the form po are well known for their syntactic and semantic idiosyncrasy. The aim of this paper is to show that, contrary to the received wisdom, two different lexemes po take part in such constructions: a preposition and an adnumeral operator. This explains some of the idiosyncratic behaviour, namely, the apparent ability of po to combine with different grammatical cases. A preliminary Construction Grammar analysis is proposed which eschews the potential problem of missed generalisations that such a dual account of po might engender.

Consciousness-raising about grammar in the second-language ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Consciousness-raising about grammar in the second-language classroom: Utilising authentic samples of learner-learner interaction in a task-based oral activity. ... More recent studies argue that linguistic support must not be omitted from language teaching programmes within a task-based, communicative approach (Swain, ...

Corrections on Grammar, Sentence Variety and Developing Detail to Qualify Academic Essay of Indonesian Learners

Science.gov (United States)

Solikhah, Imroatus

2017-01-01

This experimental research examines: (1) significant differences of corrections on grammar, sentence variety and developing details on the quality of the essay by Indonesian learners; and (2) different effect of corrections on grammar, sentence variety, and developing details on the quality of the essay. Treatments for each were served as follows:…

Learning of grammar-like visual sequences by adults with and without language-learning disabilities.

Science.gov (United States)

Aguilar, Jessica M; Plante, Elena

2014-08-01

Two studies examined learning of grammar-like visual sequences to determine whether a general deficit in statistical learning characterizes this population. Furthermore, we tested the hypothesis that difficulty in sustaining attention during the learning task might account for differences in statistical learning. In Study 1, adults with normal language (NL) or language-learning disability (LLD) were familiarized with the visual artificial grammar and then tested using items that conformed or deviated from the grammar. In Study 2, a 2nd sample of adults with NL and LLD were presented auditory word pairs with weak semantic associations (e.g., groom + clean) along with the visual learning task. Participants were instructed to attend to visual sequences and to ignore the auditory stimuli. Incidental encoding of these words would indicate reduced attention to the primary task. In Studies 1 and 2, both groups demonstrated learning and generalization of the artificial grammar. In Study 2, neither the NL nor the LLD group appeared to encode the words presented during the learning phase. The results argue against a general deficit in statistical learning for individuals with LLD and demonstrate that both NL and LLD learners can ignore extraneous auditory stimuli during visual learning.

Algorithms for Regular Tree Grammar Network Search and Their Application to Mining Human-viral Infection Patterns.

Science.gov (United States)

Smoly, Ilan; Carmel, Amir; Shemer-Avni, Yonat; Yeger-Lotem, Esti; Ziv-Ukelson, Michal

2016-03-01

Network querying is a powerful approach to mine molecular interaction networks. Most state-of-the-art network querying tools either confine the search to a prespecified topology in the form of some template subnetwork, or do not specify any topological constraints at all. Another approach is grammar-based queries, which are more flexible and expressive as they allow for expressing the topology of the sought pattern according to some grammar-based logic. Previous grammar-based network querying tools were confined to the identification of paths. In this article, we extend the patterns identified by grammar-based query approaches from paths to trees. For this, we adopt a higher order query descriptor in the form of a regular tree grammar (RTG). We introduce a novel problem and propose an algorithm to search a given graph for the k highest scoring subgraphs matching a tree accepted by an RTG. Our algorithm is based on the combination of dynamic programming with color coding, and includes an extension of previous k-best parsing optimization approaches to avoid isomorphic trees in the output. We implement the new algorithm and exemplify its application to mining viral infection patterns within molecular interaction networks. Our code is available online.

Case Grammar in Philippine Languages. Preliminary Draft.

Science.gov (United States)

Stevens, Alan M.

This paper presents evidence from Philippine languages which suggests a number of modifications in the theory of case grammar. Philippine languages and adjacent related languages mark the case relationship between the verb and one noun phrase in the sentence by a particle on the noun phrase and an affix on the verb, a phenomenon which in recent…

The Relationship between Teachers' Beliefs of Grammar Instruction and Classroom Practices in the Saudi Context

Science.gov (United States)

Alghanmi, Bayan; Shukri, Nadia

2016-01-01

Teacher cognition (Borg, 2015) of grammar instruction is a relatively new phenomenon that has yet to be explored in the Saudi context. While many studies have focused on the teaching of grammar in general (Ellis, 2006; Corzo, 2013; Braine, 2014), further research needs to be done - particularly when it comes to understanding teachers' beliefs of…

Delta's Key to the Next Generation TOEFL[R] Test: Essential Grammar for the iBT

Science.gov (United States)

Gallagher, Nancy

2012-01-01

Although the TOEFL iBT does not have a discrete grammar section, knowledge of English sentence structure is important throughout the test. Essential Grammar for the iBT reviews the skills that are fundamental to success on tests. Content includes noun and verb forms, clauses, agreement, parallel structure, punctuation, and much more. The book may…

Geelong Grammar boy saw deep inside the atom

CERN Multimedia

Persse, M C

2003-01-01

"John Gordon Rushbrooke, whose brilliant career as a high-energy physicist has been cut short by cancer, was one of a succession of scientists educated at Geelong Grammar School in the middle years of the 20th century who achieved world eminence in their fields" (1 page).

Beyond meaning in dictionaries: Teaching Ndebele grammar using ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The author argues that the provision of grammatical information in Isichazamazwi SesiNdebele, a monolingual general-purpose dictionary, was a well-advised lexicographic procedure on the part of its editors. There being no comprehensive grammar textbook in Ndebele, the dictionary may be used in the grammatical ...

Distinct Grammars and their Role in Interlanguage Development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aparecida de Araújo Oliveira

2016-07-01

Full Text Available The expression of temporality encompasses the concepts of tense and aspect, typically conveyed by lexical and inflectional morphemes that usually vary from language to language. This kind of cross-linguistic distinctions often affects L2 learning. In this paper I discuss the role of the Portuguese grammar in the acquisition of the English present perfect tense by eighteen Brazilian EFL learners. I compared patterns found in interlanguage data to L2 patterns, and, as expected, L1 phonology affected learners’ production of regular past tenses, especially in early interlanguage. As for form-function mappings, besides L2 patterns, learners created two major meaning categories of current relevance, based on persisting / non-persisting situations, which were systematically conveyed by forms that resembled their L1 grammar. Durative events and states (imperfective situations persisting into the present were expressed by present tenses, while all aspectual categories of concluded (perfective situations were encoded by past tenses. Specific adverbials were used in each category

An examination of the association between interviewer question type and story-grammar detail in child witness interviews about abuse.

Science.gov (United States)

Feltis, Brooke B; Powell, Martine B; Snow, Pamela C; Hughes-Scholes, Carolyn H

2010-06-01

This study compared the effects of open-ended versus specific questions, and various types of open-ended questions, in eliciting story-grammar detail in child abuse interviews. The sample included 34 police interviews with child witnesses aged 5-15 years (M age=9 years, 9 months). The interviewers' questions and their relative sub-types were classified according to definitions reported in the child interview training literature. The children's responses were classified according to the proportion of story grammar and the prevalence of individual story grammar elements as defined by Stein and Glenn (1979). Open-ended questions were more effective at eliciting story grammar than specific questions. This finding was revealed across three age groups, two interview phases and irrespective of how question effectiveness was measured. However, not all types of open-ended questions were equally effective. Open-ended questions that encouraged a broad response, or asked the child to elaborate on a part of their account, elicited more story-grammar detail compared to open-ended questions that requested clarification of concepts or descriptions of the next (or another) activity or detail within a sequence. This study demonstrates that children's ability to provide story-grammar detail is maximised when there is minimal prompting from the interviewer. Given the association between story grammar production and victim credibility, greater guidance is warranted in interviewer training programs in relation to the effects and administration of different types of open-ended questions. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

New labels for old problems: Grammar in communicative language teaching

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Poole Alexander

2003-08-01

Full Text Available Communicative language teaching has long been controversial due to its lack of explicit grammar instruction. Focus on form instruction (Long, 1991, however, puts communication as the centerpiece of instruction, but addresses form on a need-toknow- basis; thus, focus on form instruction claims to balance communication and grammar. Moreover, the concept of uptake (Lyster and Ranta, 1997; Ellis, Basturkmen, and Loewen, 2001, or the process by which learners respond to correction initiated by teachers and/or other learners, has been used to demonstrate that focus on form instruction, and thus by extension, CLT, gives sufficient attention to grammar. However, in this article, I will show that the concept of uptake is problematic, and demonstrate that focus on form instruction does not offer a feasible way of addressing grammar in EFL classrooms. Yet, before showing the technique’s inadequacy, I will highlight selected aspects of focus on form instruction and uptake research. Key Words: English-Grammar-Teaching-Evaluation, Second Language Acquisition- Teaching, Grammar Instruction. La enseñanza comunicativa del lenguaje ha sido muy controversial debido no sólo a la carencia explícita de la enseñanza de la gramática, sino también a la carencia tangible para evaluar si los estudiantes han adquirido o no ciertas formas gramaticales. El enfoque de la forma (Long, l991, sin embargo, ubica la comunicación como pieza principal de enseñanza, pero a la vez enfatiza en la enseñanza de la forma como parte importante que todo estudiante necesita saber. Algunos autores han señalado la importancia de tener un balance entre la comunicación y la enseñanza explícita de la gramática. Esto se debe en gran parte, al concepto de ‘uptake’ que ha sido usado para demostrar que el enfoque en la enseñanza de la forma y, por extensión el enfoque en la enseñanza comunicativa del lenguaje, facilitan la atención a la gramática. Sin embargo, el

Horn逻辑程序和形式文法之间的对应关系%The Correspondence between Horn Logic Programs and Formal Grammars

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

陈文彬; 王驹

2003-01-01

The paper researches Horn logic programs with grammatical view. The correspondence between Horn logic programs and grammars is found. The method by which type-0 grammars generate the least Herbrand models of logic programs is found. The method by which Horn logic programs generate the languages of type-0 grammars is found.The characterization of Horn Logic programs that are semantically equavanent to type-2 grammars and type-3 grammars is found.

Regulations for the safe transport of radioactive material. 1996 edition (revised)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2000-01-01

Following a comprehensive review by panels of experts convened by the IAEA starting in 1991, a revised version of the IAEA Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material (formerly Safety Series No. 6) was approved by the Board of Governors in September 1996. This publication supersedes all editions of the Regulations issued under Safety Series No. 6. By 1969, the Regulations had been adopted by almost all international organizations concerned with transport and used by many Member States for their own regulations. Through the worldwide adoption of the IAEA Regulations for all modes of transport, a very high standard of safety in transport has been achieved. In the revisions since the first edition, attempts have been made to find a balance between the need to take account of technical advances and operational experience, and the desirability of providing a stable framework of regulatory requirements. One of the aims of this approach is to allow packages designed to previous versions of the Regulations to continue to be used for a reasonable period of time. It is recognized that not all regulatory changes can be implemented simultaneously; Member States and international organizations are therefore invited, in adopting this revision, to provide for use of both the 'old' requirements and the 'new' ones during a period of transition that may last for a few years. It is further recommended that adoption of these revised Regulations occur within a period of five years from publication to achieve worldwide harmonization of their application. In implementing the provisions of these Regulations, it may be necessary for Member States to issue complementary national regulations. Except as necessary for solely domestic purposes, such national regulations should not conflict with these Regulations. For convenience, the requirements to be met for the transport of specified types of consignments are included in an abbreviated form as Schedules in this publication

Regulations for the safe transport of radioactive material. 1996 edition (revised)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2002-01-01

Following a comprehensive review by panels of experts convened by the IAEA starting in 1991, a revised version of the IAEA Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material (formerly Safety Series No. 6) was approved by the Board of Governors in September 1996. This publication supersedes all editions of the Regulations issued under Safety Series No. 6. By 1969, the Regulations had been adopted by almost all international organizations concerned with transport and used by many Member States for their own regulations. Through the worldwide adoption of the IAEA Regulations for all modes of transport, a very high standard of safety in transport has been achieved. In the revisions since the first edition, attempts have been made to find a balance between the need to take account of technical advances and operational experience, and the desirability of providing a stable framework of regulatory requirements. One of the aims of this approach is to allow packages designed to previous versions of the Regulations to continue to be used for a reasonable period of time. It is recognized that not all regulatory changes can be implemented simultaneously. Member States and international organizations are therefore invited, in adopting this revision, to provide for use of both the 'old' requirements and the 'new' ones during a period of transition that may last for a few years. It is further recommended that adoption of these revised Regulations occur within a period of five years from publication to achieve worldwide harmonization of their application. In implementing the provisions of these Regulations, it may be necessary for Member States to issue complementary national regulations. Except as necessary for solely domestic purposes, such national regulations should not conflict with these Regulations. For convenience, the requirements to be met for the transport of specified types of consignments are included in an abbreviated form as Schedules in this publication

An approach to multiscale modelling with graph grammars.

Science.gov (United States)

Ong, Yongzhi; Streit, Katarína; Henke, Michael; Kurth, Winfried

2014-09-01

Functional-structural plant models (FSPMs) simulate biological processes at different spatial scales. Methods exist for multiscale data representation and modification, but the advantages of using multiple scales in the dynamic aspects of FSPMs remain unclear. Results from multiscale models in various other areas of science that share fundamental modelling issues with FSPMs suggest that potential advantages do exist, and this study therefore aims to introduce an approach to multiscale modelling in FSPMs. A three-part graph data structure and grammar is revisited, and presented with a conceptual framework for multiscale modelling. The framework is used for identifying roles, categorizing and describing scale-to-scale interactions, thus allowing alternative approaches to model development as opposed to correlation-based modelling at a single scale. Reverse information flow (from macro- to micro-scale) is catered for in the framework. The methods are implemented within the programming language XL. Three example models are implemented using the proposed multiscale graph model and framework. The first illustrates the fundamental usage of the graph data structure and grammar, the second uses probabilistic modelling for organs at the fine scale in order to derive crown growth, and the third combines multiscale plant topology with ozone trends and metabolic network simulations in order to model juvenile beech stands under exposure to a toxic trace gas. The graph data structure supports data representation and grammar operations at multiple scales. The results demonstrate that multiscale modelling is a viable method in FSPM and an alternative to correlation-based modelling. Advantages and disadvantages of multiscale modelling are illustrated by comparisons with single-scale implementations, leading to motivations for further research in sensitivity analysis and run-time efficiency for these models.

Interactive design of probability density functions for shape grammars

KAUST Repository

Dang, Minh; Lienhard, Stefan; Ceylan, Duygu; Neubert, Boris; Wonka, Peter; Pauly, Mark

2015-01-01

A shape grammar defines a procedural shape space containing a variety of models of the same class, e.g. buildings, trees, furniture, airplanes, bikes, etc. We present a framework that enables a user to interactively design a probability density

Dissertation Notice: A Grammar of Wutun

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Reviewed by Benjamin Brosig

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Erika Sandman. 2016. A Grammar of Wutun. Helsinki: University of Helsinki. Doctoral dissertation, xii, 370 p. [http://bit.ly/2C0jMCY, accessed 13 December 2017]. An occasional problem when doing research on the languages of northern China is that while there are medium-sized structuralist, historical, and contemporary grammars for many local non-Sinitic varieties (e.g., Todaeva 1966, Chen and Cinggeltei 1986, and Fried 2010 for Bonan, the same does not seem to be equally true for their Sinitic contact varieties. A Grammar of Wutun, a dissertation written by Erika Sandman at the two departments of World Culture and Modern Languages at the University of Helsinki, helps close this gap for what has since Chen (1981 been known as one of the most idiosyncratic varieties of North-Western Mandarin. This language formed as part of the Amdo Sprachbund in intensive contact with Amdo Tibetan and, to some extent, Qinghai Bonan. A Grammar of Wutun is based on Basic Linguistic Theory (Dixon 1997, 2010 and tends to make use of well-established classics for individual linguistic domains (e.g., Lamprecht 1994 for information structure, Yap et al. 2011 for nominalization. Based on a corpus of approximately 1,300 naturally attested and 1,100 elicited clauses mostly collected by the author herself, it first describes the sociolinguistic and research context (1-18, the phonology (19-41, following Janhunen et al. 2008 and word classes (42-175, nouns, verbs, minor of Wutun. After attested morphological forms are thus accounted for, it continues by describing functional domains such as aspect (176-205; evidentiality and egophoricity (206-239; clausal word order, valency, and information structure (240-286; clause-type-related morphological mechanisms for interrogating, ordering, and negating (287-310; and clause connection (311-348. The book closes with glossed and translated transcriptions of three short procedural monologues (349-361. In the nominal domain, Wutun

The preverbal locative NP in Lexical Functional Grammar

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Data is drawn from some of the findings of the study I conducted on the locative inversion constructions in Botswana in 2003. I explore an information structure analysis of the findings. I also propose an analysis within Lexical Functional Grammar (Henceforth LFG), a non-transformational theory which considers languages ...

Explicit grammar teaching in EAL classrooms: Suggestions from ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The development of the subject English Additional Language (EAL) to serve as a strong support subject in explicitly teaching learners the grammar of English is suggested as an interim solution to the effects of the non-implementation of the 1997 South African Language in Education Policy. To identify specific grammatical ...

Learning a generative probabilistic grammar of experience: a process-level model of language acquisition.

Science.gov (United States)

Kolodny, Oren; Lotem, Arnon; Edelman, Shimon

2015-03-01

We introduce a set of biologically and computationally motivated design choices for modeling the learning of language, or of other types of sequential, hierarchically structured experience and behavior, and describe an implemented system that conforms to these choices and is capable of unsupervised learning from raw natural-language corpora. Given a stream of linguistic input, our model incrementally learns a grammar that captures its statistical patterns, which can then be used to parse or generate new data. The grammar constructed in this manner takes the form of a directed weighted graph, whose nodes are recursively (hierarchically) defined patterns over the elements of the input stream. We evaluated the model in seventeen experiments, grouped into five studies, which examined, respectively, (a) the generative ability of grammar learned from a corpus of natural language, (b) the characteristics of the learned representation, (c) sequence segmentation and chunking, (d) artificial grammar learning, and (e) certain types of structure dependence. The model's performance largely vindicates our design choices, suggesting that progress in modeling language acquisition can be made on a broad front-ranging from issues of generativity to the replication of human experimental findings-by bringing biological and computational considerations, as well as lessons from prior efforts, to bear on the modeling approach. Copyright © 2014 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Scene grammar shapes the way we interact with objects, strengthens memories, and speeds search.

Science.gov (United States)

Draschkow, Dejan; Võ, Melissa L-H

2017-11-28

Predictions of environmental rules (here referred to as "scene grammar") can come in different forms: seeing a toilet in a living room would violate semantic predictions, while finding a toilet brush next to the toothpaste would violate syntactic predictions. The existence of such predictions has usually been investigated by showing observers images containing such grammatical violations. Conversely, the generative process of creating an environment according to one's scene grammar and its effects on behavior and memory has received little attention. In a virtual reality paradigm, we either instructed participants to arrange objects according to their scene grammar or against it. Subsequently, participants' memory for the arrangements was probed using a surprise recall (Exp1), or repeated search (Exp2) task. As a result, participants' construction behavior showed strategic use of larger, static objects to anchor the location of smaller objects which are generally the goals of everyday actions. Further analysis of this scene construction data revealed possible commonalities between the rules governing word usage in language and object usage in naturalistic environments. Taken together, we revealed some of the building blocks of scene grammar necessary for efficient behavior, which differentially influence how we interact with objects and what we remember about scenes.

Complexity, Training Paradigm Design, and the Contribution of Memory Subsystems to Grammar Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Ettlinger, Marc; Wong, Patrick C. M.

2016-01-01

Although there is variability in nonnative grammar learning outcomes, the contributions of training paradigm design and memory subsystems are not well understood. To examine this, we presented learners with an artificial grammar that formed words via simple and complex morphophonological rules. Across three experiments, we manipulated training paradigm design and measured subjects' declarative, procedural, and working memory subsystems. Experiment 1 demonstrated that passive, exposure-based training boosted learning of both simple and complex grammatical rules, relative to no training. Additionally, procedural memory correlated with simple rule learning, whereas declarative memory correlated with complex rule learning. Experiment 2 showed that presenting corrective feedback during the test phase did not improve learning. Experiment 3 revealed that structuring the order of training so that subjects are first exposed to the simple rule and then the complex improved learning. The cumulative findings shed light on the contributions of grammatical complexity, training paradigm design, and domain-general memory subsystems in determining grammar learning success. PMID:27391085

Complexity, Training Paradigm Design, and the Contribution of Memory Subsystems to Grammar Learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Antoniou, Mark; Ettlinger, Marc; Wong, Patrick C M

2016-01-01

Although there is variability in nonnative grammar learning outcomes, the contributions of training paradigm design and memory subsystems are not well understood. To examine this, we presented learners with an artificial grammar that formed words via simple and complex morphophonological rules. Across three experiments, we manipulated training paradigm design and measured subjects' declarative, procedural, and working memory subsystems. Experiment 1 demonstrated that passive, exposure-based training boosted learning of both simple and complex grammatical rules, relative to no training. Additionally, procedural memory correlated with simple rule learning, whereas declarative memory correlated with complex rule learning. Experiment 2 showed that presenting corrective feedback during the test phase did not improve learning. Experiment 3 revealed that structuring the order of training so that subjects are first exposed to the simple rule and then the complex improved learning. The cumulative findings shed light on the contributions of grammatical complexity, training paradigm design, and domain-general memory subsystems in determining grammar learning success.

Complexity, Training Paradigm Design, and the Contribution of Memory Subsystems to Grammar Learning.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mark Antoniou

Full Text Available Although there is variability in nonnative grammar learning outcomes, the contributions of training paradigm design and memory subsystems are not well understood. To examine this, we presented learners with an artificial grammar that formed words via simple and complex morphophonological rules. Across three experiments, we manipulated training paradigm design and measured subjects' declarative, procedural, and working memory subsystems. Experiment 1 demonstrated that passive, exposure-based training boosted learning of both simple and complex grammatical rules, relative to no training. Additionally, procedural memory correlated with simple rule learning, whereas declarative memory correlated with complex rule learning. Experiment 2 showed that presenting corrective feedback during the test phase did not improve learning. Experiment 3 revealed that structuring the order of training so that subjects are first exposed to the simple rule and then the complex improved learning. The cumulative findings shed light on the contributions of grammatical complexity, training paradigm design, and domain-general memory subsystems in determining grammar learning success.

Revising and editing for translators

CERN Document Server

Mossop, Brian

2014-01-01

Revising and Editing for Translators provides guidance and learning materials for translation students learning to edit texts written by others, and professional translators wishing to improve their self-revision ability or learning to revise the work of others. Editing is understood as making corrections and improvements to texts, with particular attention to tailoring them to the given readership. Revising is this same task applied to draft translations. The linguistic work of editors and revisers is related to the professional situations in which they work. Mossop offers in-depth coverage of a wide range of topics, including copyediting, style editing, structural editing, checking for consistency, revising procedures and principles, and translation quality assessment. This third edition provides extended coverage of computer aids for revisers, and of the different degrees of revision suited to different texts. The inclusion of suggested activities and exercises, numerous real-world examples, a proposed gra...

A Contribution Towards A Grammar of Code

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David M. Berry

2008-01-01

Full Text Available Over the past thirty years there has been an increasing interest in the social and cultural implications of digital technologies and ‘informationalism’ from the social sciences and humanities. Generally this has concentrated on the implications of the “convergence” of digital devices and services, understood as linked to the discrete processing capabilities of computers, which rely on logical operations, binary processing and symbolic representation. In this paper, I wish to suggest that a ‘grammar of code’ might provide a useful way of thinking about the way in which digital technologies operate as a medium and can contribute usefully to this wider debate. I am interested in the way in which the dynamic properties of code can be understood as operating according to a grammar reflected in its materialisation and operation in the lifeworld – the discretisation of the phenomenal world. As part of that contribution in this paper I develop some tentative Weberian ‘ideal-types’. These ideal-types are then applied to the work of the Japanese composer, Masahiro Miwa, whose innovative ‘Reverse-Simulation music’ models the operation of basic low-level digital circuitry for the performance and generation of musical pieces.

Real time QRS complex detection using DFA and regular grammar.

Science.gov (United States)

Hamdi, Salah; Ben Abdallah, Asma; Bedoui, Mohamed Hedi

2017-02-28

The sequence of Q, R, and S peaks (QRS) complex detection is a crucial procedure in electrocardiogram (ECG) processing and analysis. We propose a novel approach for QRS complex detection based on the deterministic finite automata with the addition of some constraints. This paper confirms that regular grammar is useful for extracting QRS complexes and interpreting normalized ECG signals. A QRS is assimilated to a pair of adjacent peaks which meet certain criteria of standard deviation and duration. The proposed method was applied on several kinds of ECG signals issued from the standard MIT-BIH arrhythmia database. A total of 48 signals were used. For an input signal, several parameters were determined, such as QRS durations, RR distances, and the peaks' amplitudes. σRR and σQRS parameters were added to quantify the regularity of RR distances and QRS durations, respectively. The sensitivity rate of the suggested method was 99.74% and the specificity rate was 99.86%. Moreover, the sensitivity and the specificity rates variations according to the Signal-to-Noise Ratio were performed. Regular grammar with the addition of some constraints and deterministic automata proved functional for ECG signals diagnosis. Compared to statistical methods, the use of grammar provides satisfactory and competitive results and indices that are comparable to or even better than those cited in the literature.

Modality effects in implicit artificial grammar learning: An EEG study.

Science.gov (United States)

Silva, Susana; Folia, Vasiliki; Inácio, Filomena; Castro, São Luís; Petersson, Karl Magnus

2018-05-15

Recently, it has been proposed that sequence learning engages a combination of modality-specific operating networks and modality-independent computational principles. In the present study, we compared the behavioural and EEG outcomes of implicit artificial grammar learning in the visual vs. auditory modality. We controlled for the influence of surface characteristics of sequences (Associative Chunk Strength), thus focusing on the strictly structural aspects of sequence learning, and we adapted the paradigms to compensate for known frailties of the visual modality compared to audition (temporal presentation, fast presentation rate). The behavioural outcomes were similar across modalities. Favouring the idea of modality-specificity, ERPs in response to grammar violations differed in topography and latency (earlier and more anterior component in the visual modality), and ERPs in response to surface features emerged only in the auditory modality. In favour of modality-independence, we observed three common functional properties in the late ERPs of the two grammars: both were free of interactions between structural and surface influences, both were more extended in a grammaticality classification test than in a preference classification test, and both correlated positively and strongly with theta event-related-synchronization during baseline testing. Our findings support the idea of modality-specificity combined with modality-independence, and suggest that memory for visual vs. auditory sequences may largely contribute to cross-modal differences. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Exemplar variability facilitates rapid learning of an otherwise unlearnable grammar by individuals with language-based learning disability.

Science.gov (United States)

von Koss Torkildsen, Janne; Dailey, Natalie S; Aguilar, Jessica M; Gómez, Rebecca; Plante, Elena

2013-04-01

Even without explicit instruction, learners are able to extract information about the form of a language simply by attending to input that reflects the underlying grammar. In this study, the authors explored the role of variability in this learning by asking whether varying the number of unique exemplars heard by the learner affects learning of an artificial syntactic form. Learners with normal language (n = 16) and language-based learning disability (LLD; n = 16) were exposed to strings of nonwords that represented an underlying grammar. Half of the learners heard 3 exemplars 16 times each (low variability group), and the other half of the learners heard 24 exemplars twice each (high variability group). Learners were then tested for recognition of items heard and generalization of the grammar with new nonword strings. Only those learners with LLD who were in the high variability group were able to demonstrate generalization of the underlying grammar. For learners with normal language, both those in the high and the low variability groups showed generalization of the grammar, but relative effect sizes suggested a larger learning effect in the high variability group. The results demonstrate that the structure of the learning context can determine the ability to generalize from specific training items to novel cases.

Dependency Grammar in Lithuanian Language Processing

OpenAIRE

Grigonytė, Gintarė

2006-01-01

Lithuanian language is quite in an early stage of language processing. And therefore has a high demand on automated tools like taggers, parsers, word sense disambiguators etc. During the last 10 years only a few researchers were attempting to create a parser for Lithuanian language. However none of them are used in practices nowadays. The process of designing and implementing rule based parser for Lithuanian language is presented in this paper. Rules and constraints of the formal grammar foll...

THE ROLE OF THE GRAMMAR ON PORTUGUESE TEXTBOOKS: A LOOK ON TEACHING OF RELATIVE CLAUSE

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Aliana Lopes CÂMARA

2014-12-01

Full Text Available This paper studies how the textbooks of Portuguese Language of Secondary School, approved by the Programa Nacional do Livro Didático-2014, approach the teaching of grammar, in particular as regards the treatment of the relative subordinate clause. For this, first we start with the comparison between the proposals manuals for teaching grammar and what was accomplished in the student book. Furthermore, we propose here an interface between the results of the analysis of textbooks and functional description of the relative clause. In other words, we try to verify as some descriptive aspects can be used in the teaching of relative clause, with the aim of developing reading and writing skills. In order to do that, we take as theoretical framework the different conceptions of grammar proposed in Travaglia (2009, 2011 and Functional Discourse Grammar (HENGEVELD; MACKENZIE, 2008. This research points to the need to emphasize the cohesive role established by the relative pronoun that introduces the relative clause, to understand the non-restrictive relative clause from its argumentative function and to review the distinction between subtypes of adjective clause from the criteria of omission of the subordinate clause.

May I quote you on that? a guide to grammar and usage

CERN Document Server

Spector, Stephen

2015-01-01

We all use language in different ways, depending on the situations we find ourselves in. In formal contexts we are usually expected to use a formal level of Standard English-the English codified in grammars, usage guides, and dictionaries. In May I Quote You on That? Stephen Spector offers a new approach to learning Standard English grammar and usage. The product of Spector's forty years of teaching courses on the English language, this book makes the conventions of formal writing and speech easier and more enjoyable to learn than traditional approaches usually do. Each lesson begins with humo

Nuclear Security Recommendations on Physical Protection of Nuclear Material and Nuclear Facilities (INFCIRC/225/Revision 5): Recommendations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2011-01-01

This publication, Revision 5 of Physical Protection of Nuclear Material and Nuclear Facilities (INFCIRC/225), is intended to provide guidance to States and their competent authorities on how to develop or enhance, implement and maintain a physical protection regime for nuclear material and nuclear facilities, through the establishment or improvement of their capabilities to implement legislative and regulatory programmes. The recommendations presented in this publication reflect a broad consensus among IAEA Member States on the requirements which should be met for the physical protection of nuclear materials and nuclear facilities.

Revision of the inventory and recycling scenario of active material in near-term PPCS models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pampin, R.; Massaut, V.; Taylor, N.P.

2007-01-01

A sound approach to the recycling of fusion irradiated material is being developed. Study of industry experience, and consideration of realistic processing routes and techniques, provide a more sensible estimation of recycling feasibility than earlier studies based on purely radiological criteria. Under this approach, the analysis of active material in two models of the power plant conceptual study (PPCS) has been revised in more detail and accounting for the latest design features, nuclear data and international guidelines. A careful inventory of the materials has been performed, and estimation made of the radiological characteristics of all PPCS tokamak components, for the first time studying individual constituents and materials. Evaluation has been made of time scales for the radioactivity to decay to predetermined levels, which represent the spectrum of technological difficulties posed by the nature of the irradiated material. Three main mechanisms for the optimization of the materials management strategy have been identified during the assessments: segregation of components into individual materials, in situ refurbishment and stringent impurity control

Assessment of grammar optimizes language tasks for the intracarotid amobarbital procedure.

Science.gov (United States)

Połczyńska, Monika; Kuhn, Taylor; You, S Christine; Walshaw, Patricia; Curtiss, Susan; Bookheimer, Susan

2017-11-01

A previous study showed that assessment of language laterality could be improved by adding grammar tests to the recovery phase of the intracarotid amobarbital procedure (IAP) (Połczyńska et al. 2014). The aim of this study was to further investigate the extent to which grammar tests lateralize language function during the recovery phase of the IAP in a larger patient sample. Forty patients with drug-resistant epilepsy (14 females, thirty-two right-handed, mean age 38.5years, SD=10.6) participated in this study. On EEG, 24 patients had seizures originating in the left hemisphere (LH), 13 in the right hemisphere (RH), and 4 demonstrated mixed seizure origin. Thirty participants (75%) had bilateral injections, and ten (25%) had unilateral injections (five RH and five LH). Based on results from the encoding phase, we segregated our study participants to a LH language dominant and a mixed dominance group. In the recovery phase of the IAP, the participants were administered a new grammar test (the CYCLE-N) and a standard language test. We analyzed the laterality index measure and effect sizes in the two tests. In the LH-dominant group, the CYCLE-N generated more profound language deficits in the recovery phase than the standard after injection to either hemisphere (pgrammar tasks was still higher than for the standard tests. Critically, the CYCLE-N administered in the recovery phase was nearly as effective as the standard tests given during the encoding phase. The results may be significant for individuals with epilepsy undergoing IAP. The grammar tests may be a highly efficient measure for lateralizing language function in the recovery phase. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Architectural design with simple shape grammars and learning

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Eduardo Jiménez-Morales

2014-12-01

Full Text Available This work presents a proposal for the automatic generation of architectural design. This scheme is based on the training of simple shape grammars through reinforcement learning technics. Finally, the results of the implemented system by this technic for the generation of dwelling design with certain restrictions are presented and analyzed.

The P600 in implicit artificial grammar learning

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Silva, S.; Folia, V.; Hagoort, P.; Petersson, K.M.

2017-01-01

The suitability of the artificial grammar learning (AGL) paradigm to capture relevant aspects of the acquisition of linguistic structures has been empirically tested in a number of EEG studies. Some have shown a syntax-related P600 component, but it has not been ruled out that the AGL P600 effect is

Artificial grammar learning in vascular and progressive non-fluent aphasias.

Science.gov (United States)

Cope, Thomas E; Wilson, Benjamin; Robson, Holly; Drinkall, Rebecca; Dean, Lauren; Grube, Manon; Jones, P Simon; Patterson, Karalyn; Griffiths, Timothy D; Rowe, James B; Petkov, Christopher I

2017-09-01

Patients with non-fluent aphasias display impairments of expressive and receptive grammar. This has been attributed to deficits in processing configurational and hierarchical sequencing relationships. This hypothesis had not been formally tested. It was also controversial whether impairments are specific to language, or reflect domain general deficits in processing structured auditory sequences. Here we used an artificial grammar learning paradigm to compare the abilities of controls to participants with agrammatic aphasia of two different aetiologies: stroke and frontotemporal dementia. Ten patients with non-fluent variant primary progressive aphasia (nfvPPA), 12 with non-fluent aphasia due to stroke, and 11 controls implicitly learned a novel mixed-complexity artificial grammar designed to assess processing of increasingly complex sequencing relationships. We compared response profiles for otherwise identical sequences of speech tokens (nonsense words) and tone sweeps. In all three groups the ability to detect grammatical violations varied with sequence complexity, with performance improving over time and being better for adjacent than non-adjacent relationships. Patients performed less well than controls overall, and this was related more strongly to aphasia severity than to aetiology. All groups improved with practice and performed well at a control task of detecting oddball nonwords. Crucially, group differences did not interact with sequence complexity, demonstrating that aphasic patients were not disproportionately impaired on complex structures. Hierarchical cluster analysis revealed that response patterns were very similar across all three groups, but very different between the nonsense word and tone tasks, despite identical artificial grammar structures. Overall, we demonstrate that agrammatic aphasics of two different aetiologies are not disproportionately impaired on complex sequencing relationships, and that the learning of phonological and non

Experimental functional realization of attribute grammar system

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I. Attali

2002-07-01

Full Text Available In this paper we present an experimental functional realization of attribute grammar(AG system for personal computers. For AG system functioning only Turbo Prolog compiler is required. The system functioning is based on a specially elaborated metalanguage for AG description, universal syntactic and semantic constructors. The AG system provides automatic generation of target compiler (syntax--oriented software using Turbo Prolog as object language.

Learning System of Web Navigation Patterns through Hypertext Probabilistic Grammars

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Augusto Cortez Vasquez

2015-01-01

Full Text Available One issue of real interest in the area of web data mining is to capture users’ activities during connection and extract behavior patterns that help define their preferences in order to improve the design of future pages adapting websites interfaces to individual users. This research is intended to provide, first of all, a presentation of the methodological foundations of the use of probabilistic languages to identify relevant or most visited websites. Secondly, the web sessions are represented by graphs and probabilistic context-free grammars so that the sessions that have the highest probabilities are considered the most visited and most preferred, therefore, the most important in relation to a particular topic. It aims to develop a tool for processing web sessions obtained from a log server represented by probabilistic context-free grammars.

Functional Grammar and Teaching of Reading--A Pedagogy Based on Graded Teaching of College English in China

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Tuo; Zhang, Beili

2015-01-01

This article discusses the importance of functional grammar and demonstrates its application to the teaching of reading among graded college students. Functional grammar holds that a discourse is composed of two levels: the interior level and the exterior level. Therefore, reading activities involve both linguistic elements and contexts.…

Improving Control Efficiency of Dynamic Street Lighting by Utilizing the Dual Graph Grammar Concept

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Igor Wojnicki

2018-02-01

Full Text Available The paper introduces a definition of dual graph grammar. It enables two graphs to share information in a synchronized way. A smart city example application, which is an outdoor lighting control system utilizing the dual graph grammar, is also demonstrated. The system controls dimming of street lights which is based on traffic intensity. Each luminaire’s light level is adjusted individually to comply with the lighting norms to ensure safety. Benefits of applying the dual graph grammar are twofold. First, it increases expressive power of the mathematical model that the system uses. It becomes possible to take into account complex geographical distribution of sensors and logical dependencies among them. Second, it increases the system’s efficiency by reducing the problem size during run-time. Experimental results show a reduction of the computation time by a factor of 2.8. The approach has been verified in practice.

The P600 in Implicit Artificial Grammar Learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Silva, Susana; Folia, Vasiliki; Hagoort, Peter; Petersson, Karl Magnus

2017-01-01

The suitability of the artificial grammar learning (AGL) paradigm to capture relevant aspects of the acquisition of linguistic structures has been empirically tested in a number of EEG studies. Some have shown a syntax-related P600 component, but it has not been ruled out that the AGL P600 effect is a response to surface features (e.g., subsequence familiarity) rather than the underlying syntax structure. Therefore, in this study, we controlled for the surface characteristics of the test sequences (associative chunk strength) and recorded the EEG before (baseline preference classification) and after (preference and grammaticality classification) exposure to a grammar. After exposure, a typical, centroparietal P600 effect was elicited by grammatical violations and not by unfamiliar subsequences, suggesting that the AGL P600 effect signals a response to structural irregularities. Moreover, preference and grammaticality classification showed a qualitatively similar ERP profile, strengthening the idea that the implicit structural mere-exposure paradigm in combination with preference classification is a suitable alternative to the traditional grammaticality classification test. Copyright © 2016 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Conceptual graph grammar--a simple formalism for sublanguage.

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, S B

1998-11-01

There are a wide variety of computer applications that deal with various aspects of medical language: concept representation, controlled vocabulary, natural language processing, and information retrieval. While technical and theoretical methods appear to differ, all approaches investigate different aspects of the same phenomenon: medical sublanguage. This paper surveys the properties of medical sublanguage from a formal perspective, based on detailed analyses cited in the literature. A review of several computer systems based on sublanguage approaches shows some of the difficulties in addressing the interaction between the syntactic and semantic aspects of sublanguage. A formalism called Conceptual Graph Grammar is presented that attempts to combine both syntax and semantics into a single notation by extending standard Conceptual Graph notation. Examples from the domain of pathology diagnoses are provided to illustrate the use of this formalism in medical language analysis. The strengths and weaknesses of the approach are then considered. Conceptual Graph Grammar is an attempt to synthesize the common properties of different approaches to sublanguage into a single formalism, and to begin to define a common foundation for language-related research in medical informatics.

Characteristics of Early Vocabulary and Grammar Development in Slovenian-Speaking Infants and Toddlers: A CDI-Adaptation Study

Science.gov (United States)

Marjanovic-Umek, Ljubica; Fekonja-Peklaj, Urska; Podlesek, Anja

2013-01-01

A large body of research shows that vocabulary does not develop independently of grammar, representing a better predictor of the grammatical complexity of toddlers' utterances than age. This study examines for the first time the characteristics of vocabulary and grammar development in Slovenian-speaking infants and toddlers using the Slovenian…

Visual artificial grammar learning in dyslexia : A meta-analysis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Witteloostuijn, Merel; Boersma, Paul; Wijnen, Frank; Rispens, Judith

2017-01-01

Background Literacy impairments in dyslexia have been hypothesized to be (partly) due to an implicit learning deficit. However, studies of implicit visual artificial grammar learning (AGL) have often yielded null results. Aims The aim of this study is to weigh the evidence collected thus far by

The Histories and Mysteries of Grammar Instruction: Supporting Elementary Teachers in the Time of the Common Core

Science.gov (United States)

Gartland, Lauren B.; Smolkin, Laura B.

2016-01-01

The reemergence of grammar instruction in the Common Core State Standards has likely left teachers confused. On the one hand, they have been told repeatedly that grammar instruction does not improve student outcomes, and can, in fact, be "harmful" to students. However, on the other hand, many Anglophone countries, including the United…

The effect of subjective awareness measures on performance in artificial grammar learning task.

Science.gov (United States)

Ivanchei, Ivan I; Moroshkina, Nadezhda V

2018-01-01

Systematic research into implicit learning requires well-developed awareness-measurement techniques. Recently, trial-by-trial measures have been widely used. However, they can increase complexity of a study because they are an additional experimental variable. We tested the effects of these measures on performance in artificial grammar learning study. Four groups of participants were assigned to different awareness measures conditions: confidence ratings, post-decision wagering, decision strategy attribution or none. Decision-strategy-attribution participants demonstrated better grammar learning and longer response times compared to controls. They also exhibited a conservative bias. Grammaticality by itself was a stronger predictor of strings endorsement in decision-strategy-attribution group compared to other groups. Confidence ratings and post-decision wagering only affected the response times. These results were supported by an additional experiment that used a balanced chunk strength design. We conclude that a decision-strategy-attribution procedure may force participants to adopt an analytical decision-making strategy and rely mostly on conscious knowledge of artificial grammar. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Case Study Analysis of Clt Methods to Develop Grammar Competency for Academic Writing Purposes at Tertiary Level

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Almodad Biduk Asmani

2013-10-01

Full Text Available The purpose of the research project is to find out how effective grammar teaching and learning using the Principled CLT method can improve the ability of freshman Binus University students to understand and use grammar knowledge for academic writing purposes. The research project is expected to result in computer-animated format which can be used as one of the main tools in teaching and learning grammar at tertiary level. The research project applies the descriptive quantitative approach, and thus uses numeric data. The research project involves two subject groups, which are experimental and control. The two groups are pre-tested so as to find out their level of grammar competency by their academic writing works. The experimental group receives the treatment of grammar learning by using the Principled CLT approach, while the control group receives the standard CLT approach. Then, the two groups have the post-test, and the results are compared. Through statistics, the numerical data show that there is no significant difference between the two methods’ results, and as a result, either method has its own strength and weaknesses. If one is to be implemented, it must be linked to the specific goals and purposes that each entails.  

Complex Text in ESL Grammar Textbooks: Barriers or Gateways?

Science.gov (United States)

Lesikin, Joan

2000-01-01

Suggests that English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) teachers assess prospective textbooks by comparing real-life user's actual knowledge of the author's assumed student knowledge. Through examination of charts and page excerpts of two ESL grammar textbooks, demonstrates that access to the pedagogical knowledge demands sophisticated formal knowledge,…

Pedagogical Gestures as Interactional Resources for Teaching and Learning Tense and Aspect in the ESL Grammar Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Matsumoto, Yumi; Dobs, Abby Mueller

2017-01-01

This study investigated the functions of gesture in teaching and learning grammar in the context of second language (L2) classroom interactions. The data consisted of video-recorded interactions from a beginner- and an advanced-level grammar classroom in an intensive English program at a U.S. university. The sequences of talk-in-interaction…

Effectiveness of Inductive and Deductive Methods in Teaching Grammar

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammad Akram Alzu’bi

2015-04-01

• What is the effect of inductive method on grammar achievement compared with deductive method at elementary stage? To answer the questions of the study, the researcher prepares two programs based on inductive and deductive methods for each level based on its syllabus. The sample consists 180 students; eighty at the 1st year level in English departments at university level and one hundred at the elementary stage. The participants of the study consisted of four assigned sections. Firstly, at the university level, two colleges are randomly selected out of the eighteen faculties of Albalqa' Applied University; two sections are randomly selected; one group is randomly assigned as the 1st experimental group (by using inductive method and the second experimental group (by using deductive method. Similar process is adopted in the case of school students at the elementary stage.  The relevant pre-tests are administered to the students of both groups at each stage (university and school to make sure that the groups are equivalent at the time of starting the experiment. The researcher designs two grammar achievement tests as the instruments of this study (one for the elementary stage and one for university level. The instrument of each stage consists of two achievement tests (pre- test and post-test. At the end of the treatment period, relevant post-tests are administered to the students of both the groups. The results of the study revealed that there were significant statistical differences at (α≤0.09 among the grammar performance means of both groups at both levels due to inductive method. Keywords: Inductive method, Deductive method, Elementary stage, University level, Academic achievement

Learning English Tenses through Spanish Grammar : When Using the L1 Benefits ESL Learning

OpenAIRE

López Garrido, Ramon

2016-01-01

The current teaching trend of ESL is focused on maximizing the use of the L2 so that the student learns the language through linguistic immersion. This approach leaves the L1 out of the game, even though research has shown it can also be beneficial for the learner. My research intends to demonstrate that translation of English grammar tenses into Spanish can be a helpful way of assimilating English grammar more easily and faster, especially for those students with a poor command of English. ...

A Methodology for Evaluating the Hygroscopic Behavior of Wood in Adaptive Building Skins using Motion Grammar

Science.gov (United States)

El-Dabaa, Rana; Abdelmohsen, Sherif

2018-05-01

The challenge in designing kinetic architecture lies in the lack of applying computational design and human computer interaction to successfully design intelligent and interactive interfaces. The use of ‘programmable materials’ as specifically fabricated composite materials that afford motion upon stimulation is promising for low-cost low-tech systems for kinetic facades in buildings. Despite efforts to develop working prototypes, there has been no clear methodological framework for understanding and controlling the behavior of programmable materials or for using them for such purposes. This paper introduces a methodology for evaluating the motion acquired from programmed material – resulting from the hygroscopic behavior of wood – through ‘motion grammar’. Motion grammar typically allows for the explanation of desired motion control in a computationally tractable method. The paper analyzed and evaluated motion parameters related to the hygroscopic properties and behavior of wood, and introduce a framework for tracking and controlling wood as a programmable material for kinetic architecture.

Advanced programming concepts in a course on grammars and parsing

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jeuring, J.T.; Swierstra, S.D.

1999-01-01

One of the important goals of the Computer Science curriculum at Utrecht University is to familiarize students with abstract programming concepts such as, for example, partial evaluation and deforestation. A course on grammars and parsing offers excellent possibilities for exemplifying and

Verbal prefixation, construction grammar, and semantic compatibility

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lewandowski, Wojciech

2016-01-01

This paper aims to analyze the interaction between prefixes, verbs, and abstract argument structure constructions, using as a testing ground the locative alternation. It has been assumed that in order to participate in the locative alternation, a verb must specify a manner of motion from which a ...... between resultative prefixes, alternating verbs, and the more abstract change-of-state variant is driven by semantic coherence. Keywords: resultative prefixes, construction grammar, semantic coherence, locative alternation, Polish...

How do Spanish EFL learners perceive grammar instruction and ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This research study of an exploratory-interpretive nature mainly focuses on the role and effectiveness of grammar instruction and corrective feedback as controversial areas of language instruction of considerable debate in SLA research and L2 pedagogy. Since the question today is no longer whether or not to teach ...

Prevalence of Ascariasis among the Students of Jooro Grammar ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Study to know the prevalence of ascariasis among the students and teachers of Jooro Grammar School, Ibule-Soro, Ondo State, was undertaken. A total of 243 subjects examined. Stool sample was collected from each subject and examined for the presence of the parasite, using wet preparation and concentration methods ...

Comparing the ambiguity reduction abilities of probabilistic context-free grammars

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Infante-Lopez, G.G.; de Rijke, M.

2004-01-01

We present a measure for evaluating Probabilistic Context Free Grammars (PCFG) based on their ambiguity resolution capabilities.Probabilities in a PCFG can be seen as a filtering mechanism: For an ambiguous sentence, the trees bearing maximum probability aresingle out, while all others are

Nonschematic drawing recognition: a new approach based on attributed graph grammar with flexible embedding

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Kyu J.; Kunii, T. L.; Noma, T.

1993-01-01

In this paper, we propose a syntactic pattern recognition method for non-schematic drawings, based on a new attributed graph grammar with flexible embedding. In our graph grammar, the embedding rule permits the nodes of a guest graph to be arbitrarily connected with the nodes of a host graph. The ambiguity caused by this flexible embedding is controlled with the evaluation of synthesized attributes and the check of context sensitivity. To integrate parsing with the synthesized attribute evaluation and the context sensitivity check, we also develop a bottom up parsing algorithm.

Model-based object classification using unification grammars and abstract representations

Science.gov (United States)

Liburdy, Kathleen A.; Schalkoff, Robert J.

1993-04-01

The design and implementation of a high level computer vision system which performs object classification is described. General object labelling and functional analysis require models of classes which display a wide range of geometric variations. A large representational gap exists between abstract criteria such as `graspable' and current geometric image descriptions. The vision system developed and described in this work addresses this problem and implements solutions based on a fusion of semantics, unification, and formal language theory. Object models are represented using unification grammars, which provide a framework for the integration of structure and semantics. A methodology for the derivation of symbolic image descriptions capable of interacting with the grammar-based models is described and implemented. A unification-based parser developed for this system achieves object classification by determining if the symbolic image description can be unified with the abstract criteria of an object model. Future research directions are indicated.

THE IMPLICATION OF PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS BELIEF ABOUT GRAMMAR TEACHING AND LEARNING FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE POLICY IN INDONESIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cecilia Titiek Murniati

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Recent studies have suggested that teachers beliefs have a significant influence on actual classroom practice and, consequently, on students achievements. However, little research has been done to investigate the influence of Indonesian language policy and teachers beliefs. The study reported seeks to examine the influence of English language policy on pre-service teacher's beliefs about the teaching of English language grammar in Indonesian schools. The research participants were pre-service teachers who have taken the subjects of Structure, Teaching Methods, and Micro-teaching in three public and private universities in Central Java and Yogyakarta Special District. Due to time and scheduling limitations, the sampling method used in this study was convenient sampling. Documentation, survey schedules, interviews, focus group discussions were used to gather the data. The findings revealed that although the language policy in Indonesia has put English language teaching and learning within the framework of communicative competence since the enactment of the 2006 School-based Curriculum, the pre-service teachers still believed that traditional method of teaching grammar (explicit grammar instruction was imperative to use. The pre-service teachers tended to exclude English language policy enacted by Indonesian government in their discussion about teachers beliefs. Instead, the pre-service teachers constructed their beliefs about English language grammar teaching and learning process on their prior experiences in learning and teaching grammar.

Grammar Errors Made by ESL Tertiary Students in Writing

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Charanjit Kaur Swaran; Singh, Amreet Kaur Jageer; Razak, Nur Qistina Abd; Ravinthar, Thilaga

2017-01-01

The educational context in Malaysia demands students to be equipped with sound grammar so that they can produce good essays in the examination. However, despite having learnt English in primary and secondary schools, students in the higher learning institutions tend to make some grammatical errors in their writing. This study presents the…

Patterns of value: Systemic Functional Grammar and evaluation in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

In two recent articles in this journal (Kilpert, 2001a;b) I argued that 'method of development', a concept from Systemic Functional Grammar (sfg, associated with M.A.K. Halliday), is useful for teaching tertiary students to write coherent paragraphs. This follow-up article develops a related topic, explaining how the management ...

Studies in the history of the English language V: variation and change in English grammar and lexicon: contemporary approaches

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Cloutier, R.A.; Hamilton-Brehm, A.M.; Kretzschmar, W.A.

2010-01-01

This collection of essays focuses on current approaches to variation and change in historical English grammar and lexicon. Of the twelve papers in the collection, half are based on grammar and syntax, half on lexical developments. The volume highlights the contributions that strong empirical

Compilation of comments concerning the 3rd draft revision of the IAEA regulations for safety transport of radioactive materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1983-08-01

The report contains comments made by Member States and International Organizations to the third draft revision of the International Energy Agency's regulations for the safe transport of radioactive materials. The comments are compiled in logical groups referring to various aspects of the regulations

PECULIARITIES OF GRAMMAR STUDY OF MOUNTAIN FIRST-FORM PUPILS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marija Kiryk

2015-04-01

Full Text Available The articles describes the role of analiztor system (auditory, visual, kinesthetic at the initial stage of learning literacy and language development six years old. They from specific integration system, that provides more efficient perception, memorization and reproduction of educational material. The article deals with attempt to ascertain linguadidactic interconnections and interdependence between grammar education (reading, writing and speech of six-year pupils. Summing up it should be mentioned to organize 6-year pupils studing in the country mountain school becides pedagogical, economical, geographic and social problems psychologic linguadidactic are added. Preferences of mountain country children: –                    Formation from childhood ability to live in harmony with nature; –                    Sensitive  perception of alive and inanimate surrounding nature; –                    Life-style form children’s responsibility for entrusted things, labour habits, training by hard nature conditions. They should be solved in complex providing achievents of psychology, pedagogics, linguists and up-to-date technology. The aim of the article  - to reveal individual peculiarities of country mountain child who needs special method of approach to grammar studing as well as to help country teacher who strongly feels lack for efficient method help. All these affect on prepearing level, children’s outlook, general development. Scientific and methodogical institutions have not easy task-system training and skill raising of primary school teachers to realize State standart of primary general education. Acquaintance of country teacher with up-to-date achievements in psychologic, pedagogic and linguistic education will help him to organize his work in the country school on rather higher level as well as let him give more qualitative education services and save country school as the

The construction of semantic memory: grammar based representations learned from relational episodic information

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Francesco P Battaglia

2011-08-01

Full Text Available After acquisition, memories underlie a process of consolidation, making them more resistant to interference and brain injury. Memory consolidation involves systems-level interactions, most importantly between the hippocampus and associated structures, which takes part in the initial encoding of memory, and the neocortex, which supports long-term storage. This dichotomy parallels the contrast between episodic memory (tied to the hippocampal formation, collecting an autobiographical stream of experiences, and semantic memory, a repertoire of facts and statistical regularities about the world, involving the neocortex at large. Experimental evidence points to a gradual transformation of memories, following encoding, from an episodic to a semantic character. This may require an exchange of information between different memory modules during inactive periods. We propose a theory for such interactions and for the formation of semantic memory, in which episodic memory is encoded as relational data. Semantic memory is modeled as a modified stochastic grammar, which learns to parse episodic configurations expressed as an association matrix. The grammar produces tree-like representations of episodes, describing the relationships between its main constituents at multiple levels of categorization, based on its current knowledge of world regularities. These regularities are learned by the grammar from episodic memory information, through an expectation-maximization procedure, analogous to the inside-outside algorithm for stochastic context-free grammars. We propose that a Monte-Carlo sampling version of this algorithm can be mapped on the dynamics of ``sleep replay'' of previously acquired information in the hippocampus and neocortex. We propose that the model can reproduce several properties of semantic memory such as decontextualization, top-down processing, and creation of schemata.

The Construction of Semantic Memory: Grammar-Based Representations Learned from Relational Episodic Information

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Battaglia, Francesco P.; Pennartz, Cyriel M. A.

2011-01-01

After acquisition, memories underlie a process of consolidation, making them more resistant to interference and brain injury. Memory consolidation involves systems-level interactions, most importantly between the hippocampus and associated structures, which takes part in the initial encoding of memory, and the neocortex, which supports long-term storage. This dichotomy parallels the contrast between episodic memory (tied to the hippocampal formation), collecting an autobiographical stream of experiences, and semantic memory, a repertoire of facts and statistical regularities about the world, involving the neocortex at large. Experimental evidence points to a gradual transformation of memories, following encoding, from an episodic to a semantic character. This may require an exchange of information between different memory modules during inactive periods. We propose a theory for such interactions and for the formation of semantic memory, in which episodic memory is encoded as relational data. Semantic memory is modeled as a modified stochastic grammar, which learns to parse episodic configurations expressed as an association matrix. The grammar produces tree-like representations of episodes, describing the relationships between its main constituents at multiple levels of categorization, based on its current knowledge of world regularities. These regularities are learned by the grammar from episodic memory information, through an expectation-maximization procedure, analogous to the inside–outside algorithm for stochastic context-free grammars. We propose that a Monte-Carlo sampling version of this algorithm can be mapped on the dynamics of “sleep replay” of previously acquired information in the hippocampus and neocortex. We propose that the model can reproduce several properties of semantic memory such as decontextualization, top-down processing, and creation of schemata. PMID:21887143

A grammar of Gaahmg, a Nilo-Saharan language of Sudan

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Stirtz, Timothy M.

2012-01-01

This thesis investigates the grammar of Gaahmg, a Nilo-Saharan, Eastern Sudanic language spoken in the Blue Nile Province of North Sudan. The comprehensive description provides an analysis of the phonology, morphology, and syntax. Ten texts of various genre are given to help illustrated the

Noam Chomsky Writes to Mrs. Davis about Grammar and Education.

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English Education, 1984

1984-01-01

In a personal letter, Chomsky suggests that while the study of grammar has little detectable effect on writing ability, it can, as a branch of science, help students learn how (and why) to think about hard and intriguing questions and to develop natural curiosity. (HOD)

Non-Native English Teachers' Beliefs on Grammar Instruction

Science.gov (United States)

Önalan, Okan

2018-01-01

Research on teacher cognition, which mainly focuses on identifying what teachers think, know and believe, is essential to understanding teachers' cognitive framework as it relates to the instructional choices they make. The aim of this study is to find out the beliefs of non-native speaker teachers of English on grammar instruction and to explain…

Time and Space Complexity of Inside-Out Macro Grammars

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Asveld, P.R.J.

1980-01-01

Starting form Fischer's IO Standard Form Theorem we show that for each inside-out (or IO-) macro language $L$ there exists a $\\lambda$-free IO macro grammar with the following property: for each $x$ in $L$ there is a derivation of $x$ of length at most linear in the length of $x$. Then we construct

Interactive design of probability density functions for shape grammars

KAUST Repository

Dang, Minh

2015-11-02

A shape grammar defines a procedural shape space containing a variety of models of the same class, e.g. buildings, trees, furniture, airplanes, bikes, etc. We present a framework that enables a user to interactively design a probability density function (pdf) over such a shape space and to sample models according to the designed pdf. First, we propose a user interface that enables a user to quickly provide preference scores for selected shapes and suggest sampling strategies to decide which models to present to the user to evaluate. Second, we propose a novel kernel function to encode the similarity between two procedural models. Third, we propose a framework to interpolate user preference scores by combining multiple techniques: function factorization, Gaussian process regression, autorelevance detection, and l1 regularization. Fourth, we modify the original grammars to generate models with a pdf proportional to the user preference scores. Finally, we provide evaluations of our user interface and framework parameters and a comparison to other exploratory modeling techniques using modeling tasks in five example shape spaces: furniture, low-rise buildings, skyscrapers, airplanes, and vegetation.

EFSA CEF Panel (EFSA Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes, Flavourings and Processing Aids), 2013. Scientific Opinion on Flavouring Group Evaluation 21, Revision 4 (FGE.21Rev4)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Beltoft, Vibe Meister; Binderup, Mona-Lise; Frandsen, Henrik Lauritz

The Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes, Flavourings and Processing Aids of the European Food Safety Authority was requested to evaluate 59 flavouring substances in the Flavouring Group Evaluation 21, Revision 4, using the Procedure in Commission Regulation (EC) No 1565/2000. This revision...... of these flavouring substances, the specifications for the materials of commerce have also been considered. Adequate specifications including complete purity criteria and identity for the materials of commerce have been provided for all 41 candidate substances...

EFSA CEF Panel (EFSA Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes, Flavourings and Processing Aids), 2013. Scientific Opinion on Flavouring Group Evaluation 24, Revision 2 (FGE.24Rev2)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Beltoft, Vibe Meister; Binderup, Mona-Lise; Frandsen, Henrik Lauritz

The Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes, Flavourings and Processing Aids of the European Food Safety Authority was requested to evaluate 24 flavouring substances in the Flavouring Group Evaluation 24, Revision 2, using the Procedure in Commission Regulation (EC) No 1565/2000. This revision...... the safety assessment of these flavouring substances, the specifications for the materials of commerce have also been considered. Adequate specifications including complete purity criteria and identity for the materials of commerce have been provided for all 24 candidate substances....

Unpacking the Discrepancy between Learner and Teacher Beliefs: What Should Be the Role of Grammar in Language Classes?

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Hos, Rabia; Kekec, Mustafa

2015-01-01

Learner and teacher beliefs play an important role in second language (L2) learning. Furthermore, the role of grammar instruction and error correction in the L2 classroom is a topic that is still debated in the literature. This study explored the beliefs of EFL learners and teachers regarding the controversial role of grammar instruction and error…

RESPONDING AND ANALYSING: STAGES OF TEACHING FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR IN INDONESIAN CONTEXT

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Lala Bumela

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract: This paper offers an alternative to the teaching of a functional grammar course in Indonesian TEFL tertiary level context. An issue raised here is whether the course should directly require students to undertake textual analysis or provide them first with subjective reading experiences.  This issue is inspired by Jones and Lock¹s approach to teaching grammar in context (2011. This paper reports on a study that focused on two related phases of dealing with texts: responding and analyzing.  In the first phase, students were encouraged to take a personalised approach in responding to written English texts.  They had the freedom to decide whether the texts were meaningful for them in certain ways. Mckee (2003 and Lehtonen (2000 posit that as the sole decision maker in meaning negotiation, readers perceive the meaningfulness of texts in very diverse ways. In the second phase of the study, the students undertook an individual analysis of different text types.  This study reveals that a successful textual analysis is determined by how students make sense of the texts. The analysis of context of situation, for example, becomes meaningful to students after they demonstrate a proper position as a reader.  This, in turn, helps them in gaining insights into the structure and grammar of those texts.   Keywords: systemic functional linguistics, genre-based approach, textual analysis

A Blog-Integrated Grammar Instruction Approach: Structure-Andragogy-Blog (SAB

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Yonca ÖZKAN

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Although history of grammar instruction dates back far in time, it is only since the sixties that we see various methods through which this subject is taught. What was done took place as an in-class activity with almost no tasks performed out of class except for assignments. Thus, this descriptive case study aims to add one new dimension to the already existing methodology introducing a blog-integrated approach emphasizing individual-generated learning. Unlike its predecessors, the approach requires individuals to select texts, analyze targeted structural points in authentic texts, and produce similar structures through modelling, all performed on weblogs, with full participation and collaboration of learners embracing the notion of “self-directed” learning. Although the designed approach aims to teach and reinforce English grammar to English learners, it does not limit itself to this field. All subjects, requiring activation of latent knowledge can certainly benefit from it, notably the L2 domain

Simon Langton Grammar School for boys visits the MoEDAL Experiment

CERN Multimedia

Anna Pantelia

2013-01-01

Simon Langton Grammar School for boys visits the MoEDAL Experiment. The School has just joined the MoEDAL collaboration. The group includes the 1000th student to participate in visits to CERN led by Dr Becky Parker

Recognition of Equations Using a Two-Dimensional Stochastic Context-Free Grammar

Science.gov (United States)

Chou, Philip A.

1989-11-01

We propose using two-dimensional stochastic context-free grammars for image recognition, in a manner analogous to using hidden Markov models for speech recognition. The value of the approach is demonstrated in a system that recognizes printed, noisy equations. The system uses a two-dimensional probabilistic version of the Cocke-Younger-Kasami parsing algorithm to find the most likely parse of the observed image, and then traverses the corresponding parse tree in accordance with translation formats associated with each production rule, to produce eqn I troff commands for the imaged equation. In addition, it uses two-dimensional versions of the Inside/Outside and Baum re-estimation algorithms for learning the parameters of the grammar from a training set of examples. Parsing the image of a simple noisy equation currently takes about one second of cpu time on an Alliant FX/80.

Strategies for Better Learning of English Grammar: Chinese vs. Thais

Science.gov (United States)

Supakorn, Patnarin; Feng, Min; Limmun, Wanida

2018-01-01

The success of language learning significantly depends on multiple sets of complex factors; among these are language-learning strategies of which learners in different countries may show different preferences. Needed areas of language learning strategy research include, among others, the strategy of grammar learning and the context-based approach…

Mathematical grammar of biology

CERN Document Server

Yamagishi, Michel Eduardo Beleza

2017-01-01

This seminal, multidisciplinary book shows how mathematics can be used to study the first principles of DNA. Most importantly, it enriches the so-called “Chargaff’s grammar of biology” by providing the conceptual theoretical framework necessary to generalize Chargaff’s rules. Starting with a simple example of DNA mathematical modeling where human nucleotide frequencies are associated to the Fibonacci sequence and the Golden Ratio through an optimization problem, its breakthrough is showing that the reverse, complement and reverse-complement operators defined over oligonucleotides induce a natural set partition of DNA words of fixed-size. These equivalence classes, when organized into a matrix form, reveal hidden patterns within the DNA sequence of every living organism. Intended for undergraduate and graduate students both in mathematics and in life sciences, it is also a valuable resource for researchers interested in studying invariant genomic properties.

A grammar of Tadaksahak a northern Songhay language of Mali

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Christiansen-Bolli, Regula

2010-01-01

This dissertation is a descriptive grammar of the language Tadaksahak spoken by about 30,000 people living in the most eastern part of Mali. The four chapters of the book give 1. Information about the background of the group. 2. The phonological features of the language with the inventory of the

Visual Input Enhancement and Grammar Learning: A Meta-Analytic Review

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Sang-Ki; Huang, Hung-Tzu

2008-01-01

Effects of pedagogical interventions with visual input enhancement on grammar learning have been investigated by a number of researchers during the past decade and a half. The present review delineates this research domain via a systematic synthesis of 16 primary studies (comprising 20 unique study samples) retrieved through an exhaustive…

TCM grammar systems: an approach to aid the interpretation of the molecular interactions in Chinese herbal medicine.

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, Jing; Wang, Yun; Luo, Si-Jun; Qiao, Yan-Jiang

2011-09-01

Interpreting the molecular interactions in Chinese herbal medicine will help to understand the molecular mechanisms of Traditional Chinese medicines (TCM) and predict the new pharmacological effects of TCM. Yet, we still lack a method which could integrate the concerned pieces of parsed knowledge about TCM. To solve the problem, a new method named TCM grammar systems was proposed in the present article. The possibility to study the interactions of TCM at the molecular level using TCM grammar systems was explored using Herba Ephedrae Decoction (HED) as an example. A platform was established based on the formalism of TCM grammar systems. The related molecular network of Herba Ephedrae Decoction (HED) can be extracted automatically. The molecular network indicates that Beta2 adrenergic receptor, Glucocorticoid receptor and Interleukin12 are the relatively important targets for the anti-anaphylaxis asthma function of HED. Moreover, the anti-anaphylaxis asthma function of HED is also related with suppressing inflammation process. The results show the feasibility using TCM grammar systems to interpret the molecular mechanism of TCM. Although the results obtained depend on the database absolutely, recombination of existing knowledge in this method provides new insight for interpreting the molecular mechanism of TCM. TCM grammar systems could aid the interpretation of the molecular interactions in TCM to some extent. Moreover, it might be useful to predict the new pharmacological effects of TCM. The method is an in silico technology. In association with the experimental techniques, this method will play an important role in the understanding of the molecular mechanisms of TCM. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

The continuous review and periodic revision process for the International Atomic Energy Agencies regulations for the safe transport of radioactive materials - A status report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

O'Sullivan, R.A.; Pettersson, B.G.; Pope, R.B.

1989-01-01

The International Atomic Energy Agencies (IAEA) Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material, Safety Series No.6 (hereinafter denoted as the Regulations) have developed into the model for international modal organization and individual country regulations (and other regulatory-related documentation) controlling the packaging and transportation of radioactive materials. The Regulations were initially developed in 1961 and have been periodically revised since then. Revised editions of the Regulations, accounting for developments in technology and shipping practices, were issued in 1965, 1967, 1973 (also, an amended 1973 Edition was issued in 1979), and in 1985. The process of developing these documents has been performed on a cooperative basis utilizing inputs from various member states of the IAEA and from other interested international organizations. The latest comprehensive revision of the Regulations and its supportive documents was initiated in 1979, and culminated in the 1985 Edition of the Regulations. This was the first complete revision to be published since 1973 (except for the amended Edition thereto being issued in 1979). During the process which led to the 1985 Edition of the Regulations and its supportive documents, it became apparent that changes needed to be made in this process. Not addressing issues related to transportation regulations on a continuing basis created many difficulties in trying to efficiently and acceptably review and revise these documents in a short period of time. The purpose of this paper is to outline the review/revision process which was established, to summarize the results from that process so far (in terms of changes that have been made to the 1985 Edition through supplements thereto), and to discuss current plans for carrying on with the review/revision process with slight modifications

Electrical brain responses in language-impaired children reveal grammar-specific deficits.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elisabeth Fonteneau

2008-03-01

Full Text Available Scientific and public fascination with human language have included intensive scrutiny of language disorders as a new window onto the biological foundations of language and its evolutionary origins. Specific language impairment (SLI, which affects over 7% of children, is one such disorder. SLI has received robust scientific attention, in part because of its recent linkage to a specific gene and loci on chromosomes and in part because of the prevailing question regarding the scope of its language impairment: Does the disorder impact the general ability to segment and process language or a specific ability to compute grammar? Here we provide novel electrophysiological data showing a domain-specific deficit within the grammar of language that has been hitherto undetectable through behavioural data alone.We presented participants with Grammatical(G-SLI, age-matched controls, and younger child and adult controls, with questions containing syntactic violations and sentences containing semantic violations. Electrophysiological brain responses revealed a selective impairment to only neural circuitry that is specific to grammatical processing in G-SLI. Furthermore, the participants with G-SLI appeared to be partially compensating for their syntactic deficit by using neural circuitry associated with semantic processing and all non-grammar-specific and low-level auditory neural responses were normal.The findings indicate that grammatical neural circuitry underlying language is a developmentally unique system in the functional architecture of the brain, and this complex higher cognitive system can be selectively impaired. The findings advance fundamental understanding about how cognitive systems develop and all human language is represented and processed in the brain.

Using Webquest in Learning Grammar: Students' Perceptions in Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Irzawati, Ira

2013-01-01

Webquest is an internet based learning tool that can be used by students in learning English. This study investigates students' perceptions about the use of Webquest to support learning grammar in Higher Education. Seventy-two of second semester students were involved as participants in this study. Questionnaire and interview were used to collect…

Structural Motion Grammar for Universal Use of Leap Motion: Amusement and Functional Contents Focused

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Byungseok Lee

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Motions using Leap Motion controller are not standardized while the use of it is spreading in media contents. Each content defines its own motions, thereby creating confusion for users. Therefore, to alleviate user inconvenience, this study categorized the commonly used motion by Amusement and Functional Contents and defined the Structural Motion Grammar that can be universally used based on the classification. To this end, the Motion Lexicon was defined, which is a fundamental motion vocabulary, and an algorithm that enables real-time recognition of Structural Motion Grammar was developed. Moreover, the proposed method was verified by user evaluation and quantitative comparison tests.

Style grammars for interactive visualization of architecture.

Science.gov (United States)

Aliaga, Daniel G; Rosen, Paul A; Bekins, Daniel R

2007-01-01

Interactive visualization of architecture provides a way to quickly visualize existing or novel buildings and structures. Such applications require both fast rendering and an effortless input regimen for creating and changing architecture using high-level editing operations that automatically fill in the necessary details. Procedural modeling and synthesis is a powerful paradigm that yields high data amplification and can be coupled with fast-rendering techniques to quickly generate plausible details of a scene without much or any user interaction. Previously, forward generating procedural methods have been proposed where a procedure is explicitly created to generate particular content. In this paper, we present our work in inverse procedural modeling of buildings and describe how to use an extracted repertoire of building grammars to facilitate the visualization and quick modification of architectural structures and buildings. We demonstrate an interactive application where the user draws simple building blocks and, using our system, can automatically complete the building "in the style of" other buildings using view-dependent texture mapping or nonphotorealistic rendering techniques. Our system supports an arbitrary number of building grammars created from user subdivided building models and captured photographs. Using only edit, copy, and paste metaphors, the entire building styles can be altered and transferred from one building to another in a few operations, enhancing the ability to modify an existing architectural structure or to visualize a novel building in the style of the others.

The Practice of "Grammar Naziness" on Facebook in Relation to Generating Grammar Learning: A Motivation or Demotivation in Updating Statuses in English on Facebook

Science.gov (United States)

Amin, Noraziah Mohd; Abdul Rahman, Noor Azam; Sharipudin, Mohamad-Noor; Abu Bakar, Mohd Saifulnizam

2016-01-01

It is common for learners of English to make grammatical errors in their English Facebook posts that can be noticeable on their walls, which this perhaps as a result, influences the other Facebook users who know about the language to perform the unofficial duty as grammar Nazis and correct the errors. Thus, this research aims to examine if Malay…

Generation of components for software renovation factories from context-free grammars

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Brand, van den M.G.J.; Sellink, M.P.A.; Verhoef, C.

2000-01-01

We present an approach for the generation of components for a software renovation factory. These components are generated from a contex-free grammar definition that recognizes the code that has to be renovated. We generate analysis and transformation components that can be instantiated with a

Giving Expression to Rules : Grammar as an Activity in Later Wittgenstein

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Ocelák, Radek

2014-01-01

Roč. 37, č. 3 (2014), s. 351-367 ISSN 0163-8548 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA13-21076S Institutional support: RVO:67985955 Keywords : Wittgenstein * Grammar * Rules * Descriptiveness * Critique Subject RIV: AA - Philosophy ; Religion Impact factor: 0.618, year: 2014

A longitudinal study of lexical and grammar development in deaf Italian children provided with early cochlear implantation.

Science.gov (United States)

Chilosi, Anna Maria; Comparini, Alessandro; Scusa, Maria Flora; Orazini, Laura; Forli, Francesca; Cipriani, Paola; Berrettini, Stefano

2013-01-01

A growing number of studies on deaf children with cochlear implant (CI) document a significant improvement in receptive and expressive language skills after implantation, even if they show language delay when compared with normal-hearing peers. Data on language acquisition in CI Italian children are still scarce and limited to only certain aspects of language. The purpose of this study is to prospectively describe the trajectories of language development in early CI Italian children, with particular attention to the transition from first words to combinatorial speech and to acquisition of complex grammar in a language with rich morphology, such as Italian. Six children, with profound prelingual deafness, provided with CI, between 16 and 24 months of age were prospectively assessed and followed over a mean period of up to 34.8 months postimplant. During follow-up, each child received between four to five individual language evaluations through a combination of indirect procedures (parent reports of early lexical and grammar development) and direct ones (administration of standardized receptive and expressive language tests with Italian norms and collection of spontaneous language samples). In relation to chronological age, the acquisition of expressive vocabulary was delayed. However, considering the duration of hearing experience, most CI participants showed an earlier start and faster growth of expressive rather than receptive vocabulary in comparison with typically developing children. This quite atypical result persisted right up until the end of the follow-up. The acquisition of expressive grammar was delayed relative to chronological age, though all but one CI participant achieved the expected grammar level after approximately 3 years of CI use. In addition, the rate of grammar acquisition was not homogeneous during development, showing two different paces: one comparable with normal hearing in the transition from holophrastic to primitive combinatorial speech

Some views on the two-year review/revision cycle of the IAEA ''regulations for the safe transport of radioactive material''

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fasten, C.; Nitsche, F.

2004-01-01

The ''Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material'' of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna were last issued as a complete revised edition in 1996 as Safety Standards Series No. ST-1 [1]. A modification to this edition was made in 2000 - only in English - incorporating minor editorial corrections published as Safety Standards Series No. TS-R-1 (ST-1, Revised). Issues in French, Russian and Spanish followed shortly. A continuos review/revision process of the transport regulations was initiated in 2000 to publish an amended or a revised edition every two years. This two-year review cycle has been established to harmonise it with the review cycles of the other United Nations dangerous goods regulatory bodies, namely - the UN Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods, Geneva - the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), Montreal - the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), London and - the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN-ECE) - Inland Transport Committee, Geneva. - Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by rail (OTIF), Bern. These bodies are responsible to issue the regulations for the transport of all classes of dangerous goods (where the class 7 is ''Radioactive Material''), for the international air transport (ICAO), for the international maritime transport (IMO) and the European road, rail and inland waterway transport (UN-ECE, OTIF). The regulations of the above mentioned bodies have been published for many years within a two year period with good experience. Since 2000 the IAEA has been using the two-year cycle also. Based on this relative short time of application first experiences with this two-year cycle will be discussed

DEVELOPING MATERIAL FOR COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING (CLT TO TEACH ENGLISH FOR ECONOMICS STUDENTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aulia Hanifah Qomar

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The objectives of this research are to develop materials for CLT as an interesting media to learn English grammar, to know how material in CLT works as a media to learn and evaluate English grammar facilitates students to learn more grammar and to know the responses from the students to the materials in CLT. This research is Research and Development (R&D which use ADDIE design for the procedure. ADDIE design is stand for the procedure itself, these are Analyzing, Designing, Developing, Implementing and Evaluating. This research is designed by book material. The subject of this research is university students of Economic Faculty of Muhammadiyah University of Metro in the second semester. The instrument of this research is questionnaire. The questionnaire in this research is used to collect data which is divided into one aspects, is readability. The data is analyzed using Percentage Analysis Data. The data shows that the product is developed well. For the readability aspect, the result of expert is valid, one-to-one is valid, then in small group is increased to valid, and in the field test it is valid. Therefore, the product is developed well after each phase of the research. Based on the result of the research, the researcher concluds that the materials in CLT book can be learned attractively and interestingly. The students can understand the materials well. The learning process can be fun and comfortable for the students. The materials of CLT book media can be used in the class as a breakthrough of attractive and interactive learning which is very interesting for the students of earlier grade.

An Introduction of Three-dimensional Grammar

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Fan Xiao

2017-12-01

Full Text Available This paper introduces some key points of Three-dimensional Grammar. As for the structure, it can be distinguished into syntactic structure, semantic structure and pragmatic structure from the perspectives of syntax, semantics and pragmatics. And the same is true with the followings, such as grammatical constituents, grammatical functions, grammatical meanings, grammatical focuses. Sentence types which is called sentence pattern, sentence model and sentence types respectively, and analysis methods. This paper proposes that grammatical researches should be done in accordance with the four principles, that is form and meaning co-verified, static and dynamic co-referenced, structure and function co-testified and description and interpretation co-promoted.

Functional Grammar in the ESL Classroom: Noticing, Exploring and Practicing

Science.gov (United States)

Lock, Graham; Jones, Rodney

2011-01-01

A set of easy to use techniques helps students discover for themselves how grammar works in real world contexts and how grammatical choices are not just about form but about meaning. Sample teaching ideas, covering a wide range of grammatical topics including verb tense, voice, reference and the organization of texts, accompanies each procedure.…

Applications of Universal Grammar (UG) in the ESL/EFL Classroom

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Kirkwold, Lorne O.

2007-01-01

The article proposes Stern's (1983) framework for classifying issues related to instruction in order to ascertain the relevance of Universal Grammar (UG) in the ESL/EFL classroom. Discussed in this article, particularly as UG pertains to them, are issues related to: (a) L1 transfer; (b) teaching rules and giving error correction versus presenting…

A Model for Teaching Literary Analysis Using Systemic Functional Grammar

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McCrocklin, Shannon; Slater, Tammy

2017-01-01

This article introduces an approach that middle-school teachers can follow to help their students carry out linguistic-based literary analyses. As an example, it draws on Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) to show how J.K. Rowling used language to characterize Hermione as an intelligent female in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."…

TEACHING GRAMMAR FOR ACTIVE USE: A FRAMEWORK FOR COMPARISON OF THREE INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNIQUES

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Sasan Baleghizadeh

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Teaching grammar in a way that enables students to use grammatical structures correctly in their active use has always been one of the intricate tasks for most practitioners. This study compared the ef­fectiveness of three instructional methods: games, dialogues practiced through role-play, and unfocused tasks for teaching grammar. Forty eight pre-intermediate female students participated in this study. The structures chosen were Conditional Sentence Type 2 and Wish structures for expressing present desires. A posttest was administered to assess the subjects' productive knowledge of the grammatical patterns. The results showed that there were no significant differences in the performance of groups. In other words, all three methods were equally effective to boost students' grammatical knowledge of the two structures.