Concepts of Illness Among the Swahili of Lamu, Kenya.

Science.gov (United States)

Gearhart, Rebecca; Abdulrehman, Munib Said

2014-07-01

The Swahili of Lamu, Kenya, understand illness as the result of a spiritual imbalance caused by personal transgression or an attack by harmful forces directed by an envious person. Another underlying component of the Swahili concept of illness is that each person's physical body operates in conjunction with personal attributes that are fixed at birth and determine moral character, behavior, and predisposition to ailments. When physical symptoms occur, the Swahili focus on identifying the human or supernatural entity that caused the illness in consultation with a range of healers who specialize in a variety of curing strategies. Two case studies illustrate how culturally congruent nursing care can be achieved when health care providers understand the Swahili framework of diagnosing and treating illness. © The Author(s) 2013.

Historical texts from the Swahili coast (part 2)

OpenAIRE

Nurse, Derek

2012-01-01

Historical texts from the Swahili coast (Swahili-English): Upper Pokomo Elwana, Mwiini Bajuni Pate Amu, She la Matondoni, Mwani Asili ya Mphokomu Fumo Liongo A story. Proverbs and riddles Mashairi Saidi Haji talking about poetry. Kiteko, a story Verse by MA Abdulkadir, Women`s political songs. An old woman reminisces, Mbaraka Msuri, a hadithi. Ngano A story.

Effects of Listening While Reading (LWR on Swahili Reading Fluency and Comprehension

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Filipo Lubua

2016-10-01

Full Text Available A number of studies have examined the contribution of technology in teaching such languages as English, French, and Spanish, among many others. Contrarily, most LCTL’s, have received very little attention. This study investigates if listening while reading (LWR may expedite Swahili reading fluency and comprehension. The study employed the iBook Author tool to create weekly mediated and interactive reading texts, with comprehension exercises, which were eventually used to collect descriptive and qualitative data from four Elementary Swahili students. Participants participated in a seven week reading program, which provided them with some kind of directed self-learning, and met with the instructor for at least 30 minutes every week for observation and more reading activities. The teacher recorded their reading scores, and a number of themes on how LWR influenced reading fluency and comprehension are discussed here. It shows that participants have a positive attitude towards LWR and they suggest it for all the reading classes.

Kirkeby's English–Swahili Dictionary

African Journals Online (AJOL)

rbr

largest Swahili dictionary is the Swahili–French dictionary of Sacleux (1939) with 1 112 pages. Kirkeby ... An entry in this dictionary could be a basic form, a derived or inflectional form of the ...... Cf. cook, boil, fry, roast, bake, etc. (cookery); ugali ...

Health Information in Swahili (Kiswahili)

Science.gov (United States)

... Someone Thinking of Suicide - Kiswahili (Swahili) MP3 National Suicide Prevention Lifeline What Is Mental ... Karen Chemical Dependency Taskforce of Minnesota Mood Disorders What Is Mental Distress - English PDF What Is ...

Book Review: Review of three Swahili dialect dictionaries published ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Kamusi la lahaja ya kiPemba (A dictionary of the Pemba dialect – the Swahili dialect of Pemba island). Nairobi: OUP East Africa Ltd. 2012. ISBN 978 019 573767 7. Kamusi la lahaja la kiTumbatu (A dictionary of the Tumbatu dialect – the Swahili dialect of Tumbatu island, off the northern part of Zanzibar island). Zanzibar: ...

Language Policy, Language Choice and Language Use in the ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

systems across sentence boundaries within the same speech event… code- mixing is the ..... practice will inhibit the motivation for expanding the Swahili language through ..... 'Because of the reward with him, we call him contractor?' ...

Review Article: Second Language Acquisition of Bantu Languages--A (Mostly) Untapped Research Opportunity

Science.gov (United States)

Spinner, Patti

2011-01-01

This review article presents a summary of research on the second language acquisition of Bantu languages, including Swahili, Zulu, Xhosa and Lingala. Although second language (L2) research on these languages is currently very limited, work in morphosyntax and phonology suggests promising directions for future study, particularly on noun class,…

Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Psychometric Properties of the AUDIT and CAGE Questionnaires in Tanzanian Swahili for a Traumatic Brain Injury Population.

Science.gov (United States)

Vissoci, Joao Ricardo Nickenig; Hertz, Julian; El-Gabri, Deena; Andrade Do Nascimento, José Roberto; Pestillo De Oliveira, Leonardo; Mmbaga, Blandina Theophil; Mvungi, Mark; Staton, Catherine A

2018-01-01

To develop Swahili versions of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and CAGE questionnaires and evaluate their psychometric properties in a traumatic brain injury (TBI) population in Tanzania. Swahili versions of the AUDIT and CAGE were developed through translation and back-translation by a panel of native speakers of both English and Swahili. The translated instruments were administered to a sample of Tanzanian adults from a TBI registry. The validity and reliability were analyzed using standard statistical methods. The translated versions of both the AUDIT and CAGE questionnaires were found to have excellent language clarity and domain coherence. Reliability was acceptable (>0.85) for all tested versions. Confirmatory factor analysis of one, two and three factor solution for the AUDIT and one factor solution for the CAGE showed adequate results. AUDIT and CAGE scores were strongly correlated to each other (R > 0.80), and AUDIT scores were significantly lower in non-drinkers compared to drinkers. This article presents the first Swahili and Tanzanian adaptations of the AUDIT and CAGE instruments as well as the first validation of these questionnaires with TBI patients. Both instruments were found to have acceptable psychometric properties, resulting in two new useful tools for medical and social research in this setting. © The Author 2017. Medical Council on Alcohol and Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.

Prita Meier, Swahili Port Cities: The Architecture of Elsewhere

OpenAIRE

Longair, Sarah

2018-01-01

Prita Meier’s Swahili Port Cities: the Architecture of Elsewhere is a highly original and important contribution to scholarship on East Africa, and more widely for scholars interested in complicating how we understand the formation of global cities and border zone societies. It is not a conventional architectural history, yet it places buildings, in particular the coral and lime stone constructions found on the Swahili coast, at its heart. Meier uses the “materiality of city life” to offer “a...

Changing criticism of Swahili Qur'an translations : the three 'Rods of Moses'

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bruinhorst, van de G.C.

2013-01-01

This article examines three Swahili books with the same title Fimbo ya Musa ('The Rod of Moses'), published between 1970 and 2010, each of which critically investigates Qur'an translations and vernacular religious texts in Swahili. The first Fimbo was written by the Kenyan Ahmad Ahmad Badawy and

Are pictures good for learning new vocabulary in a foreign language? Only if you think they are not.

Science.gov (United States)

Carpenter, Shana K; Olson, Kellie M

2012-01-01

The current study explored whether new words in a foreign language are learned better from pictures than from native language translations. In both between-subjects and within-subject designs, Swahili words were not learned better from pictures than from English translations (Experiments 1-3). Judgments of learning revealed that participants exhibited greater overconfidence in their ability to recall a Swahili word from a picture than from a translation (Experiments 2-3), and Swahili words were also considered easier to process when paired with pictures rather than translations (Experiment 4). When this overconfidence bias was eliminated through retrieval practice (Experiment 2) and instructions warning participants to not be overconfident (Experiment 3), Swahili words were learned better from pictures than from translations. It appears, therefore, that pictures can facilitate learning of foreign language vocabulary--as long as participants are not too overconfident in the power of a picture to help them learn a new word.

Kirkeby's English?Swahili Dictionary

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

James S. Mdee

2011-10-01

Full Text Available

Abstract: Kirkeby's English–Swahili Dictionary is a bilingual dictionary of more than 50 000entries. The most laudable feature of the dictionary is its attempt to be user-friendly especially inthe way the entry words have been arranged and the amount of information given. However, aclear objective for the compilation of the ditionary is lacking. The compilers do not seem to knowthe lexicographical gap they want to fill, the users they are targeting, and their dictionary-usingskills. In discussing the strong and weak points of the dictionary, the article will refer to theories ofdictionary criticism. Three criteria set by McMillan (1949 will guide this review article: (1 thequantity of the information in the dictionary; (2 the quality of the information presented; and (3the effectiveness of the presentation of the information. Questions posed in the course of this articlewill include: Does the dictionary give the information required by the user? Is the informationtransparently accessible? How is the information presented?

Keywords: DICTIONARY EVALUATION, USER-FRIENDLY, DICTIONARY-USINGSKILLS, LEXICOGRAPHICAL ENTRIES, GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES, SUBGRAMMATICALCATEGORIES, WORD COMBINATIONS, COLLOCATIONS, TRANSLATION EQUIVALENTS

Opsomming: Kirkeby se English–Swahili Dictionary. Kirkeby se English–SwahiliDictionary is 'n tweetalige woordeboek met meer as 50 000 inskrywings. Die mees prysenswaardigekenmerk van die woordeboek is sy poging om gebruikersvriendelik te wees, veral deur die manierwaarop die trefwoorde gerangskik is en die hoeveelheid inligting wat verskaf word. 'n Duidelikedoelwit vir die samestelling van die woordeboek ontbreek egter. Die samestellers is skynbaaronseker oor die leksikografiese leemte wat hulle wil vul, en die gebruikers vir wie dit bedoel is enhul woordeboekgebruikersvaardighede. In die bespreking van die sterk en die swak eienskappevan die woordeboek sal die artikel verwys na teorieë van

Activity markers and household space in Swahili urban contexts: An integrated geoarchaeological approach

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wynne-Jones, Stephanie; Sulas, Federica

, this paper draws from recent work at a Swahili urban site to illustrate the potential and challenges of an integrated geoarchaeological approach to the study of household space. The site of Songo Mnara (14th–16thc. AD) thrived as a Swahili stonetown off the coast of Tanzania. Here, our work has concentrated...

The Comoros Show the Earliest Austronesian Gene Flow into the Swahili Corridor.

Science.gov (United States)

Brucato, Nicolas; Fernandes, Veronica; Mazières, Stéphane; Kusuma, Pradiptajati; Cox, Murray P; Ng'ang'a, Joseph Wainaina; Omar, Mohammed; Simeone-Senelle, Marie-Claude; Frassati, Coralie; Alshamali, Farida; Fin, Bertrand; Boland, Anne; Deleuze, Jean-Francois; Stoneking, Mark; Adelaar, Alexander; Crowther, Alison; Boivin, Nicole; Pereira, Luisa; Bailly, Pascal; Chiaroni, Jacques; Ricaut, François-Xavier

2018-01-04

At the dawn of the second millennium, the expansion of the Indian Ocean trading network aligned with the emergence of an outward-oriented community along the East African coast to create a cosmopolitan cultural and trading zone known as the Swahili Corridor. On the basis of analyses of new genome-wide genotyping data and uniparental data in 276 individuals from coastal Kenya and the Comoros islands, along with large-scale genetic datasets from the Indian Ocean rim, we reconstruct historical population dynamics to show that the Swahili Corridor is largely an eastern Bantu genetic continuum. Limited gene flows from the Middle East can be seen in Swahili and Comorian populations at dates corresponding to historically documented contacts. However, the main admixture event in southern insular populations, particularly Comorian and Malagasy groups, occurred with individuals from Island Southeast Asia as early as the 8 th century, reflecting an earlier dispersal from this region. Remarkably, our results support recent archaeological and linguistic evidence-based suggestions that the Comoros archipelago was the earliest location of contact between Austronesian and African populations in the Swahili Corridor. Copyright © 2017 American Society of Human Genetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Code-switched English Pronunciation Modeling for Swahili Spoken Term Detection (Pub Version, Open Access)

Science.gov (United States)

2016-05-03

model (JSM), developed using Sequitur16,17 and trained on the CMUDict0.7b18 Amer- ican English dictionary (over 134k words), was used to detect English ...modeled using the closest Swahili vowel or vowel combination. In both cases these English L2P predictions were added to a dictionary as variants to swa... English queries as a function of overlap/correspondence with an existing reference English pronunciation dictionary . As the reference dictionary , we

Swahili women since the nineteenth century: theoretical and empirical considerations on gender and identity construction.

Science.gov (United States)

Gower, R; Salm, S; Falola, T

1996-01-01

This paper provides an analysis and update on the theoretical discussion about the link between gender and identity and uses a group of Swahili women in eastern Africa as an example of how this link works in practice. The first part of the study provides a brief overview of gender theory related to the terms "gender" and "identity." It is noted that gender is only one aspect of identity and that the concept of gender has undergone important changes such as the reconceptualization of the terms "sex" and "gender." The second part of the study synthesizes the experiences of Swahili women in the 19th century when the convergence of gender and class was very important. The status of Muslim women is reviewed, and it is noted that even influential women practiced purdah and that all Swahili women experienced discrimination, which inhibited their opportunities for socioeconomic mobility. Slavery and concubinage were widespread during this period, and the participation of Islamic women in spirit possession cults was a way for women to express themselves culturally. The separation of men and women in Swahili culture led to the development of two distinct subcultures, which excluded women from most aspects of public life. The third part of the study looks at the experiences of Swahili women since the 19th century both during and after the colonial period. It is shown that continuity exists in trends observed over a period of 200 years. For example, the mobility of Swahili women remains limited by Islam, but women do exert influence behind the scenes. It is concluded that the socioeconomic status of Swahili woman has been shaped more by complex forces such as class, ethnic, religious, and geographic area than by the oppression of Islam and colonialism. This study indicates that gender cannot be studied in isolation from other salient variables affecting identity.

Improving the Computational Morphological Analysis of a Swahili ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

approach to the morphological analysis of Swahili. We particularly focus our discussion on its ability to retrieve lemmas for word forms and evaluate it as a tool for corpus-based dictionary compilation. Keywords: LEXICOGRAPHY, MORPHOLOGY, CORPUS ANNOTATION, LEMMATIZATION, MACHINE LEARNING, SWAHILI ...

Language Training: English Training

CERN Multimedia

2004-01-01

If you wish to participate in one of the following courses, please discuss with your supervisor and apply electronically directly from the course description pages that can be found on the Web at: http://www.cern.ch/Training/ or fill in an "application for training" form available from your Divisional Secretariat or from your DTO (Divisional Training Officer). Applications will be accepted in the order of their receipt. Language Training Françoise Benz tel. 73127 language.training@cern.ch General and Professional English Courses The next session will take place: from 1st March to 25 June 2004 (2 weeks break at Easter). These courses are open to all persons working on the Cern site, and to their spouses. For registration and further information on the courses, please consult our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training or contact Mr. Liptow: tel. 72957.

Language Training: English Training

CERN Multimedia

2004-01-01

If you wish to participate in one of the following courses, please discuss with your supervisor and apply electronically directly from the course description pages that can be found on the Web at: http://www.cern.ch/Training/ or fill in an "application for training" form available from your Divisional Secretariat or from your DTO (Divisional Training Officer). Applications will be accepted in the order of their receipt. LANGUAGE TRAINING Françoise Benz tel. 73127 language.training@cern.ch General and Professional English Courses The next session will take place: from 1st March to 25 June 2004 (2 weeks break at Easter). These courses are open to all persons working on the Cern site, and to their spouses. For registration and further information on the courses, please consult our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training or contact Mr. Liptow: tel. 72957.

Sentence comprehension in Swahili-English bilingual agrammatic speakers

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Abuom, Tom O.; Shah, Emmah; Bastiaanse, Roelien

For this study, sentence comprehension was tested in Swahili-English bilingual agrammatic speakers. The sentences were controlled for four factors: (1) order of the arguments (base vs. derived); (2) embedding (declarative vs. relative sentences); (3) overt use of the relative pronoun "who"; (4)

African Journal of Science and Technology (AJST) SWAHILI TEXT ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

INTRODUCTION. To many of us, the term speech synthesisevokes memories ... memory is needed for each unit of speech. Concatenative .... For one, the Swahili vowels are short and ... succession: they must be pronounced as one long vowel.

Language Training: French Training

CERN Multimedia

2004-01-01

If you wish to participate in one of the following courses, please discuss with your supervisor and apply electronically directly from the course description pages that can be found on the Web at: http://www.cern.ch/Training/ or fill in an "application for training" form available from your Divisional Secretariat or from your DTO (Divisional Training Officer). Applications will be accepted in the order of their receipt. LANGUAGE TRAINING Françoise Benz tel. 73127 language.training@cern.ch General and Professional French Courses The next session will take place from 26 April to 02 July 2004. These courses are open to all persons working on the Cern site, and to their spouses. For registration and further information on the courses, please consult our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training or contact Mrs. Benz: Tel. 73127. Writing Professional Documents in French The next session will take place from 26 April to 02 July 2004. This course is designed for people with a good level of s...

Language Training: French Training

CERN Multimedia

2004-01-01

If you wish to participate in one of the following courses, please discuss with your supervisor and apply electronically directly from the course description pages that can be found on the Web at: http://www.cern.ch/Training/ or fill in an "application for training" form available from your Divisional Secretariat or from your DTO (Divisional Training Officer). Applications will be accepted in the order of their receipt. LANGUAGE TRAINING Françoise Benz tel. 73127 language.training@cern.ch General and Professional French Courses The next session will take place from 26 April to 02 July 2004. These courses are open to all persons working on the Cern site, and to their spouses. For registration and further information on the courses, please consult our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training or contact Mrs. Benz: Tel. 73127. Writing Professional Documents in French The next session will take place from 26 April to 02 July 2004. This course is designed for people with a good level...

LANGUAGE TRAINING

CERN Multimedia

2004-01-01

If you wish to participate in one of the following courses, please discuss with your supervisor and apply electronically directly from the course description pages that can be found on the Web at: http://www.cern.ch/Training/ or fill in an "application for training" form available from your Divisional Secretariat or from your DTO (Divisional Training Officer). Applications will be accepted in the order of their receipt. LANGUAGE TRAINING Françoise Benz tel. 73127 language.training@cern.ch FRENCH TRAINING General and Professional French Courses The next session will take place from 26 January to 02 April 2004. These courses are open to all persons working on the Cern site, and to their spouses. For registration and further information on the courses, please consult our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training or contact Mrs. Benz: Tel. 73127. Writing Professional Documents in French The next session will take place from 26 January to 02 April 2004. This course is designed for people wi...

LANGUAGE TRAINING

CERN Multimedia

2004-01-01

If you wish to participate in one of the following courses, please discuss with your supervisor and apply electronically directly from the course description pages that can be found on the Web at: http://www.cern.ch/Training/ or fill in an "application for training" form available from your Divisional Secretariat or from your DTO (Divisional Training Officer). Applications will be accepted in the order of their receipt. LANGUAGE TRAINING Françoise Benz tel. 73127 language.training@cern.ch FRENCH TRAINING General and Professional French Courses The next session will take place from 26 January to 02 April 2004. These courses are open to all persons working on the Cern site, and to their spouses. For registration and further information on the courses, please consult our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training or contact Mrs. Benz : Tel. 73127. Writing Professional Documents in French The next session will take place from 26 January to 02 April 2004. This course is designed for peop...

Slave trade and slavery on the Swahili coast (1500-1750)

OpenAIRE

Vernet, Thomas

2009-01-01

This paper offers a reappraisal of the slave trade networks linked to the Swahili Coast before the mid-eighteenth century. It is based on extensive research carried out in Portuguese archives and other material.

GLOBALIZATION OF AN AFRICAN LANGUAGE: TRUTH OR ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

English is, for example, in the area of education and radio broadcast. Therefore, it ... Swahili's presence is felt globally in the media (radio), ICT and academia. Mulokozi (2002) ..... of the language also benefit greatly from these. Josephine ...

Object marking in Swahili: Definiteness, specificity, or both ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This article examines the role of object marking in relation to definiteness and specificity in Swahili. Object marking in general has attracted the attention of many scholars in the field of Bantu linguistics due to the complex nature of object markers (OMs) and varying functions they fulfil in Bantu. Opinions differ on the role of ...

Review: Lisa Mackenrodt, Swahili Spirit Possession and Islamic Healing in Contemporary Tanzania: The Jinn Fly on Friday (2011 Buchbesprechung: Lisa Mackenrodt, Swahili Spirit Possession and Islamic Healing in Contemporary Tanzania: The Jinn Fly on Friday (2011

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jigal Beez

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Review of the monograph:Lisa Mackenrodt, Swahili Spirit Possession and Islamic Healing in Contemporary Tanzania: The Jinn Fly on Friday, Hamburg: Verlag Dr. Kovač, 2011, ISBN 978-3-8300-5806-9, 216 pagesBesprechung der Monographie:Lisa Mackenrodt, Swahili Spirit Possession and Islamic Healing in Contemporary Tanzania: The Jinn Fly on Friday, Hamburg: Verlag Dr. Kovač, 2011, ISBN 978-3-8300-5806-9, 216 Seiten

Language Training: Anglais

CERN Multimedia

Françoise Benz

2004-01-01

If you wish to participate in one of the following courses, please discuss with your supervisor and apply electronically directly from the course description pages that can be found on the Web at: http://www.cern.ch/Training/ or fill in an 'application for training' form available from your Divisional Secretariat or from your DTO (Divisional Training Officer). Applications will be accepted in the order of their receipt. Writing Professional Documents in English This course is designed for people with a good level of spoken English. Duration: 2 hours a week between 26 April and 1 July 2004. Timetable: Thursdays 12.00 to 14.00 Price: 440 CHF (for 8 students and 20 hours) For registration and further information, please consult our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training or contact Mr. Liptow: tel. 72957 FORMATION EN LANGUES LANGUAGE TRAINING Françoise Benz 73127 language.training@cern.ch

the present state of swahili literature as an artistic and social

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Frederick Iraki

In addressing the urgent problems of present-day world (not on- ... Swahili fiction, 6 of which were written by Tanzanians; by the year 2007, the ... there are additional mechanisms of stimulation – for example, the annual Jomo Kenyatta Prize,.

Language Training

CERN Multimedia

HR Department

Permanence A "permanence" for language Training has been set up. If anyone has a question or requires information on any aspect of English or French training please come to our office 5 4-016 at the following times. Lucette Fournier - French courses Monday 13.30 - 15.30 Tuesday\t10.30 - 12.30 Tessa Osborne - English courses Wednesday\t12.00 - 14.00 Thursday\t11.00 - 13.00   New courses Specific English and French courses - Exam preparation/ We are now offering specific courses in English and French leading to a recognised external examination (e.g. Cambridge, DELF, DALF). If you are interested in following one of these courses and have at least an upper intermediate level of English or French, please enrol through the following link:  English courses French courses Or contact: Tessa Osborne 72957 (English courses) Lucette Fournier 73483 (French courses) Language Training Nathalie Dumeaux Tel. 78144 nathalie.dumeaux@cern.ch

Language Training

CERN Multimedia

HR Department

2009-01-01

PermanenceA "permanence" for language Training has been set up. If anyone has a question or requires information on any aspect of English or French training please come to our office 5 4-016 at the following times. Lucette Fournier French courses Monday 13.30 - 15.30 Tuesday\t10.30 - 12.30 Tessa Osborne English courses Wednesday\t12.00 - 14.00 Thursday\t11.00 - 13.00 New courses Specific English and French courses - Exam preparation/ We are now offering specific courses in English and French leading to a recognised external examination (e.g. Cambridge, DELF and BULATS). If you are interested in following one of these courses and have at least an upper intermediate level of English or French, please enrol through the following link: http://English courses http://French courses Or contact: Tessa Osborne 72957 (English courses) Lucette Fournier 73483 (French courses) Language Training Nathalie Dumeaux Tel. 78144 mailto:nathalie.dumeaux@cern.ch

Language Training: English Training

CERN Document Server

Françoise Benz

2004-01-01

General and Professional English Courses The next session will take place from 04 October 2004 to 11 February 2005 (3 weeks break at Christmas). These courses are open to all persons working on the CERN site, and to their spouses. For registration and further information on the courses, please consult our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training or contact Mr. Liptow, tel. 72957. Oral Expression This course is intended for people with a good knowledge of English who want to practise and maintain their speaking skills while extending their vocabulary. There will be approximately 8 participants in a class. Speaking activities will include discussions, meeting simulations, role-plays etc. depending on the needs of the students. Duration: 20 hours (2 hours a week) Price: 440 CHF (for 8 students) For further information, please contact Mr. Liptow, tel. 72957. Date and timetable will be fixed when there are sufficient participants enrolled. FORMATION EN LANGUES LANGUAGE TRAINING Françoise Benz 73127 languag...

Are Pictures Good for Learning New Vocabulary in a Foreign Language? Only If You Think They Are Not

Science.gov (United States)

Carpenter, Shana K.; Olson, Kellie M.

2012-01-01

The current study explored whether new words in a foreign language are learned better from pictures than from native language translations. In both between-subjects and within-subject designs, Swahili words were not learned better from pictures than from English translations (Experiments 1-3). Judgments of learning revealed that participants…

Tact training versus bidirectional intraverbal training in teaching a foreign language.

Science.gov (United States)

Dounavi, Katerina

2014-01-01

The current study involved an evaluation of the emergence of untrained verbal relations as a function of 3 different foreign-language teaching strategies. Two Spanish-speaking adults received foreign-language (English) tact training and native-to-foreign and foreign-to-native intraverbal training. Tact training and native-to-foreign intraverbal training resulted in the emergence of a greater number of untrained responses, and may thus be more efficient than foreign-to-native intraverbal training. © Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

Language Training : English Training

CERN Multimedia

Françoise Benz

2004-01-01

General and Professional English Courses The next session will take place from 04 October 2004 to 11 February 2005 (3 weeks break at Christmas). These courses are open to all persons working on the CERN site, and to their spouses. For registration and further information on the courses, please consult our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training or contact Mr. Liptow, tel. 72957. Oral Expression This course is intended for people with a good knowledge of English who want to practise and maintain their speaking skills while extending their vocabulary. There will be approximately 8 participants in a class. Speaking activities will include discussions, meeting simulations, role-plays etc. depending on the needs of the students. Duration: 20 hours (2 hours a week) Price: 440 CHF (for 8 students) For further information, please contact Mr. Liptow, tel. 72957. Date and timetable will be fixed when there are sufficient participants enrolled. FORMATION EN LANGUES LANGUAGE TRAINING Françoise Benz 73127 languag...

Archaeology at the micro-scale: micromorphology and phytoliths at a Swahili stonetown

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sulas, Federica; Madella, Marco

2012-01-01

Geoarchaeological and archaeobotanical techniques are increasingly applied to the study of urban and domestic space. However, they are seldom performed as part of an integrative approach, where the soil and botanical micro-records are used together. This paper presents the preliminary results of ...... from Songo Mnara, this paper illustrates the potential of integrating geoarchaeology and archaeobotany to investigate the use of space in urban contexts. The approach is a novelty within the context of Swahili archaeology and an emerging one in Africa.......Geoarchaeological and archaeobotanical techniques are increasingly applied to the study of urban and domestic space. However, they are seldom performed as part of an integrative approach, where the soil and botanical micro-records are used together. This paper presents the preliminary results...... of ongoing research at Songo Mnara in Tanzania that combines customised intra-site soil macro- and micromorphological analyses, chemical analysis and the study of phytoliths. The research is part of a multidisciplinary project on the use of urban space in Swahili stonetowns. By eliciting multiple datasets...

Language Training: Formation en anglais

CERN Multimedia

2004-01-01

If you wish to participate in one of the following courses, please discuss with your supervisor and apply electronically directly from the course description pages that can be found on the Web at: http://www.cern.ch/Training/ or fill in an "application for training" form available from your Divisional Secretariat or from your DTO (Divisional Training Officer). Applications will be accepted in the order of their receipt. LANGUAGE TRAINING Françoise Benz tel. 73127 language.training@cern.ch Cours d'anglais général et professionnel La prochaine session se déroulera: du 1er mars au 25 juin 2004 (interruption de 2 semaines à Pâques). Ces cours s'adressent à toute personne travaillant au CERN ainsi qu'à leur conjoint. Pour vous inscrire et voir tout le détail des cours proposés, consultez nos pages Web: http://cern.ch/Training. Vous pouvez aussi contacter M. Liptow, tél. 7295...

English language training for Navy enlisted personnel who speak English as a second language

OpenAIRE

Abalos, Aurora S.

1990-01-01

Approved for public release; distribution unlimited. Communication problems exist for English as a second language (ESL) personnel in Recruit Training Commands and Navy work places. Good English language programs could improve the communication problems in the training environment and in the work place by providing language instruction right after enlistment. In this study, the adequacy of the existing ESL training programs in the Navy and other ESL training programs currently used in the ...

Language Training: French course for beginners

CERN Multimedia

Françoise Benz

2004-01-01

If you wish to participate in one of the following courses, please discuss with your supervisor and apply electronically directly from the course description pages that can be found on the Web at: http://www.cern.ch/Training/ or fill in an 'application for training' form available from your Divisional Secretariat or from your DTO (Divisional Training Officer). Applications will be accepted in the order of their receipt. A French course for beginners (level 0) will take place from 12 July to 27 August. Timetable: not yet fixed Duration: 54 hours / 2 hours a day Price: CHF 702 Please enrol as soon as possible through the Web: http://cern.ch/Training FORMATION EN LANGUES LANGUAGE TRAINING Françoise Benz 73127 language.training@cern.ch

Language Training: French course for beginners

CERN Multimedia

Françoise Benz

2004-01-01

If you wish to participate in one of the following courses, please discuss with your supervisor and apply electronically directly from the course description pages that can be found on the Web at: http://www.cern.ch/Training/ or fill in an 'application for training' form available from your Divisional Secretariat or from your DTO (Divisional Training Officer). Applications will be accepted in the order of their receipt. A French course for beginners (level 0) will take place from 12 July to 27 August. Timetable: not yet fixed Duration: 54 hours / 2 hours a day Price: 702 SF Please enrol as soon as possible through the Web: http://cern.ch/Training FORMATION EN LANGUES LANGUAGE TRAINING Françoise Benz 73127 language.training@cern.ch

Language and number: a bilingual training study.

Science.gov (United States)

Spelke, E S; Tsivkin, S

2001-01-01

Three experiments investigated the role of a specific language in human representations of number. Russian-English bilingual college students were taught new numerical operations (Experiment 1), new arithmetic equations (Experiments 1 and 2), or new geographical or historical facts involving numerical or non-numerical information (Experiment 3). After learning a set of items in each of their two languages, subjects were tested for knowledge of those items, and new items, in both languages. In all the studies, subjects retrieved information about exact numbers more effectively in the language of training, and they solved trained problems more effectively than untrained problems. In contrast, subjects retrieved information about approximate numbers and non-numerical facts with equal efficiency in their two languages, and their training on approximate number facts generalized to new facts of the same type. These findings suggest that a specific, natural language contributes to the representation of large, exact numbers but not to the approximate number representations that humans share with other mammals. Language appears to play a role in learning about exact numbers in a variety of contexts, a finding with implications for practice in bilingual education. The findings prompt more general speculations about the role of language in the development of specifically human cognitive abilities.

Foreign Language Training in the United States Peace Corps.

Science.gov (United States)

Kulakow, Allan

This document reports on the foreign language training offered in the Peace Corps. Following a brief introductory statement, a list of languages taught by the Peace Corps in the years 1961-67 is provided, as well as a brief description of Peace Corps language training methods. Guidelines for language coordinators are outlined, and the approach to…

English loans in Swahili newspaper football language | Dzahene ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

It has been inferred that to some extent some football terminologies tend to be cross-linguistic, stemming from the fact that many languages borrow football vocabulary from English. Thus within the field of football, the influence of English is significant. Football in Tanzania dates back to the 1920s and is becoming more and ...

Systems Approach to Japanese Language Teacher Training Curriculum

OpenAIRE

Nuibe, Yoshinori

1988-01-01

The purpose of the present article is to present a conceptual framework for systematizing the Japanese-language teacher training curriculum. Firstly, I discussed what an outstanding Japanese language teacher is like. Secondly, I focussed on teacher development. Thirdly, I proposed the principles of constructing a systematic curriculum. Lastly, I insisted that a new curriculum for human dynamics in Japanese be introduced and established in the Japanese language teacher training course.

Dietary Diversity on the Swahili Coast: The Fauna from Two Zanzibar Trading Locales.

Science.gov (United States)

Prendergast, M E; Quintana Morales, E M; Crowther, A; Horton, M C; Boivin, N L

2017-01-01

Occupants of coastal and island eastern Africa-now known as the 'Swahili coast'-were involved in long-distance trade with the Indian Ocean world during the later first millennium CE. Such exchanges may be traced via the appearance of non-native animals in the archaeofaunal record; additionally, this record reveals daily culinary practises of the members of trading communities and can thus shed light on subsistence technologies and social organisation. Yet despite the potential contributions of faunal data to Swahili coast archaeology, few detailed zooarchaeological studies have been conducted. Here, we present an analysis of faunal remains from new excavations at two coastal Zanzibar trading locales: the small settlement of Fukuchani in the north-west and the larger town of Unguja Ukuu in the south-west. The occurrences of non-native fauna at these sites-Asian black rat (Rattus rattus) and domestic chicken (Gallus gallus), as well as domestic cat (Felis catus)-are among the earliest in eastern Africa. The sites contrast with one another in their emphases on wild and domestic fauna: Fukuchani's inhabitants were economically and socially engaged with the wild terrestrial realm, evidenced not only through diet but also through the burial of a cache of wild bovid metatarsals. In contrast, the town of Unguja Ukuu had a domestic economy reliant on caprine herding, alongside more limited chicken keeping, although hunting or trapping of wild fauna also played an important role. Occupants of both sites were focused on a diversity of near-shore marine resources, with little or no evidence for the kind of venturing into deeper waters that would have required investment in new technologies. Comparisons with contemporaneous sites suggest that some of the patterns at Fukuchani and Unguja Ukuu are not replicated elsewhere. This diversity in early Swahili coast foodways is essential to discussions of the agents engaged in long-distance maritime trade. © 2017 The Authors

Language Training: English Training

CERN Multimedia

Françoise Benz

2004-01-01

General and Professional English Courses The next session will take place from 04 October 2004 to 11 February 2005 (3 weeks break at Christmas). These courses are open to all persons working on the CERN site, and to their spouses. For registration and further information on the courses, please consult our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training or contact Mr. Liptow, tel. 72957. Oral Expression This course is intended for people with a good knowledge of English who want to practise and maintain their speaking skills while extending their vocabulary. There will be approximately 8 participants in a class. Speaking activities will include discussions, meeting simulations, role-plays etc. depending on the needs of the students. Duration: 20 hours (2 hours a week) Price: 440 CHF (for 8 students) For further information, please contact Mr. Liptow, tel. 72957. Date and timetable will be fixed when there are sufficient participants enrolled. FORMATION EN LANGUES LANGUAGE TRAINING Françoise Benz 73127 langua...

Gender Representation in Elementary Level, African Language Textbooks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antonia Folarin Schleicher

2004-01-01

Full Text Available Foreign language learners' perceptions and understanding of a target culture(s are affected by the infonnation presented by their teacher(s, textbooks and other instructional materials. This paper focuses on an analysis of gender representation in elementary level, African language textbooks, with a specific concentration on Hausa, Swahili, Yoruba, and Zulu textbooks. Although the study of gender representation in textbooks is not new (see Blankenship, 1984; Clausen, 1982; Neussel, 1977 and others, relatively few authors have focused on gender representation in foreign language textbooks (Graci, 1989; Rifkin, 1998. This study seeks to extend the work of these scholars into the field of African languages. As a result, the present analysis focuses on (1 establishing criteria for evaluating African language textbooks for gender representation; (2 applying these criteria to seventeen different, elementary level, African language textbooks to create a basis for a comparative case study; (3 presenting the findings of a detailed analysis; and ( 4 utilizing the findings to formulate guidelines for future textbook writers.

Content, Language and Method Integrated Teacher Training (CLMITT in Training Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL and Beyond

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Agnes Orosz

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Content, Language and Method Integrated Teacher Training (CLMITT is an educational model for teacher training developed by the author. It refers to an approach where trainees learn teaching methodologies through experiencing them while simultaneously integrating English language development into the training process. CLMITT can be used to train teachers in any context where the course content includes teaching strategies, skills, approaches or methods and where trainees also need to learn English (or another foreign language. Therefore, it is an ideal approach for training non-native English speaker teachers. Applying CLMITT involves the teacher trainer teaching a classroom method or technique by using that method itself during training sessions while using materials about that method. In this way, the content of the session and the method used to teach the session are the same, and trainees are not only learning about a teaching model or strategy but also experiencing it in action from a student perspective at the same time. In addition, they are also improving their English, since the whole exercise takes place in English. CLMITT can be applied in Initial Teacher Training (ITT Programs as well as Continuous Professional Development courses. Trainee feedback after a CLMITT session showed that students felt it provided them with a much deeper understanding of the methods, approaches and strategies covered, while at the same time improving their English during the process.

Andragogical Model in Language Training of Mining Specialists

Science.gov (United States)

Bondareva, Evgeniya; Chistyakova, Galina; Kleshevskyi, Yury; Sergeev, Sergey; Stepanov, Aleksey

2017-11-01

Nowadays foreign language competence is one of the main professional skills of mining engineers. Modern competitive conditions require the ability for meeting production challenges in a foreign language from specialists and managers of mining enterprises. This is the reason of high demand on foreign language training/retraining courses. Language training of adult learners fundamentally differs from children and adolescent education. The article describes the features of andragogical learning model. The authors conclude that distance learning is the most productive education form having a number of obvious advantages over traditional (in-class) one. Interactive learning method that involves active engagement of adult trainees appears to be of the greatest interest due to introduction of modern information and communication technologies for distance learning.

Auditory-cognitive training improves language performance in prelingually deafened cochlear implant recipients.

Science.gov (United States)

Ingvalson, Erin M; Young, Nancy M; Wong, Patrick C M

2014-10-01

Phonological and working memory skills have been shown to be important for the development of spoken language. Children who use a cochlear implant (CI) show performance deficits relative to normal hearing (NH) children on all constructs: phonological skills, working memory, and spoken language. Given that phonological skills and working memory have been shown to be important for spoken language development in NH children, we hypothesized that training these foundational skills would result in improved spoken language performance in CI-using children. Nineteen prelingually deafened CI-using children aged 4- to 7-years-old participated. All children had been using their implants for at least one year and were matched on pre-implant hearing thresholds, hearing thresholds at study enrollment, and non-verbal IQ. Children were assessed on expressive vocabulary, listening language, spoken language, and composite language. Ten children received four weeks of training on phonological skills including rhyme, sound blending, and sound discrimination and auditory working memory. The remaining nine children continued with their normal classroom activities for four weeks. Language assessments were repeated following the training/control period. Children who received combined phonological-working memory training showed significant gains on expressive and composite language scores. Children who did not receive training showed no significant improvements at post-test. On average, trained children had gain scores of 6.35 points on expressive language and gain scores of 6.15 points whereas the untrained children had test-retest gain scores of 2.89 points for expressive language and 2.56 for composite language. Our results suggest that training to improve the phonological and working memory skills in CI-using children may lead to improved language performance. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Predicting the Proficiency of Arabic and Persian Linguists Trained at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

DeRamus, Nicole

1999-01-01

The mission of the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLIFLC) is to train, sustain, and evaluate foreign language skills of linguists under the guidelines of the Defense Foreign Language Program (DFLP...

A statistical analysis of individual success after successful completion of Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center Training

OpenAIRE

Hinson, William B.

2005-01-01

"The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLIFLC) trains students in various foreign languages and dialects for the Department of Defense (DOD). The majority of students are firstterm enlistees in the basic program. This study uses classification trees and logistic regression to understand the military, academic and personal characteristics that influence first-term success after successfully completing DLIFLC training. Success was defined as completing a firstterm enlistme...

Selection of Military Personnel for Foreign Language Training.

Science.gov (United States)

Neumann, Idell; And Others

A recently initiated research program, designed to develop tests and other procedures for improving the selection of military personnel for language training, has attempted to amplify the traditional language aptitude requirement to include systematic non-cognitive measures of the prospective trainee's motivation. (Author/AF)

Lexical Specificity Training Effects in Second Language Learners

Science.gov (United States)

Janssen, Caressa; Segers, Eliane; McQueen, James M.; Verhoeven, Ludo

2015-01-01

Children who start formal education in a second language may experience slower vocabulary growth in that language and subsequently experience disadvantages in literacy acquisition. The current study asked whether lexical specificity training can stimulate bilingual children's phonological awareness, which is considered to be a precursor to…

Minyoo Matata - The Vicious Worm - A Taenia solium Computer-Based Health-Education Tool - in Swahili

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Trevisan, Chiara; Fèvre, Eric M.; Owiny, Maurice

2017-01-01

Lack of knowledge is one of the main risk factors for the spread of the zoonotic parasite Taenia solium. The computer-based health-education tool 'The Vicious Worm' was developed to create awareness and provide evidence-based health education as a specific measure in control strategies. To increase...... the reach of the tool, a new version in Swahili was developed and can now be downloaded for free from http://theviciousworm.sites.ku.dk....

Language Training: English

CERN Document Server

Françoise Benz

2005-01-01

Oral Expression The next session will take place from January to March 2005. This course is intended for people with a good knowledge of English who want to practise and maintain their speaking skills while extending their vocabulary. There will be a maximum of 10 participants in a class. Speaking activities will include discussions, meeting simulations, role-plays etc. depending on the needs of the students. Timetable: Tuesday 11.30 to 13.30 Duration: 20 hours Price: 440 CHF (for a minimum of 8 students) Writing Professional Documents in English The next session will take place from January to March 2005. This course is designed for people with a good level of spoken English. Duration: 20 hours Price: 440 CHF (for 8 students) Timetable will be fixed after discussion with the students. For registration and further information on these courses, please consult our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training or contact Mrs. Benz: Tel. 73127. FORMATION EN LANGUES LANGUAGE TRAINING Françoise Benz 73127 langu...

Language Training: English

CERN Multimedia

Françoise Benz

2004-01-01

Oral Expression The next session will take place from January to March 2005. This course is intended for people with a good knowledge of English who want to practise and maintain their speaking skills while extending their vocabulary. There will be a maximum of 10 participants in a class. Speaking activities will include discussions, meeting simulations, role-plays etc. depending on the needs of the students. Timetable: Tuesday 11.30 to 13.30 Duration: 20 hours Price: 440 CHF (for a minimum of 8 students) Writing Professional Documents in English The next session will take place from January to March 2005. This course is designed for people with a good level of spoken English. Duration: 20 hours Price: 440 CHF (for 8 students) Timetable will be fixed after discussion with the students. For registration and further information on these courses, please consult our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training or contact Mrs. Benz: Tel. 73127. FORMATION EN LANGUES LANGUAGE TRAINING Françoise Benz 73127 langua...

TEACHER TRAINING IN THE AREA OF LANGUAGE IN PRESCHOOL

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oralia Ortiz-Varela

2015-07-01

Full Text Available This research is conducted in a Kindergarden District in the Mexican educational system, because is important to improve daily practices or activities in kindergardens through an appropriate teacher training in the language area. The most important theoretical foundations are related to the definition of the approaches and models of teacher education, their processes, and the auto-trainig, hetero-training, and inter-training positions that explain them. The methodology used in this research adheres to a postpositivist paradigm, in a quantitative approach, and with a non- experimental cross design, wich has an explanatory scope that uses the survey and questionnaire as technical tool. It was found that there is a significative progress in the teacher's training throughout the practice; continuing education options do not meet the training needs of educators and their impact is not the one was expected in the fields of Language and Education. There is a significant relationship between the variables studied in this research.

Porosité des frontières spatiales, ambiguïté des frontières identitaires : le cas des cités-États swahili de l’archipel de Lamu (vers 1600-1800

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomas Vernet

2010-04-01

Full Text Available Appréhender, sinon définir, l’identité swahili demeure une préoccupation constante des travaux portant sur les communautés musulmanes des rivages de l’Afrique orientale précoloniale. Au-delà des interrogations courantes et parfois redondantes, l’un des moyens d’y parvenir est d’approfondir l’étude des liens établis entre les grandes agglomérations littorales et leur arrière-pays continental. A travers l’exemple de l’archipel de Lamu vers 1600-1800, cette contribution tente d’éclairer l’articulation entre hiérarchie sociale et hiérarchie spatiale. Assurément la ville swahili n’est pas conçue comme un espace ouvert, elle entretient pourtant des liens d’interdépendance étroits avec l’arrière-pays et fonctionne comme un organisme intégrateur particulièrement efficace. Ainsi, par delà le discours produit par les élites urbaines, il est démontré que la porosité et la fluidité du territoire des cités-États littorales sont le reflet des ambiguïtés de l’identité swahili, dont le caractère perméable et mouvant doit être admis et assumé.Apprehending, if not defining, Swahili identity is a constant concern of studies dealing with the Muslim communities settled on the shores of precolonial East Africa. Beyond the common – and sometimes redundant – questioning, it seems useful to deepen the analysis of the relationships between the main urban settlements and their mainland hinterland. Based on the case of the Lamu Archipelago ca.1600-1800, this paper aims to enlighten the links between social hierarchy and spatial hierarchy. Surely the Swahili towns were not conceived as open spatial units, yet they kept close relationships of interdependence with the mainland and worked like integrative bodies of great efficiency. Thus, beyond the legitimating discourse spread by the urban elites, it is shown that the porosity and fluidity of the territory of the coastal city-states mirrored the ambiguities

Training Of Manual Actions Improves Language Understanding of Semantically-Related Action Sentences

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matteo eLocatelli

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Conceptual knowledge accessed by language may involve the re-activation of the associated primary sensory-motor processes. Whether these embodied representations are indeed constitutive to conceptual knowledge is hotly debated, particularly since direct evidence that sensory-motor expertise can improve conceptual processing is scarce.In this study, we sought for this crucial piece of evidence, by training naive healthy subjects to perform complex manual actions and by measuring, before and after training, their performance in a semantic language task. 19 participants engaged in 3 weeks of motor training. Each participant was trained in 3 complex manual actions (e.g. origami. Before and after the training period, each subject underwent a series of manual dexterity tests and a semantic language task. The latter consisted of a sentence-picture semantic congruency judgment task, with 6 target congruent sentence-picture pairs (semantically related to the trained manual actions, 6 non-target congruent pairs (semantically unrelated, and 12 filler incongruent pairs.Manual action training induced a significant improvement in all manual dexterity tests, demonstrating the successful acquisition of sensory-motor expertise. In the semantic language task, the reaction times to both target and non-target congruent sentence-image pairs decreased after action training, indicating a more efficient conceptual-semantic processing. Noteworthy, the reaction times for target pairs decreased more than those for non-target pairs, as indicated by the 2x2 interaction. These results were confirmed when controlling for the potential bias of increased frequency of use of target lexical items during manual training.The results of the present study suggest that sensory-motor expertise gained by training of specific manual actions can lead to an improvement of cognitive-linguistic skills related to the specific conceptual-semantic domain associated to the trained actions.

Designing ICT Training Material for Chinese Language Arts Teachers.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Janet Mei-Chuen; Wu, Cheng-Chih; Chen, Hsiu-Yen

The purpose of this research is to tailor the design of information and communications technology (ICT) training material to the needs of Chinese language arts teachers such that the training they receive will be conducive to effective integration of ICT into instruction. Eighteen experienced teachers participated in a Delphi-like survey that…

APPLICATION OF THE EUROPEAN EXPERIENCE IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHERS’ TRAINING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Victoria Barkasi

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The article defines the role of the European experience in the foreign language teachers` training in the modern society, the use of International relations in education. The concept of common European education is analyzed. Due to this concept teaching and learning standards, educational models, and teaching objectives are brought together with the aim to create the common all-European educational system. In order to join this all-European scheme Ukraine needs to make modifications in its educational system. The fundamental idea is to use blended learning as the dominant instructional mode in higher education. The authors examine how the study of the leading European powers` educational experience helps to approach the problems of education in Ukraine critically. English Language Department of Mykolaiv V. Sukhomlynsky National University as a part of the consortium, composed of ten higher education institutions, takes part in the TEMPUS-project «Improving teaching European languages through the introduction of on-line technology (blended learning to train teachers." Blended learning is a powerful technology to be implemented into the modern model of Ukrainian education in order to get the level of European educational system. The article highlights how participation in the implementation of TEMPUS-project can be an effective tool for improving the training of the foreign languages teachers.

MGIMO Educational Standards: Goal and Contents of Professional Language Training of IR Economics Students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alla A. Kizima

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The article gives a methodological analysis of MGIMO-University own education standards and programmes. The relevance of the article is explained by the necessity to define the goals and contents of professional language training of IR economics students at MGIMO-University after a transfer to own education standards. The researcher used competence-based and cultural studies approaches with reference to the didactic principles of accessibility, systematic, consistency, necessity and sufficiency. The author used a set of methods including the method of theoretical analysis, the method of synthesis and systematization, summative method. The article addresses the difference in the training of IR economists and economists in other spheres of economics, underlines the importance of professional language training of IR economics students, analyses the specifics of professional language training of IR economists from the standpoint of competence-based approach by comparing the competences presented in the Federal State Education Standards of Higher Education and MGIMO own education standards. The author gives a definition of goal and contents of professional language training of IR economics students as well as didactic principles of contents choice that define the effectiveness of training. In conclusion the author points out that the contents of professional language training of IR economics students based on MGIMO own education standards are approached as the system of professional knowledge, skills and competence leading to successful intercultural communication.

SOME ASPECTS OF ADVANCED FOREIGN LANGUAGE TRAINING OF STUDENTS OF NON-SPECIAL DEPARTMENTS AT HIGH SCHOOLS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrij Turchyn

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The problem of modernization of non-special departments students’ foreign language training at Ukrainian high schools has been actualized. The author has defined the basic reasons for the failing of foreign language training as follows: restricted number of foreign language classes at non-special departments; violation of the principle of continuity of foreign language training in the hierarchy “secondary school – high school”; lack of motivation. It has been proved that among the primary tasks that need solving are the following: increasing of the course scope; revision of the organization, structure and content of the foreign language training, improving students’ motivation. The necessity to perform foreign language teaching within two training courses has been substantiated: for the students studying for their Bachelor’s Degree this is the standard (during I–III academic years and advanced (during III–IV academic years as an elective component of the curriculum, as well as for the students studying for the Master’s Degree. The necessity to seek foreign experience in level-based teaching of foreign languages and differentiate the standard course of a foreign language into the elementary and basic levels; to introduce the course “Foreign Language for Beginners” as an additional educational service for alignment, adjustment and development of foreign language knowledge and skills of students at high schools has been justified. The possibility to tackle the problem of students’ motivation improving is linked to a comprehensive approach that provides for the most effective education, development and implementation of a special system of training tasks; formation of social behaviour of collaboration and communication; improvement and modernization of teaching methods; implementation of existing pedagogical innovations (independent learning and metalearning, massive open social learning, „blended” learning, „Bring your

Working memory training to improve speech perception in noise across languages.

Science.gov (United States)

Ingvalson, Erin M; Dhar, Sumitrajit; Wong, Patrick C M; Liu, Hanjun

2015-06-01

Working memory capacity has been linked to performance on many higher cognitive tasks, including the ability to perceive speech in noise. Current efforts to train working memory have demonstrated that working memory performance can be improved, suggesting that working memory training may lead to improved speech perception in noise. A further advantage of working memory training to improve speech perception in noise is that working memory training materials are often simple, such as letters or digits, making them easily translatable across languages. The current effort tested the hypothesis that working memory training would be associated with improved speech perception in noise and that materials would easily translate across languages. Native Mandarin Chinese and native English speakers completed ten days of reversed digit span training. Reading span and speech perception in noise both significantly improved following training, whereas untrained controls showed no gains. These data suggest that working memory training may be used to improve listeners' speech perception in noise and that the materials may be quickly adapted to a wide variety of listeners.

The benefits of executive control training and the implications for language processing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Erika K. Hussey

2012-05-01

Full Text Available Recent psycholinguistics research suggests that the executive function (EF skill known as conflict resolution—the ability to adjust behavior in the service of resolving among incompatible representations—is important for several language processing tasks such as lexical and syntactic ambiguity resolution, verbal fluency, and common-ground assessment. Here, we discuss work showing that various EF skills can be enhanced through consistent practice with working memory tasks that tap these EFs, and, moreover, that improvements on the training tasks transfer across domains to novel tasks that may rely on shared underlying EFs. These findings have implications for language processing and could launch new research exploring if EF training, within a process-specific framework, could be used as a remediation tool for improving general language use. Indeed, work in our lab demonstrates that EF training that increases conflict-resolution processes has selective benefits on an untrained sentence-processing task requiring syntactic ambiguity resolution, which relies on shared conflict-resolution functions. Given claims that conflict-resolution abilities contribute to a range of linguistic skills, EF training targeting this process could theoretically yield wider performance gains beyond garden-path recovery. We offer some hypotheses on the potential benefits of EF training as a component of interventions to mitigate general difficulties in language processing. However, there are caveats to consider as well, which we also address.

Adult Immigrants' Media Usage and Its Function in Host Language Training Opportunities: A Path Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Reichenberg, Monica

2016-01-01

Media promotes to what extent immigrants learn the host language and cultural values. Consequently, the overall aim of this paper is to identify predictors among adult immigrants in language training and its effect on host language training. The participants (n = 186)-- many of them refugees--were recruited purposefully for the study from one…

OUTCOMES OF ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENT IN ADULT LANGUAGE TRAINING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Brândușa Elena Octavia ȚEICAN

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this article is to highlight the switch from traditional assessment to alternative, formative assessment, in other words assessment for learning, in adult language training. We focused on two aspects of formative assessment: self-assessment and peer-assessment, methods that can be used as teaching tools in communicative language teaching in adult English classes. Reportedly, these methods lead to improved results in language learning and production, as well as in motivation and self-esteem. Based on previous studies, our aim is to present how frequent employment of formative feedback based on adult opinions and perceptions – obtained via informal interviews – and tailored to their needs, result in improved learner outcome.

Training teachers for English Medium Instruction: lessons from research on second language listening comprehension

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

María Ángeles Martín del Pozo

2017-07-01

Full Text Available CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning and EMI (English Medium Instruction practices have outpaced theory and teacher training. There is a need to provide answers to some of the key issues such as the language requirements. This paper aims to show that knowledge from English for Specific Purposes and English for Academic Purposes, fields which have provided effective teaching practices and materials, could now be used in CLIL/EMI. The paper focuses on two of these. First, the issues related to second language academic listening comprehension and, secondly, the findings from research on it and their implications for student / lecturer training and materials design. These implications and suggestions are summarized. The paper concludes providing some language learning resources originally targeted to students but which could become tools for (self training of those teachers who need to update their language skills for CLIL.

On Training Bi-directional Neural Network Language Model with Noise Contrastive Estimation

OpenAIRE

He, Tianxing; Zhang, Yu; Droppo, Jasha; Yu, Kai

2016-01-01

We propose to train bi-directional neural network language model(NNLM) with noise contrastive estimation(NCE). Experiments are conducted on a rescore task on the PTB data set. It is shown that NCE-trained bi-directional NNLM outperformed the one trained by conventional maximum likelihood training. But still(regretfully), it did not out-perform the baseline uni-directional NNLM.

Memory and Language Improvements Following Cognitive Control Training

Science.gov (United States)

Hussey, Erika K.; Harbison, J. Isaiah; Teubner-Rhodes, Susan E.; Mishler, Alan; Velnoskey, Kayla; Novick, Jared M.

2017-01-01

Cognitive control refers to adjusting thoughts and actions when confronted with conflict during information processing. We tested whether this ability is causally linked to performance on certain language and memory tasks by using cognitive control training to systematically modulate people's ability to resolve information-conflict across domains.…

Matrix Training of Receptive Language Skills with a Toddler with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

Curiel, Emily S. L.; Sainato, Diane M.; Goldstein, Howard

2016-01-01

Matrix training is a systematic teaching approach that can facilitate generalized language. Specific responses are taught that result in the emergence of untrained responses. This type of training facilitates the use of generalized language in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study used a matrix training procedure with a toddler…

The impact of musical training and tone language experience on talker identification.

Science.gov (United States)

Xie, Xin; Myers, Emily

2015-01-01

Listeners can use pitch changes in speech to identify talkers. Individuals exhibit large variability in sensitivity to pitch and in accuracy perceiving talker identity. In particular, people who have musical training or long-term tone language use are found to have enhanced pitch perception. In the present study, the influence of pitch experience on talker identification was investigated as listeners identified talkers in native language as well as non-native languages. Experiment 1 was designed to explore the influence of pitch experience on talker identification in two groups of individuals with potential advantages for pitch processing: musicians and tone language speakers. Experiment 2 further investigated individual differences in pitch processing and the contribution to talker identification by testing a mediation model. Cumulatively, the results suggested that (a) musical training confers an advantage for talker identification, supporting a shared resources hypothesis regarding music and language and (b) linguistic use of lexical tones also increases accuracy in hearing talker identity. Importantly, these two types of hearing experience enhance talker identification by sharpening pitch perception skills in a domain-general manner.

Computerized Sign Language-Based Literacy Training for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children

Science.gov (United States)

Holmer, Emil; Heimann, Mikael; Rudner, Mary

2017-01-01

Strengthening the connections between sign language and written language may improve reading skills in deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) signing children. The main aim of the present study was to investigate whether computerized sign language-based literacy training improves reading skills in DHH signing children who are learning to read. Further,…

The Effects of Home-Based Cognitive Training on Verbal Working Memory and Language Comprehension in Older Adulthood

Science.gov (United States)

Payne, Brennan R.; Stine-Morrow, Elizabeth A. L.

2017-01-01

Effective language understanding is crucial to maintaining cognitive abilities and learning new information through adulthood. However, age-related declines in working memory (WM) have a robust negative influence on multiple aspects of language comprehension and use, potentially limiting communicative competence. In the current study (N = 41), we examined the effects of a novel home-based computerized cognitive training program targeting verbal WM on changes in verbal WM and language comprehension in healthy older adults relative to an active component-control group. Participants in the WM training group showed non-linear improvements in performance on trained verbal WM tasks. Relative to the active control group, WM training participants also showed improvements on untrained verbal WM tasks and selective improvements across untrained dimensions of language, including sentence memory, verbal fluency, and comprehension of syntactically ambiguous sentences. Though the current study is preliminary in nature, it does provide initial promising evidence that WM training may influence components of language comprehension in adulthood and suggests that home-based training of WM may be a viable option for probing the scope and limits of cognitive plasticity in older adults. PMID:28848421

The Effects of Home-Based Cognitive Training on Verbal Working Memory and Language Comprehension in Older Adulthood.

Science.gov (United States)

Payne, Brennan R; Stine-Morrow, Elizabeth A L

2017-01-01

Effective language understanding is crucial to maintaining cognitive abilities and learning new information through adulthood. However, age-related declines in working memory (WM) have a robust negative influence on multiple aspects of language comprehension and use, potentially limiting communicative competence. In the current study ( N = 41), we examined the effects of a novel home-based computerized cognitive training program targeting verbal WM on changes in verbal WM and language comprehension in healthy older adults relative to an active component-control group. Participants in the WM training group showed non-linear improvements in performance on trained verbal WM tasks. Relative to the active control group, WM training participants also showed improvements on untrained verbal WM tasks and selective improvements across untrained dimensions of language, including sentence memory, verbal fluency, and comprehension of syntactically ambiguous sentences. Though the current study is preliminary in nature, it does provide initial promising evidence that WM training may influence components of language comprehension in adulthood and suggests that home-based training of WM may be a viable option for probing the scope and limits of cognitive plasticity in older adults.

The Effects of Home-Based Cognitive Training on Verbal Working Memory and Language Comprehension in Older Adulthood

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Brennan R. Payne

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Effective language understanding is crucial to maintaining cognitive abilities and learning new information through adulthood. However, age-related declines in working memory (WM have a robust negative influence on multiple aspects of language comprehension and use, potentially limiting communicative competence. In the current study (N = 41, we examined the effects of a novel home-based computerized cognitive training program targeting verbal WM on changes in verbal WM and language comprehension in healthy older adults relative to an active component-control group. Participants in the WM training group showed non-linear improvements in performance on trained verbal WM tasks. Relative to the active control group, WM training participants also showed improvements on untrained verbal WM tasks and selective improvements across untrained dimensions of language, including sentence memory, verbal fluency, and comprehension of syntactically ambiguous sentences. Though the current study is preliminary in nature, it does provide initial promising evidence that WM training may influence components of language comprehension in adulthood and suggests that home-based training of WM may be a viable option for probing the scope and limits of cognitive plasticity in older adults.

Special Operations Forces Language and Culture Needs Assessment Project: Training Emphasis: Language and Culture

Science.gov (United States)

2010-02-25

fluency in both the target language and English. In order to score well on the DLPT V you need to have an extensive vocabulary in both the target...environment IOT cement what you learned in Phase 1; Phase 3 = maintenance training which includes shorter periods of both classroom and immersion. Though

Increasing Early Childhood Educators' Use of Communication-Facilitating and Language-Modelling Strategies: Brief Speech and Language Therapy Training

Science.gov (United States)

McDonald, David; Proctor, Penny; Gill, Wendy; Heaven, Sue; Marr, Jane; Young, Jane

2015-01-01

Intensive Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) training courses for Early Childhood Educators (ECEs) can have a positive effect on their use of interaction strategies that support children's communication skills. The impact of brief SLT training courses is not yet clearly understood. The aims of these two studies were to assess the impact of a brief…

A General Investigation of the In-Service Training of English Language Teachers at Elementary Schools in Turkey

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ebru Melek KOÇ

2016-03-01

Full Text Available This study presents a critical diagnosis of in-service teacher-training activities offered to English-language teachers in Turkey and aims to investigate whether those teachers are satisfied with the activities. Thirty-two English-language teachers participated in this study. Data were collected from 32 elementary-school teachers of English as a foreign language, using a general evaluation form prepared by the researcher. The results indicate that the teachers are not satisfied with their in-service teacher-training activities and that in-service training does not fulfil their needs. The study also proposes an in-service teacher training model in distance format.

The role of the left inferior parietal lobule in second language learning: An intensive language training fMRI study.

Science.gov (United States)

Barbeau, Elise B; Chai, Xiaoqian J; Chen, Jen-Kai; Soles, Jennika; Berken, Jonathan; Baum, Shari; Watkins, Kate E; Klein, Denise

2017-04-01

Research to date suggests that second language acquisition results in functional and structural changes in the bilingual brain, however, in what way and how quickly these changes occur remains unclear. To address these questions, we studied fourteen English-speaking monolingual adults enrolled in a 12-week intensive French language-training program in Montreal. Using functional MRI, we investigated the neural changes associated with new language acquisition. The participants were scanned before the start of the immersion program and at the end of the 12 weeks. The fMRI scan aimed to investigate the brain regions recruited in a sentence reading task both in English, their first language (L1), and in French, their second language (L2). For the L1, fMRI patterns did not change from Time 1 to Time 2, while for the L2, the brain response changed between Time 1 and Time 2 in language-related areas. Of note, for the L2, there was higher activation at Time 2 compared to Time 1 in the left inferior parietal lobule (IPL) including the supramarginal gyrus. At Time 2 this higher activation in the IPL correlated with faster L2 reading speed. Moreover, higher activation in the left IPL at Time 1 predicted improvement in L2 reading speed from Time 1 to Time 2. Our results suggest that learning-induced plasticity occurred as early as 12 weeks into immersive second-language training, and that the IPL appears to play a special role in language learning. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The effects of initial education and training of future foreign language teachers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Đorđević Ana B.

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The effects that initial education and training of future foreign language teachers have on their pedagogic convictions and practice have been of prime interest of numerous authors in the last three decades. In difference to previous pessimistic conclusions in which this type of intervention was assessed as weak and stressed the persistence of preconceived notions of the candidates based on personal experiences from earlier schooling, more recent studies, in the constructivistic spirit of the change of cognition of the students - future teachers is considered more widely, not only as a complete change of the contents of their convictions, i.e. a sudden turn in their attitudes on the group level, but also as a smaller or bigger level of idiosyncratic reconstruction of the existing pedagogic convictions which happens because of acquiring new information and experiences that can reflect significantly on their future work in classroom. The aim of our research was to explore, by reviewing scientific and professional literature, the effects of the initial education and training of foreign language teachers, and focusing on different aspects of the preparation for the teacher's profession (theoretical lecturing and practical training, to find out in which ways various programs can influence the cognition of foreign language teachers and to consider pedagogic implications that these information might have for the organization of initial education and training of students.

About training of Kazakh students of not language specialties basis of scientific speech

OpenAIRE

Ospanova D.

2016-01-01

The article discusses the process of written scientific speech training should include two components: teaching understanding and evaluating texts that make the scientific speech in all its substantive and problematic species and learning the rules of creating texts in the chosen specialty. The idea about functional languages develops in the theory vernaculars among which numerous languages of science take essentially important place; studying of these languages represents the theory and prac...

The Effects of Musical Aptitude and Musical Training on Phonological Production in Foreign Languages

Science.gov (United States)

Pei, Zhengwei; Wu, Yidi; Xiang, Xiaocui; Qian, Huimin

2016-01-01

This study investigates 128 Chinese college students to examine the effects of their musical aptitude and musical training on phonological production in four foreign languages. Results show that musically-trained students remarkably possessed stronger musical aptitude than those without musical training and performed better than their counterpart…

Perceptual Training of Second-Language Vowels: Does Musical Ability Play a Role?

Science.gov (United States)

Ghaffarvand Mokari, Payam; Werner, Stefan

2018-01-01

The present study attempts to extend the research on the effects of phonetic training on the production and perception of second-language (L2) vowels. We also examined whether success in learning L2 vowels through high-variability intensive phonetic training is related to the learners' general musical abilities. Forty Azerbaijani learners of…

In-service English language training for Italian Primary School Teachers An experience in syllabus design

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Barbara Dawes

2013-06-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to report on an in-service English Language Teacher Training Programme devised for the Government project to equip Italian primary school teachers  with the skills to teach English. The paper focuses on the first phase of the project which envisaged research into the best training models and the preparation of appropriate  English Language syllabuses. In  the first three sections of the paper we report on the experience of designing the language syllabus. In the last section we suggest ways of using the syllabus as a tool for self reflective professional development.

Enhancing Learners' Self-Directed Use of Technology for Language Learning: The Effectiveness of an Online Training Platform

Science.gov (United States)

Lai, Chun; Shum, Mark; Tian, Yan

2016-01-01

Enhancing self-directed use of technology for language learning is essential for maximizing the potential of technology for language learning. Understanding how to construct learner training to promote this critical competency is of great significance. This study examined the effectiveness of an online training platform aimed at enhancing the…

Electrocortical Dynamics in Children with a Language-Learning Impairment Before and After Audiovisual Training.

Science.gov (United States)

Heim, Sabine; Choudhury, Naseem; Benasich, April A

2016-05-01

Detecting and discriminating subtle and rapid sound changes in the speech environment is a fundamental prerequisite of language processing, and deficits in this ability have frequently been observed in individuals with language-learning impairments (LLI). One approach to studying associations between dysfunctional auditory dynamics and LLI, is to implement a training protocol tapping into this potential while quantifying pre- and post-intervention status. Event-related potentials (ERPs) are highly sensitive to the brain correlates of these dynamic changes and are therefore ideally suited for examining hypotheses regarding dysfunctional auditory processes. In this study, ERP measurements to rapid tone sequences (standard and deviant tone pairs) along with behavioral language testing were performed in 6- to 9-year-old LLI children (n = 21) before and after audiovisual training. A non-treatment group of children with typical language development (n = 12) was also assessed twice at a comparable time interval. The results indicated that the LLI group exhibited considerable gains on standardized measures of language. In terms of ERPs, we found evidence of changes in the LLI group specifically at the level of the P2 component, later than 250 ms after the onset of the second stimulus in the deviant tone pair. These changes suggested enhanced discrimination of deviant from standard tone sequences in widespread cortices, in LLI children after training.

Translation in Language Teaching: Insights from Professional Translator Training

Science.gov (United States)

Carreres, Angeles; Noriega-Sanchez, Maria

2011-01-01

The past three decades have seen vast changes in attitudes towards translation, both as an academic discipline and as a profession. The insights we have gained in recent years, in particular in the area of professional translator training, call for a reassessment of the role of translation in language teaching. Drawing on research and practices in…

Does training of second-language word recognition skills affect reading comprehension? An experimental study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Fukkink, R.G.; Hulstijn, J.H.; Simis, A.

2005-01-01

Two classroom-based experiments investigated automatization of lexical access in a second language (L2) with a computer-based training, involving a Grade 8 population in the Netherlands, with Dutch first language (L1) and intermediate knowledge of L2 English. Results of the first experiment showed

A Randomized Field Trial of the Fast ForWord Language Computer-Based Training Program

Science.gov (United States)

Borman, Geoffrey D.; Benson, James G.; Overman, Laura

2009-01-01

This article describes an independent assessment of the Fast ForWord Language computer-based training program developed by Scientific Learning Corporation. Previous laboratory research involving children with language-based learning impairments showed strong effects on their abilities to recognize brief and fast sequences of nonspeech and speech…

Training of Future Civil Engineers in the Area of Foreign Language: Interaction of Educational Paradigms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nordman Irina

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The article deals with problems of engineers’ training in higerh school. Problems in the organization of classroom and students’ independent work, in the area of evaluation and control as well as teaching recourses and training methods are pointed out. The role of foreign language in the training of future specialists in the field of construction is highlighted. The necessity of the use of settings of traditional and innovative educational paradigms when training of students in the specialization “Industrial and civil construction” on the discipline “Foreign Language” is proved. The interaction of traditional and innovative teaching resources, trraining methods, as well as evaluation and control means is shown. The conclusions on the effectiveness of interaction of traditional and innovative educational concepts when teaching a foreign language in technical universities are drawn.

ICT AND MODERN FOREIGN LANGUAGES: LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES AND TRAINING NEEDS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Graham Davies

2002-06-01

Full Text Available This article is divided into two main sections. The first section considers why technology has not lived up to its expectations in bringing about improvements in language learning. Many learning opportunities are offered by new technologies but they are not fully exploited, mainly owing to the lack of relevant training offered to teachers. In addition, with the advent of the Web, there is a disturbing trend towards removing the teacher from the learning process - which is simply not acceptable. The second section of the article looks at a website that offers a considerable volume of ICT training materials or language teachers, namely the ICT4LT website: http://www.ict4lt.org. The author examines the aims behind the site as a whole and the pattern of site visits, discussing the key issues and drawing conclusions based on an analysis of the pattern of visits to different modules of the site. Some important lessons have been learned regarding the type of training that teachers appear to need, for example: the continued interest in multimedia and the high demand for introductory courses. It is also evident that Web traffic is predominantly one-way and confined to certain sectors of the world, indicating that much more has to be done in order to stimulate discussion and to make the Web accessible to underserved regions of the world.

The Methodology of Foreign Language Integrative Teaching at the Initial Stage of Interpreter Training

Science.gov (United States)

Vedishenkova, Marina V.; Mironina, Anna Y.

2016-01-01

The topicality of the research is connected with the modern requirements to the education of future interpreters who are to speak a foreign language within the professional context. For this purpose, it is necessary to focus their language training at the initial stage of learning on forming their professional thinking. This raises the need for…

Short-Term Second Language and Music Training Induces Lasting Functional Brain Changes in Early Childhood

Science.gov (United States)

Moreno, Sylvain; Lee, Yunjo; Janus, Monika; Bialystok, Ellen

2015-01-01

Immediate and lasting effects of music or second-language training were examined in early childhood using event-related potentials. Event-related potentials were recorded for French vowels and musical notes in a passive oddball paradigm in thirty-six 4- to 6-year-old children who received either French or music training. Following training, both…

Training Parents to Use the Natural Language Paradigm to Increase Their Autistic Children's Speech.

Science.gov (United States)

Laski, Karen E.; And Others

1988-01-01

Parents of four nonverbal and four echolalic autistic children, aged five-nine, were trained to increase their children's speech by using the Natural Language Paradigm. Following training, parents increased the frequency with which they required their children to speak, and children increased the frequency of their verbalizations in three…

Music Training Program: A Method Based on Language Development and Principles of Neuroscience to Optimize Speech and Language Skills in Hearing-Impaired Children

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Samaneh Sadat Dastgheib

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Introduction: In recent years, music has been employed in many intervention and rehabilitation program to enhance cognitive abilities in patients. Numerous researches show that music therapy can help improving language skills in patients including hearing impaired. In this study, a new method of music training is introduced based on principles of neuroscience and capabilities of Persian language to optimize language development in deaf children after implantation.    Materials and Methods: The candidate children are classified in three groups according to their hearing age and language development. The music training program is established and centered on four principles, as follows: hearing and listening to music (with special attention to boost hearing, singing, rhythmic movements with music and playing musical instruments.   Results: Recently much research has demonstrated that even after cochlear implant operation, a child cannot acquire language to the same level of detail as a normal child. As a result of this study music could compensate this developmental delay .It is known that the greater the area of the brain that is activated, the more synaptic learning and plasticity changes occur in that specific area. According to the principles of neural plasticity, music could improve language skills by activating the same areas for language processing in the brain.   Conclusion:  In conclusion, the effects of music on the human brain seem to be very promising and therapeutic in various types of disorders and conditions, including cochlear implantation.

What Drives Students of Vocational Training Program? An Investigation on the Significance of Foreign Language Acquisition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Irina M. Solodkova

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The paper dwells on the distinguishing the motives that drive students of vocational training program in terms of foreign language acquisition being the main component of future employment success. In fast-changing world which is teemed with new challenges and career patterns foreign language acquisition is viewed as a foremost aspects of promotion. The aim of the current study was to identify the main motives that drive students of vocational training program for foreign language acquisition and later equip higher education authorities and teaching staff with the data to improve language education complying with the students’ requirements. To find out internal and external motives of the students enrolled to the program at The Educational Center for Professional Communicative Training of Kazan Federal University a questionnaire survey was organized. The results of the research identify that there are differences in students’ priorities of external and internal motives and there is a prevalence of the internal ones. It is accounted for by the fact that students of the program realize the significance of foreign language acquisition for their personal needs and future professional activity. But practically all of them emphasized the same personal and interpersonal factors of internal motivation. The obtained findings will be exploited as recommendations in designing the syllabus and will be of great help in choosing the appropriate forms and techniques in carrying out the course.

The Development and Validation of a Spanish Elicited Imitation Test of Oral Language Proficiency for the Missionary Training Center

Science.gov (United States)

Thompson, Carrie A.

2013-01-01

The Missionary Training Center (MTC), affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, needs a reliable and cost effective way to measure the oral language proficiency of missionaries learning Spanish. The MTC needed to measure incoming missionaries' Spanish language proficiency for training and classroom assignment as well as to…

Language Training: English Training

CERN Document Server

Françoise Benz

2004-01-01

If you wish to participate in one of the following courses, please discuss with your supervisor and apply electronically directly from the course description pages that can be found on the Web at: http://www.cern.ch/Training/ or fill in an 'application for training' form available from your Divisional Secretariat or from your DTO (Divisional Training Officer). Applications will be accepted in the order of their receipt. General and Professional English Courses The next session will take place from 04 October 2004 to 11 February 2005 (3 weeks break at Christmas). These courses are open to all persons working on the CERN site, and to their spouses. For registration and further information on the courses, please consult our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training or contact Mr. Liptow, tel. 72957. Oral Expression This course is intended for people with a good knowledge of English who want to practise and maintain their speaking skills while extending their vocabulary. There will be approximately 8 participants in...

A French-speaking speech-language pathology program in West Africa: transfer of training between Minority and Majority World countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Topouzkhanian, Sylvia; Mijiyawa, Moustafa

2013-02-01

In West Africa, as in Majority World countries, people with a communication disability are generally cut-off from the normal development process. A long-term involvement of two partners (Orthophonistes du Monde and Handicap International) allowed the implementation in 2003 of the first speech-language pathology qualifying course in West Africa, within the Ecole Nationale des Auxiliaires Medicaux (ENAM, National School for Medical Auxiliaries) in Lome, Togo. It is a 3-year basic training (after the baccalaureate) in the only academic training centre for medical assistants in Togo. This department has a regional purpose and aims at training French-speaking African students. French speech-language pathology lecturers had to adapt their courses to the local realities they discovered in Togo. It was important to introduce and develop knowledge and skills in the students' system of reference. African speech-language pathologists have to face many challenges: creating an African speech and language therapy, introducing language disorders and their possible cure by means other than traditional therapies, and adapting all the evaluation tests and tools for speech-language pathology to each country, each culture, and each language. Creating an African speech-language pathology profession (according to its own standards) with a real influence in West Africa opens great opportunities for schooling and social and occupational integration of people with communication disabilities.

A HMM-Based System for Training of Second Language Aquisition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lingyun Gu

2003-12-01

Full Text Available We describe a system for the training of Second Language Acquisition Pronunciation (SLAP for non-native speakers. This speech recognition-based system is designed to mimic the valuable interactions between second-language students and a fluent teacher. When a student speaks a word into SLAP's microphone, it is analyzed to determine the part of the word (if any that is incorrectly pronounced. A fluent utterance of the word is then played back to the student with emphasis on the mispronounced part of the word. Just as a live teacher naturally does, the difficult part of the word is played back louder, extended in time and possibly with higher pitch. We demonstrate SLAP on a multisyllabic word to show typical performance.

Deciphering open space in urban contexts: Geophysical survey, soil multi-element chemical analysis, and artifact distributions at the 15th–16th-century AD Swahili settlement of Songo Mnara

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fleisher, Jeffrey; Sulas, Federica

2015-01-01

to map artifact and geochemical distributions across these areas. These data provided a means to distinguish a ‘public space’ at the site: correlations were found between anomalies, daub, certain chemical elements (Fe, P, K, Mn) while areas without anomalies—the ‘public space’—correlated with more...... at this Swahili site contained defined and protected public areas where small-scale production may have occurred....

The influence of non-linguistic factors on the usage of the pre-prefix in Bantu

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kühl, Karoline; Petzell, Malin

2017-01-01

and social factors, taking into account the situation of intense language contact between Luguru and the dominating language Swahili, where the pre-prefix is non-existent. Not much has been published on Luguru overall, and this is the first study of the pre-prefix. Moreover, it is, to our knowledge...

Tippo Tip à Mulongo. Nouvelles données sur le début de la pénétration arabo-swahili au Sahara

OpenAIRE

Maret, Pierre de; Legros, Hugues

2009-01-01

The tribal lands of the Luba of Mulongo, situated at the extreme north of the Upemba depression are not only an almost obligatory point of passage for those coming from the east en route to the heart of the Luba but are also an important market. It is therefore a very useful place to study the Arab-Swahili penetration in the kingdom of Luba in the nineteenth century, especially as one of the first merchants to reach this chefferie was none other than Tippo Tip. In his autobiography, he briefl...

Language Training

CERN Multimedia

Françoise Benz

2005-01-01

If you wish to participate in one of the following courses, please tell to your supervisor and apply electronically from the course description pages that can be found on the Web at: http://www.cern.ch/Training/ or fill in an 'application for training' form available from your Departmental Secretariat or from your DTO (Departmental Training Officer). Applications will be accepted in the order in which they are received. General and Professional English Courses The next session will take place: from end of September 2005 to middle of February 2006 (2/ 3 weeks break at Christmas). These courses are open to all persons working on the CERN site, and to their spouses. For registration and further information on the courses, please consult our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training or contact Mr. Liptow: tel. 72957. Oral Expression The next session will take place from end of September to December 2005. This course is intended for people with a good knowledge of English who want to practise and maintain the...

Language training

CERN Document Server

Françoise Benz

2006-01-01

If you wish to participate in one of the following courses, please tell to your supervisor and apply electronically from the course description pages that can be found on the Web at: http://www.cern.ch/Training/ or fill in an 'application for training'form available from your Departmental Secretariat or from your DTO (Departmental Training Officer). Applications will be accepted in the order in which they are received. General and Professional English Courses The next session will take place from beginning of October 2006 to beginning of February 2007 (3 weeks break at Christmas).These courses are open to all persons working on the CERN site and to their spouses. For registration and further information on the courses, please consult our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training or contact Tessa Osborne, tel.16 23 40. Oral Expression The next session will take place from beginning of October 2006 to beginning of February 2007 (3 weeks break at Christmas).This course is intended for people with a goo...

Language training

CERN Multimedia

2006-01-01

If you wish to participate in one of the following courses, please tell to your supervisor and apply electronically from the course description pages that can be found on the Web at: http://www.cern.ch/Training/ or fill in an 'application for training' form available from your Departmental Secretariat or from your DTO (Departmental Training Officer). Applications will be accepted in the order in which they are received. General and Professional English Courses The next session will take place from beginning of October 2006 to beginning of February 2007 (3 weeks break at Christmas).These courses are open to all persons working on the CERN site and to their spouses. For registration and further information on the courses, please consult our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training or contact Tessa Osborne, tel.16 23 40. Oral Expression The next session will take place from beginning of October 2006 to beginning of February 2007 (3 weeks break at Christmas).This course is intended for people with a good knowl...

Tourism and Foreign Language Training for Local Merchants and Guides in Penglipuran Tourism Village of Bangli Regency

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dian Pramita Sugiarti

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Community service in form of practical tourism and foreign language training for local merchants and guides in Penglipuran tourist village, Bangli regency was aimed at improving the knowledge of Japanese tourism and vocabulary and English in accordance with the appropriate grammar. The targets in this training were local merchants and guides in Penglipuran village who had less knowledge about tourism and the proper usage of foreign language. Not only the training of tourism and practical foreign languages, local merchants and guides were also given knowledge about the characteristics of domestic and international tourists, as well as ways of serving the tourists in accordance with the agreed standards. The special target of this dedication was to find a social formula to solve the problems that occurred in the tourist village of Penglipuran. The fostering system implemented so far was less effective so that it led to a decline in knowledge about tourism and foreign languages for local merchants and guides who were the tourism actors expected to provide correct information to the tourists. If this was left unchecked, the number of tourist arrivals and local merchants and guides who had international standard capability would continue to decrease annually. The method of devotion used was the workshop and FGD so that the results of teaching could be understood by Penglipuran village management to continue to conduct trainings that educate local merchants and guides.

Interactive Technologies of Foreign Language Teaching in Future Marine Specialists’ Training: from Experience of the Danube River Basin Universities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Olga Demchenko

2015-08-01

Full Text Available The article deals with the investigation of the interactive technologies of foreign language teaching in future marine specialists’ training in the Danube river basin universities. The author gives definitions of the most popular interactive technologies aimed to form communicative competence as a significant component of future mariners’ key competencies. Typology and analysis of some interactive technologies of foreign language teaching in future marine specialists’ training are provided.

Special Operations Forces Language and Culture Needs Assessment: Immersion Training

Science.gov (United States)

2010-11-01

in TL Listen in TL Train or teach other in TL Conduct business negotiations in TL Use TL to maintain control Use TL to persuade people Use informal... teach what you’re going to do, you do a practical exercise where they’re integrating, the person’s integrating what you just taught them in a...1990). Investigating fluency in EFL : A quantitative approach. Language Learning, 3, 387– 417. Owens, W. (2010). Improving cultural education of Special

From community training to university training (and vice-versa: new sign language translator and interpreter profile in the brazilian context

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vanessa Regina de Oliveira Martins

2015-12-01

Full Text Available This paper aims to discuss the new profile of sign language translators/interpreters that is taking shape in Brazil since the implementation of policies stimulating the training of these professionals. We qualitatively analyzed answers to a semi-open questionary given by undergraduate students from a BA course in translation and interpretation in Brazilian sign language/Portuguese. Our results show that the ones to seek for this area are not, as it used to be, the ones who have some relation with the deaf community and/or need some kind of certification for their activity as a sign language interpreter. Actually, the students’ choice for the course in discussion had to do with their score in a unified profession selection system (SISU. This contrasts with the 1980, 1990, 2000 sign language interpreter’s profile. As Brazilian Sign Language has become more popular, people search for a university degree have started to see sign language translation/interpreting as an interesting option for their career. So, we discuss here the need to take into account the need to provide students who cannot sign with the necessary pedagogical means to learn the language, which will promote the accessibility of Brazilian deaf communities.

From community training to university training (and vice-versa: new sign language translator and interpreter profile in the brazilian context

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vanessa Regina de Oliveira Martins

2015-10-01

Full Text Available This paper aims to discuss the new profile of sign language translators/interpreters that is taking shape in Brazil since the implementation of policies stimulating the training of these professionals. We qualitatively analyzed answers to a semi-open questionary given by undergraduate students from a BA course in translation and interpretation in Brazilian sign language/Portuguese. Our results show that the ones to seek for this area are not, as it used to be, the ones who have some relation with the deaf community and/or need some kind of certification for their activity as a sign language interpreter. Actually, the students’ choice for the course in discussion had to do with their score in a unified profession selection system (SISU. This contrasts with the 1980, 1990, 2000 sign language interpreter’s profile. As Brazilian Sign Language has become more popular, people search for a university degree have started to see sign language translation/interpreting as an interesting option for their career. So, we discuss here the need to take into account the need to provide students who cannot sign with the necessary pedagogical means to learn the language, which will promote the accessibility of Brazilian deaf communities.

Language training

CERN Multimedia

2015-01-01

If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to learn a language, there is no excuse any more.    You can attend one of our English or French courses and you can practise the language with a tandem partner!   General & Professional French courses The next General & Professional French course will start on 26 January. These collective courses aim to bring participants who have at least level A1 to higher levels (up to C2). Each level consists of a combination of face-to-face sessions (40 hours) with personal work (20 hours) following a specially designed programme. A final progress test takes place at the end of the term. Please note that it is mandatory to take the placement test. Please sign up here. French courses for beginners The aim of this course is to give some basic skills to beginners in order to communicate in simple everyday situations in both social and professional life. These courses can start at any time during the year, as soon as a group of beg...

Special Operations Forces Language and Culture Needs Assessment: Cultural Awarenes and Knowledge Training

Science.gov (United States)

2010-11-01

hours. Training must incorporate language, culture, norms, customs, etiquette , religion, etc as to how not offend the local ethnicities.” SOF Leader...consensus. The frequency of occurrence for each theme is presented in this report. Analysis of the focus group data followed the same protocol , except

Depictions and minifiction: a reflection on translation of micro-story as didactics of sign language interpreters training in colombia.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alex Giovanny Barreto

2015-10-01

Full Text Available The article presents reflections on methodological translation-practice approach to sign language interpreter’s education focus in communicative competence. Implementing translation-practice approach experience started in several workshops of the Association of Translators and Interpreters of Sign Language of Colombia (ANISCOL and have now formalized in the bachelor in education degree project in signed languages, develop within Research Group UMBRAL from National Open University and Distance of Colombia-UNAD. The didactic proposal focus on the model of the efforts (Gile, specifically in the production and listen efforts. A criticism about translating competence is presented. Minifiction is literary genre with multiple semiotic and philosophical translation possibilities. These literary texts have elements with great potential to render on visual, gestural and spatial depictions of Colombian sign language which is profitable to interpreter training and education. Through El Dinosaurio sign language translation, we concludes with an outline and reflections on the pedagogical and didactic potential of minifiction and depictions in the design of training activities in sign language interpreters.

Travel Industry Specialists’ Training for Professional Activities in a Foreign Language in the North Caucasus Federal District of Russia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elena V. Markaryan

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This article is devoted to the theoretical and practical aspects of foreign language teaching of the future hospitality and tourism specialists in terms of professional intercultural communication. First of all, we have analyzed the peculiarities of professional activities and job specification of tourism specialists, then on these grounds we have selected professional foreign competences, which are necessary to develop while teaching this type of specialists foreign languages. Taking into consideration the nature of the tourism specialists’ professional activities and the training objectives of professional foreign language communication, we have worked out the fundamental methodological principles of teaching foreign languages for special purposes, namely the professional communicative principle and the professional intercultural principle. At the same time, we have presented linguistic-didactic basics of tourism specialists’ language training. Particular emphasis is put on the use of the materials, containing regional component, which facilitate to develop the ability to represent native culture during professional intercultural communication.

Effectiveness of Strategy Training for Struggling English Language Students: Profiles and Results of a Five-year Study

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Josephine A.; Gomez, Julio Cesar; Quintero, Gloria; Nausa, Ricardo; Rey, Luz Libia

2011-01-01

This study examines a group of approximately 1,100 English as a foreign language students who attended a tutoring program dedicated to training learners in study skills and language learning strategies. The study covers a five-year period of time during which the tutoring program remained consistent in its focus and organization. Students…

Addendum to "Increasing Early Childhood Educators' Use of Communication-Facilitating and Language-Modelling Strategies: Brief Speech and Language Therapy Training"

Science.gov (United States)

McDonald, David; Proctor, Penny; Gill, Wendy; Heaven, Sue; Marr, Jane; Young, Jane

2015-01-01

The purpose of this addendum is to include within our discussion the findings of Girolametto et al. (2007), a randomized controlled trial of Teacher Talk training, an adapted version of Learning Language and Loving It (LLLI) (Weitzman and Greenberg, 2002). Teacher Talk does not include the coaching and video feedback elements of LLLI. Girolametto…

Professional Language Training of International Students in the Multicultural Environment of University for International Relations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tatyana Glebova

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The article addresses the specific features of professional language training of international students in the multicultural environment of a Russian university teaching students of international relations. After a brief historical survey of teaching foreign students in the universities of Russia, the writer considers the factors that influence the choice of universities graduating specialists in international relations by foreign students. The author goes on to analyze the specifics of linguisticand socio-cultural environment in Russian universities and its impact on international students stressing the fact that the educational environment at MGIMO-University is multilingual and multicultural. That explains the relevance of studying the quality of professional language training of foreign students in the sphere of international relations. The language of teaching in most universities of the Russian Federation is Russian, besides, all MGIMO students are obliged to learn English either as their first or second foreign language, that is why international students have to study in a tri-lingual environment and the interfering influence of several cultures. The writer points out that under such circumstances it is necessary for future IR specialists to build a number of professionally relevant competences: linguistic, socio-cultural, communicative, and suggests educational technologies that have proved to be effective in building them: case-study, role-plays, etc. The article gives special attention to the place and role of translation in teaching English as translation is a system of encoding within the system of two language systems. Translating phrases from Russian into English the student does 'inner', mental translation using the mother tongue. That makes the author suggest using the students'mother tongues in the teaching process. While learning foreign languages, international students should, along with language material, study the system

Number pronunciation in a multilingual environment and implications for an ASR system

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Molapo, R

2014-11-01

Full Text Available . Mbogho, “Web-based corpus acquisition for Swahili language modelling,” in 3rd workshop on Spoken Languages Technolo- gies for Under-resourced languages, 2012, pp. 42–47. [8] T. Schlippe, C. Zhu, J. Gebhardt, and T. Schultz, “Text normalization based... multilingual environment and implications for an ASR system Raymond Molapo Human Language Technologies Research Group Meraka Institute CSIR, South Africa Multilingual Speech Technologies Group North-West University Vanderbijlpark South Africa Email: rmolapo...

MAIN ASPECTS IN LANGUAGE TRAINING OF NON-ENGLISH SPEAKING AIRMEN

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nataliya Pazyura

2016-12-01

Full Text Available In the globalized world and rapid development of technical progress aviation industry has been gaining more importance for humanity and requires a deeper understanding of the English language, its basic characteristics and mechanisms of functioning. Purpose: The aim of the article is to study the influence of the proficiency of English on flight safety, to consider the main communication problems of non-English speaking aviation personnel, highlight possible directions for training English-speaking personnel. In the article the author tries to show the disadvantage at which non-English speaking airline staff work in case of emergency. The article highlights the issue about high level aviation English proficiency necessary to avoid communication problem. Methods: For the research scientific general methods have been used which are main ways of studying scientific sources, and comparative method for synchronic comparison of events in the different regions. Results: The author concludes that at the same time it is necessary for aviation personnel to master plain language for understanding context of communication, to minimize uncertainty and improve understanding between the controller and pilot. Discussion: It stresses the idea that the language proficiency level that exceeds the minimum standards according to ICAO, contributes significantly to the reduction of communication problems and in such a way ensures safety.

Language Training - French Training

CERN Multimedia

HR Department

2008-01-01

General and Professional French Courses The next session will take place from 26 January to 3rd April 2009. These courses are open to all persons working on the CERN site, and to their spouses. For registration and further information on the courses, please consult our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training or contact Mrs. Nathalie Dumeaux : Tel. 78144. Writing Professional Documents in French The next session will take place from 26 January to 3rd April 2009. This course is designed for people with a good level of spoken French. Duration: 30 hours Price: 660 CHF For further information and registration, please consult our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training or contact Mrs. Nathalie Dumeaux : Tel. 78144. Nathalie Dumeaux Tel. 78144 mailto:nathalie.dumeaux@cern.ch

Language Training - French Training

CERN Multimedia

HR Department

2009-01-01

General and Professional French Courses The next session will take place from 26 January to 3rd April 2009. These courses are open to all persons working on the CERN site, and to their spouses. For registration and further information on the courses, please consult our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training or contact Mrs. Nathalie Dumeaux : Tel. 78144. Writing Professional Documents in French The next session will take place from 26 January to 3rd April 2009. This course is designed for people with a good level of spoken French. Duration: 30 hours Price: 660 CHF For further information and registration, please consult our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training or contact Mrs. Nathalie Dumeaux : Tel. 78144. Nathalie Dumeaux Tel. 78144 mailto:nathalie.dumeaux@cern.ch

Effects of short-term music and second-language training on executive control.

Science.gov (United States)

Janus, Monika; Lee, Yunjo; Moreno, Sylvain; Bialystok, Ellen

2016-04-01

Separate lines of research have identified enhanced performance on nonverbal executive control (EC) tasks for bilinguals and those with music training, but little is known about the relation between them in terms of the specificity of the effects of each experience or the degree of exposure necessary to induce these changes. Using an intervention design, the current study pseudorandomly assigned 57 4- to 6-year-old children (matched on age, maternal education, and cognitive scores) to a 20-day training program offering instruction in either music or conversational French. The test battery consisted of verbal and nonverbal tasks requiring EC. All children improved on these tasks following training with some training-specific differences. No changes were observed on background or working memory measures after either training, ruling out simple practice effects. Children in both groups had better scores on the most challenging condition of a grammaticality sentence judgment task in which it was necessary to ignore conflict introduced through misleading semantic content. Children in both training groups also showed better accuracy on the easier condition of a nonverbal visual search task at post-test, but children in the French training group also showed significant improvement on the more challenging condition of this task. These results are discussed in terms of emergent EC benefits of language and music training. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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African Journals Online (AJOL)

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ICT. This has been done by showing how Kiswahili, an indigenous African language and a linguistic .... shows and animation effects. ... which is a complete Swahili adaptation of Tux – Paint, a drawing program for children (klnX. 2004). This is ...

Mother-tongue training in school as a determinant of global language proficiency: A Belgian case study

Science.gov (United States)

Danesi, Marcel

1988-12-01

Experimental models of education that incorporate the mother tongue of immigrant children into the structure of their curricula constitute obvious cases-in-point for assessing the validity of bilingual or multilingual education for such children. The present case study of one such model, the so-called `Foyer Bicultural Education Project' of Brussels, is intended to shed some light on the relationship between formal mother-tongue training and the development of global language proficiency in minority-language children. Since this particular case-in-point involves three languages — Italian (the mother tongue), Flemish and French — it is especially interesting with regard to the validity of the so-called `interdependence principle', as formulated by Cummins (1979). The findings presented here confirm Cummins' principle that the development of literacy in the mother tongue is a determinant of global language proficiency in minority-language children.

Integrating Spanish language training across a Doctor of Physical Therapy curriculum: a case report of one program's evolving model.

Science.gov (United States)

Pechak, Celia; Diaz, Deborah; Dillon, Loretta

2014-12-01

As the Hispanic population continues to expand in the United States, health professionals increasingly may encounter people who speak Spanish and have limited English proficiency. Responding to these changes, various health profession educators have incorporated Spanish language training into their curricula. Of 12 doctor of physical therapy (DPT) programs identified as including elective or required Spanish courses, the program at The University of Texas at El Paso is the only one integrating required Spanish language training across the curriculum. The purpose of this case report is to describe the development, implementation, and preliminary outcomes of the evolving educational model at The University of Texas at El Paso. The University of Texas at El Paso is situated immediately across the border from Mexico. Responding to the large population with limited English proficiency in the community, faculty began to integrate required Spanish language training during a transition from a master-level to a DPT curriculum. The Spanish language curriculum pillar includes a Spanish medical terminology course, language learning opportunities threaded throughout the clinical courses, clinical education courses, and service-learning. Forty-five DPT students have completed the curriculum. Assessment methods were limited for early cohorts. Clinically relevant Spanish verbal proficiency was assessed with a practical examination in the Spanish course, a clinical instructor-rated instrument, and student feedback. Preliminary data suggested that the model is improving Spanish language proficiency. The model still is evolving. Spanish language learning opportunities in the curriculum are being expanded. Also, problems with the clinical outcome measure have been recognized. Better definition of intended outcomes and validation of a revised tool are needed. This report should promote opportunities for collaboration with others who are interested in linguistic competence. © 2014

Guidelines for the training, credentialing, use, and supervision of speech-language pathology assistants. Task Force on Support Personnel.

Science.gov (United States)

1996-01-01

These guidelines are an official statement of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. They provide guidance on the training, credentialing, use, and supervision of one category of support personnel in speech-language pathology: speech-language pathology assistants. Guidelines are not official standards of the Association. They were developed by the Task Force on Support Personnel: Dennis J. Arnst, Kenneth D. Barker, Ann Olsen Bird, Sheila Bridges, Linda S. DeYoung, Katherine Formichella, Nena M. Germany, Gilbert C. Hanke, Ann M. Horton, DeAnne M. Owre, Sidney L. Ramsey, Cathy A. Runnels, Brenda Terrell, Gerry W. Werven, Denise West, Patricia A. Mercaitis (consultant), Lisa C. O'Connor (consultant), Frederick T. Spahr (coordinator), Diane Paul-Brown (associate coordinator), Ann L. Carey (Executive Board liaison). The 1994 guidelines supersede the 1981 guidelines entitled, "Guidelines for the Employment and Utilization of Supportive Personnel" (Asha, March 1981, 165-169). Refer to the 1995 position statement on the "Training, Credentialing, Use, and Supervision of Support Personnel in Speech-Language Pathology" (Asha, 37 [Suppl. 14], 21).

Lessons in the Korean Language and Culture for Teachers of English as a Second Language.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Chang Whan

This language text is designed to introduce the Korean language and culture to Peace Corps trainees and volunteers who will be teachers of English as a second language to Korean students. The disciplines of language training, cross-cultural training, and TESL are combined in a single volume into one integrated curriculum. The text contains 100…

Speech-language therapy for adolescents with written-language difficulties: The South African context

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Danel Erasmus

2013-11-01

Method: A survey study was conducted, using a self-administered questionnaire. Twenty-two currently practising speech-language therapists who are registered members of the South African Speech-Language-Hearing Association (SASLHA participated in the study. Results: The respondents indicated that they are aware of their role regarding adolescents with written-language difficulties. However, they feel that South-African speech-language therapists are not fulfilling this role. Existing assessment tools and interventions for written-language difficulties are described as inadequate, and culturally and age inappropriate. Yet, the majority of the respondents feel that they are adequately equipped to work with adolescents with written-language difficulties, based on their own experience, self-study and secondary training. The respondents feel that training regarding effective collaboration with teachers is necessary to establish specific roles, and to promote speech-language therapy for adolescents among teachers. Conclusion: Further research is needed in developing appropriate assessment and intervention tools as well as improvement of training at an undergraduate level.

Comparing the Picture Exchange Communication System and Sign Language Training for Children with Autism

Science.gov (United States)

Tincani, Matt

2004-01-01

This study compared the effects of Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) and sign language training on the acquisition of mands (requests for preferred items) of students with autism. The study also examined the differential effects of each modality on students' acquisition of vocal behavior. Participants were two elementary school students…

Effects of Short Term Music and Second Language Training on Executive Control

Science.gov (United States)

Janus, Monika; Lee, Yunjo; Moreno, Sylvain; Bialystok, Ellen

2015-01-01

Separate lines of research have identified enhanced performance on non-verbal executive control (EC) tasks for bilinguals (Bialystok, Craik, Green, & Gollan, 2009) and those with music training (Moreno et al., 2011), but little is known about the relation between them in terms of the specificity of the effects of each experience or the degree of exposure necessary to induce these changes. Using an intervention design, the present study pseudo-randomly assigned 57 4- to 6-year-old children (matched on age, maternal education, and cognitive scores) to a 20-day training program offering instruction in either music or conversational French. The test battery consisted of verbal and non-verbal tasks requiring EC. All children improved on these tasks following training with some training-specific differences. No changes were observed on background or working memory measures after either training, ruling out simple practice effects. Children in both groups had better scores on the most challenging condition of a grammaticality sentence judgment task in which it was necessary to ignore conflict introduced through misleading semantic content. Children in both training groups also showed better accuracy on the easier condition of a non-verbal visual search task at post-test, but children in the French training group also showed significant improvement on the more challenging condition of this task. These results are discussed in terms of emergent EC benefits of language and music training. PMID:26709746

Language Training: French

CERN Multimedia

Françoise Benz

2004-01-01

If you wish to participate in one of the following courses, please discuss with your supervisor and apply electronically directly from the course description pages that can be found on the Web at: http://www.cern.ch/Training/ or fill in an 'application for training' form available from your Divisional Secretariat or from your DTO (Divisional Training Officer). Applications will be accepted in the order of their receipt.General and Professional French Courses The next session will take place from 26 April to 02 July 2004. These courses are open to all persons working on the Cern site, and to their spouses. For registration and further information on the courses, please consult our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training or contact Mrs. Benz: Tel. 73127. Writing Professional Documents in French The next session will take place from 26 April to 02 July 2004. This course is designed for people with a good level of spoken French. Duration: 30 hours Price: 660 CHF (for 8 students) For further information and registra...

Global health language and culture competency.

Science.gov (United States)

Beadling, Charles; Maza, John; Nakano, Gregg; Mahmood, Maysaa; Jawad, Shakir; Al-Ameri, Ali; Zuerlein, Scott; Anderson, Warner

2012-01-01

This article presents findings from a survey conducted to examine the availability of foreign language and culture training to Civil Affairs health personnel and the relevance of that training to the tasks they perform. Civil Affairs forces recognize the value of cross-cultural communication competence because their missions involve a significant level of interaction with foreign governments? officials, military, and civilians. Members of the 95th Civil Affairs Brigade (Airborne) who had a health-related military occupational specialty code were invited to participate in the survey. More than 45% of those surveyed were foreign language qualified. Many also received predeployment language and culture training specific to the area of deployment. Significantly more respondents reported receiving cultural training and training on how to work effectively with interpreters than having received foreign language training. Respondents perceived interpreters as important assets and were generally satisfied with their performance. Findings from the survey highlight a need to identify standard requirements for predeployment language training that focuses on medical and health terminology and to determine the best delivery platform(s). Civil Affairs health personnel would benefit from additional cultural training that focuses on health and healthcare in the country or region of deployment. Investing in the development of distance learning capabilities as a platform for delivering health-specific language and culture training may help ease the time and resources constraints that limit the ability of Civil Affairs health personnel to access the training they need. 2012.

Language-specific memory for everyday arithmetic facts in Chinese-English bilinguals.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Yalin; Yanke, Jill; Campbell, Jamie I D

2016-04-01

The role of language in memory for arithmetic facts remains controversial. Here, we examined transfer of memory training for evidence that bilinguals may acquire language-specific memory stores for everyday arithmetic facts. Chinese-English bilingual adults (n = 32) were trained on different subsets of simple addition and multiplication problems. Each operation was trained in one language or the other. The subsequent test phase included all problems with addition and multiplication alternating across trials in two blocks, one in each language. Averaging over training language, the response time (RT) gains for trained problems relative to untrained problems were greater in the trained language than in the untrained language. Subsequent analysis showed that English training produced larger RT gains for trained problems relative to untrained problems in English at test relative to the untrained Chinese language. In contrast, there was no evidence with Chinese training that problem-specific RT gains differed between Chinese and the untrained English language. We propose that training in Chinese promoted a translation strategy for English arithmetic (particularly multiplication) that produced strong cross-language generalization of practice, whereas training in English strengthened relatively weak, English-language arithmetic memories and produced little generalization to Chinese (i.e., English training did not induce an English translation strategy for Chinese language trials). The results support the existence of language-specific strengthening of memory for everyday arithmetic facts.

How does language model size effects speech recognition accuracy for the Turkish language?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Behnam ASEFİSARAY

2016-05-01

Full Text Available In this paper we aimed at investigating the effect of Language Model (LM size on Speech Recognition (SR accuracy. We also provided details of our approach for obtaining the LM for Turkish. Since LM is obtained by statistical processing of raw text, we expect that by increasing the size of available data for training the LM, SR accuracy will improve. Since this study is based on recognition of Turkish, which is a highly agglutinative language, it is important to find out the appropriate size for the training data. The minimum required data size is expected to be much higher than the data needed to train a language model for a language with low level of agglutination such as English. In the experiments we also tried to adjust the Language Model Weight (LMW and Active Token Count (ATC parameters of LM as these are expected to be different for a highly agglutinative language. We showed that by increasing the training data size to an appropriate level, the recognition accuracy improved on the other hand changes on LMW and ATC did not have a positive effect on Turkish speech recognition accuracy.

Print, Newspapers and Audiences in Colonial Kenya

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Frederiksen, Bodil Folke

2011-01-01

on the right to write freely and be heard, and traditions of freedom of speech put a brake on censorship. Furthermore, the shifting networks of financial, editorial and journalistic collaboration, and the newspapers' language choice — African vernaculars, Gujarati, Swahili and English — made intervention...

THE TRAINING OF FUTURE PRIMARY-SCHOOL TEACHERS FOR APPLICATION OF INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES AT THE LANGUAGE LESSONS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. Khizhnyak

2012-03-01

Full Text Available The necessity of training of the future primary-school teachers for application of information communication technologies (ICT in their professional activity is proven in the article. The author considers the essence of the teacher’s language didactic competence, reveals constituent components of the latter, and proves the urgency of the problem of introducing the future primary school teachers to the basics of electronic language didactics as a branch of education studies.

THE TRAINING OF FUTURE PRIMARY-SCHOOL TEACHERS FOR APPLICATION OF INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES AT THE LANGUAGE LESSONS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. Khizhnyak

2012-07-01

Full Text Available The necessity of training of the future primary-school teachers for application of information communication technologies (ICT in their professional activity is proven in the article. The author considers the essence of the teacher’s language didactic competence, reveals constituent components of the latter, and proves the urgency of the problem of introducing the future primary school teachers to the basics of electronic language didactics as a branch of education studies.

Made to Measure: Language, Literacy and Numeracy in TCF [Textile, Clothing, and Footwear] Industry Training. A Guide for Workplace Trainers.

Science.gov (United States)

Patterson, Sue

This guide is designed to help workplace trainers in the textile, clothing, and footwear (TCF) industry to become more aware of the language, literacy, and numeracy demands of training. It is divided into two main sections. Section 1, "Background Information," covers understanding language, literacy, and numeracy; understanding training…

Language Training: English Training

CERN Multimedia

Françoise Benz

2004-01-01

La prochaine session se déroulera du 04 octobre 2004 au 11 février 2005 (interruption de 3 semaines à Noël). Ces cours s'adressent à toute personne travaillant au CERN ainsi qu'à leur conjoint. Pour vous inscrire et voir tout le détail des cours proposés, consultez nos pages Web : http://cern.ch/Training Vous pouvez aussi contacter M. Liptow, tél. 72957. General and Professional English Courses The next session will take place from 04 October 2004 to 11 February 2005 (3 weeks break at Christmas). These courses are open to all persons working on the CERN site, and to their spouses. For registration and further information on the courses, please consult our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training or contact Mr. Liptow, tel. 72957. Oral Expression This course is intended for people with a good knowledge of English who want to practise and maintain their speaking skills while extending their vocabulary. There will be approximately 8 participants ...

Language Training - French Training

CERN Document Server

2007-01-01

General and Professional French Courses The next session will take place from 29 January to 30 March 2007. These courses are open to all persons working on the CERN site, and to their spouses. For registration and further information on the courses, please consult our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training or contact Mrs. Benz : Tel. 73127. Writing Professional Documents in French The next session will take place from 29 January to 30 March 2007. This course is designed for people with a good level of spoken French. Duration: 30 hours Price: 660 CHF (for 8 students) For further information and registration, please consult our Web pages:   http://cern.ch/Training or contact Mrs. Benz : Tel. 73127. Writing Professional Documents in English The next session will take place from January to June 2007 (break at Easter). This course is designed for people with a good level of spoken English. Duration: 30 hours Price: 660 CHF (for 8 students) Timetable will be fixed after discussion with the students. For registratio...

FORMATION OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE IN THE INFORMATION TRAINING ENVIRONMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTION AND THE PRINCIPLES OF SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIVISM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alla B. Nisilevich

2014-01-01

Full Text Available In this work timeliness of use of information and computer technologies is emphasized when forming communicative competence in a foreign language in higher education institution. Besides, as a methodological basis of the information training environment the principles of social constructivism are analyzed. The training Moodle shell program entirely meets requirements of educational process and the virtual educational environment as well, and it is also the most sensible modern system of distance learning as a whole and to foreign languages in particular.

The effect of a training programme stimulating language functions on Alzheimer-type dementia and maintenance of language skills

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrzej Potemkowski

2017-12-01

Full Text Available In dementia of the Alzheimer’s type, memory and language impairments coexist, occur early and aggravate with time. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of our proprietary language function stimulating programme on cognitive functions and the maintenance of language skills in patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer-type dementia as well as to evaluate the programme’s effectiveness depending on patients’ age, sex, education, severity of dementia and level of motivation. The intervention group (54 patients and the control group (34 patients were divided into subgroups according to the severity of dementia (mild/moderate. Tests such as the Mini-Mental State Examination, the Clock-Drawing Test, the Boston Naming Test and picture description were performed at 1, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months. In the course of 1 year, the Mini-Mental State Examination scores in the intervention group improved on average by 0.87 points, whilst in the control group they declined by 1.32 points over the same period of time. Statistically significant differences in the Clock-Drawing Test were found at 6 and 12 months, with the mean score differing by 0.98 and 1.35 points respectively across the groups. The score difference in the Boston Naming Test grew gradually. At 3 months it was 3.67 points, amounting to as much as 7.96 points at 12 months. For the picture description task, the mean scores at 12 months increased by 1.18 points in the intervention group in the mild dementia subgroup and by 0.66 points in the moderate dementia subgroup. In the control group, the scores decreased. The use of our proprietary training programme, specially designed to stimulate language functions in patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer-type dementia, facilitates the maintenance of general cognitive function and improvement of language skills, and its effectiveness increases with the patient’s motivation. This confirms the importance of supplementing non

The assessment of translation accuracy of the Lexica Machine ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

the following language pairs: Afrikaans, Tswana, Swahili and Portuguese to. English; and English to Xhosa, Zulu and Afrikaans. The research has shown that there are no universally accepted and reliable methods and measures, and that assessment methodology has been the subject of much discussion in recent years.

Word-length algorithm for language identification of under-resourced languages

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ali Selamat

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Language identification is widely used in machine learning, text mining, information retrieval, and speech processing. Available techniques for solving the problem of language identification do require large amount of training text that are not available for under-resourced languages which form the bulk of the World’s languages. The primary objective of this study is to propose a lexicon based algorithm which is able to perform language identification using minimal training data. Because language identification is often the first step in many natural language processing tasks, it is necessary to explore techniques that will perform language identification in the shortest possible time. Hence, the second objective of this research is to study the effect of the proposed algorithm on the run-time performance of language identification. Precision, recall, and F1 measures were used to determine the effectiveness of the proposed word length algorithm using datasets drawn from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Act in 15 languages. The experimental results show good accuracy on language identification at the document level and at the sentence level based on the available dataset. The improved algorithm also showed significant improvement in run time performance compared with the spelling checker approach.

Language Training

CERN Multimedia

2003-01-01

Formation en anglais Cours d'anglais général et professionnel La prochaine session se déroulera: du 06 octobre 2003 au 13 février 2004 (interruption de 3/4 semaines à Noël). Ces cours s'adressent à toute personne travaillant au CERN ainsi qu'à leur conjoint. Pour vous inscrire et voir tout le détail des cours proposés, consultez nos pages Web: http://cern.ch/Training Vous pouvez aussi contacter M. Liptow, tél. 72957. General and Professional English Courses The next session will take place: from 06 October 2003 to 13 February 2004 (3/4 weeks break at Christmas). These courses are open to all persons working on the Cern site, and to their spouses. For registration and further information on the courses, please consult our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training or contact Mr. Liptow: tel. 72957. Writing Professional Documents in English This course is designed for people with a good level of...

Language Training: English

CERN Multimedia

Françoise Benz

2005-01-01

If you wish to participate in one of the following courses, please discuss with your supervisor and apply electronically directly from the course description pages that can be found on the Web at: http://www.cern.ch/Training/ or fill in an 'application for training' form available from your Divisional Secretariat or from your DTO (Divisional Training Officer). Applications will be accepted in the order of their receipt. Oral Expression The next session will take place from January to March 2005. This course is intended for people with a good knowledge of English who want to practise and maintain their speaking skills while extending their vocabulary. There will be a maximum of 10 participants in a class. Speaking activities will include discussions, meeting simulations, role-plays etc. depending on the needs of the students. Timetable: Tuesday 11.30 to 13.30 Duration: 20 hours Price: 440 CHF (for a minimum of 8 students) Writing Professional Documents in English The next session will take place from Januar...

The offer in language training for adult immigrants in the Czech Republic and Sweden and the course participants’ use of the target language in practice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Milena Öbrink Hobzová

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Using the background of current offers in language training for adult foreigners, the aim is to present the results of the research which was conducted in language courses for adult immigrants in both the Czech Republic and Sweden in 2012. This aim of the research was to determine whether there were differences in the situations in which learners in the Czech Republic and Sweden use the target language. The research theory was based on the authors who deal with language education for foreigners: Carlson (2006 Lindberg & Sandwall (2007, Chvojková (2009, Hádková (2010. The sample included 95 respondents from the Czech Republic and 222 respondents from Sweden. As a method of data collection, a non-standardized questionnaire was used. To verify the stated hypothesis the chi-square test of independence and contingency tables were applied. As a result, we could state that there was a statistically significant difference in the situations in which respondents spoke the target language in the Czech Republic and Sweden.

Pre-Service Teachers’ Beliefs about Foreign Language Learning: A Study of Three Different Teacher Training Study Programmes in Slovenia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Darija Skubic

2017-12-01

Full Text Available It has been determined that beliefs about language learning are significant for the learning and teaching process, and that learners may differ in their beliefs towards learning a new language. Similarly, student-teachers of different subjects may differ in their beliefs about language learning. The main aim of this study was thus to investigate pre-service preschool teachers’, primary school teachers’, and special education teachers’ beliefs about foreign language learning in Slovenia. Three different areas were researched more closely: beliefs about foreign language aptitude, beliefs about the nature of learning and beliefs about foreign language motivations and expectations. The BALLI questionnaire was used to gather data, with responses provided by170 first-year students. The results show that despite attending different teacher training study programmes, students do not differ significantly in their beliefs about language learning; however, in comparison to other studies, the results imply that learners from different cultures see language learning differently.

The use of the Arabic script in northern Mozambique | Bonate ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Northern Mozambican Muslim population has been using the Arabic script for writing in KiSwahili and local African languages for centuries. Even today, many people continue using this script in private correspondence. Despite the abundance of the documents in this script that are housed at the Mozambique Historical ...

Language Training

CERN Multimedia

2003-01-01

Formation en anglais Cours d'anglais général et professionnel La prochaine session se déroulera: du 06 octobre 2003 au 13 février 2004 (interruption de 3/4 semaines à Noël). Ces cours s'adressent à toute personne travaillant au CERN ainsi qu'à leur conjoint. Pour vous inscrire et voir tout le détail des cours proposés, consultez nos pages Web: http://cern.ch/Training Vous pouvez aussi contacter Mme Benz, tél. 73127 ou Mr Liptow, tél. 72957. General and Professional English Courses The next session will take place: from 06 October 2003 to 13 February 2004 (3/4 weeks break at Christmas). These courses are open to all persons working on the Cern site, and to their spouses. For registration and further information on the courses, please consult our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training or contact Mrs. Benz: tel. 73127 or Mr. Liptow: tel. 72957. Writing Professional Documents in Engl...

Improving access for Latino immigrants: evaluation of language training adapted to the needs of health professionals.

Science.gov (United States)

Bender, Deborah E; Clawson, Margaret; Harlan, Christina; Lopez, Rebecca

2004-10-01

The number of Latinos in North Carolina grew by almost 400% between 1990 and 2000. The rapid change in demographics in this state and other southeastern states has caught healthcare providers unprepared. Lack of ability to communicate with Latino patients may result in errors in diagnosis or reduced compliance with recommended treatments. The Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) Standards, published in 2001, mandate culturally and linguistically appropriate services for persons with limited English proficiency. This paper describes an innovative strategy to promote Spanish and culture-learning skills of healthcare providers and presents results of the evaluation conducted to determine its impact on access to quality care. The evaluation used a 360 degrees case study design, at 1-year follow-up. Use of Spanish language health-related materials is key to the training's success. The authors make recommendations for replication of the integrated language and culture-training model in other new settlement areas, especially those in the southeast of the United States.

THE PROBLEM OF MOTIVATION AND METHODS OF ITS INCREASE AT STUDENTS OF NOT LANGUAGE TRAINING DIRECTION IN TEACHING FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Olga A. Danilova

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Introduction: the article is devoted to such an actual today issue as increasing of motivation of students learning foreign languages in non-language faculties of a contemporary university. The authors identify the main reasons causing the low level of language preparation among students of non-linguistic directions of preparation, which include – lack of motivation for the implementation of utterance (dominated by a strong belief that in real life it is not useful; small vocabulary; poor knowledge (or ignorance of grammar of the language being studied; the fear of making a mistake (“psycholo gical barrier”. Materials and Methods: the methodological basis of the research are scientific methods such as observation and experiment. In addition, the authors used some other methods such as study of students’ performance (written, examinations, tests, essays, dictations, summaries, etc.; method of pedagogical experiment; modeling. Results: in order to change this situation, the authors suggest to activate the teaching and speech activity of students at two levels: 1 motivation and impelling (to form among students sustained motive (need to speak and 2 tentatively and research (to train the ability to independently select and apply language and speech means appropriated to conditions and social environment. One must skillfully combine both traditional and innovative approaches and methods in the teaching of foreign languages, among which the authors identify a number of basic: the so-called gambling technology (business and role-playing games, information and communication technologies (presentations, projects, online tutorials, webinars, Internet communication with foreign counterparts, meetings and discussions with native speakers, participate in competitions and others. Their alternation on pairs will maintain the attention and interest of students at a high level. Discussion and Conclusions: it is noted that a key role in this process is

Learning to read words in a new language shapes the neural organization of the prior languages.

Science.gov (United States)

Mei, Leilei; Xue, Gui; Lu, Zhong-Lin; Chen, Chuansheng; Zhang, Mingxia; He, Qinghua; Wei, Miao; Dong, Qi

2014-12-01

Learning a new language entails interactions with one׳s prior language(s). Much research has shown how native language affects the cognitive and neural mechanisms of a new language, but little is known about whether and how learning a new language shapes the neural mechanisms of prior language(s). In two experiments in the current study, we used an artificial language training paradigm in combination with an fMRI to examine (1) the effects of different linguistic components (phonology and semantics) of a new language on the neural process of prior languages (i.e., native and second languages), and (2) whether such effects were modulated by the proficiency level in the new language. Results of Experiment 1 showed that when the training in a new language involved semantics (as opposed to only visual forms and phonology), neural activity during word reading in the native language (Chinese) was reduced in several reading-related regions, including the left pars opercularis, pars triangularis, bilateral inferior temporal gyrus, fusiform gyrus, and inferior occipital gyrus. Results of Experiment 2 replicated the results of Experiment 1 and further found that semantic training also affected neural activity during word reading in the subjects׳ second language (English). Furthermore, we found that the effects of the new language were modulated by the subjects׳ proficiency level in the new language. These results provide critical imaging evidence for the influence of learning to read words in a new language on word reading in native and second languages. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Implications of Hegel's Theories of Language on Second Language Teaching

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Manfred

2016-01-01

This article explores the implications of Hegel's theories of language on second language (L2) teaching. Three among the various concepts in Hegel's theories of language are selected. They are the crucial role of intersubjectivity; the primacy of the spoken over the written form; and the importance of the training of form or grammar. Applying…

Language Training

CERN Multimedia

2003-01-01

Formation en anglais Cours d'anglais général et professionnel La prochaine session se déroulera: du 06 octobre 2003 au 13 février 2004 (interruption de 3/4 semaines à Noël). Ces cours s'adressent à toute personne travaillant au CERN ainsi qu'à leur conjoint. Pour vous inscrire et voir tout le détail des cours proposés, consultez nos pages Web: http://cern.ch/Training Vous pouvez aussi contacter Mme Benz, tél. 73127 ou Mr Liptow, tél. 72957. General and Professional English Courses The next session will take place: from 06 October 2003 to 13 February 2004 (3/4 weeks break at Christmas). These courses are open to all persons working on the Cern site, and to their spouses. For registration and further information on the courses, please consult our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training or contact Mrs. Benz: tel. 73127 or Mr. Liptow: tel. 72957. Writing Professional Documents in English This course is designed for people with a good level of spoken English. Duration: 20 hours (2 hours a week) Price: ...

Language-learning disabilities: Paradigms for the nineties.

Science.gov (United States)

Wiig, E H

1991-01-01

We are beginning a decade, during which many traditional paradigms in education, special education, and speech-language pathology will undergo change. Among paradigms considered promising for speech-language pathology in the schools are collaborative language intervention and strategy training for language and communication. This presentation introduces management models for developing a collaborative language intervention process, among them the Deming Management Method for Total Quality (TQ) (Deming 1986). Implementation models for language assessment and IEP planning and multicultural issues are also introduced (Damico and Nye 1990; Secord and Wiig in press). While attention to processes involved in developing and implementing collaborative language intervention is paramount, content should not be neglected. To this end, strategy training for language and communication is introduced as a viable paradigm. Macro- and micro-level process models for strategy training are featured and general issues are discussed (Ellis, Deshler, and Schumaker 1989; Swanson 1989; Wiig 1989).

Language Teacher Subjectivities in Japan's Diaspora Strategies: Teaching My Language as Someone's Heritage Language

Science.gov (United States)

Motobayashi, Kyoko

2016-01-01

This study demonstrates the ways in which discourses in a state-sponsored volunteer program incited transformations of individual subjectivities, focusing on a group of Japanese language teacher volunteers training in Japan to become teachers of Japanese as a heritage language for the country's diaspora (Nikkei) population in South America. As…

Influence of musical expertise and musical training on pitch processing in music and language.

Science.gov (United States)

Besson, Mireille; Schön, Daniele; Moreno, Sylvain; Santos, Andréia; Magne, Cyrille

2007-01-01

We review a series of experiments aimed at studying pitch processing in music and speech. These studies were conducted with musician and non musician adults and children. We found that musical expertise improved pitch processing not only in music but also in speech. Demonstrating transfer of training between music and language has interesting applications for second language learning. We also addressed the issue of whether the positive effects of musical expertise are linked with specific predispositions for music or with extensive musical practice. Results of longitudinal studies argue for the later. Finally, we also examined pitch processing in dyslexic children and found that they had difficulties discriminating strong pitch changes that are easily discriminate by normal readers. These results argue for a strong link between basic auditory perception abilities and reading abilities. We used conjointly the behavioral method (Reaction Times and error rates) and the electrophysiological method (recording of the changes in brain electrical activity time-locked to stimulus presentation, Event-Related brain Potentials or ERPs). A set of common processes may be responsible for pitch processing in music and in speech and these processes are shaped by musical practice. These data add evidence in favor of brain plasticity and open interesting perspectives for the remediation of dyslexia using musical training.

Health Education by Open Broadcast.

Science.gov (United States)

ICIT Report, 1976

1976-01-01

This issue focuses on uses and techniques of radio for educational purposes in developing nations. Two health education projects are described which are utilizing open broadcasting to attract a mass audience of listeners not committed to a structured radio education program. Kenya's Swahili language radio serial, "Giving Birth and Caring for your…

RETOUR - AN INNOVATIVE RUSSIAN LANGUAGE TRAINING RESOURSE FOR TOURISM WORKERS IN THE EU

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Антония Пенчева

2017-12-01

Full Text Available This article investigates the role of the Russian language in the tourism sector. In particular it discusses learning materials for the self-study of Russian for tourism workers initiated by the European Union. The author shows the advantages of the online course Retur, which combines traditional methods with modern interactive multimedia teaching aids: video, audio and written teaching materials. In the article methods of selection of lexical and grammatical material, choice of thematic blocks and thematic units are discussed. The author comes to the conclusion that the tourism sector in a number of European countries is interested in training tourism workers in Russian in tourist services. Here, Russian as a foreign language becomes a demanded “commodity” that provides added value, and the teaching of Russian should serve as the formation of a communicative competence in Russian for future and current employees in tourism.

Multi-Language Programs. Beginnings Workshop.

Science.gov (United States)

D'Onofrio-Papadaki, Evienia; Matsalia, Joan; Bowie, Paula; Wardle, Francis; Bruno, Holly Elissa

2003-01-01

Presents five articles on multi-language programs in early childhood education: "Bilingualism/Multilingualism and Language Acquisition Theories" (Evienia Papadaki-D'Onofrio); "Training and Supporting Caregivers Who Speak a Language Different from Those in Their Community" (Joan Matsalia and Paula Bowie); "Language Immersion Programs for Young…

The Design and Implementation of a Holistic Training Model for Language Teacher Education in a Cyber Face-to-Face Learning Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yuping; Chen, Nian-Shing; Levy, Mike

2010-01-01

This study reports a qualitative investigation that examines the design and implementation of a holistic teacher training model in a cyber face-to-face language learning context. To this end, this study first proposes an e-training model called the Practice, Reflection and Collaboration (PRC) model, and discusses the rationale and theoretical…

A Study of the Extent and Effect of English Language Training for Refugees. Phase One: Results of a Comprehensive Mail Survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Northwest Regional Educational Lab., Portland, OR. Office of Research and Evaluation Services.

Results of a national mail survey of regional, state, and local agencies administering English language training programs for refugees, the first phase of a larger study of the training programs, are reported. An introductory section outlines the survey and procedure. The responses and statistical analyses are summarized, and some data tables are…

The implementation of industrial training in tertiary education in Malaysia: Objectives, realisations and outputs in the case of foreign language students

Science.gov (United States)

Machart, Régis

2017-02-01

The large range of jobs that Malaysian undergraduates of foreign languages are often employed in after completion of their studies (education, tourism, banking, business, management, etc.) is not necessarily related to their major field of study. This situation often makes it difficult for lecturers to develop a comprehensive professional training for their benefit. In the early 2010s, unemployment rates of Malaysian undergraduates were increasing, although the job market was quite flexible. In order to improve students' employability, Malaysian universities decided to restructure their curricula. Industrial training, or Latihan Industri (LI), became a new mandatory requirement for all future undergraduates of the new programmes from 2011. LI aims to match students' academic training with the needs of the private sector. However, most companies were not prepared to accept the first influx of trainees from all types of programmes (sciences, social sciences or the humanities) in 2014. Consequently, many students could not find an appropriate LI position in the field they were studying, and were placed in positions for which they were poorly prepared. At the end of their LI, students had to submit a logbook of their activities as well as provide a final report in which they were asked to evaluate their experiences. A content analysis of these reports from four foreign language students who did their LI in different sectors (finance, education, industry and retail) provides interesting insights into the different skills required by Malaysian employers, irrespective of their sector of activity. The analysis of the reports raises the question of the adequacy of the academic training of foreign language students for the Malaysian job market, and the transferability of their acquired language skills to their new work environment.

Speech-language pathology students' self-reports on voice training: easier to understand or to do?

Science.gov (United States)

Lindhe, Christina; Hartelius, Lena

2009-01-01

The aim of the study was to describe the subjective ratings of the course 'Training of the student's own voice and speech', from a student-centred perspective. A questionnaire was completed after each of the six individual sessions. Six speech and language pathology (SLP) students rated how they perceived the practical exercises in terms of doing and understanding. The results showed that five of the six participants rated the exercises as significantly easier to understand than to do. The exercises were also rated as easier to do over time. Results are interpreted within in a theoretical framework of approaches to learning. The findings support the importance of both the physical and reflective aspects of the voice training process.

LEARNING HOW TO LEARN A LANGUAGE

CERN Multimedia

Moniek Laurent

2002-01-01

This bilingual seminar is for anyone who would like to develop learning strategies and skills for learning a foreign language. Languages: French and English. Length: 3 days, 7 hours per day. Dates: 4, 5, 6 March 2002. Price: 460 CHF per person (for a group of 8 people). If you are interested, please enrol through our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training   Language Training Moniek Laurent Tel. 78582 moniek.laurent@cern.ch

Attitudes toward the use of gender-inclusive language among residency trainees. The McMaster Residency Training Program Directors.

Science.gov (United States)

Guyatt, G H; Cook, D J; Griffith, L; Walter, S D; Risdon, C; Liutkus, J

1997-05-01

To explore postgraduate medical trainees' attitudes toward the use of gender-inclusive language. Self-administered questionnaire. Seven residency training programs at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ont., from July 1993 to June 1994. Of 225 residents in the programs, 186 responded to the survey, for a response rate of 82.7%. Men and women were equally represented among the respondents. Categorization of attitudes about the use of language as gender-inclusive or gender-exclusive; characteristics predicting a gender-inclusive attitude. Factor analysis and Cronbach's alpha (0.90) supported the existence of a construct related to attitudes about language use, the poles of which were categorized as gender-inclusive and gender-exclusive. The authors classified residents with respect to their attitudes to language use from their responses to the questionnaire. In univariate analyses, sex, residency program and country of graduation significantly predicted a gender-inclusive attitude (p inclusive attitudes, whereas residents in surgery and anesthesia had the most gender-exclusive attitudes. Residents' values are reflected in the language they choose to use. Language use may provide an index of underlying attitudes that may create hostile environments for female trainees.

Commonalities and differences in the neural representations of English, Portuguese, and Mandarin sentences: When knowledge of the brain-language mappings for two languages is better than one.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Ying; Wang, Jing; Bailer, Cyntia; Cherkassky, Vladimir; Just, Marcel Adam

2017-12-01

This study extended cross-language semantic decoding (based on a concept's fMRI signature) to the decoding of sentences across three different languages (English, Portuguese and Mandarin). A classifier was trained on either the mapping between words and activation patterns in one language or the mappings in two languages (using an equivalent amount of training data), and then tested on its ability to decode the semantic content of a third language. The model trained on two languages was reliably more accurate than a classifier trained on one language for all three pairs of languages. This two-language advantage was selective to abstract concept domains such as social interactions and mental activity. Representational Similarity Analyses (RSA) of the inter-sentence neural similarities resulted in similar clustering of sentences in all the three languages, indicating a shared neural concept space among languages. These findings identify semantic domains that are common across these three languages versus those that are more language or culture-specific. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Impact of Vietnam's Globalization on National Education Policies and Teacher Training Programs for Teachers of English as an International Language: A Case Study of the University of Pedagogy in Ho Chi Minh City

Science.gov (United States)

Lam, Tri Ly

2011-01-01

The Problem: The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of Vietnam's globalization on national language education policies and teacher training programs for teachers of English to speakers of other languages. Specifically, this research explored the extent to which the new policies for English language training programs adopted by the…

Factors Influencing Sensitivity to Lexical Tone in an Artificial Language: Implications for Second Language Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Caldwell-Harris, Catherine L.; Lancaster, Alia; Ladd, D. Robert; Dediu, Dan; Christiansen, Morten H.

2015-01-01

This study examined whether musical training, ethnicity, and experience with a natural tone language influenced sensitivity to tone while listening to an artificial tone language. The language was designed with three tones, modeled after level-tone African languages. Participants listened to a 15-min random concatenation of six 3-syllable words.…

Sign language comprehension: the case of Spanish sign language.

Science.gov (United States)

Rodríguez Ortiz, I R

2008-01-01

This study aims to answer the question, how much of Spanish Sign Language interpreting deaf individuals really understand. Study sampling included 36 deaf people (deafness ranging from severe to profound; variety depending on the age at which they learned sign language) and 36 hearing people who had good knowledge of sign language (most were interpreters). Sign language comprehension was assessed using passages of secondary level. After being exposed to the passages, the participants had to tell what they had understood about them, answer a set of related questions, and offer a title for the passage. Sign language comprehension by deaf participants was quite acceptable but not as good as that by hearing signers who, unlike deaf participants, were not only late learners of sign language as a second language but had also learned it through formal training.

THE GENERAL METHODOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES OF COMBINED OPTIONAL ONLINE ENGLISH LANGUAGE TRAINING OF PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E. I. Zadorozhnaya

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of the publication is to demonstrate the implementation of general methodological principles of optional elementary school online foreign languages learning on an example of a virtual course for students of the second and third grades.Methods. The methods involve pedagogical modeling and projecting; the experience of foreign and Russian methodists, teachers and researchers is analysed, generalized and adjusted to the modern realias.Results and scientific novelty. On the basis of the requirements of the state educational standard and interest of pupils in computer games, the author’s technique of the combined facultative educational activities integrated to training in English at elementary school is developed. Online training in the form of games (additional to the major classroom activities gives a possibility of the choice of tasks interesting to children, studying the material at optimum comfortable and individual speed; it is possible to perform the tasks at home excluding the stressful situations that are specific to school examination, and allows pupils to master most effectively personal, metasubject and object competences. In general context of quality improvement of the general education, the modernization of educational process assumes not only justification of its new maintenance, but also restructuring of scientific and methodical support which has to meet essential needs of teachers and pupils, to facilitate access to necessary specific information. The lack of methodical base of creation of electronic distance resources for foreign-language education of younger school students has motivated the author to create own methodical concept of online training taking into account age of pupils. The complex of the general methodical principles is thoroughly considered; based on the general methodical principles, the proposed modular technique of the organization of an online class is created and implemented. Interactive blocks are

DIGITAL NARRATIVES IN FUTURE UKRAINIAN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE TEACHERS TRAINING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Olena Semenoh

2017-04-01

Full Text Available In the article on the basis of analyzing theoretical sources and practical experience some scientists’ works are disclosed, which deal with using and designing digital narratives in future Ukrainian language and literature teachers’ training, to develop a personality’s information and digital competence. It is reported that the themes, which are focused on postgraduate students’ acquainting with digital technologies of studying linguistic subjects at university, in specialized classes in secondary school, and a new type of educational institutions, should be introduced into language and methodological training. The author emphasizes on the relevance and importance of using digital narratives for democratization and humanization, the inspiration of the educational process. Narratives (stories in literary works, letters, confessions, biographies, diaries, comments, portrait sketches, pedagogical aphorisms, scripts, summaries of lessons with notes in the margins and others, biographical and pedagogical narratives provide information about the events, situations, taking into account individual reflexed experience of outstanding teachers. If students have an opportunity to develop skills of making narratives, they will gradually get communicative competences and feeling of confidence in their own ability that are necessary in the life. The works by M. Leshchenko and L. Tymchuk that are devoted to studying biography narratives are overviewed. The author suggests her own works of studying biography narratives of outstanding personalities (O. Zakharenko, I. Ziaziun, N. Voloshyna, L. Matsko and others. Digital narrative is characterized as a dynamic means of sending information messages in which a word, an image and sound are expressed in a joint digital code; as multimedia project that combines text, a picture, audio and video files in a short video clip. It is spoken in detail that digital narratives that are used or made together with students

An Examination of the Special Education Teacher Training Programs in Turkey and European Union Member Countries in Terms of Language Development and Communication Education

Science.gov (United States)

Akmese, Pelin Pistav; Kayhan, Nilay

2016-01-01

The academic terms and the periods of the courses related to the language development and communication differs considerably in the programs of the countries which train teachers for the special education department. The aim of this study is to examine the contents and credits of the communication and the language development courses in Teacher…

A Study of the Extent and Effect of English Language Training for Refugees. Phase One: Results of a Comprehensive Mail Survey. Executive Summary.

Science.gov (United States)

Northwest Regional Educational Lab., Portland, OR. Office of Research and Evaluation Services.

Results of a national survey of regional, state, and local agencies administering English language training programs for refugees, the first phase of a larger study of the training programs, are reported. The executive summary outlines the responses from 8 regional, 36 state, and 232 local agencies on four topics: (1) the nature and extent of…

Language Training: English & French courses

CERN Document Server

Françoise Benz

2006-01-01

If you wish to participate in one of the following courses, please tell to your supervisor and apply electronically from the course description pages that can be found on the Web at: http://www.cern.ch/Training/ or fill in an 'application for training' form available from your Departmental Secretariat or from your DTO (Departmental Training Officer). Applications will be accepted in the order in which they are received. General and Professional English Courses The next session will take place from end of February to end of June 2006 (break at Easter). These courses are open to all persons working on the CERN site, and to their spouses. For registration and further information on the courses, please consult our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training or contact Mr. Liptow: tel. 72957. Oral Expression The next session will take place from beginning of March to May 2006 (break at Easter). This course is intended for people with a good knowledge of English who want to practise and maintain their speaking skil...

A scheme for training effective English Second Language medium of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Effective second language medium of instruction refers to an instructional approach that differs from that of regular, first language content instruction or a language across the curriculum approach. This approach uses language teaching strategies in subjects other than the formal language classes, to promote both ...

A Study to Determine the Feasibility of Including the Direct Experiences of Microteaching and Team Teaching, and Interaction Analysis Training in the Pre-Service Training of Foreign Language Teachers.

Science.gov (United States)

Wolfe, David Edwin

This study examines potentially significant factors in the training of foreign language teachers. Remarks on microteaching and interaction analysis precede a review and analysis of related literature. Included in this section are the Stanford University Summer Intern Program, Amidon's model of microteaching and interaction analysis, and…

Appropriate assessment of English language competency for South ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Appropriate assessment of English language competency for South African teachers-in-training. ... albeit having regard to learner attitudes and purposes. The paper concludes that using the new communicative methods of language testing with foundation phase teachers-in-training may improve classroom practice.

Effect of "developmental speech and language training through music" on speech production in children with autism spectrum disorders.

Science.gov (United States)

Lim, Hayoung A

2010-01-01

The study compared the effect of music training, speech training and no-training on the verbal production of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Participants were 50 children with ASD, age range 3 to 5 years, who had previously been evaluated on standard tests of language and level of functioning. They were randomly assigned to one of three 3-day conditions. Participants in music training (n = 18) watched a music video containing 6 songs and pictures of the 36 target words; those in speech training (n = 18) watched a speech video containing 6 stories and pictures, and those in the control condition (n = 14) received no treatment. Participants' verbal production including semantics, phonology, pragmatics, and prosody was measured by an experimenter designed verbal production evaluation scale. Results showed that participants in both music and speech training significantly increased their pre to posttest verbal production. Results also indicated that both high and low functioning participants improved their speech production after receiving either music or speech training; however, low functioning participants showed a greater improvement after the music training than the speech training. Children with ASD perceive important linguistic information embedded in music stimuli organized by principles of pattern perception, and produce the functional speech.

Teaching a Child with Autism and Severe Language Delays to Reject: Direct and Indirect Effects of Functional Communication Training

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, Christian A.; Drasgow, Erik; Halle, James W.; Brucker, Jennifer M.

2005-01-01

We used functional communication training to teach Bob, a 10-year-old student with autism and severe language delays, to reject items by touching an icon. Our initial assessment revealed that Bob's behaviours serving a rejecting function consisted of pushing away, yelling, bear hugging-grabbing, and leaving. We used prompting, differential…

Phonotactic spoken language identification with limited training data

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Peche, M

2007-08-01

Full Text Available The authors investigate the addition of a new language, for which limited resources are available, to a phonotactic language identification system. Two classes of approaches are studied: in the first class, only existing phonetic recognizers...

ENGLISH TRAINING

CERN Multimedia

2003-01-01

If you wish to participate in one of the following courses, please discuss with your supervisor and apply electronically directly from the course description pages that can be found on the Web at: http://www.cern.ch/Training/ or fill in an "application for training" form available from your Divisional Secretariat or from your DTO (Divisional Training Officer). Applications will be accepted in the order of their receipt. LANGUAGE TRAINING Françoise Benz tel. 73127 language.training@cern.ch PLACES AVAILABLE Writing Professional Documents in English This course is designed for people with a good level of spoken English who need to improve their professional writing (administrative, scientific, technical). Duration: 20 hours (2 hours a week) Price: 440 CHF (for 8 students) Date and timetable will be fixed when there are sufficient participants enrolled. Oral Expression This course is intended for people with a good knowledge of English who want to practise and maintain their sp...

LEARNING HOW TO LEARN A LANGUAGE

CERN Multimedia

Language Training; Tel. 73127; Andrée Fontbonne; Tel. 72844

2001-01-01

This bilingual seminar is for anyone who would like to develop learning strategies and skills for learning a foreign language. Languages: French and English. Length: 3 days, 7 hours per day. Dates: 7, 8, 9 March 2001. Price: 462 CHF per person (for a group of 8 people). If you are interested, please enrol through our Web pages: http://training.web.cern.ch/Training/LANG/lang0_F.html

Foreign Language Usage by Secondary Education EFL Teachers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sophia Kakavoula

2010-02-01

Full Text Available In the last few decades there is growing interest in pre- and in- service teacher education which aims to help teachers keep up to date with new trends and developments in the field of education. Although this movement has resulted in upgraded approaches to the design and implementation of teacher training courses, most of them focus mainly on theoretical and methodological issues neglecting the systematic improvement and development of English teachers’ language proficiency and competence. However, it is a reality that several teachers sometimes feel uncomfortable with using the foreign language inside and outside the classroom. The present research investigates how comfortable teachers feel with their foreign language proficiency, whether their confidence in using it influences in any way their teaching practices and whether there is a need for in-service teacher training courses targeting teachers’ language development and improvement. From the analysis of the research data we are able to assume that teachers of English feel that there are deficiencies in their foreign language proficiency and competence and admit that their participation in training courses targeting their language development would improve not only their language proficiency but their actual teaching practices as well.

New Dimensions in Language Training: The Dartmouth College Experiment.

Science.gov (United States)

Rassias, John A.

The expanded foreign study and foreign language programs offered at Dartmouth are examined with emphasis on the influence of Peace Corps language programs during the last half-dozen years on American college campuses. The impact of the programs at Dartmouth since 1964 is discussed in terms of: (1) a brief history of language instruction at…

Training understanding of reversible sentences: a study comparing language-impaired children with age-matched and grammar-matched controls.

Science.gov (United States)

Hsu, Hsinjen Julie; Bishop, Dorothy V M

2014-01-01

Introduction. Many children with specific language impairment (SLI) have problems with language comprehension, and little is known about how to remediate these. We focused here on errors in interpreting sentences such as "the ball is above the cup", where the spatial configuration depends on word order. We asked whether comprehension of such short reversible sentences could be improved by computerized training, and whether learning by children with SLI resembled that of younger, typically-developing children. Methods. We trained 28 children with SLI aged 6-11 years, 28 typically-developing children aged from 4 to 7 years who were matched to the SLI group for raw scores on a test of receptive grammar, and 20 typically-developing children who were matched to the SLI group on chronological age. A further 20 children with SLI were given pre- and post-test assessments, but did not undergo training. Those in the trained groups were given training on four days using a computer game adopting an errorless learning procedure, during which they had to select pictures to correspond to spoken sentences such as "the cup is above the drum" or "the bird is below the hat". Half the trained children heard sentences using above/below and the other half heard sentences using before/after (with a spatial interpretation). A total of 96 sentences was presented over four sessions. Half the sentences were unique, whereas the remainder consisted of 12 repetitions of each of four sentences that became increasingly familiar as training proceeded. Results. Age-matched control children performed near ceiling (≥ 90% correct) in the first session and were excluded from the analysis. Around half the trained SLI children also performed this well. Training effects were examined in 15 SLI and 16 grammar-matched children who scored less than 90% correct on the initial training session. Overall, children's scores improved with training. Memory span was a significant predictor of improvement, even

Training understanding of reversible sentences: a study comparing language-impaired children with age-matched and grammar-matched controls

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hsinjen Julie Hsu

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Introduction. Many children with specific language impairment (SLI have problems with language comprehension, and little is known about how to remediate these. We focused here on errors in interpreting sentences such as “the ball is above the cup”, where the spatial configuration depends on word order. We asked whether comprehension of such short reversible sentences could be improved by computerized training, and whether learning by children with SLI resembled that of younger, typically-developing children.Methods. We trained 28 children with SLI aged 6–11 years, 28 typically-developing children aged from 4 to 7 years who were matched to the SLI group for raw scores on a test of receptive grammar, and 20 typically-developing children who were matched to the SLI group on chronological age. A further 20 children with SLI were given pre- and post-test assessments, but did not undergo training. Those in the trained groups were given training on four days using a computer game adopting an errorless learning procedure, during which they had to select pictures to correspond to spoken sentences such as “the cup is above the drum” or “the bird is below the hat”. Half the trained children heard sentences using above/below and the other half heard sentences using before/after (with a spatial interpretation. A total of 96 sentences was presented over four sessions. Half the sentences were unique, whereas the remainder consisted of 12 repetitions of each of four sentences that became increasingly familiar as training proceeded.Results. Age-matched control children performed near ceiling (≥ 90% correct in the first session and were excluded from the analysis. Around half the trained SLI children also performed this well. Training effects were examined in 15 SLI and 16 grammar-matched children who scored less than 90% correct on the initial training session. Overall, children’s scores improved with training. Memory span was a significant

Intelligent Virtual Agents as Language Trainers Facilitate Multilingualism

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Manuela eMacedonia

2014-04-01

Full Text Available In this paper we introduce a new generation of language trainers: intelligent virtual agents (IVAs with human appearance and the capability to teach foreign language vocabulary. We report results from studies that we have conducted with Billie, an IVA employed as a vocabulary trainer, as well as research findings on the acceptance of the agent as a trainer by adults and children. The results show that Billie can train humans as well as a human teacher can and that both adults and children accept the IVA as a trainer. The advantages of IVAs are multiple. First, their teaching methods can be based on neuropsychological research findings concerning memory and learning practice. Second, virtual teachers can provide individualized training. Third, they coach users during training, are always supportive, and motivate learners to train. Fourth, agents will reside in the user’s mobile devices and thus be at the user’s disposal everywhere and anytime. Agents in apps will make foreign language training accessible to anybody at low cost. This will enable people around the world, including physically, financially and geographically disadvantaged persons, to learn a foreign language and help to facilitate multilingualism.

The Effects of Selected Language Stimulation Upon the Language Skills of Hard of Hearing School Children.

Science.gov (United States)

Spangenberg, Cynthia Pont

Results of a study involving 20 hard of hearing school aged students indicated that Ss in two experimental conditions (language stimulation by Big Brothers or Big Sisters and special training in oral and written language skills with a hearing specialist) increased in the complexity of their oral language more than control Ss did. (CL)

Language Enabled Airmen Program: Language Intensive Training Events 2011 Results

Science.gov (United States)

2013-07-01

and teachers regarding the language learning pedagogy , curriculum, and assessments. The LITE sites need to be evaluated to identify what is working...other participants in their cohort. The lessons include the use of PowerPoint presentations, video clips, audio clips, websites, news articles

Accelerating Early Language Development with Multi-Sensory Training

Science.gov (United States)

Bjorn, Piia M.; Kakkuri, Irma; Karvonen, Pirkko; Leppanen, Paavo H. T.

2012-01-01

This paper reports the outcome of a multi-sensory intervention on infant language skills. A programme titled "Rhyming Game and Exercise Club", which included kinaesthetic-tactile mother-child rhyming games performed in natural joint attention situations, was intended to accelerate Finnish six- to eight-month-old infants' language development. The…

The benefits of sign language for deaf learners with language challenges

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Van Staden, Annalene

2009-12-01

Full Text Available This article argues the importance of allowing deaf children to acquire sign language from an early age. It demonstrates firstly that the critical/sensitive period hypothesis for language acquisition can be applied to specific language aspects of spoken language as well as sign languages (i.e. phonology, grammatical processing and syntax. This makes early diagnosis and early intervention of crucial importance. Moreover, research findings presented in this article demonstrate the advantage that sign language offers in the early years of a deaf child’s life by comparing the language development milestones of deaf learners exposed to sign language from birth to those of late-signers, orally trained deaf learners and hearing learners exposed to spoken language. The controversy over the best medium of instruction for deaf learners is briefly discussed, with emphasis placed on the possible value of bilingual-bicultural programmes to facilitate the development of deaf learners’ literacy skills. Finally, this paper concludes with a discussion of the implications/recommendations of sign language teaching and Deaf education in South Africa.

A longitudinal study of adult foreign language learning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Andreas Højlund; Horn, Nynne Thorup; Sørensen, Stine Derdau

Models of speech learning suggest that adaptations to foreign language sound categories should happen early in the acquisition process. Results from laboratory language training show effects on non-native perception within one to three weeks of training. Results from linguistic immersion studies...... show differences in adaptations when contrasting averages of 1-2 yrs of experience with 6-7 yrs of experience. We investigated this apparent discrepancy in a longitudinal study on Danish language officer cadets learning either Arabic (MSA and Egyptian dialect) or Dari (Afghan Farsi) through intensive...... (emphatic frication) and a phonemic Dari contrast (fricative voicing) as stimuli for both groups. We saw an effect of learning on the Dari learners’ identification of the Dari stimuli already after three weeks of language training, which was sustained, but not improved, after six and 20 months. The extents...

English language knowledge for secondary teachers

CERN Document Server

Ross, Alison

2013-01-01

If teachers are to successfully develop their students' English language skills it is vital that they overcome any existing lack of confidence and training in grammar and language concepts. Language Knowledge for Secondary Teachers is an accessible book aiming to equip secondary teachers with the knowledge they need to teach language effectively. It clearly explains the essential concepts for language study, introduces the terminology needed for 'talking about language' and shows how this knowledge can be applied to the skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening. This

Going It Alone: New Zealand Company-Sponsored Language, Literacy and Numeracy (LLN) Training in an Era of Government Funding

Science.gov (United States)

Guy, Shona; Harvey, Sharon

2013-01-01

In this paper, we examine the nature of and reasons for employer-funded literacy, language and numeracy (LLN) workplace training in New Zealand, during a period where government funding has been available. To place these programmes in context, we give a historically nuanced account of employer-funded programmes in New Zealand and then look at the…

Language Training - English Training

CERN Multimedia

HR Department

2009-01-01

General and Professional English Courses The next session will take place: from 2nd March to end of June 2009 (1/2 weeks break at Easter). These courses are open to all persons working on the CERN site, and to their spouses. For registration and further information on the courses, please consult our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training or contact Nathalie Dumeaux, tel. 78144. Oral Expression The next session will take place from 2nd March to end of June 2009 (1/2 weeks break at Easter). This course is intended for people with a good knowledge of English who want to enhance their speaking skills. There will be an average of 8 participants per class. Speaking activities will include discussions, meeting simulations, role-plays, etc., depending on the needs of the students. Duration: 30 hours Price: 660 CHF (for a minimum of 8 students) Writing Professional Documents in English The next session will take place from 2nd March to end of June 2009 (1/2 weeks break at Easter). This course is designed for people ...

Language Training - English Training

CERN Multimedia

HR Department

2009-01-01

General and Professional English Courses The next session will take place: from 2nd March to end of June 2009 (1/2 weeks break at Easter). These courses are open to all persons working on the CERN site, and to their spouses. For registration and further information on the courses, please consult our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training or contact Nathalie Dumeaux, tel. 78144. Oral Expression The next session will take place from 2nd March to end of June 2009 (1/2 weeks break at Easter). This course is intended for people with a good knowledge of English who want to enhance their speaking skills. There will be on average of 8 participants in a class. Speaking activities will include discussions, meeting simulations, role-plays etc. depending on the needs of the students. Duration: 30 hours Price: 660 CHF (for a minimum of 8 students) Writing Professional Documents in English The next session will take place from 2nd March to end of June 2009 (1/2 weeks break at Easter). This course is designed for people w...

Regionální diferenciace svahilské identity - případová studie měst Vanga a Ushongo

OpenAIRE

Mbezi, Barbora

2012-01-01

This thesis deals with the formation of the Swahili identity within two countries: Kenya and Tanzania. The Swahili people have inhabited the East African coast since the first millennium, utilizing local resources to trade and to create their sophisticated social position. The philosophy of Islam had a considerable influence on the development of the Swahili culture. These traditional elements typical for the Swahili culture were significantly restricted by the period of colonialism, where ne...

The Application of Timing in Therapy of Children and Adults with Language Disorders

Science.gov (United States)

Szelag, Elzbieta; Dacewicz, Anna; Szymaszek, Aneta; Wolak, Tomasz; Senderski, Andrzej; Domitrz, Izabela; Oron, Anna

2015-01-01

A number of evidence revealed a link between temporal information processing (TIP) and language. Both literature data and results of our studies indicated an overlapping of deficient TIP and disordered language, pointing to the existence of an association between these two functions. On this background the new approach is to apply such knowledge in therapy of patients suffering from language disorders. In two studies we asked the following questions: (1) can the temporal training reduce language deficits in aphasic patients (Study 1) or in children with specific language impairment (SLI, Study 2)? (2) can such training ameliorate also the other cognitive functions? Each of these studies employed pre-training assessment, training application, post-training and follow-up assessment. In Study 1 we tested 28 patients suffering from post-stroke aphasia. They were assigned either to the temporal training (Group A, n = 15) in milliseconds range, or to the non-temporal training (Group B, n = 13). Following the training we found only in Group A improved TIP, accompanied by a transfer of improvement to language and working memory functions. In Study 2 we tested 32 children aged from 5 to 8 years, affected by SLI who were classified into the temporal training (Group A, n = 17) or non-temporal training (Group B, n = 15). Group A underwent the multileveled audio-visual computer training Dr. Neuronowski®, recently developed in our laboratory. Group B performed the computer speech therapy exercises extended by playing computer games. Similarly as in Study 1, in Group A we found significant improvements of TIP, auditory comprehension and working memory. These results indicated benefits of temporal training for amelioration of language and other cognitive functions in both aphasic patients and children with SLI. The novel powerful therapy tools provide evidence for future promising clinical applications. PMID:26617547

PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING (PBL) LANGUAGE CASE-CRAFTING MODEL (PBL-LcCRAFT): LANGUAGE-IN-USE AND THE 3R

OpenAIRE

Mohd-Ali, Suraini; Baharun, Hazleena; Harun, Haliza; Darmi, Ramiaida; Mat Saad, Noor Saazai; Puteh-Behak, Fariza; Massari, Norhaili; Ahmad Mahir, Normazla

2017-01-01

This article describes a new PBL case designmodel for language practitioners that emerged from an action research projecton PBL case-design training for language practitioners. Participants of theaction research project underwent two cycles of PBL case-design training. Datacollection tools consisting of an observation checklist and a series of focusgroup interview were used to collect data from the participants. Data gatheredwere then analyzed using content analysis for emerging themes. Findi...

MODERN METHODOLOGICAL TOOLS FOR STUDENTS’ LANGUAGE SKILLS SELF-ASSESSMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. N. Astanina

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction. Nowadays, the problem of standardization of foreign language training at the higher school is becoming currently topical. With regard to the processes of globalization, the international educational projects and students exchange programs gain greater international recognition. Such international programmes involve foreign language knowledge graded as not only high certified academic levels but also as basic language skills. The lack of foreign language competence becomes the obstacle for successful training, depriving a future graduate of a part of chances to become the competitive and popular expert in the chosen profession. The success of a foreign language course completion among students depends on many factors; the most important factor is motivation which can affect self-assessment of training results. The aim of the study is to describe possibilities of the CanDos tools implementation for the organization of students self-consciousness and self-assessment of own achievements in order to influence the motivation for mastering a foreign language.Methodology and research methods. The research is based on competencybased approach. The methods involve comparative analysis, synthesis, and generalization.Results and scientific novelty. The questionnaire developed for the experiment helped to collect the data concerning the effectiveness of the CanDos software implementation for self-assessment of students’ foreign language skills. The corresponding self-assessment helps students to carry out a self-reflection of own knowledge and abilities, and to find “weak points” in language proficiency which need additional practice and improvement. By regularly using CanDos software as self-assessment tools, students learn to identify the correspondence of their language competence to the external requirements and standards of education. Orientation to training results will help future experts to create self-motivation that positively

The Effectiveness of Dialogic Reading in Increasing English Language Learning Preschool Children's Expressive Language

Science.gov (United States)

Brannon, Diana; Dauksas, Linda

2014-01-01

The effectiveness of dialogic reading in increasing the literacy interactions between English language learning parents (ELL) and their preschool aged children and children's expressive language development were studied. Twenty-one ELL parents of preschool aged children received dialogic reading training every other week for a ten-week period.…

Building CMU Sphinx language model for the Ho

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohamed Yassine El Amrani

2016-11-01

Full Text Available This paper investigates the use of a simplified set of Arabic phonemes in an Arabic Speech Recognition system applied to Holy Quran. The CMU Sphinx 4 was used to train and evaluate a language model for the Hafs narration of the Holy Quran. The building of the language model was done using a simplified list of Arabic phonemes instead of the mainly used Romanized set in order to simplify the process of generating the language model. The experiments resulted in very low Word Error Rate (WER reaching 1.5% while using a very small set of audio files during the training phase when using all the audio data for both the training and the testing phases. However, when using 90% and 80% of the training data, the WER obtained was respectively 50.0% and 55.7%.

Language training

CERN Multimedia

2006-01-01

General and Professional English Courses The next session will take place from beginning of October 2006 to beginning of February 2007 (3 weeks break at Christmas).These courses are open to all persons working on the CERN site and to their spouses. For registration and further information on the courses, please consult our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training or contact Tessa Osborne, tel.16 23 40. Oral Expression The next session will take place from beginning of October 2006 to beginning of February 2007 (3 weeks break at Christmas).This course is intended for people with a good knowledge of English who want to practise and maintain their speaking skills while extending their vocabulary. There will be a maximum of 10 participants in a class. Speaking activities will include discussions, meeting simulations, role-plays etc., depending on the needs of the students. Duration: 30 hours (2 hours a week) Price: 660 CHF (for a minimum of 8 students). Writing Professional Documents in English The next ses...

Skype me! Socially Contingent Interactions Help Toddlers Learn Language

OpenAIRE

Roseberry, Sarah; Hirsh-Pasek, Kathy; Golinkoff, Roberta Michnick

2013-01-01

Language learning takes place in the context of social interactions, yet the mechanisms that render social interactions useful for learning language remain unclear. This paper focuses on whether social contingency might support word learning. Toddlers aged 24- to 30-months (N=36) were exposed to novel verbs in one of three conditions: live interaction training, socially contingent video training over video chat, and non-contingent video training (yoked video). Results sugges...

A Study of the Extent and Effect of English Language Training for Refugees. Phase II: Classroom Observation and Community Survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Reder, Stephen; Cohn, Mary

The second phase of a study of the impact of English language training programs on adult Southeast Asian refugees involved on-site visits to 22 intensive programs in eight metropolitan areas: San Diego, Seattle, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New Orleans, Oklahoma City, Northern Virginia/Washington, DC, and Stockton, California. Programs represented a wide…

Game Based Language Learning for Bilingual Adults

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hautopp, Heidi; Hanghøj, Thorkild

2014-01-01

experiences with the central goals in communicative language teaching (CLT). The paper is based on a study of The Danish Simulator when integrated in a game‐based language course with 15 students at a language center in Copenhagen during spring, 2013. The Danish Simulator consists of language drills......, the analysis presents preliminary findings in relation to students’ different experiences of The Danish Simulator and the teacher’s redesign of the game based teaching. It is concluded that the meaningful use of The Danish Simulator in a game‐based language course for bilingual adults depends on the students......What happens when a single‐player training game enters a classroom context? The use of training activities in game‐based learning (GBL) has often been criticized for letting players perform mechanical operations with no reflection upon the learning experiences involved (e.g. Egenfeldt‐Nielsen, 2005...

A Home-Language Free Adult Pre-Vocational Audio-Visual Course in English-as-a-Second Language.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Philip D., Jr.

A pre-vocational English-as-a-second language course for adults was developed for the non-native speaker based upon the following assumptions: the teacher does not have to speak the language of the student; students in a class do not have to speak each others' language; the teacher need not be professionally trained in the field of teaching ESL;…

Language Adaptation for Extending Post-Editing Estimates for Closely Related Languages

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rios Miguel

2016-10-01

Full Text Available This paper presents an open-source toolkit for predicting human post-editing efforts for closely related languages. At the moment, training resources for the Quality Estimation task are available for very few language directions and domains. Available resources can be expanded on the assumption that MT errors and the amount of post-editing required to correct them are comparable across related languages, even if the feature frequencies differ. In this paper we report a toolkit for achieving language adaptation, which is based on learning new feature representation using transfer learning methods. In particular, we report performance of a method based on Self-Taught Learning which adapts the English-Spanish pair to produce Quality Estimation models for translation from English into Portuguese, Italian and other Romance languages using the publicly available Autodesk dataset.

Arabic Natural Language Processing System Code Library

Science.gov (United States)

2014-06-01

Adelphi, MD 20783-1197 This technical note provides a brief description of a Java library for Arabic natural language processing ( NLP ) containing code...for training and applying the Arabic NLP system described in the paper "A Cross-Task Flexible Transition Model for Arabic Tokenization, Affix...and also English) natural language processing ( NLP ), containing code for training and applying the Arabic NLP system described in Stephen Tratz’s

Legal Language – a Cultural Ambassador. A Language for Various Purposes, not only a Language for Specific Purposes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cancino, Rita

2014-01-01

to another. It means also overcoming the typical blindness to one’s own culture. The Spanish-Danish Legal Language course introduces Danish language students to a new world of cultural knowledge, as they generally have insignificant knowledge of Danish law and the Danish legal system. Furthermore, they have......KONFERENCE SINGAPORE Culture-related competence Courses in comparative Spanish -Danish legal language: A cultural Kinder egg? Learning comparative legal language is not only a question of linguistic competence, but it is also cultural training in which the students achieve culture......-related competences as culture is implicitly embedded in many legal terms in the shape of historical, societal and legal knowledge from two different worlds. Students need to understand these legal terms, fixed expressions, metaphors, collocations, etc. in order to be able to translate from one legal language/culture...

[Teacher Training.

Science.gov (United States)

Palmatier, Robert A., Ed.

1977-01-01

This issue collects three articles concerning reading-teacher training. "Language, Failure, and Panda Bears" by Patricia M. Cunningham calls attention to dialect difficulties in the classroom and provides ideas for teacher training programs and for public schools to solve this problem. William H. Rupley, in "Improving Teacher Effectiveness in…

Foreign Language Education Levels in the Dutch Population.

Science.gov (United States)

Oud-de Glas, Maria; Peels, Fons

1991-01-01

Reports on levels of foreign language education and foreign language competence among Dutch students, discussing the sharp decline in the teaching of French and German, a lack of foreign language training in technical education, where it is most needed, and the limitations of the data collected regarding foreign language attainment in the…

Anadolu University, Open Education Faculty, Turkish Language and Literature Department Graduated Students' Views towards Pedagogical Formation Training Certificate, Special Teaching Methods Courses and Turkish Language and Literature Education from: Sample of Turkey

Science.gov (United States)

Bulut, Mesut

2016-01-01

The aim of this study is to find out Anadolu University Open Education Faculty Turkish Language and Literature graduated students' views towards Pedagogical Formation Training certificate and their opinions about special teaching methods. This study has been done in one of the universities of East Karadeniz in Turkey in which the 20 Turkish…

Morphological strategies training: The effectiveness and feasibility of morphological strategies training for students of English as a foreign language with and without spelling difficulties

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eleni Griva & Dimitris Anastasiou

2009-11-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study was primarily to investigate the effects of morphological strategies training on students with and without spelling difficulties in English as a foreign language (EFL, but also to assess the feasibility of morphological strategies training in a classroom context. The intervention was piloted in the sixth grade of a Greek primary school: 23 Greek-speaking students, aged 11-12, were assigned to the treatment group receiving explicit teaching on inflectional and derivational morphemic patterns of English words. The control group, composed of 25 Greek-speaking students of the same age, attending a different classroom of the same school, was taught English spelling in a conventional (visual-memory based way. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed to gain insights: a pre- and post-test, an observation schedule, a student questionnaire and a teacher interview. The pre- and post-test results indicated that the metamorphological training yielded specific effects on targeted morpheme patterns. The same results were obtained from a sub-group of nine poor spellers in the treatment group, compared to a sub-group of six poor spellers in the control one. The observation data revealed that the metamorphological training promoted students' active participation and the questionnaire data indicated that students got satisfaction from their training. Finally, interview data highlighted that teachers considered the intervention as a feasible way of improving students' morphological processing skills in spelling.

Language in Education: Preservice teachers' ideas about grammar and knowledge about language

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Mette Vedsgaard; Bock, Kathrin

2012-01-01

Even though the national curriculum for mother tongue instruction in Denmark emphasizes a functional view of language (Danish Ministry of Education, 2009), we - as teacher educators - have experienced that most of our teacher students’ notions about language and grammar are deeply rooted...... in a formal and structural view of language. Hence we designed and carried out an action research project with the aim of pushing first year teacher students’ notions about language in a more functional direction. Throughout their first year in teacher training the students were involved in a series...... of radical changes to the curriculum, such as introducing SFL-based linguistics (Halliday 1994) and genre theory (Martin & Rose 2008) as the overall theoretical framework for language description. These changes were made in order to equip future teachers with a more functional view on language...

English Training for Professionals in China: Introducing a Successful EFL Training Programme.

Science.gov (United States)

Zou, Yongyi

1998-01-01

Describes how intensive English-as-a-Second-Language training for professionals in China is conducted, explaining the importance of training Chinese professionals in English and illustrating this type of training by highlighting a new intensive course for adults at one Chinese chemical engineering corporation. Essential teaching principles for…

Language Training

CERN Multimedia

Françoise Benz

2005-01-01

General and Professional English Courses The next session will take place: from end of September 2005 to middle of February 2006 (2/ 3 weeks break at Christmas). These courses are open to all persons working on the CERN site, and to their spouses. For registration and further information on the courses, please consult our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training or contact Mr. Liptow: tel. 72957. Oral Expression in English The next session will take place from end of September to December 2005. This course is intended for people with a good knowledge of English who want to practise and maintain their speaking skills while extending their vocabulary. There will be a maximum of 10 participants in a class. Speaking activities will include discussions, meeting simulations, role-plays etc. depending on the needs of the students. Duration: 20 hours Price: 440 CHF (for a minimum of 8 students) Writing Professional Documents in English The next session will take place from end of September 2005 to middle of Febr...

Language training

CERN Document Server

2007-01-01

General and Professional English Courses The next session will take place from 26 February or 5 March to end of June 2007 (1/2 weeks break at Easter). These courses are open to all persons working on the CERN site, and to their spouses. For registration and further information on the courses, please consult our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training or contact Françoise Benz, tel. 73127. Oral Expression The next session will take place from 26 February or 5 March to end of June 2007 (1/2 weeks break at Easter). This course is intended for people with a good knowledge of English who want to practise and maintain their speaking skills while extending their vocabulary. There will be a maximum of 10 participants in a class. Speaking activities will include discussions, meeting simulations, role-plays etc. depending on the needs of the students. Duration: 30 hours Price: 660 CHF (for a minimum of 8 students). Writing Professional Documents in English The next session will take place from 26 February or...

Language training

CERN Document Server

Françoise Benz

2005-01-01

General and Professional English Courses The next session will take place: from end of September 2005 to middle of February 2006 (2/ 3 weeks break at Christmas). These courses are open to all persons working on the CERN site, and to their spouses. For registration and further information on the courses, please consult our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training or contact Mr. Liptow: tel. 72957. Oral Expression in English The next session will take place from end of September to December 2005. This course is intended for people with a good knowledge of English who want to practise and maintain their speaking skills while extending their vocabulary. There will be a maximum of 10 participants in a class. Speaking activities will include discussions, meeting simulations, role-plays etc. depending on the needs of the students. Duration: 20 hours Price: 440 CHF (for a minimum of 8 students) Writing Professional Documents in English The next session will take place from end of September 2005 to middle of Feb...

Language training

CERN Multimedia

2007-01-01

General and Professional English Courses The next session will take place: from 26 February or 5 March to end of June 2007 (1/2 weeks break at Easter). These courses are open to all persons working on the CERN site, and to their spouses. For registration and further information on the courses, please consult our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training or contact Françoise Benz, tel. 73127. Oral Expression The next session will take place from 26 February or 5 March to end of June 2007 (1/2 weeks break at Easter). This course is intended for people with a good knowledge of English who want to practise and maintain their speaking skills while extending their vocabulary. There will be a maximum of 10 participants in a class. Speaking activities will include discussions, meeting simulations, role-plays etc. depending on the needs of the students. Duration: 30 hours Price: 660 CHF (for a minimum of 8 students). Writing Professional Documents in English The next session will take place from 26 February or 5 M...

French Training

CERN Multimedia

Françoise Benz

2003-01-01

General and Professional French Courses The next session will take place: from 13 October to 19 December 2003. These courses are open to all persons working on the CERN site, and to their spouses. For registration and further information on the courses, please consult our Web pages or contact Mrs. Fontbonne: Tel. 72844. Writing Professional Documents in French This course is designed for people with a good level of spoken French. Duration: 30 hours Price: 660 CHF (for 8 students) For further information and registration, please consult our Web pages or contact Mrs. Fontbonne: Tel. 72844. Language Training Françoise Benz Tel.73127 language.training@cern.ch

Intensive Language Training for Multinational Business

Science.gov (United States)

Jordan, Gerda

1977-01-01

A two-year master's degree program in international business studies was initiated by the College of Business Administration at the University of South Carolina to educate the business manager who will deal with foreign countries. The language component comprises an important part of the program. (SW)

Language effects in second-language learners: A longitudinal electrophysiological study of spanish classroom learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Soskey, Laura; Holcomb, Phillip J; Midgley, Katherine J

2016-09-01

How do the neural mechanisms involved in word recognition evolve over the course of word learning in adult learners of a new second language? The current study sought to closely track language effects, which are differences in electrophysiological indices of word processing between one's native and second languages, in beginning university learners over the course of a single semester of learning. Monolingual L1 English-speakers enrolled in introductory Spanish were first trained on a list of 228 Spanish words chosen from the vocabulary to be learned in class. Behavioral data from the training session and the following experimental sessions spaced over the course of the semester showed expected learning effects. In the three laboratory sessions participants read words in three lists (English, Spanish and mixed) while performing a go/no-go lexical decision task in which event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. As observed in previous studies there were ERP language effects with larger N400s to native than second language words. Importantly, this difference declined over the course of L2 learning with N400 amplitude increasing for new second language words. These results suggest that even over a single semester of learning that new second language words are rapidly incorporated into the word recognition system and begin to take on lexical and semantic properties similar to native language words. Moreover, the results suggest that electrophysiological measures can be used as sensitive measures for tracking the acquisition of new linguistic knowledge. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Intelligent virtual agents as language trainers facilitate multilingualism.

Science.gov (United States)

Macedonia, Manuela; Groher, Iris; Roithmayr, Friedrich

2014-01-01

intelligent virtual agents (IVAs) with human appearance and the capability to teach foreign language vocabulary. We report results from studies that we have conducted with Billie, an IVA employed as a vocabulary trainer, as well as research findings on the acceptance of the agent as a trainer by adults and children. The results show that Billie can train humans as well as a human teacher can and that both adults and children accept the IVA as a trainer. The advantages of IVAs are multiple. First, their teaching methods can be based on neuropsychological research findings concerning memory and learning practice. Second, virtual teachers can provide individualized training. Third, they coach users during training, are always supportive, and motivate learners to train. Fourth, agents will reside in the user's mobile devices and thus be at the user's disposal everywhere and anytime. Agents in apps will make foreign language training accessible to anybody at low cost. This will enable people around the world, including physically, financially, and geographically disadvantaged persons, to learn a foreign language and help to facilitate multilingualism.

Tone Language Speakers and Musicians Share Enhanced Perceptual and Cognitive Abilities for Musical Pitch: Evidence for Bidirectionality between the Domains of Language and Music

Science.gov (United States)

Bidelman, Gavin M.; Hutka, Stefanie; Moreno, Sylvain

2013-01-01

Psychophysiological evidence suggests that music and language are intimately coupled such that experience/training in one domain can influence processing required in the other domain. While the influence of music on language processing is now well-documented, evidence of language-to-music effects have yet to be firmly established. Here, using a cross-sectional design, we compared the performance of musicians to that of tone-language (Cantonese) speakers on tasks of auditory pitch acuity, music perception, and general cognitive ability (e.g., fluid intelligence, working memory). While musicians demonstrated superior performance on all auditory measures, comparable perceptual enhancements were observed for Cantonese participants, relative to English-speaking nonmusicians. These results provide evidence that tone-language background is associated with higher auditory perceptual performance for music listening. Musicians and Cantonese speakers also showed superior working memory capacity relative to nonmusician controls, suggesting that in addition to basic perceptual enhancements, tone-language background and music training might also be associated with enhanced general cognitive abilities. Our findings support the notion that tone language speakers and musically trained individuals have higher performance than English-speaking listeners for the perceptual-cognitive processing necessary for basic auditory as well as complex music perception. These results illustrate bidirectional influences between the domains of music and language. PMID:23565267

Tone language speakers and musicians share enhanced perceptual and cognitive abilities for musical pitch: evidence for bidirectionality between the domains of language and music.

Science.gov (United States)

Bidelman, Gavin M; Hutka, Stefanie; Moreno, Sylvain

2013-01-01

Psychophysiological evidence suggests that music and language are intimately coupled such that experience/training in one domain can influence processing required in the other domain. While the influence of music on language processing is now well-documented, evidence of language-to-music effects have yet to be firmly established. Here, using a cross-sectional design, we compared the performance of musicians to that of tone-language (Cantonese) speakers on tasks of auditory pitch acuity, music perception, and general cognitive ability (e.g., fluid intelligence, working memory). While musicians demonstrated superior performance on all auditory measures, comparable perceptual enhancements were observed for Cantonese participants, relative to English-speaking nonmusicians. These results provide evidence that tone-language background is associated with higher auditory perceptual performance for music listening. Musicians and Cantonese speakers also showed superior working memory capacity relative to nonmusician controls, suggesting that in addition to basic perceptual enhancements, tone-language background and music training might also be associated with enhanced general cognitive abilities. Our findings support the notion that tone language speakers and musically trained individuals have higher performance than English-speaking listeners for the perceptual-cognitive processing necessary for basic auditory as well as complex music perception. These results illustrate bidirectional influences between the domains of music and language.

Tone language speakers and musicians share enhanced perceptual and cognitive abilities for musical pitch: evidence for bidirectionality between the domains of language and music.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gavin M Bidelman

Full Text Available Psychophysiological evidence suggests that music and language are intimately coupled such that experience/training in one domain can influence processing required in the other domain. While the influence of music on language processing is now well-documented, evidence of language-to-music effects have yet to be firmly established. Here, using a cross-sectional design, we compared the performance of musicians to that of tone-language (Cantonese speakers on tasks of auditory pitch acuity, music perception, and general cognitive ability (e.g., fluid intelligence, working memory. While musicians demonstrated superior performance on all auditory measures, comparable perceptual enhancements were observed for Cantonese participants, relative to English-speaking nonmusicians. These results provide evidence that tone-language background is associated with higher auditory perceptual performance for music listening. Musicians and Cantonese speakers also showed superior working memory capacity relative to nonmusician controls, suggesting that in addition to basic perceptual enhancements, tone-language background and music training might also be associated with enhanced general cognitive abilities. Our findings support the notion that tone language speakers and musically trained individuals have higher performance than English-speaking listeners for the perceptual-cognitive processing necessary for basic auditory as well as complex music perception. These results illustrate bidirectional influences between the domains of music and language.

Heidelberg Interaction Training for Language Promotion in Early Childhood Settings (HIT)

Science.gov (United States)

Buschmann, Anke; Sachse, Steffi

2018-01-01

Beside parents, teachers in early childhood education and care have the greatest potential to foster language acquisition in children. This is especially important for children with language delays, language disorders or bi-/multilingual children. However, they present teachers with a particular challenge in language support. Therefore, integrated…

Legal terminology in African languages | Alberts | Lexikos

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Various aspects regarding the present project (such as financing, time-schedule, training and terminological problems encountered) are treated. Keywords: legal terminology, sociolinguistic factors, terminology development, african languages, indigenous languages, multilingualism, subject fields, terminology, translation, ...

Absence of National Culture in Foreign Language Teaching and Intercultural Communication Competence Training of College Students in China Frontier Minority Areas

Science.gov (United States)

Jia, Jinan

2015-01-01

The absence of Chinese culture in foreign language teaching has a strong impact on the exchange between different cultures, and is also an obstacle to intercultural communication competence training. In general, English teaching level in China frontier minority areas is far behind that in developed areas, and shows its own teaching and cultural…

the role of linguistic pragmatics illustrated by Swahili1

African Journals Online (AJOL)

dictionaries and learning grammars with the linguistic facts used in everyday ... as nearly no changes have taken place in terms of language description since ... of communication that cannot be analysed as .literal meaning, including even.

Language Choices by Teachers in EFL Classrooms in Cyprus: Bidialectism Meets Bilingualism with a Call for Teacher Training Programmes in Linguistic Variation

Science.gov (United States)

Yiakoumetti, Androula; Mina, Marina

2013-01-01

This study focuses on the interface between bidialectism and bilingualism and provides empirical support for the call for language educators to be trained in issues relating to linguistic variation. Drawing on the sociolinguistic setting of Cyprus, the study investigates the linguistic behaviour of bidialectal teachers in the English…

Skype me! Socially Contingent Interactions Help Toddlers Learn Language

Science.gov (United States)

Roseberry, Sarah; Hirsh-Pasek, Kathy; Golinkoff, Roberta Michnick

2013-01-01

Language learning takes place in the context of social interactions, yet the mechanisms that render social interactions useful for learning language remain unclear. This paper focuses on whether social contingency might support word learning. Toddlers aged 24- to 30-months (N=36) were exposed to novel verbs in one of three conditions: live interaction training, socially contingent video training over video chat, and non-contingent video training (yoked video). Results suggest that children only learned novel verbs in socially contingent interactions (live interactions and video chat). The current study highlights the importance of social contingency in interactions for language learning and informs the literature on learning through screen media as the first study to examine word learning through video chat technology. PMID:24112079

Instructor training

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yuzhakov, A.Yu.

1995-01-01

A SAT-based Instructor Training Course was developed and implemented at NVTC. The duration of the initial course is 3 weeks and 2 weeks for annual refresher course. NVTC has had much experience with this Instructor Training Course generating the following lessons-learned: SAT implementation needs to be supported by plant management; age of instructors; developments of training materials and conducting training at the same time; knowledge and use of the PC; English language skills; social transitioning from the NPP to the TC; motivation; workplace environment and conditions

The impact of dialogic book-sharing training on infant language and attention: a randomized controlled trial in a deprived South African community.

Science.gov (United States)

Vally, Zahir; Murray, Lynne; Tomlinson, Mark; Cooper, Peter J

2015-08-01

Dialogic book-sharing is an interactive form of shared reading. It has been shown in high income countries (HICs) to be of significant benefit to child cognitive development. Evidence for such benefit in low and middle income countries (LMICs) is scarce, although a feasibility study of our own produced encouraging findings. Accordingly, we aimed to establish the impact on child language and attention of providing training in dialogic booksharing to carers of infants in an impoverished South African community. We conducted a randomized controlled trial in Khayelitsha, an informal settlement in South Africa. Mothers of infants aged between 14 and 16 months were recruited and randomized to either 8 weeks of manualized training in dialogic book-sharing or a no-intervention control group. Independent assessments were made of infant language and attention at baseline and following training. The trial was registered (ISRCTN39953901). Ninety one carer-infant dyads were recruited and randomized to the intervention group (n = 49) or the control group (n = 42), 82 (90%) of whom were available for follow-up assessments. On a standardized carer report of infant vocabulary, compared to those in the control group, carers who received the intervention reported a significantly greater increase in the number of words understood by their infants as well as a larger increase in the number of words that their infant understood and could vocalize. Intervention group children also showed substantially greater gains on a measure of sustained attention. In line with evidence from HICs, a dialogic book-sharing programme delivered to an impoverished South African sample was shown to be of considerable benefit to the development of child language and focussed attention. The training programme, which is simple and inexpensive to deliver, has the potential to benefit child cognitive development in LMIC contexts where such development is commonly compromised. © 2014 Association for Child

Second Language Acquisition and Applied Linguistics.

Science.gov (United States)

Larsen-Freeman, Diane

2000-01-01

Discusses the second language acquisition (SLA) process and the differential success of second language learners. Examines the fundamental challenges that this characterization faces, and highlights the contributions SLA is capable of in the coming decade. Offers topics for a training and development of curriculum for future applied linguists from…

COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING AND ITS MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT THE PRACTICE IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING (ELT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sri Diana

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Communicative Language Teaching (CLT has been accepted as one of the teaching methods by numerous language teachers due to its major focus on developing learners’ communicative competence. This paper aims to describe communicative language teaching, misinterpretations about its practice and the factors leading to teachers’ misconceptions. It shows four misinterpreted beliefs of the implementation of communicative language teaching: communicative skills, teacher’s role in communicative activities, fluency and accuracy as the main goals and teaching techniques. It then presents three reasons that might lead to teachers’ misinterpretations concerning the practice of CLT. Teachers do not have enough training and  adequate resources.

English Teachers' Language Awareness: Away with the Monolingual Bias?

Science.gov (United States)

Otwinowska, Agnieszka

2017-01-01

The training of language teachers still follows traditional models of teachers' competences and awareness, focusing solely on the target language. Such models are incompatible with multilingual pedagogy, whereby languages are not taught in isolation, and learners' background languages are activated to enhance the process. When teaching…

Language in Web Communication

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Toft, Birthe

2012-01-01

Having taught and carried out research in LSP and business communication for many years, I have come across, again and again, the problems arising from the inferior status of language in the business environment. Being convinced that it does not have to be so, instead of going on trying to convince...... non-linguistically trained colleagues of the importance of language via the usual arguments, I suggest that we let them experience the problems arising from the non-recognition of the importance of language via a Web communication crash course, inspired by a course taught to BA students...

Training Literacy Skills through Sign Language

Science.gov (United States)

Rudner, Mary; Andin, Josefine; Rönnberg, Jerker; Heimann, Mikael; Hermansson, Anders; Nelson, Keith; Tjus, Tomas

2015-01-01

The literacy skills of deaf children generally lag behind those of their hearing peers. The mechanisms of reading in deaf individuals are only just beginning to be unraveled but it seems that native language skills play an important role. In this study 12 deaf pupils (six in grades 1-2 and six in grades 4-6) at a Swedish state primary school for…

LEARNING HOW TO LEARNA LANGUAGE

CERN Multimedia

Language training; tel. 78582

2001-01-01

This bilingual seminar is for anyone who would like to develop learning strategies and skills for learning a foreign language. Languages: French and English. Length: 3 days, 7 hours per day. Dates: 4, 5, 6 March 2002. Price: 460 CHF per person (for a group of 8 people). If you are interested, please enrol through our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training

Can memory training positively affect the skills of learning a foreign language and support learning English by older students?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Agata Kozak

2012-12-01

Full Text Available The experiment covered in this paper was conducted from November 2011 until February 2012 in the University of Third Age at the University of Wrocław in Poland as a part of the Third Age and New Technologies (TANT project which was realised as a Grundtvig partnership programme. The aim of the experiment was to determine whether memory training can positively affect learning a foreign language (English by senior students.

Intensive foreign language learning reveals effects on categorical perception of sibilant voicing after only 3 weeks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Andreas Højlund; Horn, Nynne Thorup; Derdau Sørensen, Stine

2015-01-01

Models of speech learning suggest that adaptations to foreign language sound categories take place within 6-12 months of exposure to a foreign language. Results from laboratory language training show effects of very targeted training on non-native speech contrasts within only one to three weeks...... of training. Results from immersion studies are inconclusive, but some suggest continued effects on non-native speech perception after 6-8 years of experience. We investigated this apparent discrepancy in the timing of adaptation to foreign speech sounds in a longitudinal study of foreign language learning....... We examined two groups of Danish language officer cadets learning either Arabic (MSA and Egyptian Arabic) or Dari (Afghan Farsi) through intensive multi-faceted language training. We conducted two experiments (identification and discrimination) with the cadets who were tested four times: at the start...

Skype me! Socially contingent interactions help toddlers learn language.

Science.gov (United States)

Roseberry, Sarah; Hirsh-Pasek, Kathy; Golinkoff, Roberta M

2014-01-01

Language learning takes place in the context of social interactions, yet the mechanisms that render social interactions useful for learning language remain unclear. This study focuses on whether social contingency might support word learning. Toddlers aged 24-30 months (N = 36) were exposed to novel verbs in one of three conditions: live interaction training, socially contingent video training over video chat, and noncontingent video training (yoked video). Results suggest that children only learned novel verbs in socially contingent interactions (live interactions and video chat). This study highlights the importance of social contingency in interactions for language learning and informs the literature on learning through screen media as the first study to examine word learning through video chat technology. © 2013 The Authors. Child Development © 2013 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

Language-specific skills in intercultural healthcare communication: Comparing perceived preparedness and skills in nurses' first and second languages.

Science.gov (United States)

Gasiorek, Jessica; van de Poel, Kris

2018-02-01

Interactions between people from different cultures are becoming increasingly commonplace in contemporary healthcare settings. To date, most research evaluating cross-cultural preparedness has assumed that medical professionals are speaking their first language (L1). However, as healthcare workers are increasingly mobile and patient populations are increasingly diverse, more and more interactions are likely to occur in a professional's non-native language (L2). This study assessed and compared nurses' perceived cross-cultural preparedness and skillfulness in their interactions with patients from other cultures when speaking both their L1 and L2. The goal of this project was to inform the creation of a communication skills training program. Nurses reported their perceived cross-cultural preparedness and skillfulness (scales adapted from Park et al., 2009) in their L1 and L2 via an online questionnaire. This questionnaire was distributed among nurses working in Vienna, Austria, through the Vienna Hospital Association (VHA). Nurses and nurses-in-training working in VHA hospitals participated. Most participants who provided demographic information were currently nurses (n=179) with an average of 16.88years (SD=11.50) of professional experience (range: 0-40); n=40 were nurses-in-training with an average of 2.13years (SD=0.88) of experience (range: 1-5). Descriptive statistics for each cross-cultural preparedness and skillfulness (in each language) are reported; comparisons between L1 and L2 responses were also conducted. Multiple regression analyses were used to identify predictors of preparedness and L1/L2 skillfulness. Nurses reported feeling significantly less confident in their skills when working in an L2, across a range of culture-related issues. Having had previous communication skills training predicted (better) self-reported L2 skillfulness, although it did not predict L1 skillfulness. These results indicate that there is a language-specific component to cross

Idaho's Three-Tiered System for Speech-Language Paratherapist Training and Utilization.

Science.gov (United States)

Longhurst, Thomas M.

1997-01-01

Discusses the development and current implementation of Idaho's three-tiered system of speech-language paratherapists. Support personnel providing speech-language services to learners with special communication needs in educational settings must obtain one of three certification levels: (1) speech-language aide, (2) associate degree…

Exploring language variation across Europe

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hovy, Dirk; Johannsen, Anders Trærup

2016-01-01

Language varies not only between countries, but also along regional and sociodemographic lines. This variation is one of the driving factors behind language change. However, investigating language variation is a complex undertaking: the more factors we want to consider, the more data we need. Tra...... use of large amounts of data and provides statistical analyses, maps, and interactive features that enable scholars to explore language variation in a data-driven way.......Language varies not only between countries, but also along regional and sociodemographic lines. This variation is one of the driving factors behind language change. However, investigating language variation is a complex undertaking: the more factors we want to consider, the more data we need...... training in both variational linguistics and computational methods, a combination that is still not common. We take a first step here to alleviate the problem by providing an interface to explore large-scale language variation along several socio-demographic factors without programming knowledge. It makes...

Language-Agnostic Relation Extraction from Abstracts in Wikis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicolas Heist

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Large-scale knowledge graphs, such as DBpedia, Wikidata, or YAGO, can be enhanced by relation extraction from text, using the data in the knowledge graph as training data, i.e., using distant supervision. While most existing approaches use language-specific methods (usually for English, we present a language-agnostic approach that exploits background knowledge from the graph instead of language-specific techniques and builds machine learning models only from language-independent features. We demonstrate the extraction of relations from Wikipedia abstracts, using the twelve largest language editions of Wikipedia. From those, we can extract 1.6 M new relations in DBpedia at a level of precision of 95%, using a RandomForest classifier trained only on language-independent features. We furthermore investigate the similarity of models for different languages and show an exemplary geographical breakdown of the information extracted. In a second series of experiments, we show how the approach can be transferred to DBkWik, a knowledge graph extracted from thousands of Wikis. We discuss the challenges and first results of extracting relations from a larger set of Wikis, using a less formalized knowledge graph.

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF EXISTING INTENSIVE METHODS OF TEACHING FOREIGN LANGUAGES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Mytnyk

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The article deals with the study and analysis of comparable existing intensive methods of teaching foreign languages. This work is carried out to identify the positive and negative aspects of intensive methods of teaching foreign languages. The author traces the idea of rational organization and intensification of teaching foreign languages from their inception to the moment of their preparation in an integrated system. advantages and disadvantages of the most popular methods of intensive training also analyzed the characteristic of different historical periods, namely cugestopedichny method G. Lozanov method activation of reserve possibilities of students G. Kitaygorodskoy, emotional-semantic method I. Schechter, an intensive course of learning a foreign language L. Gegechkori , sugestokibernetichny integral method of accelerated learning a foreign language B. Petrusinskogo, a crash course in the study of spoken language by immersion A. Plesnevich. Analyzed the principles of learning and the role of each method in the development of methods of intensive foreign language training. The author identified a number of advantages and disadvantages of intensive methods of teaching foreign languages: 1 the assimilation of a large number of linguistic, lexical and grammatical units; 2 active use of acquired knowledge, skills and abilities in the practice of oral speech communication in a foreign language; 3 the ability to use language material resulting not only in his speech, but also in understanding the interlocutor; 4 overcoming psychological barriers, including fear of the possibility of making a mistake; 5 high efficiency and fast learning; 6 too much new language material that is presented; 7 training of oral forms of communication; 8 decline of grammatical units and models.

Student Training in the Use of an Online Synchronous Conferencing Tool

Science.gov (United States)

Heiser, Sarah; Stickler, Ursula; Furnborough, Concha

2013-01-01

With the increase of online language teaching the training needs of teachers have long been established and researched. However, the training needs of students have not yet been fully acknowledged. This paper focuses on learner training as preparation for language classes where online synchronous conferencing is used. It presents an action…

Community health center provider and staff's Spanish language ability and cultural awareness.

Science.gov (United States)

Baig, Arshiya A; Benitez, Amanda; Locklin, Cara A; Campbell, Amanda; Schaefer, Cynthia T; Heuer, Loretta J; Lee, Sang Mee; Solomon, Marla C; Quinn, Michael T; Burnet, Deborah L; Chin, Marshall H

2014-05-01

Many community health center providers and staff care for Latinos with diabetes, but their Spanish language ability and awareness of Latino culture are unknown. We surveyed 512 Midwestern health center providers and staff who managed Latino patients with diabetes. Few respondents had high Spanish language (13%) or cultural awareness scores (22%). Of respondents who self-reported 76-100% of their patients were Latino, 48% had moderate/low Spanish language and 49% had moderate/low cultural competency scores. Among these respondents, 3% lacked access to interpreters and 27% had neither received cultural competency training nor had access to training. Among all respondents, Spanish skills and Latino cultural awareness were low. Respondents who saw a significant number of Latinos had good access to interpretation services but not cultural competency training. Improved Spanish-language skills and increased access to cultural competency training and Latino cultural knowledge are needed to provide linguistically and culturally tailored care to Latino patients.

Decision process simulation in training systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zajtsev, K.S.; Serov, A.A.; Ajnutdinov, V.A.

1984-01-01

One of the approaches to arrangement of training process an automated trainning systems (ATS) based on actjve use of knowledge of experienced operators is presented. Problems of mathematical model simulatjon of decision process by people not having special knowledge in mathematics are considered. A language of solution tables based on indistinct tables is suggested to the used as a simulation language. The problem of automation of decision process simulation in ATS is solued

Cross-Lingual Morphological Tagging for Low-Resource Languages

OpenAIRE

Buys, Jan; Botha, Jan A.

2016-01-01

Morphologically rich languages often lack the annotated linguistic resources required to develop accurate natural language processing tools. We propose models suitable for training morphological taggers with rich tagsets for low-resource languages without using direct supervision. Our approach extends existing approaches of projecting part-of-speech tags across languages, using bitext to infer constraints on the possible tags for a given word type or token. We propose a tagging model using Ws...

Music training for the development of reading skills.

Science.gov (United States)

Tierney, Adam; Kraus, Nina

2013-01-01

The beneficial effects of musical training are not limited to enhancement of musical skills, but extend to language skills. Here, we review evidence that musical training can enhance reading ability. First, we discuss five subskills underlying reading acquisition-phonological awareness, speech-in-noise perception, rhythm perception, auditory working memory, and the ability to learn sound patterns-and show that each is linked to music experience. We link these five subskills through a unifying biological framework, positing that they share a reliance on auditory neural synchrony. After laying this theoretical groundwork for why musical training might be expected to enhance reading skills, we review the results of longitudinal studies providing evidence for a role for musical training in enhancing language abilities. Taken as a whole, these findings suggest that musical training can provide an effective developmental educational strategy for all children, including those with language learning impairments. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Abstract: Implementing Sustainable International Accepted Trainings ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The program was established through monthly staff trainings using three evidenced-based global maternal and neonatal health programs: Helping Babies Breath, Helping Mothers Survive, and Basic Life Support. Methods ... Trainings done in the local language elicited more participation compared to trainings in English.

Culture in Language Teaching

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kovács Gabriella

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Learning a language means also the study of a different culture. This study focuses on the introduction of the topic of culture in language teaching into the curriculum of the subject Language Teaching Methodology for teacher trainees studying at Translation And Interpreting Studies, Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania, Faculty of Technical and Human Sciences, Târgu-Mureş. This topic has not been treated separately so far, it has only been discussed implicitly, included in other topics. But we believe that future teachers should have a more thorough theoretical and practical training in terms of what incorporating culture into language teaching implies. For this purpose, we are going to examine and discuss some of the recommendations and principles stated in the specialized literature regarding culture in foreign language teaching and reflect on what the ideal content of a course related to the teaching of this skill should be.

WAYS OF DEVELOPING PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ ENGLISH LANGUAGE COMPETENCE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lyudmyla Gavrilova

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Involvement of future specialists into advanced studying of English as the main language of international communication is a relevant problem of modern higher education in Ukraine. This issue relevance is proved by the country's integration into the European educational environment, changes in strategic directions of higher education development in Ukraine, regulations by Ukrainian Government and the Ministry of Education, in particular, the Decree of the President of Ukraine “On Declaring 2016 the Year of English Language in Ukraine”, “Common European Framework on Language Education”. Essential changes which are now taking place in studying foreign languages, especially English, are also associated with the competency paradigm of education that focuses on achieving certain educational results and orienting scientific research of professional pedagogical education in recent years. An important condition for reformatting process of learning a foreign (English language is monitoring future specialists’ academic achievements in this field, particularly future teachers’ ones. The concept “pedagogical monitoring” is interpreted as a system of measures for collecting and analyzing data to study and evaluate the quality of professional training and to make decisions on further improvement of the educational process. The purpose of the article is to highlight and analyze the results of monitoring the level of English of State higher educational establishment “Donbas State Pedagogical University” students and reveal the ways of improving future teachers` English communicative competence. The monitoring stages are assessing the starting level of foreign (English language of students who are not trained in the field of language-related professions using the tests for A2 level standards of Cambridge Educational Syndicate; reformatting the content of learning English at the university: developing and implementing the course �

Training at Aerospatiale

Science.gov (United States)

Chabod, Rene

A training plan for Aerospatiale is outlined which incorporates goals for both the organization and the individual. Emphasis is placed on the training of staff in multiple skills such as mechanics/electronics. Other areas considered include the development of information tools, the development of commercial approaches, and the learning of new industrial techniques and foreign languages.

Examine Ways to Decrease Training Duration While Maintaining Training Objective

Science.gov (United States)

2012-09-01

ability to complete a task ( Bandura , 1977) and is related to motivation to learn , post-training self-efficacy, and training transfer (Colquitt...critical role” in “…fostering learning and controlling the social , task, and physical aspects of the discrete learning context” (Surface & Ellington...language instruction. West Conshohocken, PA: Author. Bandura , A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological

LEARNING HOW TO LEARN A LANGUAGE

CERN Multimedia

Language Training; Tel. 73127; Andrée Fontbonne; Tel. 72844

2001-01-01

This bilingual seminar is for anyone who would like to develop learning strategies and skills for learning a foreign language. Languages: French and English. Length: 3 days, 7 hours per day. Dates: 4, 5, 6 March 2002. Price: 460 CHF per person (for a group of 8 people). If you are interested, please enrol through our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training

LEARNING HOW TO LEARN A LANGUAGE

CERN Multimedia

Language Training; Tel. 73127; Andrée Fontbonne; Tel. 72844

2001-01-01

This bilingual seminar is for anyone who would like to develop learning strategies and skills for learning a foreign language. Languages: French and English. Length: 3 days, 7 hours per day. Dates: 5, 6, 7 November 2001. Price: 460 CHF per person (for a group of 8 people). If you are interested, please enrol through our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training

Communicative – Activity Approach in Learning Foreign Language

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dariga A. Bekova

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The article is devoted communicative method of teaching foreign languages, which is the activity character. The task of the communicative approach – to interest of students in learning a foreign language through the accumulation and improvement their knowledge and experience. The main objective this method – free orienteering training in foreign language environment and the ability to adequately react in different situations, communication.

Neuroscience illuminating the influence of auditory or phonological intervention on language-related deficits

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sari eYlinen

2015-02-01

Full Text Available Remediation programs for language-related learning deficits are urgently needed to enable equal opportunities in education. To meet this need, different training and intervention programs have been developed. Here we review, from an educational perspective, studies that have explored the neural basis of behavioral changes induced by auditory or phonological training in dyslexia, specific language impairment (SLI, and language-learning impairment (LLI. Training has been shown to induce plastic changes in deficient neural networks. In dyslexia, these include, most consistently, increased or normalized activation of previously hypoactive inferior frontal and occipito-temporal areas. In SLI and LLI, studies have shown the strengthening of previously weak auditory brain responses as a result of training. The combination of behavioral and brain measures of remedial gains has potential to increase the understanding of the causes of language-related deficits, which may help to target remedial interventions more accurately to the core problem.

Community Health Center Provider and Staff’s Spanish Language Ability and Cultural Awareness

Science.gov (United States)

Baig, Arshiya A.; Benitez, Amanda; Locklin, Cara A.; Campbell, Amanda; Schaefer, Cynthia T.; Heuer, Loretta J.; Mee Lee, Sang; Solomon, Marla C.; Quinn, Michael T.; Burnet, Deborah L.; Chin, Marshall H.

2014-01-01

Many community health center providers and staff care for Latinos with diabetes, but their Spanish language ability and awareness of Latino culture are unknown. We surveyed 512 Midwestern health center providers and staff who managed Latino patients with diabetes. Few respondents had high Spanish language (13%) or cultural awareness scores (22%). Of respondents who self-reported 76–100% of their patients were Latino, 48% had moderate/low Spanish language and 49% had moderate/low cultural competency scores. Among these respondents, 3% lacked access to interpreters and 27% had neither received cultural competency training nor had access to training. Among all respondents, Spanish skills and Latino cultural awareness were low. Respondents who saw a significant number of Latinos had good access to interpretation services but not cultural competency training. Improved Spanish-language skills and increased access to cultural competency training and Latino cultural knowledge are needed to provide linguistically and culturally tailored care to Latino patients. PMID:24858866

Communication skills training in English alone can leave Arab medical students unconfident with patient communication in their native language.

Science.gov (United States)

Mirza, D M; Hashim, M J

2010-08-01

Communications skills curricula and pedagogy for medical students are often exported to non-English speaking settings. It is assumed that after learning communication skills in English, doctors will be able to communicate effectively with patients in their own language. We distributed a questionnaire to third year Emirati students at a medical school within the United Arab Emirates. We assessed their confidence in interviewing patients in Arabic after communication skills training in English. Of the 49 students in the sample, 36 subjects (73.5%) completed and returned the questionnaire. Nearly three-quarters (72.2%) of students said they felt confident in taking a history in English, while 27.8% of students expressed confidence in taking a history in Arabic. Half of students anticipated that after their training they would be communicating with their patients primarily in Arabic, and only 8.3% anticipated they would be communicating in English. Communication skills training purely in English can leave Arab medical students ill equipped to communicate with patients in their own communities and tongue.

Language workbench user interfaces for data analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Victoria M. Benson

2015-02-01

Full Text Available Biological data analysis is frequently performed with command line software. While this practice provides considerable flexibility for computationally savy individuals, such as investigators trained in bioinformatics, this also creates a barrier to the widespread use of data analysis software by investigators trained as biologists and/or clinicians. Workflow systems such as Galaxy and Taverna have been developed to try and provide generic user interfaces that can wrap command line analysis software. These solutions are useful for problems that can be solved with workflows, and that do not require specialized user interfaces. However, some types of analyses can benefit from custom user interfaces. For instance, developing biomarker models from high-throughput data is a type of analysis that can be expressed more succinctly with specialized user interfaces. Here, we show how Language Workbench (LW technology can be used to model the biomarker development and validation process. We developed a language that models the concepts of Dataset, Endpoint, Feature Selection Method and Classifier. These high-level language concepts map directly to abstractions that analysts who develop biomarker models are familiar with. We found that user interfaces developed in the Meta-Programming System (MPS LW provide convenient means to configure a biomarker development project, to train models and view the validation statistics. We discuss several advantages of developing user interfaces for data analysis with a LW, including increased interface consistency, portability and extension by language composition. The language developed during this experiment is distributed as an MPS plugin (available at http://campagnelab.org/software/bdval-for-mps/.

Language workbench user interfaces for data analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Benson, Victoria M.

2015-01-01

Biological data analysis is frequently performed with command line software. While this practice provides considerable flexibility for computationally savy individuals, such as investigators trained in bioinformatics, this also creates a barrier to the widespread use of data analysis software by investigators trained as biologists and/or clinicians. Workflow systems such as Galaxy and Taverna have been developed to try and provide generic user interfaces that can wrap command line analysis software. These solutions are useful for problems that can be solved with workflows, and that do not require specialized user interfaces. However, some types of analyses can benefit from custom user interfaces. For instance, developing biomarker models from high-throughput data is a type of analysis that can be expressed more succinctly with specialized user interfaces. Here, we show how Language Workbench (LW) technology can be used to model the biomarker development and validation process. We developed a language that models the concepts of Dataset, Endpoint, Feature Selection Method and Classifier. These high-level language concepts map directly to abstractions that analysts who develop biomarker models are familiar with. We found that user interfaces developed in the Meta-Programming System (MPS) LW provide convenient means to configure a biomarker development project, to train models and view the validation statistics. We discuss several advantages of developing user interfaces for data analysis with a LW, including increased interface consistency, portability and extension by language composition. The language developed during this experiment is distributed as an MPS plugin (available at http://campagnelab.org/software/bdval-for-mps/). PMID:25755929

Selective transfer of visual working memory training on Chinese character learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Opitz, Bertram; Schneiders, Julia A; Krick, Christoph M; Mecklinger, Axel

2014-01-01

Previous research has shown a systematic relationship between phonological working memory capacity and second language proficiency for alphabetic languages. However, little is known about the impact of working memory processes on second language learning in a non-alphabetic language such as Mandarin Chinese. Due to the greater complexity of the Chinese writing system we expect that visual working memory rather than phonological working memory exerts a unique influence on learning Chinese characters. This issue was explored in the present experiment by comparing visual working memory training with an active (auditory working memory training) control condition and a passive, no training control condition. Training induced modulations in language-related brain networks were additionally examined using functional magnetic resonance imaging in a pretest-training-posttest design. As revealed by pre- to posttest comparisons and analyses of individual differences in working memory training gains, visual working memory training led to positive transfer effects on visual Chinese vocabulary learning compared to both control conditions. In addition, we found sustained activation after visual working memory training in the (predominantly visual) left infero-temporal cortex that was associated with behavioral transfer. In the control conditions, activation either increased (active control condition) or decreased (passive control condition) without reliable behavioral transfer effects. This suggests that visual working memory training leads to more efficient processing and more refined responses in brain regions involved in visual processing. Furthermore, visual working memory training boosted additional activation in the precuneus, presumably reflecting mental image generation of the learned characters. We, therefore, suggest that the conjoint activity of the mid-fusiform gyrus and the precuneus after visual working memory training reflects an interaction of working memory and

So You Were a Language Major: Corporate Interviewing and Training in Foreign Languages and Cross-Cultural Skills.

Science.gov (United States)

Seabrook, Roberta; Valdes, Berardo

A study of the attitudes and practices in multinational corporations concerning second language and intercultural skills as criteria for employment of international managers consisted of three elements: (1) a survey of corporations; (2) followup interviews with respondents and with commercial language schools and cross-cultural training…

Language in trouble

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nevile, Maurice Richard

2016-01-01

to such moments: a driver warns by announcing his/her presence, movement, or activity, to another driver who then responds. We analyse warnings’ form and occurrence in the order and progress of routine task performance, to consider language as part of multimodal conduct, and relative to the physical surround (e......We examine the language and multimodal character of ’warnings’ in moments of potential ‘trouble’ in tasks for mobile collaborative work. The participants are forklift truck drivers moving objects from one place to another at a training and certification site (a simulated warehouse scene). Our data.......g. change in driving direction, speed, location). Forklift truck collisions can range from very minor to potentially dangerous, so warnings can constitute a form of crisis communication (De Rycker & Mohd Don 2013). We are interested generally in understanding language for the social practices by which...

Technical training: places available

CERN Document Server

2013-01-01

If you would like more information on a course, or for any other inquiry/suggestions, please contact Technical.Training@cern.ch Valeria Perez Reale, Learning Specialist, Technical Programme Coordinator (Tel.: 62424) Eva Stern and Elise Romero, Technical Training Administration (Tel.: 74924)   Electronics design Next Session Duration Language Introduction to VHDL 21-Feb-13 to 22-Feb-13 2 days English Mechanical design Next Session Duration Language ANSYS - Introduction à ANSYS Mechanical APDL 04-Feb-13 to 07-Feb-13 4 days English Applications de la cotation fonctionnelle et du langage ISO 06-Feb-13 to 08-Feb-13 2 days 4 hours French CATIA V5 – Surfacique 14-Jan-13 to 15-Jan-13 2 days French Office software Next Session Duration Language ACCESS 2010 - niveau 2 : ECDL 06-Feb-13 to 07-Feb-13 2 days French Dreamweaver CS3 - Niveau 1 14-Jan-13 to 15-Jan-13 2 d...

Language policies and sign language translation and interpreting: connections between Brazil and Mozambique

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Silvana Aguiar dos Santos

2015-12-01

Full Text Available http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/1984-8420.2015v16n2p101 This paper is the result of an initial attempt to establish a connection between Brazil and Mozambique regarding sign language translation and interpreting. It reviews some important landmarks in language policies aimed at sign languages in these countries and discusses how certain actions directly impact political decisions related to sign lan­guage translation and interpreting. In this context, two lines of argument are developed. The first one addresses the role of sign language translation and interpreting in the Por­tuguese-speaking context, since Portuguese is the official language in both countries; the other offers some reflections about the Deaf movements and the movements of sign lan­guage translators and interpreters, the legal recognition of sign languages, the develop­ment of undergraduate courses and the contemporary challenges in the work of transla­tion professionals. Finally, it is suggested that sign language translators and interpreters in both Brazil and Mozambique undertake efforts to press government bodies to invest in: (i area-specific training for translators and interpreters, (ii qualification of the ser­vices provided by such professionals, and (iii development of human resources at mas­ter’s and doctoral levels in order to strengthen research on sign language translation and interpreting in the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries.

Language experience changes subsequent learning

Science.gov (United States)

Onnis, Luca; Thiessen, Erik

2013-01-01

What are the effects of experience on subsequent learning? We explored the effects of language-specific word order knowledge on the acquisition of sequential conditional information. Korean and English adults were engaged in a sequence learning task involving three different sets of stimuli: auditory linguistic (nonsense syllables), visual non-linguistic (nonsense shapes), and auditory non-linguistic (pure tones). The forward and backward probabilities between adjacent elements generated two equally probable and orthogonal perceptual parses of the elements, such that any significant preference at test must be due to either general cognitive biases, or prior language-induced biases. We found that language modulated parsing preferences with the linguistic stimuli only. Intriguingly, these preferences are congruent with the dominant word order patterns of each language, as corroborated by corpus analyses, and are driven by probabilistic preferences. Furthermore, although the Korean individuals had received extensive formal explicit training in English and lived in an English-speaking environment, they exhibited statistical learning biases congruent with their native language. Our findings suggest that mechanisms of statistical sequential learning are implicated in language across the lifespan, and experience with language may affect cognitive processes and later learning. PMID:23200510

They`re not just Samaki.

OpenAIRE

Glaesel, Heidi

2012-01-01

Few East African groups have attracted the attention of academics as much as the Swahili of coastal Kenya and Tanzania. The Swahili town of Lamu has even been described as having more professional researchers than doctors per inhabitant (Mazmi and Shariff 1994:2). Researchers commonly describe the Swahili as having a maritime culture (Middleton 1992:8; Nurse and Spear 1985:97; Prins 1965:263-275) and looking to the sea for their livelihood and identity (Mazmi and Shariff 1994:19; Ylvisaker...

Language Equality in International Cooperation. Esperanto Documents, New Series, No. 21.

Science.gov (United States)

Harry, Ralph; Mandel, Mark

The policies of the United Nations with regard to the six official languages have left holes in the fabric of international cooperation. Maintaining language services in all six languages has proved to be an impossibility because of the scarcity of trained interpreters and translators between, for instance, Chinese and Arabic. English, French, and…

30 CFR 46.4 - Training plan implementation.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Training plan implementation. 46.4 Section 46.4..., SURFACE CLAY, COLLOIDAL PHOSPHATE, OR SURFACE LIMESTONE MINES. § 46.4 Training plan implementation. (a... accordance with the written training plan; (2) Presented by a competent person; and (3) Presented in language...

Implicit Memory in Music and Language

OpenAIRE

Marc eEttlinger; Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis; Patrick C. M. Wong; Patrick C. M. Wong

2011-01-01

Research on music and language in recent decades has focused on their overlapping neurophysiological, perceptual, and cognitive underpinnings, ranging from the mechanism for encoding basic auditory cues to the mechanism for detecting violations in phrase structure. These overlaps have most often been identified in musicians with musical knowledge that was acquired explicitly, through formal training. In this paper, we review independent bodies of work in music and language that suggest an imp...

The challenge of linguistic and cultural diversity: Does length of experience affect South African speech-language therapists’ management of children with language impairment?

Science.gov (United States)

Southwood, Frenette; van Dulm, Ondene

2015-01-01

Background South African speech-language therapists (SLTs) currently do not reflect the country's linguistic and cultural diversity. The question arises as to who might be better equipped currently to provide services to multilingual populations: SLTs with more clinical experience in such contexts, or recently trained SLTs who are themselves linguistically and culturally diverse and whose training programmes deliberately focused on multilingualism and multiculturalism? Aims To investigate whether length of clinical experience influenced: number of bilingual children treated, languages spoken by these children, languages in which assessment and remediation can be offered, assessment instrument(s) favoured, and languages in which therapy material is required. Method From questionnaires completed by 243 Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA)-registered SLTs who treat children with language problems, two groups were drawn: 71 more experienced (ME) respondents (20+ years of experience) and 79 less experienced (LE) respondents (maximum 5 years of experience). Results The groups did not differ significantly with regard to (1) number of children (monolingual or bilingual) with language difficulties seen, (2) number of respondents seeing child clients who have Afrikaans or an African language as home language, (3) number of respondents who can offer intervention in Afrikaans or English and (4) number of respondents who reported needing therapy material in Afrikaans or English. However, significantly more ME than LE respondents reported seeing first language child speakers of English, whereas significantly more LE than ME respondents could provide services, and required therapy material, in African languages. Conclusion More LE than ME SLTs could offer remediation in an African language, but there were few other significant differences between the two groups. There is still an absence of appropriate assessment and remediation material for Afrikaans and African

The challenge of linguistic and cultural diversity: Does length of experience affect South African speech-language therapists' management of children with language impairment?

Science.gov (United States)

Southwood, Frenette; Van Dulm, Ondene

2015-02-10

South African speech-language therapists (SLTs) currently do not reflect the country's linguistic and cultural diversity. The question arises as to who might be better equipped currently to provide services to multilingual populations: SLTs with more clinical experience in such contexts, or recently trained SLTs who are themselves linguistically and culturally diverse and whose training programmes deliberately focused on multilingualism and multiculturalism? To investigate whether length of clinical experience influenced: number of bilingual children treated, languages spoken by these children, languages in which assessment and remediation can be offered, assessment instrument(s) favoured, and languages in which therapy material is required. From questionnaires completed by 243 Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA)-registered SLTs who treat children with language problems, two groups were drawn:71 more experienced (ME) respondents (20+ years of experience) and 79 less experienced (LE) respondents (maximum 5 years of experience). The groups did not differ significantly with regard to (1) number of children(monolingual or bilingual) with language difficulties seen, (2) number of respondents seeing child clients who have Afrikaans or an African language as home language, (3) number of respondents who can offer intervention in Afrikaans or English and (4) number of respondents who reported needing therapy material in Afrikaans or English. However, significantly more ME than LE respondents reported seeing first language child speakers of English, whereas significantly more LE than ME respondents could provide services, and required therapy material, in African languages. More LE than ME SLTs could offer remediation in an African language, but there were few other significant differences between the two groups. There is still an absence of appropriate assessment and remediation material for Afrikaans and African languages, but the increased number of African

A Review of Training Opportunities for Singing Voice Rehabilitation Specialists.

Science.gov (United States)

Gerhard, Julia

2016-05-01

Training opportunities for singing voice rehabilitation specialists are growing and changing. This is happening despite a lack of agreed-on guidelines or an accredited certification acknowledged by the governing bodies in the fields of speech-language pathology and vocal pedagogy, the American Speech-Language Hearing Association and the National Association of Teachers of Singing, respectively. The roles of the speech-language pathologist, the singing teacher, and the person who bridges this gap, the singing voice rehabilitation specialist, are now becoming better defined and more common among the voice care community. To that end, this article aims to review the current opportunities for training in the field of singing voice rehabilitation. A review of available university training programs, private training programs and mentorships, clinical fellowships, professional organizations, conferences, vocal training across genres, and self-study opportunities was conducted. All institutional listings are with permission from program leaders. Although many avenues are available for training of singing voice rehabilitation specialists, there is no accredited comprehensive training program at this point. This review gathers information on current training opportunities from across various modalities. The listings are not intended to be comprehensive but rather representative of possibilities for interested practitioners. Copyright © 2016 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Geoscience Training for NASA Astronaut Candidates

Science.gov (United States)

Young, K. E.; Evans, C. A.; Bleacher, J. E.; Graff, T. G.; Zeigler, R.

2017-01-01

After being selected to the astronaut office, crewmembers go through an initial two year training flow, astronaut candidacy, where they learn the basic skills necessary for spaceflight. While the bulk of astronaut candidate training currently centers on the multiple subjects required for ISS operations (EVA skills, Russian language, ISS systems, etc.), training also includes geoscience training designed to train crewmembers in Earth observations, teach astronauts about other planetary systems, and provide field training designed to investigate field operations and boost team skills. This training goes back to Apollo training and has evolved to support ISS operations and future exploration missions.

Production Practice During Language Learning Improves Comprehension.

Science.gov (United States)

Hopman, Elise W M; MacDonald, Maryellen C

2018-04-01

Language learners often spend more time comprehending than producing a new language. However, memory research suggests reasons to suspect that production practice might provide a stronger learning experience than comprehension practice. We tested the benefits of production during language learning and the degree to which this learning transfers to comprehension skill. We taught participants an artificial language containing multiple linguistic dependencies. Participants were randomly assigned to either a production- or a comprehension-learning condition, with conditions designed to balance attention demands and other known production-comprehension differences. After training, production-learning participants outperformed comprehension-learning participants on vocabulary comprehension and on comprehension tests of grammatical dependencies, even when we controlled for individual differences in vocabulary learning. This result shows that producing a language during learning can improve subsequent comprehension, which has implications for theories of memory and learning, language representations, and educational practices.

Japanese Non Resident Language Refresher Course; 210 Hour Course.

Science.gov (United States)

Defense Language Inst., Washington, DC.

This military intelligence unit refresher course in Japanese is designed for 210 hours of audiolingual instruction. The materials, prepared by the Defense Language Institute, are intended for students with considerable intensive training in spoken and written Japanese who are preparing for a military language assignment. [Not available in hard…

Training and Developing Non-Irish Workers: The Perspectives of Interested Stakeholders

Science.gov (United States)

Prendergast, Mary

2016-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the challenges facing Irish organisations in the training and development of non-Irish workers. It analyses the importance of fluency in the host country's language and the approach taken by organisations in relation to language training. In-depth semi-structured interviews provide significant insights for the…

Dogs’ Body Language Relevant to Learning Achievement

OpenAIRE

Hasegawa, Masashi; Ohtani, Nobuyo; Ohta, Mitsuaki

2014-01-01

Simple Summary For humans and dogs to live together amiably, dog training is required, and a lack of obedience training is significantly related to the prevalence of certain behavioral problems. To train efficiently, it is important that the trainer/owner ascertains the learning level of the dog. Understanding the dog’s body language helps humans understand the animal’s emotions. This study evaluated the posture of certain dog body parts during operant conditioning. Our findings suggest that ...

Overcoming language barriers in healthcare: A protocol for investigating safe and effective communication when patients or clinicians use a second language.

Science.gov (United States)

Meuter, Renata F I; Gallois, Cindy; Segalowitz, Norman S; Ryder, Andrew G; Hocking, Julia

2015-09-10

Miscommunication in the healthcare sector can be life-threatening. The rising number of migrant patients and foreign-trained staff means that communication errors between a healthcare practitioner and patient when one or both are speaking a second language are increasingly likely. However, there is limited research that addresses this issue systematically. This protocol outlines a hospital-based study examining interactions between healthcare practitioners and their patients who either share or do not share a first language. Of particular interest are the nature and efficacy of communication in language-discordant conversations, and the degree to which risk is communicated. Our aim is to understand language barriers and miscommunication that may occur in healthcare settings between patients and healthcare practitioners, especially where at least one of the speakers is using a second (weaker) language. Eighty individual interactions between patients and practitioners who speak either English or Chinese (Mandarin or Cantonese) as their first language will be video recorded in a range of in- and out-patient departments at three hospitals in the Metro South area of Brisbane, Australia. All participants will complete a language background questionnaire. Patients will also complete a short survey rating the effectiveness of the interaction. Recordings will be transcribed and submitted to both quantitative and qualitative analyses to determine elements of the language used that might be particularly problematic and the extent to which language concordance and discordance impacts on the quality of the patient-practitioner consultation. Understanding the role that language plays in creating barriers to healthcare is critical for healthcare systems that are experiencing an increasing range of culturally and linguistically diverse populations both amongst patients and practitioners. The data resulting from this study will inform policy and practical solutions for

Technology and language: Learning to say mouse in K'iche' | CRDI ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Students are learning that their indigenous language and culture are a vital part of ... until the late 1990s, actively discouraged the use of Indigenous languages in the ... quality computer and Internet training for rural Indigenous communities.

"Small" languages in the European context: The Danish experience

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lauridsen, Karen M.

The paper briefly describes the training of translators and interpreters in Denmark, taking into consideration that fact that Danish is one of the less widely used and taught languages in the European Union and the implication this has for the training of professional translators/interpreters....

Auditory Integration Training

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zahra Jafari

2002-07-01

Full Text Available Auditory integration training (AIT is a hearing enhancement training process for sensory input anomalies found in individuals with autism, attention deficit hyperactive disorder, dyslexia, hyperactivity, learning disability, language impairments, pervasive developmental disorder, central auditory processing disorder, attention deficit disorder, depressin, and hyperacute hearing. AIT, recently introduced in the United States, and has received much notice of late following the release of The Sound of a Moracle, by Annabel Stehli. In her book, Mrs. Stehli describes before and after auditory integration training experiences with her daughter, who was diagnosed at age four as having autism.

Handbook for Classroom Testing in Peace Corps Language Programs. Manual T0068.

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, Neil J.

This manual provides instructors in Peace Corps language training programs with information about two kinds of classroom testing: formative, ongoing testing and summative testing that occurs at the end of an instructional period. The first of the manual's four chapters on the purposes of language testing, discusses language testing within a…

Nuclear Manpower Training

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Min, B. J.; Yoo, B. H.; Lee, E. J.

2007-01-01

Nuclear Training Center (NTC) has concentrated its efforts on the systemisation and specialization of education and training and has actively carried out diverse activities to create new education courses based on the experience accumulated so far. The systematic and comprehensive education systems have been set up by streamlining the education systems for internal employees conducted sporadically over the past years and expansion and diversification of education and training has been built through a study on Systematic Approach to Training (SAT) methodology for the development of efficient education courses and a survey of manpower development in on-site industry. The 6 education programs have been developed and 15 courses were newly developed and improved. Especially to be noted in relation to education program development is that NTC has compiled and published a book titled 'current status of research ethics of science and technology and cases' and has also conducted a survey targeted at the 30 electric power/electricity industries related to nuclear power. The total number of people who receive education for the year of 2006 was 4,186 and a total of 130 training courses were established and 125 times operated. Among them, the number of collective education was 64 courses, 104 times operated and 3,190 persons participated while as for cyber education(on-line language education), 39 courses in 3 foreign language areas established, 21 times operated and 996 persons participated

Brain responses to language-relevant musical features in adolescent cochlear implant users before and after an intensive music training program

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petersen, Bjørn; Weed, Ethan; Hansen, Mads

Brain responses to language-relevant musical features in adolescent cochlear implant users before and after an intensive music training program Petersen B.1,2, Weed E.1,3, Hansen M.1,4, Sørensen S.D.3 , Sandmann P.5 , Vuust P.1,2 1Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Aarhus University......, rhythm and intensity). Difference waves for the rhythm deviant were analyzed in the time window between 300 and 320 ms. Separate mixed-model ANOVAs were performed for left and right fronto-central electrodes. Paired t-tests were used to analyze the behavioral data. Here we present preliminary analyses...... of ERP responses to the rhythm deviant stimuli and results from a behavioral rhythm discrimination test. For both left and right electrode sites we found a main effect of group, driven by higher mean amplitude in the NH group. There was no main effect of training. Left hemisphere sites showed...

Musical plus phonological input for young foreign language readers.

Science.gov (United States)

Fonseca-Mora, M C; Jara-Jiménez, Pilar; Gómez-Domínguez, María

2015-01-01

Based on previous studies showing that phonological awareness is related to reading abilities and that music training improves phonological processing, the aim of the present study was to test for the efficiency of a new method for teaching to read in a foreign language. Specifically, we tested the efficacy of a phonological training program, with and without musical support that aimed at improving early reading skills in 7-8-year-old Spanish children (n = 63) learning English as a foreign language. Of interest was also to explore the impact of this training program on working memory and decoding skills. To achieve these goals we tested three groups of children before and after training: a control group, an experimental group with phonological non-musical intervention (active control), and an experimental group with musical intervention. Results clearly point to the beneficial effects of the phonological teaching approach but the further impact of the music support was not demonstrated. Moreover, while children in the music group showed low musical aptitudes before training, they nevertheless performed better than the control group. Therefore, the phonological training program with and without music support seem to have significant effects on early reading skills.

Musical plus phonological input for young foreign language readers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M.C. eFonseca-Mora

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Based on previous studies showing that phonological awareness is related to reading abilities and that music training improves phonological processing, the aim of the present study was to test for the efficiency of a new method for teaching to read in a foreign language. Specifically, we tested the efficacy of a phonological training program, with and without musical support that aimed at improving early reading skills in 7-8-year-old Spanish children (n=63 learning English as a foreign language. Of interest was also to explore the impact of this training program on working memory and decoding skills. To achieve these goals we tested three groups of children before and after training: a control group, an experimental group with phonological non-musical intervention (active control, and an experimental group with musical intervention. Results clearly point to the beneficial effects of the phonological teaching approach but the further impact of the music support was not demonstrated. Moreover, while children in the music group showed low musical aptitudes before training, they nevertheless performed better than the control group. Therefore, the phonological training program with and without music support seem to have significant effects on early reading skills.

University of Akron: Training Speech-Language Pathology Specialists to Provide Quality Service to Children Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing--A Collaborative Preservice Program

Science.gov (United States)

Wray, Denise; Flexer, Carol

2010-01-01

A collaborative team of faculty from The University of Akron (UA) in Akron, Ohio, and Kent State University (KSU) in Kent, Ohio, were awarded a federal grant from the U.S. Department of Education to develop a specialty area in the graduate speech-language pathology (SLP) programs of UA and KSU that would train a total of 32 SLP students (trainees)…

Foreign language learning in immersive virtual environments

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Benjamin; Sheldon, Lee; Si, Mei; Hand, Anton

2012-03-01

Virtual reality has long been used for training simulations in fields from medicine to welding to vehicular operation, but simulations involving more complex cognitive skills present new design challenges. Foreign language learning, for example, is increasingly vital in the global economy, but computer-assisted education is still in its early stages. Immersive virtual reality is a promising avenue for language learning as a way of dynamically creating believable scenes for conversational training and role-play simulation. Visual immersion alone, however, only provides a starting point. We suggest that the addition of social interactions and motivated engagement through narrative gameplay can lead to truly effective language learning in virtual environments. In this paper, we describe the development of a novel application for teaching Mandarin using CAVE-like VR, physical props, human actors and intelligent virtual agents, all within a semester-long multiplayer mystery game. Students travel (virtually) to China on a class field trip, which soon becomes complicated with intrigue and mystery surrounding the lost manuscript of an early Chinese literary classic. Virtual reality environments such as the Forbidden City and a Beijing teahouse provide the setting for learning language, cultural traditions, and social customs, as well as the discovery of clues through conversation in Mandarin with characters in the game.

Science &Language Teaching in Hands-on Education

Science.gov (United States)

Gehlert, Sylvia

2002-01-01

As announced in the paper presented in Toulouse, a trinational teacher training program addressing school teachers from France, Germany and Italy on teaching foreign languages together with science and history through Space related projects has been implemented and launched successfully. Supported by the French Ministry of Education (Académie de Nice), the bigovernmental French-German Youth Office (Office franco- allemand pour la Jeunesse) and the European Space Agency the first session was held in Cannes in October 2001 and brought together 36 language, science and history teachers, 12 from each country. Through different workshops, presentations and visits this five-day training encounter initiated the participants with Space activities and exploration as well as offering them back-up information on astronomy. It gave them furthermore the opportunity of improving their linguistic skills and of exchanging their teaching experience. The program was highly welcomed by all the participants who will meet this year in Germany for the second session devoted to establishing together bi- or trinational projects for future class encounters based on the same subjects. My paper will deal with the results of the program which have been beyond expectation and will encourage us to continue this pluridisciplinary approach of language &science teaching and extend it to other language combinations.

USING EDUCATIONAL MARBLE GAMES IN GERMAN LANGUAGE TEACHING

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HASAN COŞKUN

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The aim of this article is to show how German students can be motivated by learning games. Apart from the development and didacticisation of the learning game “Marbles”, the attitude of Turkish families and language teaching educational establishments and the support of the DaF lessons by German mediating institutions in Turkey will be considered. The attitude of Turkish families to learning foreign languages is mostly positive. Turkish educational authorities and those responsible for education take various measures to expand foreign language teaching availability in the schools. German institutions which provide teachers (Goethe-Institut, ZfA, DAAD promote the improvement of German teaching in Turkey. Nevertheless, the quality of German teaching is not satisfactory mostly because the available teachers are not adequately qualified, teacher training is remote from practice, the quality of text books and teaching materials, the traditions of learning, the excessively large classes, inadequate learning environment (language cabinets and equipment, the nature and method of central examinations (multiple choice and their significance in the Turkish educational system. In the long-term, this leads to frustration in both teachers and students. The Turkish educational authorities initially took measures to expand the availability of language teaching in the course of harmonisation of the Turkish educational system to that of the EU e.g. the introduction of a second foreign language. German mediating institutions ensure reasonable further training for teachers locally and in Germany and support the creation of teaching materials etc.

Meeting the Needs of High School Science Teachers in English Language Learner Instruction

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Cho, Seonhee; McDonnough, Jacqueline T.

2009-08-01

This survey study explored high school science teachers’ challenges and needs specific to their growing English language learning (ELL) student population. Thirty-three science teachers from 6 English as a Second language (ESL)-center high schools in central Virginia participated in the survey. Issues surveyed were (a) strategies used by science teachers to accommodate ELL students’ special needs, (b) challenges they experienced, and (c) support and training necessary for effective ELL instruction. Results suggest that language barriers as well as ELL students’ lack of science foundational knowledge challenged teachers most. Teachers perceived that appropriate instructional materials and pedagogical training was most needed. The findings have implications for science teacher preservice and inservice education in regard to working with language minority students.

The limitations of data perturbation for ASR of learner data in under-resourced languages

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Badenhorst, Jacob AC

2017-11-01

Full Text Available receive their training in English or one of the other dominant languages and who start their careers in rural areas therefore often work in communities where people communicate in a language that they are not proficient in. The most prominent example....05. IV. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN A. ASR system We trained phone recognition systems using the open source Kaldi toolkit and followed a training recipe based on the Wall Street Journal and TIMIT example recipes [11]. In particular, we used a setup of position...

Peace Corps Stateside Teacher Training for Volunteers in Liberia. Volume IV: Training Program for Secondary School Teachers (Group C). Final Report.

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PSI Associates, Inc., Washington, DC.

The Peace Corps stateside training program for secondary school teachers in Liberia trained 37 volunteers in several subject area groups--language arts, mathematics and science, and health. Because many of the teachers had never taught before, their 4-week training program concentrated on teaching and learning theories and specific teaching…

Language Training: English Courses

CERN Multimedia

Françoise Benz

2005-01-01

General and Professional English Courses The next session will take place from 28 February to 24 June 2005 (2/3 weeks break at Easter). These courses are open to all persons working on the CERN site, and to their spouses. For registration and further information on the courses, please consult our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training or contact Mr. Liptow: tel. 72957. Oral Expression The next session will take place from March to June 2005. This course is intended for people with a good knowledge of English who want to practise and maintain their speaking skills while extending their vocabulary. There will be a maximum of 10 participants in a class. Speaking activities will include discussions, meeting simulations, role-plays etc. depending on the needs of the students. Duration: 20 hours Price: 440 CHF (for a minimum of 8 students) Timetable will be fixed after discussion with the students. Writing Professional Documents in English The next session will take place from March to June 2005. T...

Language Training: English Courses

CERN Multimedia

Françoise Benz

2005-01-01

General and Professional English Courses The next session will take place from 28 February to 24 June 2005 (2/3 weeks break at Easter). These courses are open to all persons working on the CERN site, and to their spouses. For registration and further information on the courses, please consult our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training or contact Mr. Liptow: tel. 72957. Oral Expression The next session will take place from March to June 2005. This course is intended for people with a good knowledge of English who want to practise and maintain their speaking skills while extending their vocabulary. There will be a maximum of 10 participants in a class. Speaking activities will include discussions, meeting simulations, role-plays etc. depending on the needs of the students. Duration: 20 hours Price: 440 CHF (for a minimum of 8 students) Timetable will be fixed after discussion with the students. Writing Professional Documents in English The next session will take place from March to June 2005. Th...

Modeling of Future Initial Teacher of Foreign Language Training, Using Situation Analysis

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Maryana М. Sidun

2012-12-01

Full Text Available The article discloses the content of modeling of future initial teacher of foreign language, using situation analysis, defines the stages of modeling during the professional competence formation of future teacher of foreign language: preparatory, analytical and executive.

Two functions of early language experience.

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Arshavsky, Yuri I

2009-05-01

The unique human ability of linguistic communication, defined as the ability to produce a practically infinite number of meaningful messages using a finite number of lexical items, is determined by an array of "linguistic" genes, which are expressed in neurons forming domain-specific linguistic centers in the brain. In this review, I discuss the idea that infants' early language experience performs two complementary functions. In addition to allowing infants to assimilate the words and grammar rules of their mother language, early language experience initiates genetic programs underlying language production and comprehension. This hypothesis explains many puzzling characteristics of language acquisition, such as the existence of a critical period for acquiring the first language and the absence of a critical period for the acquisition of additional language(s), a similar timetable for language acquisition in children belonging to families of different social and cultural status, the strikingly similar timetables in the acquisition of oral and sign languages, and the surprisingly small correlation between individuals' final linguistic competence and the intensity of their training. Based on the studies of microcephalic individuals, I argue that genetic factors determine not only the number of neurons and organization of interneural connections within linguistic centers, but also the putative internal properties of neurons that are not limited to their electrophysiological and synaptic properties.

Language specificity of lexical-phonological therapy in bilingual aphasia: A clinical and electrophysiological study.

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Radman, Narges; Spierer, Lucas; Laganaro, Marina; Annoni, Jean-Marie; Colombo, Françoise

2016-08-01

Based on findings for overlapping representations of bilingual people's first (L1) and second (L2) languages, unilingual therapies of bilingual aphasia have been proposed to benefit the untrained language. However, the generalisation patterns of intra- and cross-language and phonological therapy and their neural bases remain unclear. We tested whether the effects of an intensive lexical-phonological training (LPT) in L2 transferred to L1 word production in a Persian-French bilingual stroke patient with Broca's aphasia. Language performance was assessed using the Bilingual Aphasia Test, a 144-item picture naming (PN) task and a word-picture verification (WPV) task. Electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded during PN and WPV in both languages before and after an LPT in French on a wordlist from the PN task. After the therapy, naming improved only for the treated L2 items. The naming performance improved neither in the untrained L2 items nor in the corresponding items in L1. EEG analyses revealed a Language x Session topographic interaction at 540 ms post-stimulus, driven by a modification of the electrophysiological response to the treated L2 but not L1 items. These results indicate that LPT modified the brain networks engaged in the phonological-phonetic processing during naming only in the trained language for the trained items.

Enhanced learning of proportional math through music training and spatial-temporal training.

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Graziano, A B; Peterson, M; Shaw, G L

1999-03-01

It was predicted, based on a mathematical model of the cortex, that early music training would enhance spatial-temporal reasoning. We have demonstrated that preschool children given six months of piano keyboard lessons improved dramatically on spatial-temporal reasoning while children in appropriate control groups did not improve. It was then predicted that the enhanced spatial-temporal reasoning from piano keyboard training could lead to enhanced learning of specific math concepts, in particular proportional math, which is notoriously difficult to teach using the usual language-analytic methods. We report here the development of Spatial-Temporal Math Video Game software designed to teach fractions and proportional math, and its strikingly successful use in a study involving 237 second-grade children (age range six years eight months-eight years five months). Furthermore, as predicted, children given piano keyboard training along with the Math Video Game training scored significantly higher on proportional math and fractions than children given a control training along with the Math Video Game. These results were readily measured using the companion Math Video Game Evaluation Program. The training time necessary for children on the Math Video Game is very short, and they rapidly reach a high level of performance. This suggests that, as predicted, we are tapping into fundamental cortical processes of spatial-temporal reasoning. This spatial-temporal approach is easily generalized to teach other math and science concepts in a complementary manner to traditional language-analytic methods, and at a younger age. The neural mechanisms involved in thinking through fractions and proportional math during training with the Math Video Game might be investigated in EEG coherence studies along with priming by specific music.

Speech and language intervention in bilinguals

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Eliane Ramos

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Increasingly, speech and language pathologists (SLPs around the world are faced with the unique set of issues presented by their bilingual clients. Some professional associations in different countries have presented recommendations when assessing and treating bilingual populations. In children, most of the studies have focused on intervention for language and phonology/ articulation impairments and very few focus on stuttering. In general, studies of language intervention tend to agree that intervention in the first language (L1 either increase performance on L2 or does not hinder it. In bilingual adults, monolingual versus bilingual intervention is especially relevant in cases of aphasia; dysarthria in bilinguals has been barely approached. Most studies of cross-linguistic effects in bilingual aphasics have focused on lexical retrieval training. It has been noted that even though a majority of studies have disclosed a cross-linguistic generalization from one language to the other, some methodological weaknesses are evident. It is concluded that even though speech and language intervention in bilinguals represents a most important clinical area in speech language pathology, much more research using larger samples and controlling for potentially confounding variables is evidently required.

Four Language Skills Performance, Academic Achievement, and Learning Strategy Use in Preservice Teacher Training Programs

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Shawer, Saad Fathy

2016-01-01

This article examines the differences in language learning strategies (LLS) use between preservice teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) and Arabic as a second language (ASL). It also examines the relationship between LLS use and language performance (academic achievement and four language skills) among ASL students. The study made use…

CA for SLA: Arguments from the Chinese Language Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

He, Agnes Weiyun

2004-01-01

When the seminal article on the organization of turn-taking by Sacks, Schegloff, and Jefferson (1974) was published 30 years ago, I started learning English as a foreign language. In addition to being a learner of the English language for many years, I was also trained in the traditions of Conversation Analysis (CA) and linguistic anthropology…

Implicit memory in music and language.

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Ettlinger, Marc; Margulis, Elizabeth H; Wong, Patrick C M

2011-01-01

Research on music and language in recent decades has focused on their overlapping neurophysiological, perceptual, and cognitive underpinnings, ranging from the mechanism for encoding basic auditory cues to the mechanism for detecting violations in phrase structure. These overlaps have most often been identified in musicians with musical knowledge that was acquired explicitly, through formal training. In this paper, we review independent bodies of work in music and language that suggest an important role for implicitly acquired knowledge, implicit memory, and their associated neural structures in the acquisition of linguistic or musical grammar. These findings motivate potential new work that examines music and language comparatively in the context of the implicit memory system.

Implicit Memory in Music and Language

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Marc eEttlinger

2011-09-01

Full Text Available Research on music and language in recent decades has focused on their overlapping neurophysiological, perceptual, and cognitive underpinnings, ranging from the mechanism for encoding basic auditory cues to the mechanism for detecting violations in phrase structure. These overlaps have most often been identified in musicians with musical knowledge that was acquired explicitly, through formal training. In this paper, we review independent bodies of work in music and language that suggest an important role for implicitly acquired knowledge, implicit memory, and their associated neural structures in the acquisition of linguistic or musical grammar. These findings motivate potential new work that examines music and language comparatively in the context of the implicit memory system.

Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness (ISMI) scale: a multinational review.

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Boyd, Jennifer E; Adler, Emerald P; Otilingam, Poorni G; Peters, Townley

2014-01-01

The Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness (ISMI) scale is a 29-item questionnaire measuring self-stigma among persons with psychiatric disorders. It was developed with substantial consumer input and has been widely used, but its psychometric qualities have not been comprehensively evaluated across multiple versions. Here we review the 55 known versions, and provide the 47 available versions, including: Arabic, Armenian, Bengali, Bulgarian, Chinese (Mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong), Croatian, Dutch, English (USA, South Africa), Estonian, Farsi, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Lithuanian, Lugandan, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil), Romanian, Russian, Samoan, Slovenian, Spanish (Spain), Swahili, Swedish, Tongan, Turkish, Urdu, and Yoruba, and qualitative English and Swahili versions, as well as versions for depression, schizophrenia, substance abuse, eating disorders, epilepsy, inflammatory bowel disease, leprosy, smoking, parents and caregivers of people with mental illness, and ethnicity. The various versions show reliability and validity across a wide range of languages, cultures, and writing systems. The most commonly reported findings of studies using the ISMI are that internalized stigma correlates with higher depression, lower self esteem, and higher symptom severity. Initial studies of ways to reduce internalized stigma are promising and warrant further investigation. © 2014.

The Effect of Explicit Affective Strategy Training on Iranian EFL learners’ Oral Language Proficiency and Anxiety Reduction

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Fatemeh Mostafavi

2016-08-01

control group.  The results confirm the positive effects of affective strategy instruction on oral language proficiency.  The findings of this study provide a greater understanding of affective strategy use among Iranian EFL learners.  This study might also have some implications for material developers to consider strategy use in materials development. Keywords: affective strategies, explicit strategy training, language anxiety

Unconscious improvement in foreign language learning using mismatch negativity neurofeedback: A preliminary study.

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Ming Chang

Full Text Available When people learn foreign languages, they find it difficult to perceive speech sounds that are nonexistent in their native language, and extensive training is consequently necessary. Our previous studies have shown that by using neurofeedback based on the mismatch negativity event-related brain potential, participants could unconsciously achieve learning in the auditory discrimination of pure tones that could not be consciously discriminated without the neurofeedback. Here, we examined whether mismatch negativity neurofeedback is effective for helping someone to perceive new speech sounds in foreign language learning. We developed a task for training native Japanese speakers to discriminate between 'l' and 'r' sounds in English, as they usually cannot discriminate between these two sounds. Without participants attending to auditory stimuli or being aware of the nature of the experiment, neurofeedback training helped them to achieve significant improvement in unconscious auditory discrimination and recognition of the target words 'light' and 'right'. There was also improvement in the recognition of other words containing 'l' and 'r' (e.g., 'blight' and 'bright', even though these words had not been presented during training. This method could be used to facilitate foreign language learning and can be extended to other fields of auditory and clinical research and even other senses.

Attitudes of Foreigners Who Learn Turkish as a Second Language towards Turkish Culture

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Maden, Sedat

2017-01-01

There is a very close association between language and culture. Thus, cultural values should be prioritized in language training and cultural knowledge should be concurrently instructed. Turkish culture should also be introduced to learners of Turkish as a foreign language. Therefore, it is important to determine the attitudes of learners of…

Spike-train acquisition, analysis and real-time experimental control using a graphical programming language (LabView).

Science.gov (United States)

Nordstrom, M A; Mapletoft, E A; Miles, T S

1995-11-01

A solution is described for the acquisition on a personal computer of standard pulses derived from neuronal discharge, measurement of neuronal discharge times, real-time control of stimulus delivery based on specified inter-pulse interval conditions in the neuronal spike train, and on-line display and analysis of the experimental data. The hardware consisted of an Apple Macintosh IIci computer and a plug-in card (National Instruments NB-MIO16) that supports A/D, D/A, digital I/O and timer functions. The software was written in the object-oriented graphical programming language LabView. Essential elements of the source code of the LabView program are presented and explained. The use of the system is demonstrated in an experiment in which the reflex responses to muscle stretch are assessed for a single motor unit in the human masseter muscle.

Communicative, Educational, Pedagogical Objectives and Planning in Russian Language Teaching

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Evtyugina, Alla A.; Hasanova, Irina I.; Kotova, Svetlana S.; Sokolova, Anastasia N.; Svetkina, Irina A.

2016-01-01

The relevance of the problem stems from the necessity to distinctly plan educational process and set the goals for successful mastering of Russian language by foreign students in Russian higher educational institutions. The article is aimed at defining the foreign students' objectives for Russian language training, allowing them to get involved…

Language and EFL Teacher Preparation in Non-English-Speaking Environments.

Science.gov (United States)

Peretz, Arna S.

Linguistic and paralinguistic problems faced by non-native-English speakers training to be teachers of English as a second or foreign language (ESL/EFL) in non-English-speaking environments are discussed. Relevant theories of second language learning and acquisition are reviewed, and the affective factors and sociocultural variables that appear to…

Effects of lips and hands on auditory learning of second-language speech sounds.

Science.gov (United States)

Hirata, Yukari; Kelly, Spencer D

2010-04-01

Previous research has found that auditory training helps native English speakers to perceive phonemic vowel length contrasts in Japanese, but their performance did not reach native levels after training. Given that multimodal information, such as lip movement and hand gesture, influences many aspects of native language processing, the authors examined whether multimodal input helps to improve native English speakers' ability to perceive Japanese vowel length contrasts. Sixty native English speakers participated in 1 of 4 types of training: (a) audio-only; (b) audio-mouth; (c) audio-hands; and (d) audio-mouth-hands. Before and after training, participants were given phoneme perception tests that measured their ability to identify short and long vowels in Japanese (e.g., /kato/ vs. /kato/). Although all 4 groups improved from pre- to posttest (replicating previous research), the participants in the audio-mouth condition improved more than those in the audio-only condition, whereas the 2 conditions involving hand gestures did not. Seeing lip movements during training significantly helps learners to perceive difficult second-language phonemic contrasts, but seeing hand gestures does not. The authors discuss possible benefits and limitations of using multimodal information in second-language phoneme learning.

Intrinsic Functional Connectivity in the Adult Brain and Success in Second-Language Learning.

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Chai, Xiaoqian J; Berken, Jonathan A; Barbeau, Elise B; Soles, Jennika; Callahan, Megan; Chen, Jen-Kai; Klein, Denise

2016-01-20

There is considerable variability in an individual's ability to acquire a second language (L2) during adulthood. Using resting-state fMRI data acquired before training in English speakers who underwent a 12 week intensive French immersion training course, we investigated whether individual differences in intrinsic resting-state functional connectivity relate to a person's ability to acquire an L2. We focused on two key aspects of language processing--lexical retrieval in spontaneous speech and reading speed--and computed whole-brain functional connectivity from two regions of interest in the language network, namely the left anterior insula/frontal operculum (AI/FO) and the visual word form area (VWFA). Connectivity between the left AI/FO and left posterior superior temporal gyrus (STG) and between the left AI/FO and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex correlated positively with improvement in L2 lexical retrieval in spontaneous speech. Connectivity between the VWFA and left mid-STG correlated positively with improvement in L2 reading speed. These findings are consistent with the different language functions subserved by subcomponents of the language network and suggest that the human capacity to learn an L2 can be predicted by an individual's intrinsic functional connectivity within the language network. Significance statement: There is considerable variability in second-language learning abilities during adulthood. We investigated whether individual differences in intrinsic functional connectivity in the adult brain relate to success in second-language learning, using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging in English speakers who underwent a 12 week intensive French immersion training course. We found that pretraining functional connectivity within two different language subnetworks correlated strongly with learning outcome in two different language skills: lexical retrieval in spontaneous speech and reading speed. Our results suggest that the human

Music training for the development of speech segmentation.

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François, Clément; Chobert, Julie; Besson, Mireille; Schön, Daniele

2013-09-01

The role of music training in fostering brain plasticity and developing high cognitive skills, notably linguistic abilities, is of great interest from both a scientific and a societal perspective. Here, we report results of a longitudinal study over 2 years using both behavioral and electrophysiological measures and a test-training-retest procedure to examine the influence of music training on speech segmentation in 8-year-old children. Children were pseudo-randomly assigned to either music or painting training and were tested on their ability to extract meaningless words from a continuous flow of nonsense syllables. While no between-group differences were found before training, both behavioral and electrophysiological measures showed improved speech segmentation skills across testing sessions for the music group only. These results show that music training directly causes facilitation in speech segmentation, thereby pointing to the importance of music for speech perception and more generally for children's language development. Finally these results have strong implications for promoting the development of music-based remediation strategies for children with language-based learning impairments.

Students with a foreign background in Italian Initial Vocational Education and Training (IVET and the access to Italian as Second Language

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Luisa Daniele

2017-11-01

Full Text Available This paper is based on the results of a 2014–2015 quantitative survey on a sample of 1,840 foreign students and 1,835 Italian students, of which, 41% of the Italians and 35% of those of foreign origins interviewed were female. The overall age was between 14 and 24, and these students attended courses in the Initial Vocational Education and Training (IVET system in six Italian Regions: Emilia-Romagna, Lazio, Lombardy, Sicily, Tuscany, and Veneto. Language is the central issue in the survey, both in relation to the construction of multicultural and transcultural identity, and as a bridge to combine localisms with the global dynamics of migration, in its "dialect" edition. Some conclusive reflections on the enhancement of multilingualism in the Initial Vocational Education and Training (IVET system are proposed for the development of national strategies in order to strengthen intercultural teaching and curricula.

Do neural nets learn statistical laws behind natural language?

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Shuntaro Takahashi

Full Text Available The performance of deep learning in natural language processing has been spectacular, but the reasons for this success remain unclear because of the inherent complexity of deep learning. This paper provides empirical evidence of its effectiveness and of a limitation of neural networks for language engineering. Precisely, we demonstrate that a neural language model based on long short-term memory (LSTM effectively reproduces Zipf's law and Heaps' law, two representative statistical properties underlying natural language. We discuss the quality of reproducibility and the emergence of Zipf's law and Heaps' law as training progresses. We also point out that the neural language model has a limitation in reproducing long-range correlation, another statistical property of natural language. This understanding could provide a direction for improving the architectures of neural networks.

Project LINC: Supporting Lecturers and Adjunct Instructors in Foreign Language Classrooms

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Scott, Sally S.; Edwards, Wade

2012-01-01

Foreign language learning can pose a barrier to some students with disabilities. This practice brief describes a collaborative process used on one campus to provide professional development for foreign language instructors. Training opportunities were intentionally focused on the needs of adjunct and temporary lecturers in providing inclusive…

Nonadjacent Dependency Learning in Cantonese-Speaking Children With and Without a History of Specific Language Impairment.

Science.gov (United States)

Iao, Lai-Sang; Ng, Lai Yan; Wong, Anita Mei Yin; Lee, Oi Ting

2017-03-01

This study investigated nonadjacent dependency learning in Cantonese-speaking children with and without a history of specific language impairment (SLI) in an artificial linguistic context. Sixteen Cantonese-speaking children with a history of SLI and 16 Cantonese-speaking children with typical language development (TLD) were tested with a nonadjacent dependency learning task using artificial languages that mimic Cantonese. Children with TLD performed above chance and were able to discriminate between trained and untrained nonadjacent dependencies. However, children with a history of SLI performed at chance and were not able to differentiate trained versus untrained nonadjacent dependencies. These findings, together with previous findings from English-speaking adults and adolescents with language impairments, suggest that individuals with atypical language development, regardless of age, diagnostic status, language, and culture, show difficulties in learning nonadjacent dependencies. This study provides evidence for early impairments to statistical learning in individuals with atypical language development.

The shared neural basis of music and language.

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Yu, Mengxia; Xu, Miao; Li, Xueting; Chen, Zhencai; Song, Yiying; Liu, Jia

2017-08-15

Human musical ability is proposed to play a key phylogenetical role in the evolution of language, and the similarity of hierarchical structure in music and language has led to considerable speculation about their shared mechanisms. While behavioral and electrophysioglocial studies have revealed associations between music and linguistic abilities, results from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies on their relations are contradictory, possibly because these studies usually treat music or language as single entities without breaking down to their components. Here, we examined the relations between different components of music (i.e., melodic and rhythmic analysis) and language (i.e., semantic and phonological processing) using both behavioral tests and resting-state fMRI. Behaviorally, we found that individuals with music training experiences were better at semantic processing, but not at phonological processing, than those without training. Further correlation analyses showed that semantic processing of language was related to melodic, but not rhythmic, analysis of music. Neurally, we found that performances in both semantic processing and melodic analysis were correlated with spontaneous brain activities in the bilateral precentral gyrus (PCG) and superior temporal plane at the regional level, and with the resting-state functional connectivity of the left PCG with the left supramarginal gyrus and left superior temporal gyrus at the network level. Together, our study revealed the shared spontaneous neural basis of music and language based on the behavioral link between melodic analysis and semantic processing, which possibly relied on a common mechanism of automatic auditory-motor integration. Copyright © 2017 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Second Language Word Learning through Repetition and Imitation: Functional Networks as a Function of Learning Phase and Language Distance.

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Ghazi-Saidi, Ladan; Ansaldo, Ana Ines

2017-01-01

Introduction and Aim : Repetition and imitation are among the oldest second language (L2) teaching approaches and are frequently used in the context of L2 learning and language therapy, despite some heavy criticism. Current neuroimaging techniques allow the neural mechanisms underlying repetition and imitation to be examined. This fMRI study examines the influence of verbal repetition and imitation on network configuration. Integration changes within and between the cognitive control and language networks were studied, in a pair of linguistically close languages (Spanish and French), and compared to our previous work on a distant language pair (Ghazi-Saidi et al., 2013). Methods : Twelve healthy native Spanish-speaking (L1) adults, and 12 healthy native Persian-speaking adults learned 130 new French (L2) words, through a computerized audiovisual repetition and imitation program. The program presented colored photos of objects. Participants were instructed to look at each photo and pronounce its name as closely as possible to the native template (imitate). Repetition was encouraged as many times as necessary to learn the object's name; phonological cues were provided if necessary. Participants practiced for 15 min, over 30 days, and were tested while naming the same items during fMRI scanning, at week 1 (shallow learning phase) and week 4 (consolidation phase) of training. To compare this set of data with our previous work on Persian speakers, a similar data analysis plan including accuracy rates (AR), response times (RT), and functional integration values for the language and cognitive control network at each measure point was included, with further L1-L2 direct comparisons across the two populations. Results and Discussion : The evidence shows that learning L2 words through repetition induces neuroplasticity at the network level. Specifically, L2 word learners showed increased network integration after 3 weeks of training, with both close and distant language

Review: Auditory Integration Training

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Zahra Ja'fari

2003-01-01

Full Text Available Auditory integration training (AIT is a hearing enhancement training process for sensory input anomalies found in individuals with autism, attention deficit hyperactive disorder, dyslexia, hyperactivity, learning disability, language impairments, pervasive developmental disorder, central auditory processing disorder, attention deficit disorder, depression, and hyper acute hearing. AIT, recently introduced in the United States, and has received much notice of late following the release of the sound of a miracle, by Annabel Stehli. In her book, Mrs. Stehli describes before and after auditory integration training experiences with her daughter, who was diagnosed at age four as having autism.

A minority perspective in the diagnosis of child language disorders.

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Seymour, H N; Bland, L

1991-01-01

The effective diagnosis and treatment of persons from diverse minority language backgrounds has become an important issue in the field of speech and language pathology. Yet, many SLPs have had little or no formal training in minority language, there is a paucity of normative data on language acquisition in minority groups, and there are few standardized speech and language tests appropriate for these groups. We described a diagnostic process that addresses these problems. The diagnostic protocol we have proposed for a child from a Black English-speaking background characterizes many of the major issues in treating minority children. In summary, we proposed four assessment strategies: gathering referral source data; making direct observations; using standardized tests of non-speech and language behavior (cognition, perception, motor, etc.); and eliciting language samples and probes.

Foreign language education: Principles of teaching English to adults at commercial language schools and centers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oleg Tarnopolsky

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The ever-increasing spread of English as the language of global communication leads to ever-increasing demand for learning it among adult populations of non-English-speaking countries. If such people did not have a chance of acquiring English during their school or university years but urgently need it for professional or personal purposes, they have no other choice but to go and learn it at courses offered by numerous commercial language schools and centers. In post-Communist countries, such as Ukraine, commercial language schools and centers are responsible for English language training of the majority of adults learning that language after their secondary or tertiary school studies. They also serve the needs of many high and higher schools’ students who, due to various reasons, are not satisfied with learning English at their educational institutions. However, despite the importance and spread of this specific type of language education, its pedagogical and methodological foundations have hardly been developed at all. The present article is an attempt of partly filling this gap in pedagogy and methodology of English language education in non-English-speaking countries. The paper develops some theoretical underpinnings of that kind of education in the form of six principles underlying the organization of commercial English language courses, formulating their goals, selecting the learning contents, and choosing the methods of teaching and learning. The practical consequences of adopting the six suggested principles are outlined.

Training for Hospitality.

Science.gov (United States)

Herman, Francine A.; Eller, Martha E.

1991-01-01

The labor problems of hotels and restaurants are being addressed with partnership training initiatives. Examples are the Stratford Chef's School in Ontario, the University of Hawaii's Tourism Industry Management Program, and an English-as-a-Second-Language program sponsored by labor and management in New York City hotels. (SK)

Assessing Language Needs Within an Institutional Context: An Ethnographic Approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Holliday, Adrian

1995-01-01

This article describes an analysis of English-language needs of an oil company in the Middle East, exploring the role of ethnography in carrying out the holistic research necessary to obtain a clear picture of the company's needs. It includes a discussion of the project's findings and recommendations for language training. (11 references) (MDM)

Inservice Teacher Training: Experiencing German Culture Down Under

Science.gov (United States)

Jansen, Louise; Stracke, Elke

2005-01-01

In collaboration with the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Department of Education and Training, the Australian National University has been offering a professional development program for language teachers (called LIFT, or Language Inservice for Teachers) for more than ten years. As the program is specially tailored to meet teachers' current…

Natural language interface for nuclear data bases

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heger, A.S.; Koen, B.V.

1987-01-01

A natural language interface has been developed for access to information from a data base, simulating a nuclear plant reliability data system (NPRDS), one of the several existing data bases serving the nuclear industry. In the last decade, the importance of information has been demonstrated by the impressive diffusion of data base management systems. The present methods that are employed to access data bases fall into two main categories of menu-driven systems and use of data base manipulation languages. Both of these methods are currently used by NPRDS. These methods have proven to be tedious, however, and require extensive training by the user for effective utilization of the data base. Artificial intelligence techniques have been used in the development of several intelligent front ends for data bases in nonnuclear domains. Lunar is a natural language program for interface to a data base describing moon rock samples brought back by Apollo. Intellect is one of the first data base question-answering systems that was commercially available in the financial area. Ladder is an intelligent data base interface that was developed as a management aid to Navy decision makers. A natural language interface for nuclear data bases that can be used by nonprogrammers with little or no training provides a means for achieving this goal for this industry

Crawl and crowd to bring machine translation to under-resourced languages

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Toral Ruiz, Antonio

2017-01-01

We present a widely applicable methodology to bring machine translation (MT) to under-resourced languages in a cost-effective and rapid manner. Our proposal relies on web crawling to automatically acquire parallel data to train statistical MT systems if any such data can be found for the language

The pedagogical effectiveness of ASR-based computer assisted pronunciation training

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Neri, A.

2007-01-01

Computer Assisted Pronunciation Training (CAPT) systems with Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) technology have become increasingly popular to train pronunciation in the second language (L2). The advantage of these systems is the provision of a self-paced, stress-free type of training with automatic

Investigating Pedagogical Techniques in Classroom Interactions at a CELTA Training Programme

Science.gov (United States)

Rahman, Md Shidur

2016-01-01

The study investigated the similarities and dissimilarities of using pedagogical techniques in classroom interactions, taken place whilst teaching a known language and an unknown language in a CELTA training classroom context. For this purpose, the classroom interactions in unknown and known languages were analysed according to the qualitative…

Absolute pitch among students in an American music conservatory: association with tone language fluency.

Science.gov (United States)

Deutsch, Diana; Dooley, Kevin; Henthorn, Trevor; Head, Brian

2009-04-01

Absolute pitch (AP), the ability to name a musical note in the absence of a reference note, is extremely rare in the U.S. and Europe, and its genesis is unclear. The prevalence of AP was examined among students in an American music conservatory as a function of age of onset of musical training, ethnicity, and fluency in speaking a tone language. Taking those of East Asian ethnicity, the performance level on a test of AP was significantly higher among those who spoke a tone language very fluently compared with those who spoke a tone language fairly fluently and also compared with those who were not fluent in speaking a tone language. The performance level of this last group did not differ significantly from that of Caucasian students who spoke only nontone language. Early onset of musical training was associated with enhanced performance, but this did not interact with the effect of language. Further analyses showed that the results could not be explained by country of early music education. The findings support the hypothesis that the acquisition of AP by tone language speakers involves the same process as occurs in the acquisition of a second tone language.

LEAPing on with language: An on-line language programme to support classroom teachers and parents of primary school children (aged 5-11 years).

Science.gov (United States)

Clare Allen, M; Kendrick, Andrew; Archbold, Sue; Harrigan, Suzanne

2014-05-01

The Leaping on with Language programme provides a combination of strategies and activities to accelerate children's spoken language use from simple sentences to complex language. Using a conversational philosophy it expands the building blocks of language (vocabulary, grammar, speech), whilst emphasising the importance of developing independent social communication and acknowledging a child's developing self esteem and self identity between the ages of 4-11. Three pilot projects evaluated the programme with a total of 51 delegates. The outcomes were hugely positive. Changes in behaviour were reported from the 3rd pilot 1 month later. Comments regarding the length of training, practical strategies and more film clips were implemented. Leaping on with language is now a free to access resource available on line.

Phonological Short-Term Memory, Working Memory and Foreign Language Performance in Intensive Language Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Kormos, Judit; Safar, Anna

2008-01-01

In our research we addressed the question what the relationship is between phonological short-term and working memory capacity and performance in an end-of-year reading, writing, listening, speaking and use of English test. The participants of our study were 121 secondary school students aged 15-16 in the first intensive language training year of…

The Council of Europe's "Common European Framework of Reference for Languages" (CEFR): Approach, Status, Function and Use

Science.gov (United States)

Martyniuk, Waldemar

2012-01-01

The Council of Europe's "Common European Framework of Reference for Languages" is rapidly becoming a powerful instrument for shaping language education policies in Europe and beyond. The task of relating language policies, language curricula, teacher education and training, textbook and course design and content, examinations and…

The Effect of In-Service Training of Computer Science Teachers on Scratch Programming Language Skills Using an Electronic Learning Platform on Programming Skills and the Attitudes towards Teaching Programming

Science.gov (United States)

Alkaria, Ahmed; Alhassan, Riyadh

2017-01-01

This study was conducted to examine the effect of in-service training of computer science teachers in Scratch language using an electronic learning platform on acquiring programming skills and attitudes towards teaching programming. The sample of this study consisted of 40 middle school computer science teachers. They were assigned into two…

Professional Training of Future Teacher in Cross-Cultural Dialogue

Science.gov (United States)

Semenog, Olena

2014-01-01

On the example of propaedeutic educational course "Introduction to Slavic Philology" features of future teachers' professional training of cross-cultural dialogue are considered. Among the main objectives of the course, attention is focused on native language and other languages admirer's tolerance education, students' skills formation…

Upcoming training sessions (up to end October) - Places available

CERN Multimedia

2016-01-01

Please find below a list of training sessions scheduled to take place up to the end of October with places available.   Safety and Language courses are not included here, you will find an up-to-date list in the Training Catalogue. If you need a course which is not featured  in the catalogue, please contact one of the following: your supervisor, your Departmental Training Officer or the relevant learning specialist. Leadership Training           Training Course Title Next Session Language Duration Available places Needed to maintain the session Driving for Impact and Influence 13-Sep-2016 to 14-Sep-2016 French 2 days 4 0 Essentials of People Management for CERN Supervisors (Adapted from CDP for CERN Supervisors) 22-Sep-2016 to 23-Sep-2016, 18-Nov-2016, 17-Jan-2017 to 18-Jan-2017 English 5 days 5 0 Eléments essentiels de la gestion du personnel pour les superviseurs (adapt&a...

Learning Theories and Skills in Online Second Language Teaching and Learning: Dilemmas and Challenges

Science.gov (United States)

Petersen, Karen Bjerg

2014-01-01

For decades foreign and second language teachers have taken advantage of the technology development and ensuing possibilities to use e-learning facilities for language training. Since the 1980s, the use of computer assisted language learning (CALL), Internet, web 2.0, and various kinds of e-learning technology has been developed and researched…

Second Language Acquisition at the Phonetic-Phonological Interface: A proposal

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ashima Aggarwal

2012-09-01

Full Text Available This paper examines the acquisition of novel second language phonological contrasts by speakers of different languages. It explores the possibility of building a framework to test the adult acquisition of voicing and aspiration features of Hindi by speakers of Dimasa, Rabha, Tamil and English. It is noteworthy that Hindi has a four-way voicing contrast while Dimasa, Rabha and Tamil have two-way, three-way and one-way respectively. The paper presents an experiment designed to test the acquisition of non-native acquisition by these L1 speakers. The task designed to train these L1 speakers to perceive the new contrasts is an AX same or different task. Training will be followed by retention and generalizability test also. Evidence of significantly better perception post-training will suggest access to Universal Grammar beyond the Critical period.

Efficacy of the Direct Instruction Language for Learning (DI-LL) Program to Promote Expressive and Receptive Language in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Science.gov (United States)

2016-07-01

Evaluator on PLP & CGI 1-3 Train staff on DOSL 1-3 Purchase child materials ( toys , stickers) 1-3 Purchase testing materials 1-3 Purchase DI-LL...been developed to address language delay including intensive treatment using applied behavior analysis (ABA). Although often effective for severe...to severe. Many interventions have been developed to address language delay including intensive treatment using applied behavior analysis (ABA

Dogs’ Body Language Relevant to Learning Achievement

Science.gov (United States)

Hasegawa, Masashi; Ohtani, Nobuyo; Ohta, Mitsuaki

2014-01-01

Simple Summary For humans and dogs to live together amiably, dog training is required, and a lack of obedience training is significantly related to the prevalence of certain behavioral problems. To train efficiently, it is important that the trainer/owner ascertains the learning level of the dog. Understanding the dog’s body language helps humans understand the animal’s emotions. This study evaluated the posture of certain dog body parts during operant conditioning. Our findings suggest that certain postures were related to the dog’s learning level during operant conditioning. Being aware of these postures could be helpful to understand canine emotion during learning. Abstract The facial expressions and body postures of dogs can give helpful information about their moods and emotional states. People can more effectively obedience train their dogs if we can identify the mannerisms associated with learning in dogs. The aim of this study was to clarify the dog’s body language during operant conditioning to predict achievement in the test that followed by measuring the duration of behaviors. Forty-six untrained dogs (17 males and 26 females) of various breeds were used. Each session consisted of 5 minutes of training with a treat reward followed by 3 minutes of rest and finally an operant conditioning test that consisted of 20 “hand motion” cues. The operant tests were conducted a total of nine times over three consecutive days, and the success numbers were counted. The duration of the dog’s behavior, focusing on the dog’s eyes, mouth, ears, tail and tail-wagging, was recorded during the operant conditioning sessions before the test. Particular behaviors, including wide-eyes, closed mouth, erect ears, and forward and high tail carriage, without wagging or with short and quick wagging, related to high achievement results. It is concluded that dogs' body language during operant conditioning was related to their success rate. PMID:26479883

Language Teacher Candidates’ Self-Assessment Process for Teaching to Young Learners in EFL Classes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Binnur GENÇ İLTER

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Teaching a foreign language to young learners have some differences from teaching adults. Young children have concentration problems and they tend to change their mood every ten minutes and need more creative activities than adults. Therefore, foreign language teachers have to choose interesting activities for them and foreign language teacher candidates should learn the correct methods and techniques during their training period. Although some teacher candidates think the solution for training is simply to get all theoretical knowledge, some of them think that solution lies in encouraging the teacher candidates to create their own activities. This descriptive action research paper arises of a quantitative study the purpose of which is to seek the process of ELT students’ development and reflection on teaching English to children. In order to find out language teacher candidates’ ideas about how they improve themselves, five point Likert scale was prepared. Data collection was achieved by giving the same questionnaires at the beginning and the end of the term at One State University, ELT students in the academic year 2015–2016. 16 male and 32 female students answered the questionnaire. The data were analysed using factor analyses and Levene Test. Findings were examined and some suggestions that focused on language teacher training candidates were put forward.

Elizabeth Usher Memorial Lecture: Language is literacy is language - Positioning speech-language pathology in education policy, practice, paradigms and polemics.

Science.gov (United States)

Snow, Pamela C

2016-06-01

This paper is concerned with the fundamental and intrinsic links between early receptive and expressive oral language competence on the one hand and the transition to literacy in the early school years and achievement of academic (and life) success on the other. Consequently, it also concerns the professional knowledge base of two key disciplines whose work is central to children's early language and literacy success: teachers and speech-language pathologists (SLPs). Oral language competence underpins the transition to literacy, which in turn underpins academic achievement. Academic achievement is significant in its own right, conferring opportunities for further education and training post-secondary school, contributing to psychological health and mitigating some of the mental health risks and adversities that can be associated with adolescence and early adulthood. The central thesis is that the linguistic basis of the transition to literacy makes early reading success core business for SLPs. Further, SLPs need a firm grasp of the political and ideological factors that have exerted historical and continuing influence on reading instruction in western nations such as Australia, the US and the UK. This will facilitate the establishment of meaningful working relationships with teaching colleagues, to achieve optimal education outcomes for all children.

The Language of Teaching Mathematics: Implications for Training ITAs.

Science.gov (United States)

Byrd, Patricia; Constantinides, Janet C.

1992-01-01

Because of national concern about the effect of having basic college mathematics courses taught by so many international teaching assistants whose English skills may be limited, this paper reports on the use of language in teaching by regular college faculty, rather than teaching assistants, at Georgia State University. (eight references)…

News from the Library: Language learners, don't forget the Library!

CERN Multimedia

CERN Library

2013-01-01

Vous essayez d'apprendre l'anglais ? Are you trying to learn French? The Library is there to support your efforts!   We strive to keep our language books collection up to date and we offer a selection of new books (grammars, workbooks, books for special terminology within many fields, writing guides). A great thanks to the Language Training colleagues who helped us in the selection process. If you are attending a language course - whether you are a beginner or an advanced learner - we have plenty to offer you. New English language books. New French language books. Your feedback is welcome! Please contact us by e-mail.

A Preservice Training Module in Microcomputer Applications for Teaching Reading.

Science.gov (United States)

Balajthy, Ernest

1986-01-01

Declares the need to train teachers to use computers in reading and language arts and describes a training program used with undergraduate education majors at the State University of New York at Geneseo. (SRT)

A Longitudinal Study on Children's Music Training Experience and Academic Development

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Hua; Ma, Weiyi; Gong, Diankun; Hu, Jiehui; Yao, Dezhong

2014-01-01

This study examined the relation between long-term music training and child development based on 250 Chinese elementary school students' academic development of first language (L1), second language (L2), and mathematics. We found that musician children outperformed non-musician children only on musical achievement and second language development. Additionally, although music training appeared to be correlated with children's final academic development of L1, L2, and mathematics, it did not independently contribute to the development of L1 or mathematical skills. Our findings suggest caution in interpreting the positive findings on the non-musical cognitive benefits of music learning. PMID:25068398

The language divide. The importance of training in the use of interpreters for outpatient practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Karliner, Leah S; Pérez-Stable, Eliseo J; Gildengorin, Ginny

2004-02-01

Provision of interpreter services for non-English-speaking patients is a federal requirement. We surveyed clinicians to describe their experience using interpreters. In this cross-sectional study we surveyed clinicians in three academic outpatient settings in San Francisco (N = 194) regarding their most recent patient encounter which involved an interpreter. Questions about the visit included type of interpreter, satisfaction with content of clinical encounter, potential problems, and frequency of need. Previous training in interpreter use, languages spoken, and demographics were also asked. Questionnaires were self-administered in approximately 10 minutes. Of 194 questionnaires mailed, 158 were completed (81% response rate) and 67% were from resident physicians. Most respondents (78%) were very satisfied or satisfied with the medical care they provided, 85% felt satisfied with their ability to diagnose a disease and treat a disease, but only 45% were satisfied with their ability to empower the patient with knowledge about their disease, treatment, or medication. Even though 71% felt they were able to make a personal connection with their patient, only 33% felt they had learned about another culture as a result of the encounter. Clinicians reported difficulties eliciting exact symptoms (70%), explaining treatments (44%), and eliciting treatment preferences (51%). Clinicians perceived that lack of knowledge of a patient's culture hindered their ability to provide quality medical care and only 18% felt they were unable to establish trust or rapport. Previous training in interpreter use was associated with increased use of professional interpreters (odds ratio [OR], 3.2; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.4 to 7.5) and increased satisfaction with medical care provided (OR, 2.6; 95% CI, 1.1 to 6.6). Clinicians reported communication difficulties affecting their ability to understand symptoms and treat disease, as well as their ability to empower patients regarding their

Kreol: A Language Training Program for Peace Corps-Seychelles.

Science.gov (United States)

Mancienne, Roger

A course in French-derived Kreol is designed for language learning among Peace Corps volunteers assigned to the Seychelles. The materials consist of 36 lessons on topics of daily communication needs. Lessons contain a story, dialogue, and/or list of expressions, exercises, and vocabulary and grammar notes and translations in the margin. Some…

Exploiting Hidden Layer Responses of Deep Neural Networks for Language Recognition

Science.gov (United States)

2016-09-08

Target Languages Arabic (ara) Egyptian , Iraqi, Levantine, Maghrebi,Modern Standard Chinese (chi) Cantonese, Mandarin, Min, Wu English (eng) British...Frame-by-frame DNN classification x1 x2 x3 xT-­1xT Figure 1: Frame-by-frame DNN Language Identification Figure 1 shows the architecture of the DNN...compare direct DNN system with proposed DNN I-vector system, we trained a single neural network to classify all 20 languages. The architecture of this

Music training alters the course of adolescent auditory development

Science.gov (United States)

Tierney, Adam T.; Krizman, Jennifer; Kraus, Nina

2015-01-01

Fundamental changes in brain structure and function during adolescence are well-characterized, but the extent to which experience modulates adolescent neurodevelopment is not. Musical experience provides an ideal case for examining this question because the influence of music training begun early in life is well-known. We investigated the effects of in-school music training, previously shown to enhance auditory skills, versus another in-school training program that did not focus on development of auditory skills (active control). We tested adolescents on neural responses to sound and language skills before they entered high school (pretraining) and again 3 y later. Here, we show that in-school music training begun in high school prolongs the stability of subcortical sound processing and accelerates maturation of cortical auditory responses. Although phonological processing improved in both the music training and active control groups, the enhancement was greater in adolescents who underwent music training. Thus, music training initiated as late as adolescence can enhance neural processing of sound and confer benefits for language skills. These results establish the potential for experience-driven brain plasticity during adolescence and demonstrate that in-school programs can engender these changes. PMID:26195739

Lexical retrieval : An aspect of fluent second language production that can be enhanced

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Snellings, P; de Glopper, Kees; van Gelderen, A.

2002-01-01

The efficiency of lexical retrieval, an essential subprocess of productive language skills, is crucial in fluent writing and speaking. We examine the feasibility of an experimental computerized training for fluent lexical retrieval in the second language in a classroom setting, applying techniques

Learning to Understand Natural Language with Less Human Effort

Science.gov (United States)

2015-05-01

Supervision Distant supervision is a recent trend in information extraction. Distantly-supervised extractors are trained using a corpus of unlabeled text...consists of fill-in-the-blank natural language questions such as “Incan emperor ” or “Cunningham directed Auchtre’s second music video .” These questions...with an 132 unknown knowledge base, simultaneously learning how to semantically parse language and pop - ulate the knowledge base. The weakly

Training Senior Teachers in Compulsory Computer Based Language Tests

Science.gov (United States)

Laborda, Jesus Garcia; Royo, Teresa Magal

2009-01-01

The IBT TOEFL has become the principal example of online high stakes language testing since 2005. Most instructors who do the preparation for IBT TOEFL face two main realities: first, students are eager and highly motivated to take the test because of the prospective implications; and, second, specific studies would be necessary to see if…

USING DISTANCE LEARNING TECHNOLOGIES IN THE LEARNING PROCESS OF MODERN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mariia A. Umryk

2014-06-01

Full Text Available In the research it was reviewed the use of distance learning technologies in the organization of research tasks while studying modern programming languages. The article contains an example of a training project on the subject "Modern programming languages". The authors argue the necessity of the use of modern information and communication technologies, in particular in modern programming languages distance learning, for the formation of students' 21st century skills that are essential in the process of programming (it is skills such as self-organization and self-discipline, communication skills, teamwork skills etc.. It is pointed out the structural units of the training project in accordance with the use of distance learning technologies. It is described the general characteristics and the use of appropriate methods of modern information and communication technologies.

Dynamic neural network reorganization associated with second language vocabulary acquisition: a multimodal imaging study.

Science.gov (United States)

Hosoda, Chihiro; Tanaka, Kanji; Nariai, Tadashi; Honda, Manabu; Hanakawa, Takashi

2013-08-21

It remains unsettled whether human language relies exclusively on innately privileged brain structure in the left hemisphere or is more flexibly shaped through experiences, which induce neuroplastic changes in potentially relevant neural circuits. Here we show that learning of second language (L2) vocabulary and its cessation can induce bidirectional changes in the mirror-reverse of the traditional language areas. A cross-sectional study identified that gray matter volume in the inferior frontal gyrus pars opercularis (IFGop) and connectivity of the IFGop with the caudate nucleus and the superior temporal gyrus/supramarginal (STG/SMG), predominantly in the right hemisphere, were positively correlated with L2 vocabulary competence. We then implemented a cohort study involving 16 weeks of L2 training in university students. Brain structure before training did not predict the later gain in L2 ability. However, training intervention did increase IFGop volume and reorganization of white matter including the IFGop-caudate and IFGop-STG/SMG pathways in the right hemisphere. These "positive" plastic changes were correlated with the gain in L2 ability in the trained group but were not observed in the control group. We propose that the right hemispheric network can be reorganized into language-related areas through use-dependent plasticity in young adults, reflecting a repertoire of flexible reorganization of the neural substrates responding to linguistic experiences.

Directionality effects in simultaneous language interpreting: the case of sign language interpreters in The Netherlands.

Science.gov (United States)

Van Dijk, Rick; Boers, Eveline; Christoffels, Ingrid; Hermans, Daan

2011-01-01

The quality of interpretations produced by sign language interpreters was investigated. Twenty-five experienced interpreters were instructed to interpret narratives from (a) spoken Dutch to Sign Language of The Netherlands (SLN), (b) spoken Dutch to Sign Supported Dutch (SSD), and (c) SLN to spoken Dutch. The quality of the interpreted narratives was assessed by 5 certified sign language interpreters who did not participate in the study. Two measures were used to assess interpreting quality: the propositional accuracy of the interpreters' interpretations and a subjective quality measure. The results showed that the interpreted narratives in the SLN-to-Dutch interpreting direction were of lower quality (on both measures) than the interpreted narratives in the Dutch-to-SLN and Dutch-to-SSD directions. Furthermore, interpreters who had begun acquiring SLN when they entered the interpreter training program performed as well in all 3 interpreting directions as interpreters who had acquired SLN from birth.

Application of LSP Texts in Translator Training

Science.gov (United States)

Ilynska, Larisa; Smirnova, Tatjana; Platonova, Marina

2017-01-01

The paper presents discussion of the results of extensive empirical research into efficient methods of educating and training translators of LSP (language for special purposes) texts. The methodology is based on using popular LSP texts in the respective fields as one of the main media for translator training. The aim of the paper is to investigate…

NEW APPROACHES TO TEACHER PHILOLOGIST TRAINING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Margarita Igorevna Postnikova

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The article explores the theory of teacher training in the field of Humanities and Pedagogy and the problem of devising academic syllabus for the Bachelor’s Degree in Philology and its compliance to present day requirements.Goa. Devising theoretical grounding to the course content in the academic discipline applying the principle of cross-subject communications, pragmatism and integral approach.Methods. Study of literature, modelling general and specific hypothesis, forecasting the results and processes at various stages of research, study of international documents, genera-lization and synthesis, simulation method.Results. The study presents theoretical grounding to the courses content ‘Language and Literature as Factors in Developing Tolerance’ and ‘Psychology of Interpersonal Relations in the Language Environment’ of the academic module ‘Communication in Modern Multicultural Environment’ within the syllabus ‘Pedagogical Education (philologists’. The study presents new approach to practical training of a language teacher in the context of cross-subject communications and integrated and practical approaches.Scope of application: higher professional education

Language in Comparative Perspective. Chapter 11

Science.gov (United States)

Rumbaugh, Duane M.; Savage-Rumbaugh, E. Sue

1994-01-01

The twentieth century will be noted for a wide variety of scientific and technological advancements, including powered flight, antibiotics, space travel, and the breaking of the genetic code. It also should be noted as the century in which major psychological, as well as biological, continuities between animal and human have been defined. Charles Darwin (1859) was quite right when he anticipated continuity in mental processes, some of which provide for language. Though none will argue that any animal has the full capacity of humans for language, none should deny that at least some animals have quite impressive competencies for language skills, including speech comprehension. The finding that the language skills in the bonobo and the chimpanzee are likely more fully and efficiently developed as a result of early rearing than by formal training at a later age declares a continuity even stronger than that defined by the language acquisition potential of the ape. To clarify, because early rearing facilitates the emergence of language in ape as well as in child, a naturalness to the familiar course of language acquisition, whereby comprehension precedes production, is also corroborated. In turn, the continuity and the shared naturalness of language acquisition serve jointly to define an advanced and critical point of linkage between the genera Pan and Homo - and, as concluded by Domjan (1993), one worthy of contributing to the series of reconceptions of ourselves as anticipated by Ploog and Melnechuk (1971).

Learning theories and skills in online second language teaching and learning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petersen, Karen Bjerg

2014-01-01

For decades foreign and second language teachers have taken advantage of the technology development and ensuing possibilities to use e-learning facilities for language training. Since the 1980s, the use of computer assisted language learning (CALL), Internet, web 2.0, and various kinds of e-learning...... in Denmark with special attention towards the development of web-based materials for Danish pronunciation. This paper sets out to introduce differences between the international and Danish use of web-based language learning and teaching. Finally, dilemmas and challenges for the use of CALL, IT, and web 2.0 in...

Direct and Indirect Effects of Behavioral Parent Training on Infant Language Production.

Science.gov (United States)

Bagner, Daniel M; Garcia, Dainelys; Hill, Ryan

2016-03-01

Given the strong association between early behavior problems and language impairment, we examined the effect of a brief home-based adaptation of Parent-child Interaction Therapy on infant language production. Sixty infants (55% male; mean age 13.47±1.31 months) were recruited at a large urban primary care clinic and were included if their scores exceeded the 75th percentile on a brief screener of early behavior problems. Families were randomly assigned to receive the home-based parenting intervention or standard pediatric primary care. The observed number of infant total (i.e., token) and different (i.e., type) utterances spoken during an observation of an infant-led play and a parent-report measure of infant externalizing behavior problems were examined at pre- and post-intervention and at 3- and 6-month follow-ups. Infants receiving the intervention demonstrated a significantly higher number of observed different and total utterances at the 6-month follow-up compared to infants in standard care. Furthermore, there was an indirect effect of the intervention on infant language production, such that the intervention led to decreases in infant externalizing behavior problems from pre- to post-intervention, which, in turn, led to increases in infant different utterances at the 3- and 6-month follow-ups and total utterances at the 6-month follow-up. Results provide initial evidence for the effect of this brief and home-based intervention on infant language production, including the indirect effect of the intervention on infant language through improvements in infant behavior, highlighting the importance of targeting behavior problems in early intervention. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Application of LSP texts in translator training

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Larisa Ilynska

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The paper presents discussion of the results of extensive empirical research into efficient methods of educating and training translators of LSP (language for special purposes texts. The methodology is based on using popular LSP texts in the respective fields as one of the main media for translator training. The aim of the paper is to investigate the efficiency of this methodology in developing thematic, linguistic and cultural competences of the students, following Bloom’s revised taxonomy and European Master in Translation Network (EMT translator training competences. The methodology has been tested on the students of a professional Master study programme called Technical Translation implemented by the Institute of Applied Linguistics, Riga Technical University, Latvia. The group of students included representatives of different nationalities, translating from English into Latvian, Russian and French. Analysis of popular LSP texts provides an opportunity to structure student background knowledge and expand it to account for linguistic innovation. Application of popular LSP texts instead of purely technical or scientific texts characterised by neutral style and rigid genre conventions provides an opportunity for student translators to develop advanced text processing and decoding skills, to develop awareness of expressive resources of the source and target languages and to develop understanding of socio-pragmatic language use.

METHODICAL ASPECTS OF CREATING AND USING THE LANGUAGE E-BOOKS IN PRIMARY SCHOOL

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Inna Khyzhnyak

2016-10-01

Full Text Available In the article the important role of electronic linguomethodical tools use in primary school and one of the largest groups of this means – Ukrainian language e-books are substantiated. This group contains, in author opinion, the different types of tools: visual (multimedia presentations, infographics, interactive posters, etc., practical (learning language games, training language aids, interactive crosswords, etc.; studying (learning language aids, etc. Each type has its creating and using methodical features in primary school. In addition, the use of various kinds of e-books must be systematic and take linguomethodical patterns of language teaching in primary school.The author gives a brief description each type of language e-books for primary school, describes the methods of their application and gives general guidance on their implementation in the learning process. A teacher is able to design and make all these types of electronic training manuals in Ukrainian language on his own using free software that allows to take into account the typical class features, its gender specificity, primary schoolchildren’s interests, to process local country studying information. In the conclusion author gives the main requirements to Ukrainian language e-books for a primary school: available and interesting for each pupil, despite the level of language development, use multimedia and hyperlinks, interactivity, predictable methodology of working with electronic trainers should be maximum simple, and its design should have national-patriotic character etc.

Nuclear safety education and training network

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bastos, J.; Ulfkjaer, L.

2004-01-01

In March 2001, the Secretariat convened an Advisory Group on Education and Training in nuclear safety. The Advisory Group considered structure, scope and means related to the implementation of an IAEA Programme on Education and Training . A strategic plan was agreed and the following outputs were envisaged: 1. A Training Support Programme in nuclear safety, including a standardized and harmonized approach for training developed by the IAEA and in use by Member States. 2. National and regional training centres, established to support sustainable national nuclear safety infrastructures. 3. Training material for use by lecturers and students developed by the IAEA in English and translated to other languages. The implementation of the plan was initiated in 2002 emphasizing the preparation of training materials. In 2003 a pilot project for a network on Education and Training in Asia was initiated

Music training and semantic clustering in college students.

Science.gov (United States)

Hogan, David E; Huesman, Thomas

2008-12-01

College students with 5 or more years of music training recalled significantly more words from a 16-item word list than did students with 0-4 years of training. The superior recall of the extensively trained students linked to better application of a semantic-clustering strategy across a series of 3 test trials. Music education and language experience may have similar influences on the development of verbal memory.

GESAT: System for management and evaluation of training programs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arjona, O.; Venegas, M.; Rodriguez, L.; Lopez, M.

1997-01-01

This paper describe the criteria considered to design the GESAT system, the elements considered to select the relational model, selection of the database language and the main features and possibilities of this system. GESAT allow the management of training programs based on the Systematic Approach to Training. Include the information related with all SAT phases, the results of the job analysis, training plans design, development of materials, training implementation, and the subsequent evaluation

Language aptitude: Desirable trait or acquirable attribute?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Singleton

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The traditional definition of language aptitude sees it as “an individual’s initial state of readiness and capacity for learning a foreign language, and probable facility in doing so given the presence of motivation and opportunity” (Carroll, 1981, p. 86. This conception portrays language aptitude as a trait, in the sense of exhibiting stability over long periods of time and being immune to training. The trait view of language aptitude tends towards the notion that it is innate, and indeed language aptitude has often been associated with the popular notion of a “gift for languages” (cf. Rosenthal, 1996, p. 59. The view of language aptitude as an innate trait has, however, long been questioned (see e.g., Neufeld, 1978. Recently, this questioning has intensified (see Singleton, 2014, especially since the development of a widespread consensus that working memory needs to be recognized as an important component of language aptitude (see Wen, 2016. Working memory was also once thought of as a trait, but is now recognized as susceptible to the influence of experience and instruction (see e.g., Williams, 2012. The present paper will track the trajectory of the above theoretical discussion and will explore the implications of the stage it has now reached.

Bimodal bilingualism as multisensory training?: Evidence for improved audiovisual speech perception after sign language exposure.

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Joshua T; Darcy, Isabelle; Newman, Sharlene D

2016-02-15

The aim of the present study was to characterize effects of learning a sign language on the processing of a spoken language. Specifically, audiovisual phoneme comprehension was assessed before and after 13 weeks of sign language exposure. L2 ASL learners performed this task in the fMRI scanner. Results indicated that L2 American Sign Language (ASL) learners' behavioral classification of the speech sounds improved with time compared to hearing nonsigners. Results indicated increased activation in the supramarginal gyrus (SMG) after sign language exposure, which suggests concomitant increased phonological processing of speech. A multiple regression analysis indicated that learner's rating on co-sign speech use and lipreading ability was correlated with SMG activation. This pattern of results indicates that the increased use of mouthing and possibly lipreading during sign language acquisition may concurrently improve audiovisual speech processing in budding hearing bimodal bilinguals. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

ACOUSTIC SPEECH RECOGNITION FOR MARATHI LANGUAGE USING SPHINX

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aman Ankit

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Speech recognition or speech to text processing, is a process of recognizing human speech by the computer and converting into text. In speech recognition, transcripts are created by taking recordings of speech as audio and their text transcriptions. Speech based applications which include Natural Language Processing (NLP techniques are popular and an active area of research. Input to such applications is in natural language and output is obtained in natural language. Speech recognition mostly revolves around three approaches namely Acoustic phonetic approach, Pattern recognition approach and Artificial intelligence approach. Creation of acoustic model requires a large database of speech and training algorithms. The output of an ASR system is recognition and translation of spoken language into text by computers and computerized devices. ASR today finds enormous application in tasks that require human machine interfaces like, voice dialing, and etc. Our key contribution in this paper is to create corpora for Marathi language and explore the use of Sphinx engine for automatic speech recognition

Evaluation of an interview skills training package for adolescents with speech, language and communication needs.

Science.gov (United States)

Mathrick, Rachel; Meagher, Tina; Norbury, Courtenay Frazier

2017-11-01

We evaluated a structured intervention programme aimed at preparing adolescents with developmental language disorders for job interviews. Our primary outcome measures included change in ratings of verbal and non-verbal social communication behaviours evident during mock interviews. In study 1, 12 participants, aged 17-19 years, from a specialist sixth-form college completed the intervention and two mock interviews, one pre- and one post-intervention. In study 2, 34 participants, aged 17-19 years, completed a modified intervention programme and three mock interviews, one at baseline (included to control for possible practise effects), one pre- and one post-intervention. In both studies, interviews were video recorded and social communication behaviours were coded by independent assessors blind to interview time, participant diagnosis and therapy content. A repeated-measures design was employed to measure change in communication behaviours. In study 1, a significant increase in the number of 'positive' verbal and non-verbal social communication behaviours was observed from pre- to post-intervention. However, there was no significant change in the number of 'negative' behaviours (i.e., fidgeting, irrelevant remarks). In study 2, there were no significant changes in verbal behaviours, but significant group differences (though wide individual variation) in both positive and negative non-verbal social communication behaviours. Our findings suggest that training specific social communication skills that are important for interview success, and consistently reinforcing those behaviours during therapy practice, can increase the use of those skills in an interview setting, though in this heterogeneous population there was considerable variation in therapy outcome. The skills of the interviewer were identified as a potential source of variation in outcome, and a target for future research and practice. © 2017 Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

Using language for social interaction: Communication mechanisms promote recovery from chronic non-fluent aphasia.

Science.gov (United States)

Stahl, Benjamin; Mohr, Bettina; Dreyer, Felix R; Lucchese, Guglielmo; Pulvermüller, Friedemann

2016-12-01

Clinical research highlights the importance of massed practice in the rehabilitation of chronic post-stroke aphasia. However, while necessary, massed practice may not be sufficient for ensuring progress in speech-language therapy. Motivated by recent advances in neuroscience, it has been claimed that using language as a tool for communication and social interaction leads to synergistic effects in left perisylvian eloquent areas. Here, we conducted a crossover randomized controlled trial to determine the influence of communicative language function on the outcome of intensive aphasia therapy. Eighteen individuals with left-hemisphere lesions and chronic non-fluent aphasia each received two types of training in counterbalanced order: (i) Intensive Language-Action Therapy (ILAT, an extended form of Constraint-Induced Aphasia Therapy) embedding verbal utterances in the context of communication and social interaction, and (ii) Naming Therapy focusing on speech production per se. Both types of training were delivered with the same high intensity (3.5 h per session) and duration (six consecutive working days), with therapy materials and number of utterances matched between treatment groups. A standardized aphasia test battery revealed significantly improved language performance with ILAT, independent of when this method was administered. In contrast, Naming Therapy tended to benefit language performance only when given at the onset of the treatment, but not when applied after previous intensive training. The current results challenge the notion that massed practice alone promotes recovery from chronic post-stroke aphasia. Instead, our results demonstrate that using language for communication and social interaction increases the efficacy of intensive aphasia therapy. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Culturally sensitive adaptation of the concept of relational communication therapy as a support to language development: An exploratory study in collaboration with a Tanzanian orphanage

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ulrike Schütte

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Background: Orphans and other vulnerable children (OVC who grow up in institutional care often show communication and language problems. The caregivers lack training, and there are few language didactics programmes aimed at supporting communication and language development in OVC in institutional care in Tanzania. Objectives: The purpose of the study was to adapt the German concept of relational communication therapy (RCT as a support to language development in a Tanzanian early childhood education context in a culturally sensitive way. Following the adaptation of the concept, a training programme for Tanzanian caregiver students was developed to compare their competencies in language didactics before and after training. Methods: A convergent mixed methods design was used to examine changes following training in 12 participating caregiver students in a Tanzanian orphanage. The competencies in relational language didactics were assessed by a self-developed test and video recordings before and after intervention. Based on the results, we drew conclusions regarding necessary modifications to the training modules and to the concept of RCT. Results: The relational didactics competencies of the caregiver students improved significantly following their training. A detailed analysis of the four training modules showed that the improvement in relational didactics competencies varied depending on the topic and the teacher. Conclusion: The results provide essential hints for the professionalisation of caregivers and for using the concept of RCT for OVC in institutional care in Tanzania. Training programmes and concepts should not just be transferred across different cultures, disciplines and settings; they must be adapted to the specific cultural setting.

Getting ready for reading: a follow-up study of inner city second language learners at the end of Key Stage 1.

Science.gov (United States)

Stuart, Morag

2004-03-01

A previous study (Stuart, 1999) showed that early phoneme awareness and phonics teaching improved reading and spelling ability in inner-city schoolchildren in Key Stage 1, most of whom were learning English as a second language. The present study, a follow-up of these children at the end of Key Stage 1, addresses four main questions: (1) Are these improvements maintained to the end of Key Stage 1? (2) Are different patterns of cognitive process evident in the word recognition skills of phonics trained versus untrained children? (3) Do the phonics trained children now also show a significant advantage in reading comprehension? (4) Are there differences in amount of reading, in self-concept as readers and in oral vocabulary development between phonics trained and untrained children? Relationships between reading and spelling ages and Key Stage 1 SATs levels are also explored. Data are reported from 101 seven-year-olds (85 of whom were second language learners) remaining from the original 112 children reported on previously. Children were tested on four standardized tests of reading, spelling and vocabulary, and on a further six experimental tests of phoneme segmentation, grapheme-phoneme correspondence knowledge, regular, exception and nonword reading, author recognition and reading self-concept. Lasting influences of early phoneme awareness and phonics teaching on phoneme awareness, grapheme-phoneme correspondence knowledge, word reading and spelling were found. Part of the previously untrained group had now received structured phonics teaching, and were therefore treated as a third (late trained) group. Early and late-trained groups showed similar levels of attainment and similar cognitive processing patterns, which were different from the untrained group. However, there were no influences of training on reading comprehension, self-concept or oral vocabulary. Early phoneme awareness and phonics training efficiently accelerates the word recognition and spelling

Profesores de español como lengua extranjera: de la formación al desempeño profesional / Spanish as a foreign language teachers: from training to professional development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anna Sánchez Rufat

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Resumen Estas líneas pretenden suplir una importante carencia que se detecta en el área de formación de profesores de español como lengua extranjera (ELE. El objetivo es proporcionar orientaciones básicas que ayuden a los profesores a iniciar su carrera profesional, sintetizando las principales posibilidades que existen para ello. Se parte de la situación de la enseñanza del español en el contexto internacional y se reflexiona después sobre las competencias del profesor y la relevancia de la etapa de formación. Se repasan, a continuación, las principales vías profesionales y se aportan diversos datos recabados de diferentes instituciones y profesionales de las distintas áreas del ámbito de ELE. Abstract These lines intend to fill an important gap that is detected in the field of Spanish as a Foreign Language (SFL teacher training. The aim is to provide basic guidelines to help teachers to start their career, so the main possibilities for it are summarized. Firstly, this article focuses on the situation of Spanish language teaching in an international context, and then follows a discussion on the teacher skills and on the relevance of training. Secondly, the main career paths for a Spanish teacher are reviewed, and various data obtained through different institutions and professionals from different areas of the field of Spanish as a foreign language are provided.

Communication partner training in aphasia: a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Simmons-Mackie, Nina; Raymer, Anastasia; Armstrong, Elizabeth; Holland, Audrey; Cherney, Leora R

2010-12-01

To describe the effects of communication partner training on persons with aphasia and their communication partners. Specifically the systematic review addressed 3 clinical questions regarding the impact of partner training on language, communication activity and participation, psychosocial adjustment, and quality of life for adults with aphasia and their communication partners. Twenty-three terms were used to search 12 electronic databases (eg, PubMed, CINAHL, PsychINFO, PsychArticles, CSA Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts, Social Sciences Citation Index [Web of Science], SUMSearch, TRIP, EMBASE, REHABDATA, National Library for Health, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews) and the journal "Aphasiology." References from all relevant articles were hand-searched. Two reviewers independently applied inclusion criteria to select potential relevant articles from the titles and abstracts of references retrieved by the literature search. The full text of the remaining articles was reviewed by a 5-member panel, resulting in a corpus of 31 studies that met the final inclusion criteria. Two independent reviewers extracted the descriptive data related to the participants, the intervention, the outcome measures, and the results. The 5-member review team by consensus classified the studies using the American Academy of Neurology system for classification of evidence (2004). Evidence shows that communication partner training is effective in improving communication activities and/or participation of the communication partner and is probably effective in improving communication activities and/or participation of persons with chronic aphasia when they are interacting with trained communication partners. There is insufficient evidence to make recommendations related to the impact of partner training on persons with acute aphasia or the impact of training on language impairment, psychosocial adjustment, or quality of life for either the person with aphasia or the

Using VRML for Teaching and Training in Industry.

Science.gov (United States)

Dorner, Ralph; Schafer, Arno; Elcacho, Colette; Luckas, Volker

This paper shows how World Wide Web-based technology using VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) can be applied in an industrial education and training context. Following an introduction to the importance of lifelong learning and training in industry, the state of the art of VRML is discussed, including its features and integration into the Web…

Using American sign language interpreters to facilitate research among deaf adults: lessons learned.

Science.gov (United States)

Sheppard, Kate

2011-04-01

Health care providers commonly discuss depressive symptoms with clients, enabling earlier intervention. Such discussions rarely occur between providers and Deaf clients. Most culturally Deaf adults experience early-onset hearing loss, self-identify as part of a unique culture, and communicate in the visual language of American Sign Language (ASL). Communication barriers abound, and depression screening instruments may be unreliable. To train and use ASL interpreters for a qualitative study describing depressive symptoms among Deaf adults. Training included research versus community interpreting. During data collection, interpreters translated to and from voiced English and ASL. Training eliminated potential problems during data collection. Unexpected issues included participants asking for "my interpreter" and worrying about confidentiality or friendship in a small community. Lessons learned included the value of careful training of interpreters prior to initiating data collection, including resolution of possible role conflicts and ensuring conceptual equivalence in real-time interpreting.

Evidence-based speech-language pathology practices in schools: findings from a national survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Hoffman, Lavae M; Ireland, Marie; Hall-Mills, Shannon; Flynn, Perry

2013-07-01

This study documented evidence-based practice (EBP) patterns as reported by speech-language pathologists (SLPs) employed in public schools during 2010-2011. Using an online survey, practioners reported their EBP training experiences, resources available in their workplaces, and the frequency with which they engage in specific EBP activities, as well as their resource needs and future training format preferences. A total of 2,762 SLPs in 28 states participated in the online survey, 85% of whom reported holding the Certificate of Clinical Competence in Speech-Language Pathology credential. Results revealed that one quarter of survey respondents had no formal training in EBP, 11% of SLPs worked in school districts with official EBP procedural guidelines, and 91% had no scheduled time to support EBP activities. The majority of SLPs posed and researched 0 to 2 EBP questions per year and read 0 to 4 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) journal articles per year on either assessment or intervention topics. Use of ASHA online resources and engagement in EBP activities were documented to be low. However, results also revealed that school-based SLPs have high interest in additional training and resources to support scientifically based practices. Suggestions for enhancing EBP support in public schools and augmenting knowledge transfer are provided.

Language training: English & French courses

CERN Multimedia

Françoise Benz

2006-01-01

General and Professional English Courses The next session will take place from end of February to end of June 2006 (break at Easter). These courses are open to all persons working on the CERN site, and to their spouses. For registration and further information on the courses, please consult our Web pages: http://cern.ch/Training or contact Mr. Liptow: tel. 72957. Oral Expression The next session will take place from beginning of March to May 2006 (break at Easter). This course is intended for people with a good knowledge of English who want to practise and maintain their speaking skills while extending their vocabulary. There will be a maximum of 10 participants in a class. Speaking activities will include discussions, meeting simulations, role-plays etc. depending on the needs of the students. Duration: 20 hours Price: 440 CHF (for a minimum of 8 students) Timetable will be fixed after discussion with the students. Writing Professional Documents in English The next session will take place from Ma...

The Language of Literacy: A National Resource Directory of Aboriginal Literacy Programs.

Science.gov (United States)

Sabourin, Beverly; Globensky, Peter Andre

This directory presents, in narrative form, core information about the operations of approximately 100 Aboriginal literacy programs throughout Canada. To qualify for inclusion in the directory, each program had to offer basic, functional, or advanced literacy training; offer literacy training in English, French, or an Aboriginal language; be…

Integrating Language and Cultural Knowledge into the Army Officer Corps

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Purser, Jennifer L

2008-01-01

.... By promoting the acquisition of culture and language comprehension before individuals become commissioned, the Army can save both time and money in training officers to prepare for the COIN fight...

CERN Technical Training - New courses available at CERN!

CERN Multimedia

HR Department

2010-01-01

1. - The “JavaScript for web development” is a 3 day course. This hands-on JavaScript training course provides the knowledge needed to design and develop dynamic web pages using JavaScript. It introduces students to JavaScript and how the language can be used to turn static HTML pages into dynamic, interactive web pages. Students will learn the syntax of the JavaScript language, the Document Object Model, form validation, cookies, how to create functions. This course is for Web programmers who want to learn how to make their Web pages more interactive by using JavaScript. The course will take place, in English, from 5 to 7 May 2010 in the CERN Technical Training Centre. Registrations are open on the Technical Training page. For more information on our catalogue or for questions/comments, contact us at Technical.Training@cern.ch 2. - The “Web 2.0 development with AJAX” is a 3 day course. This hands-on AJAX course provides the knowledge needed to design and develop ...

The Role of Cultural Understanding and Language Training in Unconventional Warfare

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Beleaga, Constantin

2004-01-01

.... After examining some situations in which United States and British forces carried out counterinsurgency operations, the author reveals that ground troops with foreign-language skills and cultural...

Sign language in dental education-A new nexus.

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, T; Cumberbatch, K

2017-08-14

The introduction of the landmark mandatory teaching of sign language to undergraduate dental students at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona Campus in Kingston, Jamaica, to bridge the communication gap between dentists and their patients is reviewed. A review of over 90 Doctor of Dental Surgery and Doctor of Dental Medicine curricula in North America, the United Kingdom, parts of Europe and Australia showed no inclusion of sign language in those curricula as a mandatory component. In Jamaica, the government's training school for dental auxiliaries served as the forerunner to the UWI's introduction of formal training of sign language in 2012. Outside of the UWI, a couple of dental schools have sign language courses, but none have a mandatory programme as the one at the UWI. Dentists the world over have had to rely on interpreters to sign with their deaf patients. The deaf in Jamaica have not appreciated the fact that dentists cannot sign and they have felt insulted and only go to the dentist in emergency situations. The mandatory inclusion of sign language in the Undergraduate Dental Programme curriculum at The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, sought to establish a direct communication channel to formally bridge this gap. The programme of two sign language courses and a direct clinical competency requirement was developed during the second year of the first cohort of the newly introduced undergraduate dental programme through a collaborating partnership between two faculties on the Mona Campus. The programme was introduced in 2012 in the third year of the 5-year undergraduate dental programme. To date, two cohorts have completed the programme, and the preliminary findings from an ongoing clinical study have shown a positive impact on dental care access and dental treatment for deaf patients at the UWI Mona Dental Polyclinic. The development of a direct communication channel between dental students and the deaf that has led to increased dental

Advanced language modeling approaches, case study: Expert search

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hiemstra, Djoerd

2008-01-01

This tutorial gives a clear and detailed overview of advanced language modeling approaches and tools, including the use of document priors, translation models, relevance models, parsimonious models and expectation maximization training. Expert search will be used as a case study to explain the

The Effect of Communication Strategy Training on the Development of EFL Learners' Strategic Competence and Oral Communicative Ability.

Science.gov (United States)

Rabab'ah, Ghaleb

2016-06-01

This study examines the effect of communication strategy instruction on EFL students' oral communicative ability and their strategic competence. In a 14-week English as a Foreign Language (EFL) course (English Use II) based on Communicative Language Teaching approach, 80 learners were divided into two groups. The strategy training group ([Formula: see text]) received CS training based on a training program designed for the purpose of the present research, whereas the control group ([Formula: see text]) received only the normal communicative course using Click On 3, with no explicit focus on CSs. The communication strategies targeted in the training program included circumlocution (paraphrase), appeal for help, asking for repetition, clarification request, confirmation request, self-repair, and guessing. Pre- and post-test procedures were used to find out the effect of strategy training on language proficiency and CS use. The effect of the training was assessed by three types of data collection: the participants' pre- and post-IELTS speaking test scores, transcription data from the speaking IELTS test, and 'Click On' Exit Test scores. The findings revealed that participants in the strategy training group significantly outperformed the control group in their IELTS speaking test scores. The results of the post-test transcription data also confirmed that the participants in the strategy training group used more CSs, which could be attributed to the CS training program. The findings of the present research have implications for language teachers, and syllabus designers.

Neuroplasticity-based Cognitive and Linguistic Skills Training Improves Reading and Writing Skills in College Students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Beth eRogowsky

2013-03-01

Full Text Available This study reports an evaluation of the effect of computer-based cognitive and linguistic training on college students’ reading and writing skills. The computer-based training included a series of increasingly challenging software programs that were designed to strengthen students’ foundational cognitive skills (memory, attention span, processing speed, and sequencing in the context of listening and higher level reading tasks. Twenty-five college students (12 native English language; 13 English Second Language who demonstrated poor writing skills participated in the training group. The training group received daily training during the spring semester (11 weeks with the Fast ForWord Literacy (FFW-L and upper levels of the Fast ForWord Reading series (Levels 3, 4 and 5. The comparison group (n=28 selected from the general college population did not receive training. Both the training and comparison groups attended the same university. All students took the Gates MacGinitie Reading Test (GMRT and the Oral and Written Language Scales (OWLS Written Expression Scale at the beginning (Time 1 and end (Time 2 of the spring college semester. Results from this study showed that the training group made a statistically greater improvement from Time 1 to Time 2 in both their reading skills and their writing skills than the comparison group. The group who received training began with statistically lower writing skills before training, but exceeded the writing skills of the comparison group after training.

LEARNING SEMANTICS-ENHANCED LANGUAGE MODELS APPLIED TO UNSUEPRVISED WSD

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

VERSPOOR, KARIN [Los Alamos National Laboratory; LIN, SHOU-DE [Los Alamos National Laboratory

2007-01-29

An N-gram language model aims at capturing statistical syntactic word order information from corpora. Although the concept of language models has been applied extensively to handle a variety of NLP problems with reasonable success, the standard model does not incorporate semantic information, and consequently limits its applicability to semantic problems such as word sense disambiguation. We propose a framework that integrates semantic information into the language model schema, allowing a system to exploit both syntactic and semantic information to address NLP problems. Furthermore, acknowledging the limited availability of semantically annotated data, we discuss how the proposed model can be learned without annotated training examples. Finally, we report on a case study showing how the semantics-enhanced language model can be applied to unsupervised word sense disambiguation with promising results.

Bayesian molecular design with a chemical language model

Science.gov (United States)

Ikebata, Hisaki; Hongo, Kenta; Isomura, Tetsu; Maezono, Ryo; Yoshida, Ryo

2017-04-01

The aim of computational molecular design is the identification of promising hypothetical molecules with a predefined set of desired properties. We address the issue of accelerating the material discovery with state-of-the-art machine learning techniques. The method involves two different types of prediction; the forward and backward predictions. The objective of the forward prediction is to create a set of machine learning models on various properties of a given molecule. Inverting the trained forward models through Bayes' law, we derive a posterior distribution for the backward prediction, which is conditioned by a desired property requirement. Exploring high-probability regions of the posterior with a sequential Monte Carlo technique, molecules that exhibit the desired properties can computationally be created. One major difficulty in the computational creation of molecules is the exclusion of the occurrence of chemically unfavorable structures. To circumvent this issue, we derive a chemical language model that acquires commonly occurring patterns of chemical fragments through natural language processing of ASCII strings of existing compounds, which follow the SMILES chemical language notation. In the backward prediction, the trained language model is used to refine chemical strings such that the properties of the resulting structures fall within the desired property region while chemically unfavorable structures are successfully removed. The present method is demonstrated through the design of small organic molecules with the property requirements on HOMO-LUMO gap and internal energy. The R package iqspr is available at the CRAN repository.

Language Teachers' Target Language Project: Language for Specific Purposes of Language Teaching

Science.gov (United States)

Korenev, Alexey; Westbrook, Carolyn; Merry, Yvonne; Ershova, Tatiana

2016-01-01

The Language Teachers' Target Language project (LTTL) aims to describe language teachers' target language use domain (Bachman & Palmer 2010) and to develop a language test for future teachers of English. The team comprises four researchers from Moscow State University (MSU) and Southampton Solent University.

Problems of future philologists’ training in modern scientific discourse

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maryna Ikonnikova

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Philosophical, psychological-pedagogical and sociolinguistic projections of future philologists’ professional training have been studied in the paper. It has been defined that they provide for creating optimal conditions for learning language, literature, translation, etc.; stimulating speech and mental activity of students; developing their critical thinking skills, linguistic personality, multiple intellect, the ability to model conceptual information; widening knowledge-based space taking into account individual styles and strategies for student learning. It has been indicated that within foreign scientific discourse scholars focus on the problem of training philologists of the integrated type that is possible provided the methodology is scientifically justified, based on the significant achievements of philosophy, psychology, pedagogy, linguodidactics, sociolinguistics and culturology, oriented toward European requirements to language education, positive foreign experience and national traditions.Key words: future philologists, professional training, philological education, philology, scientific discourse.

Short-term Music Training Enhances Complex, Distributed Neural Communication during Music and Linguistic Tasks.

Science.gov (United States)

Carpentier, Sarah M; Moreno, Sylvain; McIntosh, Anthony R

2016-10-01

Musical training is frequently associated with benefits to linguistic abilities, and recent focus has been placed on possible benefits of bilingualism to lifelong executive functions; however, the neural mechanisms for such effects are unclear. The aim of this study was to gain better understanding of the whole-brain functional effects of music and second-language training that could support such previously observed cognitive transfer effects. We conducted a 28-day longitudinal study of monolingual English-speaking 4- to 6-year-old children randomly selected to receive daily music or French language training, excluding weekends. Children completed passive EEG music note and French vowel auditory oddball detection tasks before and after training. Brain signal complexity was measured on source waveforms at multiple temporal scales as an index of neural information processing and network communication load. Comparing pretraining with posttraining, musical training was associated with increased EEG complexity at coarse temporal scales during the music and French vowel tasks in widely distributed cortical regions. Conversely, very minimal decreases in complexity at fine scales and trends toward coarse-scale increases were displayed after French training during the tasks. Spectral analysis failed to distinguish between training types and found overall theta (3.5-7.5 Hz) power increases after all training forms, with spatially fewer decreases in power at higher frequencies (>10 Hz). These findings demonstrate that musical training increased diversity of brain network states to support domain-specific music skill acquisition and music-to-language transfer effects.

Factors involved in the identification of stuttering severity in a foreign language.

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Cosyns, Marjan; Einarsdóttir, Jóhanna T; Van Borsel, John

2015-01-01

Speech-language pathologists nowadays are more and more confronted with clients who speak a language different from their own mother tongue. The assessment of persons who speak a foreign language poses particular challenges. The present study investigated the possible role and interplay of factors involved in the identification of stuttering severity in a foreign language. Nineteen speech-language pathologists from five different countries (i.e. Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Belgium) rated stuttering severity of speech samples featuring persons who stutter speaking Icelandic, Swedish, Norwegian, or Dutch. Additionally, they were asked to score how easy they found it to rate the samples. Accuracy of rating stuttering severity in another language appeared to be foremost determined by the client's stuttering severity, while experienced ease of rating stuttering severity was essentially related to closeness of the language of the clinician to that of the client and familiarity of the clinician with the client's language. Stuttering measurement training programmes in different languages are needed.

Teacher Training in a Synchronous Cyber Face-to-Face Classroom: Characterizing and Supporting the Online Teachers' Learning Process

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Wang, Yuping; Chen, Nian-Shing; Levy, Mike

2010-01-01

This article discusses the learning process undertaken by language teachers in a cyber face-to-face teacher training program. Eight tertiary Chinese language teachers attended a 12-week training program conducted in an online synchronous learning environment characterized by multimedia-based, oral and visual interaction. The term "cyber…

Modeling of Slovak Language for Broadcast News Transcription

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

STAŠ Ján

2015-10-01

Full Text Available The paper describes recent progress in the development the Slovak language models for transcription of spontaneous speech such as broadcast news, educational talks and lectures, or meetings. This work extends previous research oriented on the automatic transcription of dictated speech and brings some new extensions for improving perplexity and robustness of the Slovak language models trained on the web-based and electronic language resources for being more precise in recognition of spontaneous speech. These improvements include better text preprocessing, document classification, class-based and filled pauses modeling, web-data augmentation and fast model adaptation to the target domain. Experiments have been performed on the four different evaluation data sets, including judicial and newspaper readings, broadcast news recordings and parliament proceedings with the Slovak transcription system. Preliminary results show significant decrease of the word error rate for multiple transcription system configurations of acoustic and language models.

Food hygiene training in the UK: time for a radical re-think?

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MacAuslan, E

2001-12-01

Training food handlers in the hospitality industry has been recommended by various organisations as a means of improving food handling practices and thus the safety of food for consumers. It is nearly 20 years since the first examinations for basic level food hygiene certificates were made available to food handlers in the UK. Since then little has changed in the syllabuses and in the way the questions are worded. However, the range of languages spoken by food handlers working in the UK has increased substantially since more employers are recruiting those who speak English as a second language. Training can be an unwelcome expense for managers where there is a high turnover of employees, especially amongst those for whom English is not a first language. To improve practical implementation of food hygiene theory it is time to develop a radical strategy concerning the way training is targeted and delivered in the UK, and perhaps Europe.

Sign language interpreting education : Reflections on interpersonal skills

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Hammer, A.; van den Bogaerde, B.; Cirillo, L.; Niemants, N.

2017-01-01

We present a description of our didactic approach to train undergraduate sign language interpreters on their interpersonal and reflective skills. Based predominantly on the theory of role-space by Llewellyn-Jones and Lee (2014), we argue that dialogue settings require a dynamic role of the

THEORY AND PRACTICE OF DESIGNING COURSES ON LANGUAGE TESTING AND ASSESSMENT

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Olha Kvasova

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The paper considers the theoretical underpinnings and practices of designing courses on language testing and assessment for pre-service FL teacher training. The author analyses definitions of assessment literacy offered in the studies of world experts including teaching content and objectives of such long implemented courses. She further reasons the urgent need in introducing courses on language testing and assessment in Ukrainian universities; specifies the goal of the courses which lies in training student teachers in developing quality tests and administering assessments on the outset of their teaching career; outlines the content area to be covered in the course placing emphasis on its being based on professional needs; specifies course objectives such as building students’ awareness of key concepts and principles of language testing, developing ability to critically analyze available ready-made tests and make decisions about their fitting particular assessment needs, building skills to develop own or adapt ready-made tests and tailor them to the educational context; discusses preconditions of efficient running and attaining good outcomes of such courses which, in her view, are predetermined by traditionally high standards of teaching language pedagogy in Ukraine. An innovative structure of the course based on principles of testing cycle as well as interactive and constructivist methods of teaching language testing and assessment to student teachers are offered in the article.

Potty Training: Learning to Use the Toilet

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... All Early Learning Child Care Early Literacy Early Math and Science Language and Communication Play School Readiness ... right now. She will return to her previous level of potty training once things have gotten back ...

Training Verbal and Nonverbal Communication Interview Skills to Adolescents

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Olszewski, Abbie; Panorska, Anna; Gillam, Sandra Laing

2017-01-01

Adolescents' verbal and nonverbal communication skills were compared before and after training in a workforce readiness training program, Language for Scholars (LFS), and a study skills program, Ideal Student Workshop (ISW). A cross-over design was used, ensuring that 44 adolescents received both programs and acted as their own control. The LFS…

Executive function training in children with SLI: A pilot study

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Vugs, B.A.M.; Knoors, H.E.T.; Cuperus, J.M.; Hendriks, M.P.H.; Verhoeven, L.T.W.

2017-01-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a computer-based executive function (EF) training in children with specific language impairment (SLI). Ten children with SLI, ages 8 to 12 years, completed a 25-session training of visuospatial working memory, inhibition and cognitive

Indonesian Sign Language Number Recognition using SIFT Algorithm

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Mahfudi, Isa; Sarosa, Moechammad; Andrie Asmara, Rosa; Azrino Gustalika, M.

2018-04-01

Indonesian sign language (ISL) is generally used for deaf individuals and poor people communication in communicating. They use sign language as their primary language which consists of 2 types of action: sign and finger spelling. However, not all people understand their sign language so that this becomes a problem for them to communicate with normal people. this problem also becomes a factor they are isolated feel from the social life. It needs a solution that can help them to be able to interacting with normal people. Many research that offers a variety of methods in solving the problem of sign language recognition based on image processing. SIFT (Scale Invariant Feature Transform) algorithm is one of the methods that can be used to identify an object. SIFT is claimed very resistant to scaling, rotation, illumination and noise. Using SIFT algorithm for Indonesian sign language recognition number result rate recognition to 82% with the use of a total of 100 samples image dataset consisting 50 sample for training data and 50 sample images for testing data. Change threshold value get affect the result of the recognition. The best value threshold is 0.45 with rate recognition of 94%.

Language comprehension in ape and child.

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Savage-Rumbaugh, E S; Murphy, J; Sevcik, R A; Brakke, K E; Williams, S L; Rumbaugh, D M

1993-01-01

Previous investigations of the linguistic capacities of apes have focused on the ape's ability to produce words, and there has been little concern for comprehension. By contrast, it is increasingly recognized that comprehension precedes production in the language development of normal human children, and it may indeed guide production. It has been demonstrated that some species can process speech sounds categorically in a manner similar to that observed in humans. Consequently, it should be possible for such species to comprehend language if they have the cognitive capacity to understand word-referent relations and syntactic structure. Popular theories of human language acquisition suggest that the ability to process syntactic information is unique to humans and reflects a novel biological adaptation not seen in other animals. The current report addresses this issue through systematic experimental comparisons of the language comprehension skills of a 2-year-old child and an 8 year-old bonobo (Pan paniscus) who was raised in a language environment similar to that in which children are raised but specifically modified to be appropriate for an ape. Both subjects (child and bonobo) were exposed to spoken English and lexigrams from infancy, and neither was trained to comprehend speech. A common caretaker participated in the rearing of both subjects. All language acquisition was through observational learning. Without prior training, subjects were asked to respond to the same 660 novel sentences. All responses were videotaped and scored for accuracy of comprehension of the English language. The results indicated that both subjects comprehended novel requests and simple syntactic devices. The bonobo decoded the syntactic device of word recursion with higher accuracy than the child; however, the child tended to do better than the bonobo on the conjunctive, a structure that places a greater burden on short-term memory. Both subjects performed as well on sentences that

Parsing Universal Dependencies without training

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Martínez Alonso, Héctor; Agic, Zeljko; Plank, Barbara

2017-01-01

We present UDP, the first training-free parser for Universal Dependencies (UD). Our algorithm is based on PageRank and a small set of specific dependency head rules. UDP features two-step decoding to guarantee that function words are attached as leaf nodes. The parser requires no training......, and it is competitive with a delexicalized transfer system. UDP offers a linguistically sound unsupervised alternative to cross-lingual parsing for UD. The parser has very few parameters and distinctly robust to domain change across languages....

Knowledge, Skills, and Training in Second Language Acquisition: A Comparative Study of Preservice Teachers' Perceptions

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Wilson, Christine

2017-01-01

Preservice teachers must have opportunities in their university teaching programs to apply theories of second language learning. Courses in second language acquisition and English as a second language methodology are essential to prepare mainstream teachers for teaching culturally and linguistically diverse learners. Additionally, creating a…

Early stage second-language learning improves executive control: evidence from ERP.

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Sullivan, Margot D; Janus, Monika; Moreno, Sylvain; Astheimer, Lori; Bialystok, Ellen

2014-12-01

A growing body of research has reported a bilingual advantage in performance on executive control tasks, but it is not known at what point in emerging bilingualism these advantages first appear. The present study investigated the effect of early stage second-language training on executive control. Monolingual English-speaking students were tested on a go-nogo task, sentence judgment task, and verbal fluency, before and after 6 months of Spanish instruction. The training group (n = 25) consisted of students enrolled in introductory Spanish and the control group (n = 30) consisted of students enrolled in introductory Psychology. After training, the Spanish group showed larger P3 amplitude on the go-nogo task and smaller P600 amplitude on the judgment task, indicating enhanced performance, with no changes for the control group and no differences between groups on behavioral measures. Results are discussed in terms of neural changes underlying executive control after brief second-language learning. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Sign Language Recognition using Neural Networks

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Sabaheta Djogic

2014-11-01

Full Text Available – Sign language plays a great role as communication media for people with hearing difficulties.In developed countries, systems are made for overcoming a problem in communication with deaf people. This encouraged us to develop a system for the Bosnian sign language since there is a need for such system. The work is done with the use of digital image processing methods providing a system that teaches a multilayer neural network using a back propagation algorithm. Images are processed by feature extraction methods, and by masking method the data set has been created. Training is done using cross validation method for better performance thus; an accuracy of 84% is achieved.

Curriculum Guide, English as a Second Language for the Workplace, Worker Education Program.

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Northeastern Illinois Univ., Chicago. Chicago Teachers' Center.

This guide describes a worker-centered, holistic, English-language training program for the textile industry in Illinois, now in its fifth funding cycle. The program, which provides training to approximately 500 workers, requires cooperation among business, labor unions, and educational organizations. A 5-unit curriculum covers work issues, health…

Contemporary Technologies to Improve the Quality of Education When Training Teachers

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Sibgatullina, Alfiya

2015-01-01

The article considers contemporary technologies to improve the quality of teachers' education (as exemplified by the training of foreign language teachers). The author presents analysis of the "quality of education" concept, proposes and analyzes the criteria for assessing the quality of education of future foreign language teachers.…

Using Artificial Intelligence to Adapt Level of Difficulty in a Cognitive Training Program

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wilms, Inge Linda

Increasingly, computer-based training is being used within the field of rehabilitation in the effort to improve cognitive functions such as memory, attention and language2,4,5. As a complement to clinical training, computer-based training is a fairly inexpensive way of increasing the intensity an...

Sign language interpreting education : Reflections on interpersonal skills

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Annemiek Hammer; Dr. Beppie van den Bogaerde

2017-01-01

We present a description of our didactic approach to train undergraduate sign language interpreters on their interpersonal and reflective skills. Based pre-dominantly on the theory of role-space by Llewellyn-Jones and Lee (2014), we argue that dialogue settings require a dynamic role of the