Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Expanding knowledge in language'
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Johannesson, Emelie. "Video games – A tool for expanding English vocabulary knowledge? : A study of video games potential impact on English vocabulary knowledge in Swedish upper secondary students." Thesis, Karlstads universitet, Institutionen för språk, litteratur och interkultur (from 2013), 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-78802.
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This study researches the possibility of video games being a helpful tool when it comes to English vocabulary knowledge, by comparing the English vocabulary knowledge of those that play video games to those that do not play video games. The study also focuses on comparing the English vocabulary knowledge of those that play video games frequently to those that play video games seldomly and discuss why this might make a difference. 37 students were asked to fill in a questionnaire with questions focusing on if they play video games or not, how often they play and what sort of games they played. The second part of the study was a vocabulary test containing 51 words one might encounter whilst playing video games, in this vocabulary test the students were asked to give an English synonym and a Swedish translation of these words. The results of the study revealed that there were differences between the groups, as those that did play video games scored higher on the vocabulary test compared to those that did not play video games. There was also a difference in terms of performance on the vocabulary test depending on how often the students played video games.Denna studie undersöker videospels möjlighet till att vara ett hjälpmedel när det gäller kunskaper i engelskt ordförråd genom att jämföra ordförrådskunskaperna hos de som spelar videospel med de som inte spelar videospel. Studien fokuserar också på att jämföra de engelska ordförrådskunskaperna hos dem som ofta spelar videospel med de som sällan spelar videospel och diskuterar varför detta kan göra en skillnad. 37 elever ombads att fylla i ett frågeformulär med frågor med fokus på om de spelar videospel eller inte, hur ofta de spelar och vilken typ av spel de spelade. Den andra delen av studien var ett ordförrådstest innehållande 51 ord som kan stötas på i videospel, i detta ordförrådstest ombads eleverna att ge en engelsk synonym och en svensk översättning av dessa ord. Resultaten av studien visade att det fanns skillnader mellan grupperna, eftersom de som spelade videospel fick högre poäng på ordförrådstestet jämfört med de som inte spelade videospel. Det fanns också skillnader prestationsmässigt i ordförrådstestet beroende på hur ofta eleverna spelade videospel.
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Ratute, Ashley. "Expanding social justice knowledge with sweatshop history." [Ames, Iowa : Iowa State University], 2010. http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:1476340.
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Griffith, Alan. "Expanding knowledge and practice of construction management systems and procedures." Thesis, Sheffield Hallam University, 2006. http://shura.shu.ac.uk/20163/.
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This submission is a highly focused collection of research-based and scholarly publications in the specialist field of Construction Management. Emphasis is placed on management systems and procedures involved in the procurement and production phases of the total building process. A coherent, original, independent and significant contribution to the advancement and application of knowledge has been made through applied research and dissemination of findings to academic peers, construction industry professionals and students in higher education. This has been achieved through: academic, professional and research-based textbooks; research monographs; refereed papers in learned journals; refereed papers to premier national and international conferences; and papers to foremost construction industry professional institutions. Textbooks have been published by Macmillan, Thomas-Telford in collaboration with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Longman and Palgrave with three commissioned by and contributing to the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) 'Education Framework' for construction industry. Peer-reviewed papers have been published by eminent journals based within the UK, North America, Australia, Hong Kong and China whilst refereed conference papers have been published both in the UK and internationally at leading research symposia. Among the refereed journal and conference papers presented, a number have merited prestigious awards reflecting "the outstanding contribution to research knowledge and communication within the construction industry" (ciob, 1988) and in recognition of "making a practical and lasting contribution towards the improvement of standards in building practice and education in building"(CIOB, 2004).This submission reflects a distinguished level of dissemination of applied research and scholarship over a twenty year period. The body of work presented has established a highly significant and authoritative contribution to the better understanding of construction management systems andprocedures. Furthermore, it has influenced, where applicable, thinking and practice within the subject field within research groups, higher education, the professions and the construction industry.
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Garza, Moreno Laura. "Expanding knowledge on Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae gilt acclimation, vaccination and genetic variability." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/667223.
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Esta Tesis Doctoral está constituida por tres estudios. El primer estudio consistió en identificar las estrategias actuales de adaptación de la reposición frente M. hyopneumoniae utilizadas en las granjas porcinas de Europa. Para alcanzar este objetivo, se diseñó un cuestionario centrado en las diferentes características de la explotación, la reposición y el proceso de adaptación. Los resultados obtenidos indicaron que la vacunación frente M. hyopneumoniae con múltiples dosis, fue la estrategia más utilizada, sola o en combinación con otros métodos, para la adaptación de la reposición frente a este patógeno en Europa. No obstante, el efecto de la vacunación de la reposición se desconocía. Para conocer el efecto de la vacunación de la reposición frente a M. hyopneumoniae, se evaluaron diferentes programas vacunales en el segundo estudio de esta Tesis. Para ello, se seleccionaron 180 cerdas negativas frente a M. hyopneumoniae en la unidad de adaptación de una granja positiva a M. hyopneumoniae y se distribuyeron según el programa vacunal en tres grupos: (A) cuatro dosis de una vacuna comercial contra M. hyopneumoniae a las 2, 4, 6 y 8 semanas tras la entrada (spe) en la adaptación, (B) dos dosis de vacuna a las 2 y 6, y dos inyecciones de solución salina tamponada con fosfato (PBS) a las 4 y 8 spe, y (C) cuatro dosis de PBS a los mismos tiempos. Los grupos vacunados (A y B) mostraron una proporción significativamente más baja de nulíparas excretoras y niveles de anticuerpos más elevados en comparación con el grupo no vacunado. No se encontraron diferencias significativas entre los protocolos de vacunación con cuatro o dos dosis en términos de excreción y niveles de anticuerpos Respecto a los lechones al destete, todos fueron negativos a M. hyopneumoniae por PCR en tiempo real, independientemente del programa de vacunación administrado a sus madres. Por otro lado, la proporción de lechones seropositivos y los niveles de anticuerpos fueron mayores en los lechones provenientes de los grupos vacunados. Este estudio demostró por primera vez que la vacunación de la reposición frente a M. hyopneumoniae puede ser una herramienta eficaz para reducir la presión de infección y la variabilidad de M. hyopneumoniae en lotes de reposición, así como proporcionar una inmunidad humoral a largo plazo para la reposición y sus lechones. El tercer estudio de esta Tesis tuvo como objetivo evaluar la variabilidad genética de M. hyopneumoniae en cerdos no vacunados y vacunados que presentaban lesiones pulmonares asociadas a M. hyopneumoniae en los mataderos. Asimismo, se evaluó la variabilidad genética de las vacunas comerciales frente a M. hyopneumoniae utilizadas en las granjas vacunadas. Para lograr este objetivo, se seleccionaron diez granjas de cerdos de engorde vacunadas y diez no vacunadas, positivas a M. hyopneumoniae. En el matadero, se evaluaron las lesiones pulmonares compatibles con M. hyopneumoniae de un lote por granja y se recogieron muestras de los tres pulmones con la lesión más extensa. Las muestras positivas a M. hyopneumoniae por PCR se genotiparon contando el número variable de repeticiones en tándem (del inglés, variable number of tandem repeats) en dos (P97, P146) o cuatro genes (P97, P146, H1 y H5) y se les asignó un perfil de tipificación (TP) de M. hyopneumoniae. Se detectó una elevada variabilidad entre granjas, mientras que la variabilidad dentro de las granjas fue limitada usando dos o cuatro genes. Curiosamente, Cuanto mayor fue el número de genes estudiados, mayor variabilidad. No obstante, se detectó un TP por pulmón y los TPs detectados en cerdos de granjas vacunadas fueron diferentes de la cepa vacunal utilizada en la granja.The present PhD Thesis consisted of three studies. The first study sought to identify the current gilt acclimation strategies against M. hyopneumoniae performed in European pig farms. To reach that goal, a questionnaire focused on different features of the recipient herd, incoming replacements and acclimation process, was designed. Obtained results indicated that the most common strategy used for M. hyopneumoniae gilt acclimation was vaccination based on multiple doses programs. However, the effect of such process was unknown. In order to know the effect of vaccination against M. hyopneumoniae during the acclimation period in gilts and their piglets, different gilt vaccination schedules were evaluated in the second study of this Thesis. One hundred-eighty gilts were distributed according to the vaccination program into three groups: (A) four doses of a commercial vaccine against M. hyopneumoniae at 2, 4, 6 and 8 weeks post entry (wpe) into acclimation unit, (B) two vaccine doses at 2 and 6, and two doses of phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) at 4 and 8 wpe, and (C) four doses of PBS at the same time points. Vaccinated groups (A and B) showed significantly lower proportion of shedding gilts and higher levels of antibodies compared to the non-vaccinated group after acclimation. However, no significant differences in terms of shedding or levels of antibodies were found between vaccination programs with four or two doses. Sampled piglets at weaning were M. hyopneumoniae negative by real time PCR (rt-PCR) independently of gilt vaccination program administered. In contrast, the proportion of seropositive piglets and levels of antibodies were higher in those coming from vaccinated groups. The present work represents the first attempt to demonstrate that gilt vaccination against M. hyopneumoniae can be an effective tool to reduce the infectious pressure and bacterium variability into replacement batches, as well as provide a long-term humoral immunity to gilts and their offspring. The third study aimed to evaluate the M. hyopneumoniae genetic variability in non-vaccinated and vaccinated pigs showing M. hyopneumoniae-like lung lesions at slaughterhouses, as well as in the vaccines used in each vaccinated farm. To achieve this objective, ten vaccinated and ten non-vaccinated fattening farms positive to M. hyopneumoniae were selected. At slaughterhouse, M. hyopneumoniae-like lung lesions from one batch were scored and three lungs showing the most extensive lesion were collected per batch. Positive samples were genotyped by counting the variable number of tandem repeats of two (P97, P146) or four loci (P97, P146, H1 and H5), and a M. hyopneumoniae typing profile (TP) was assigned. High inter- and limited intra-farm M. hyopneumoniae genetic variability among non-vaccinated and vaccinated fattening farms in Spain using two and four loci. Interestingly, the higher the number of tested loci, the higher the variability. Despite this, only one TP was detected per sample and the TPs detected in pigs from vaccinated farms were different from the strain of the corresponding vaccine used. Furthermore, this study provides novel and interesting data for future discussion regarding the influence of the number of loci tested on the M. hyopneumoniae genetic variability.
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Pelaez-Morales, Carolina. "Expanding composition's scope : community-based literacy and second-language writing /." View online, 2008. http://repository.eiu.edu/theses/docs/32211131423549.pdf.
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Fricker, Elizabeth. "Knowledge and language." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1986. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.303535.
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Bourne, Matthew John. "Routine investigations : expanding the language of improvisation through interdisciplinary interaction." Thesis, University of Leeds, 2005. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/1721/.
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The focus of this PhD has been to explore new ways of expanding the language of my improvised solo piano performances through the investigation of, and immersion in various forms of creative media. I have combined this interest with an exploration into textures found largely in contemporary classical music scores and recordings, and more specifically selected contemporary classical piano compositions. By extracting the principles of their construction in an intuitive manner, I have developed a number of models and exercises for developing similar textures in an improvisatory context'. These textures are then melded with fragments of music and film dialogue and executed in live performance settings. The recordings and the accompanying commentary are structured in a chronological format, and, when used in tandem provide a detailed record of the research whereby the reader is taken through each work in a step-by-step (and in some cases second-by-second) account. After examining a few of the works in detail, the discussion assumes a much broader approach in illustrating how the methodology has progressed toward embracing a variety of performance contexts, including working with other musicians in a number of creative settings and also the opportunity of designing a soundtrack for a silent film. This research documents the evolution of an intuitive methodology that is in a state of constant flux, which continues to have a life beyond the duration of the research period. The main achievement of the outcomes of this research was developing a disciplined, selfanalytical and flexible strategy by which to plan and execute original musical works.
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McGarry, Theresa, and R. Marotta. "Songs and Memories for Expanding Vocabulary and Grammar." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2017. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/6152.
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Book Summary: New Ways in Teaching With Humor explores the whole gamut of possibilities for using humor in English language teaching. Find ideas for beginning to advanced students, 5-minute activitiesto start a class on a humorous note to multiday projects, and silly English puns and jokes to activities for examining controversial social issues. Topics covered include: Humor and Language Development; Wordplay and Puns; Comics and Cartoons; Jokes and Joke Telling; Sitcoms and Movies; Internet Resources and Digital Literacy; and Parody, Satire, and Sarcasm.What all these lessons have in common is that they all use humor to enhance the English learning experience and provide English language learners with the linguistic and cultural knowledge they need to become more proficient users of the language. New Ways in Teaching With Humor not only shows the how of using humor in the English language classroom, but also the why.
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Evans, Ashley. "Expanding Composition Pedagogies| A New Rhetoric from Social Media." Thesis, The University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, 2018. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10690922.
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Traditionally, the field of rhetoric and composition has valued long-form essay writing, which requires students to engage patiently and at length with revision. In contrast, students today spend much time outside of school producing fast-paced and short posts for social media. This dissertation argues that students’ social media interactions provide them nuanced, dialogic, and complex rhetorical understandings about writing—but that students need help developing discursive processes to support transfer of their social media knowledge to other writing contexts, including long-form academic writing. Drawing from two semesters of in-class study, I construct for first-year composition classrooms a pedagogy that embraces and cultivates the rhetorical knowledge students gain from social media; I demonstrate how students can analyze, reflect on, and transfer this knowledge to academic contexts. Citing students’ social media and academic writing, I draw from students’ intuitive understandings of the rhetorical concepts medium, context, audience, ethos, and purpose to illustrate how these concepts can productively shift and expand in FYC instruction. To situate this pedagogy within contemporary practices, I analyze leading FYC textbooks and highlight how textbook pedagogies can acknowledge and foreground students’ expanded rhetorical understandings of social media for richer composing processes in all media and for all contexts, digital and non-digital.
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Sukkarieh, Jana Zuheir. "Natural language for knowledge representation." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2002. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.620452.
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Lundkvist, Robert. "Expanding the use of contract inspections in construction : An approach to inter-project knowledge diffusion?" Licentiate thesis, Luleå tekniska universitet, Byggkonstruktion och -produktion, 2011. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-26285.
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This licentiate thesis presents a taxonomic approach to classification of defect information in construction projects. A conceptual model, based in a frame of reference consisting of the concepts of Continuous Improvement, Performance Measurement, Knowledge Management, as well as the current Quality Management regime of the industry helps to understand how the use of Contract Inspections can be developed towards facilitating inter-project knowledge diffusion and continuous improvement in construction.Three research questions were formulated:RQ I:How is information from inspection reports currently used?RQ II:How could information from inspection reports be utilised further?RQ III:How should information from inspection reports be structured and codified, to enable storage and future data analysis to facilitate continuous improvement?Qualitative as well as quantitative data has been collected in three different studies. In the first contractors were surveyed through a questionnaire about their use of different suggested experience feedback concepts, such as contract inspections. In the second other project participants than contractors was an interviewed, asking them how they use inspections and how the current usage could be extended. In the third study, a single case study about the inspection activities in one construction project, the purpose was to analyse the method and results of Pre- and Final Inspections. These results were interpreted through classification theory. It is further suggested how inspection data could be enhanced for the purpose of database storing, transforming, and easy access.The thesis concludes that both contractors and the other project roles currently use and view inspections as they are prompted in the General Conditions (AB 04), i.e. as an activity that document what defects there are for the contractor to rectify. Several companies have started to store inspection reports on project-dedicated servers, a routine that is thought to enhance the access to information to some extent. Several respondents have also introduced the compilation of defect statistics.Except automating the compiling of descriptive defect statistics, a system for managing inspection information, giving the widest access to the information about previously experienced defects, is expected to serve a Continuous Improvement process with input for identifying reoccurring problems in the production process. This system could as well be utilised for giving performance feedback to contractors and suppliers. Through continual surveying of the performance of current projects, the performance of the production process can be monitored. Based on the analysed reports, and the literature on taxonomy, the conclusions for RQ III identifies 15 different types of data tags, or types of information, that should be used as structure for the defects’ information: Unique Project Identifier, Unique Defect Identifier, Inspection Identifier, Responsibility, Defect Serial Number, Floor level, BSAB 96 Space Code, BSAB Object code, Defect type, Defect description, Rectification measure, Flag for Safety Issue, Cause, Date logging, and Photos.Future research should focus on the validation of the proposed model and system, suggested through case studies.Den här licentiatavhandlingen presenterar ett taxonomiskt upplägg för att klassificera informationen om de fel som uppkommer i byggprojekt. Tre forskningsfrågor formulerades:FF I: Hur används informationen i besiktningsutlåtandena i nuläget?FF II: Hur kan användningen av informationen i besiktningsutlåtandenavidareutvecklas?FF III: Hur bör informationen från utlåtandena struktureras och kodifieras, för att tillåta lagring samt framtida dataanalys, till hjälp för Ständiga förbättringar?Kvalitativ, såväl som kvantitativ, data har samlats in över tre olika studier. I den första tillfrågades Sveriges byggentreprenörer genom en enkät hur de använder olika typer av föreslagna erfarenhetsåterföringsaktiviteter, t.ex. entreprenadbesiktningar. I den andra studien intervjuades övriga projektroller om hur de använder besiktningsinformationen, samt hur det nuvarande användandet kan utökas till andra områden. I den tredje studien, en singel-fallstudie över besiktningsaktiviteterna i ett större byggprojekt, analyserades och klassificerades informationen om felen från projektets besiktningsutlåtanden utifrån det svenska klassificeringssystemet för byggbranschen, BSAB 96.Resultaten visar att alla tillfrågade projektroller idag har den syn på besiktningar som de är tänkta från början, som de presenteras i AB 04, d.v.s. som en aktivitet som dokumenterar de fel som finns i ett projekt och som entreprenören måste åtgärda innan besiktningen blir godkänd. Ett flertal företag har dock börjat spara de färdiga besiktningsutlåtandena på projektportaler, en rutin som torde öka möjligheten till spridning av besiktningsinformationen något. Några respondenter har även börjat med att sammanställa enklare statistik över fel inom produktionen i företaget. Baserat på de analyserade besiktningsutlåtandena och litteraturen om taxonomier så föreslås även 15 olika klassificeringsbegrepp, med syftet att förädla informationen om felen i utlåtandena: Unikt Projekt-ID, Unikt Fel-ID, Besiktnings-ID, Ansvar, Löpnummer fel, Våning, BSAB 96 Utrymme-kod, BSAB element/objekt-kod, Feltyp, Felbeskrivning, Åtgärd, Flagga för säkerhetsproblem, Orsak (förslagsvis grundorsaksanalys), datumloggning och foton.Förutom att kunna automatisera statistikframställning, så ger en systemlösning för att hantera besiktningsinformation möjligheter till att kunna sprida informationen om tidigare producerade fel. Systemet antas kunna förse en process för Ständiga förbättringar med input för att kunna identifiera systematiskt återkommande fel och därav problemområden för förbättringsorganisation att arbeta med.Baserat på idéerna om Ständiga förbättringar, prestationsmätningar och Knowledge Management utvecklades en modell för hur arbetet med entreprenad-besiktningar kan utvecklas till att kunna hjälpa vid med kunskapsspridning mellan projekt samt Ständiga förbättringar. Framtida forskning bör framförallt fokusera på att validera den föreslagna modellen och systemet, förslagsvis genom fallstudier.
Godkänd; 2011; 20111115 (roblun); LICENTIATSEMINARIUM Ämnesområde: Byggproduktion/Construction Engineering Examinator: Professor Thomas Olofsson, Institutionen för samhällsbyggnad och naturresurser, Luleå tekniska universitet Diskutant: Filosofie doktor Kajsa Simu, NCC Construction, Luleå Tid: Fredag den 16 december 2011 kl 10.00 Plats: E246, Luleå tekniska universitet
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Gutin, Sarah Anne. "Expanding contraceptive options in South Africa : knowledge, attitudes, and practices surrounding the intrauterine device (IUD)." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/25805.
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The intrauterine device (IUD) is a safe, effective, convenient, reliable, inexpensive, and cost-effective form of reversible contraception. It rivals female sterilization, injectables, and implants with respect to effectiveness in pregnancy prevention. Once inserted, IUDs are nearly maintenance free; some IUDs can even be used for over a decade. In many settings however, the utilization of this form of contraception is poor and a number of barriers to usage exist. These barriers often relate to lack of knowledge and misperceptions among both potential users and healthcare providers. The IUD is a reliable option that may be an ideal form of contraception for many women in South Africa. In order to make this method available on a wider scale, it is necessary to provide correct information to women and health care professionals and to increase the availability and use of this highly effective method. We conducted a cross-sectional descriptive study designed to assess the current knowledge, attitudes, and practices of potential users and health care providers with respect to the IUD. We recruited 205 women between 15 to 49 years of age who were attending family planning and ST! care services at four primary level public clinics (two in the more urban Western Cape Province and two in the rural Eastern Cape Province in South Africa). In addition, we interviewed 32 providers from 12 clinics (six clinics per province). Ethical approval for this research was obtained from both the University of Cape Town and Walter Sisulu University (formerly the University of the Transkei). Permission was also given by the local and provincial health services. Among clients, knowledge of the IUD was poor. About 26% of women had heard of the IUD. After the method was explained to them, 89.7% of women believed that there were advantages to using the IUD and 72.7% of women said that they would consider using the JUD in the future. Also, women thought the IUD was an easier contraceptive method to use than oral contraceptive pills, injectables, male and female condoms, and female sterilization. Logistic regression modelling showed that, after adjusting for level of education, being from the Western Cape, older age, and having heard of emergency contraception all independently predicted awareness of the IUD method. For the most part, providers knew how the IUD worked to prevent pregnancy; however, providers were lacking in more detailed knowledge about the method and had misinformation about the IUD. Almost all (93 .6%) of providers recognized their need for more information and training about the IUD. Providers reported that barriers to IUD usage in South Africa were lack of knowledge of the method on the part of providers (84.4%), a lack of trained providers to insert or remove the IUD (62.5%), limited availability of the device at health facilities (56.3%), and a lack of knowledge on the part of potential users (46.9%). Despite these barriers, 81 % of providers believed women would be interested in the IUD if they knew about it and 73.3% believed the IUD should be promoted in South Africa. Our results suggest that the IUD would be a welcome addition to the contraceptive method mix in South Africa and that both clients and providers would be interested in this method. It is clear that awareness campaigns among women seeking contraception would be necessary for building support and publicizing the IUD. It will also be necessary to train and educate providers, focusing on up to date information, dispelling myths, and proper insertion and removal techniques. South Africa could re-introduce the IUD into the contraceptive method mix and increase women's choice by adding this valuable, viable, and sustainable option to the contraceptive method mix. The findings of this study, which was requested by the provincial health services, will be used to inform policy and as a starting point for assessing the feasibility and acceptability of a greater role for the IUD in the contraceptive method mix in South Africa.
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Gold, Ariel S. "Expanding the agenda for foreign language education reform: evidence on motivation and response to incentives." Thesis, Boston University, 2008. https://hdl.handle.net/2144/28572.
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Boston University. University Professors Program Senior theses.PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you.
2031-01-02
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Tanner, Lindsay Elizabeth. "Testing the Test: Expanding the Dialogue on Workplace Writing Assessment." BYU ScholarsArchive, 2017. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/6616.
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This project is a case study of writing assessment practices in a particular workplace called "High Hits," a local search engine optimization (SEO) company. The writing tests given to new hires serve a parallel purpose to academic placement exams, in that they are a high-stress, high-risk situation that aims to evaluate writer ability rather than the quality of the completed task (Haswell 242, Elbow 83, Moss 110). However, while academic assessment measures ability with the aim to improve the students' learning, workplace assessment is driven by market forces and is seen in terms of return on investment. This case study used qualitative and quantitative measurements to examine the writing tests of employees; this examination was followed by analyzing a random sampling of subsequent writing tasks of copywriters to determine whether the assessment methods being used by the company to assess the writing tests adequately predicted the writing ability of the copywriters.
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Yang, Charles D. "Knowledge and learning in natural language." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/86586.
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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, February 2001.Includes bibliographical references (p. 128-140).
by Charles D. Yang.
Ph.D.
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Lei, Tao Ph D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "Domain knowledge acquisition via language grounding." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/82412.
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Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2013.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 54-60).
This thesis addresses the language grounding problem at the level of word relation extraction. We propose methods to acquire knowledge represented in the form of relations and utilize them in two domain applications, high-level planning in a complex virtual world and input parser generation from input format specifications. In the first application, we propose a reinforcement learning framework to jointly learn to predict precondition relations from text and to perform high-level planning guided by those relations. When applied to a complex virtual world and text describing that world, our relation extraction technique performs on par with a supervised baseline, and we show that a high-level planner utilizing these extracted relations significantly outperforms a strong, text unaware baseline. In the second application, we use a sampling framework to predict relation trees and to generate input parser code from those trees. Our results show that our approach outperforms a state-of-the-art semantic parser on a dataset of input format specifications from the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest, which were written in English for humans with no intention of providing support for automated processing.
by Tao Lei.
S.M.
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Huckstep, Nigel John. "Language, knowledge and democracy : New Labour's language and teacher professionalism." Thesis, University of East Anglia, 2004. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.405239.
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Nel, Philip J. "Indigenous knowledge systems and language practice : interface of a knowledge discourse." Journal for New Generation Sciences : Socio-constructive language practice : training in the South African context : Special Edition, Vol 6, Issue 3: Central University of Technology, Free State, Bloemfontein, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/11462/516.
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Published ArticleThe paper seeks to engage constructively with the challenges and opportunities Indigenous Knowledge (IK) may offer disciplines in Language Practice. The approach will be contextualized in terms of the theoretical shift in knowledge production and use, as well as the current debate pertaining to the feasibility of the incorporation of IK into curricula. Specific attention will be rendered to topics of Africanizing scholarship, a performance model of knowledge, the socio-cultural embeddedness of language, and brief thoughts on the translation of the oral. These thematic issues are of particular importance to Language Practice, perceived here to be at the gateway between theory of language/communication and receiver communities.
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Melchien, Bianca. "‘Neutral, native-like or authentic’ : Investigating attitudes and beliefs of expanding circle speakers of English." Thesis, Stockholms universitet, Engelska institutionen, 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-131390.
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The status of English as the language of international communication is by now well-established. However, in the past 16 years, research has tried to emphasize the fact that the English spoken in international contact situations and between people with other first languages than English has different needs than the English spoken locally amongst native speakers, resulting in the emergence of English as a lingua franca (ELF) as a scholarly field. However, the impact of findings in ELF has so far only led to a moderate shift in English language teaching. Especially in expanding circle countries, where ELF should have the biggest impact, change is only gradually becoming palpable. Accent and pronunciation, as one of the biggest factors on both identity and mutual intelligibility (Jenkins 2000; 2007) are at the root of discussion. The scope of this study is therefore to examine accent choices and the extent to which native speaker ideology informs the preferences of ten speakers of ELF and 27 German natives with experience in international communication. Both ethnographical and sociolinguistic methods, as well as auditory analysis have been applied and conducted. The auditory analysis of six variables in the recorded speech production of the ten speakers suggests that there is no significant preference of one norm-giving variety over the other. Rather, speakers tend to mix-and-match General American- and Standard Southern British English-like features in their pronunciation. When reporting their accent ideals, the idea of a ‘neutral’ English accent is mentioned by four participants. Neutral accents seem to have been understood as ‘unmarked accents’. Expressed beliefs on their own English pronunciation show a comparatively high level of reflection on and confidence in their own production. Results from a rating task and a survey given to 27 German participants reveal attitudes that are more negatively stacked. While Germans reported openness towards NNS (non-native speaker) accents and showed awareness of the priority of intelligibility over accent choice in both their own and others’ pronunciation, they still largely reported NS accent preference. The ratings of the production from ten ELF speakers confirmed this and showed that ‘neutral’ is equated with native-like. In the light of these findings, issues are discussed that ultimately relate to the influence of NS Englishes, identity and the development of English as an international language.
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Wistner, Brian. "Effects of metalinguistic knowledge and language aptitude on second language learning." Diss., Temple University Libraries, 2014. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/250126.
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Applied LinguisticsPh.D.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of metalinguistic knowledge and language learning aptitude on second language (L2) procedural knowledge. Three lines of inquiry were undertaken: (a) confirming the factorial structure of metalinguistic knowledge and language learning aptitude; (b) testing the relative effects of metalinguistic knowledge and language learning aptitude on L2 procedural knowledge; and (c) assessing the relative contributions of receptive and productive metalinguistic knowledge and components of language learning aptitude to L2 procedural knowledge. Two-hundred-forty-nine Japanese university students participated. One receptive and two productive tests of metalinguistic knowledge related to metalinguistic terminology and English grammatical rules were administered. Learners' language learning aptitude was measured using the Lunic Language Marathon, which consisted of four scales: number learning, sound-symbol association, vocabulary learning, and language analytical ability. Participants' L2 procedural knowledge was assessed through performance on a timed writing task. The writing samples were scored for overall quality, L2 complexity, accuracy, and fluency. The scores from each test were subjected to Rasch analyses to investigate the construct validity and unidimensionality of the instruments. The results of the Rasch analyses indicated that the test items fit the Rasch model, supporting the construct validity of the instruments. The unidimensionality of each instrument was established through Rasch principal component analyses. Interval-level Rasch measures were used for the subsequent analyses. The results of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses indicated that metalinguistic knowledge and language learning aptitude were distinct constructs. A two-factor model showed good model fit and explained the relationship between the two constructs. Structural equation modeling revealed that metalinguistic knowledge significantly predicted L2 procedural knowledge, complexity, accuracy, and fluency. Language learning aptitude, however, was not a statistically significant predictor of the L2 procedural knowledge variables. The results of a path model analysis indicated that productive metalinguistic knowledge was the strongest predictor of L2 procedural knowledge, language analytical ability predicted receptive metalinguistic knowledge, and number learning was negatively associated with L2 procedural knowledge. The findings point to the facilitative role of metalinguistic knowledge in L2 learning and the viability of L2 declarative knowledge becoming proceduralized through practice.
Temple University--Theses
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Muñoz, María Eugenia. "Expanding the televisual borders the emergence of Latino-themed programming in contemporary English-language television /." Diss., Restricted to subscribing institutions, 2009. http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1973583891&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=1564&RQT=309&VName=PQD.
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Ying, Honnguang 1958. "Knowledge of reconstruction in a second language." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1997. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/282505.
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This dissertation investigates second language learners' knowledge of reconstruction in English and Chinese. To tap Chinese learners' knowledge of reconstruction in English, experiments included sentences that are underdetermined (not directly available) in Chinese, namely, sentences with a reflexive (himself/herself) inside a moved NP (noun phrase) or predicate that contains a wh-element. To tap English learners' knowledge of reconstruction in Chinese, an experiment included sentences that are underdetermined in English, namely, sentences with ambiguity of antecedence of ziji 'self' inside a moved predicate and in non-movement sentences. Results of a timed judgment task indicate that in judging the grammaticality of English sentences with singular reflexives (himself/herself) inside a moved NP or predicate, Chinese learners' error rates were below the chance level. Results of a multiple-choice task, a task with a preceding context and a truth-value judgment task involving pictures indicate that Chinese learners distinguished between ambiguity of antecedence of a reflexive inside a moved NP and no ambiguity of antecedence of a reflexive inside a moved predicate. Results of a truth-value judgment task with English learners of Chinese indicate that they had knowledge of ambiguity of antecedence of ziji inside a moved predicate. These results point to second language learners' access to Universal Grammar, although evidence of L1 effects was found with both Chinese learners of English and English learners of Chinese.
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Sykes, Abdel Halim. "A study of Singaporeans’ attitudes to eleven expanding circle accents of English." Thesis, University of Leicester, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/2381/9627.
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Effective communication in English between its two billion users (Crystal, 2008), requires comprehension of others’ English and a willingness to accept differences in English. While some studies have attempted to measure the attitudes of Inner Circle (IC) (Kachru, 1985) respondents towards IC Englishes, and other studies have focused on attitudes of Outer Circle (OC) and Expanding Circle (EC) respondents to IC English, there is a dearth of research on OC and EC respondents’ attitudes to non-IC English. Therefore, this study addressed the need for further research focusing on OC respondents’ attitudes to EC users’ English. Specifically, this study of 31 Singaporeans attempted to gain an understanding of their attitudes towards Expanding Circle Accents of English (ECAE). This study drew on direct and indirect approaches in language attitude research, involving a verbal-guise task using semantic differential scales to elicit attitudes to speakers on a range of solidarity and status traits, and interviews. Descriptive statistics derived from mean scores were used for quantitative analysis of the data from the verbal-guise task, while coding procedures were used for qualitative analysis of the interview data. The findings show the respondents displayed predominantly negative attitudes to eight of the eleven ECAE and slightly positive attitudes to three. Phonological features common to the ECAE, notably mispronunciation of particular phonemes and vowels added to consonant clusters, affected the respondents’ attitudes. Moreover, certain prosodic features and the perceived degree of attractiveness and assertiveness affected attitudes to the ECAE. These findings indicate accent can affect listeners’ attitude to speakers. The implications of this study have relevance to the discussions on World Englishes and English as an International Language to the extent that notions of attitude and intelligibility are central to both. Furthermore, the findings suggest attitude might be of greater significance than intelligibility when evaluating others’ English.
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Amit, Pariyar. "Supporting Consistencies in Multi-Language Knowledge Sharing." 京都大学 (Kyoto University), 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/2433/202744.
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Pham, Son Bao Computer Science & Engineering Faculty of Engineering UNSW. "Incremental knowledge acquisition for natural language processing." Awarded by:University of New South Wales. School of Computer Science and Engineering, 2006. http://handle.unsw.edu.au/1959.4/26299.
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Linguistic patterns have been used widely in shallow methods to develop numerous NLP applications. Approaches for acquiring linguistic patterns can be broadly categorised into three groups: supervised learning, unsupervised learning and manual methods. In supervised learning approaches, a large annotated training corpus is required for the learning algorithms to achieve decent results. However, annotated corpora are expensive to obtain and usually available only for established tasks. Unsupervised learning approaches usually start with a few seed examples and gather some statistics based on a large unannotated corpus to detect new examples that are similar to the seed ones. Most of these approaches either populate lexicons for predefined patterns or learn new patterns for extracting general factual information; hence they are applicable to only a limited number of tasks. Manually creating linguistic patterns has the advantage of utilising an expert's knowledge to overcome the scarcity of annotated data. In tasks with no annotated data available, the manual way seems to be the only choice. One typical problem that occurs with manual approaches is that the combination of multiple patterns, possibly being used at different stages of processing, often causes unintended side effects. Existing approaches, however, do not focus on the practical problem of acquiring those patterns but rather on how to use linguistic patterns for processing text. A systematic way to support the process of manually acquiring linguistic patterns in an efficient manner is long overdue. This thesis presents KAFTIE, an incremental knowledge acquisition framework that strongly supports experts in creating linguistic patterns manually for various NLP tasks. KAFTIE addresses difficulties in manually constructing knowledge bases of linguistic patterns, or rules in general, often faced in existing approaches by: (1) offering a systematic way to create new patterns while ensuring they are consistent; (2) alleviating the difficulty in choosing the right level of generality when creating a new pattern; (3) suggesting how existing patterns can be modified to improve the knowledge base's performance; (4) making the effort in creating a new pattern, or modifying an existing pattern, independent of the knowledge base's size. KAFTIE, therefore, makes it possible for experts to efficiently build large knowledge bases for complex tasks. This thesis also presents the KAFDIS framework for discourse processing using new representation formalisms: the level-of-detail tree and the discourse structure graph.
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Cline, Ben E. "Knowledge intensive natural language generation with revision." Diss., This resource online, 1994. http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-09092008-063657/.
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Silva, Marimar da. "Teacher knowledge in english language teacher education." reponame:Repositório Institucional da UFSC, 2012. http://repositorio.ufsc.br/xmlui/handle/123456789/93004.
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Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Comunicação e Expressão, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letras/Inglês e Literatura Correspondente, Florianópolis, 2009Made available in DSpace on 2012-10-24T15:06:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 270765.pdf: 607810 bytes, checksum: 81d4d6f61fd8f23bb6ba97d6ba9eee28 (MD5)
This study, qualitative in nature and grounded theory in approach, aims at investigating the concept of teacher knowledge in the area of English language teacher education in the writings of three Brazilian applied linguists with a view to conceptualizing it. Data collection and analysis, based on grounded theory strategies, consist of theoretical and empirical studies on English language teacher education produced between the beginning of 1990 and 2000 by José Carlos Paes de Almeida Filho, Luiz Paulo da Moita Lopes, and João Antonio Telles. The analysis of the ideas of these three Brazilian applied linguists on the education of the English language teacher unveiled that they suggest to adopt (1) the knowledge construction paradigm for professional education, (2) the applied-science reflective model or the craft-reflective model for teacher education, and (3) research of ethnographic nature to approach teachers# reflective practices. In addition, they view teacher knowledge (a) as a cognitive construction, (b) as a social-cognitive construction, and (c) as an experiential construction. As a cognitive construction, teacher knowledge focuses on the development of teachers# competences; as a social-cognitive construction, on teachers# awareness on how discourse works in the social construction of meanings; and as an experiential construction, on teachers# awareness on their personal practical knowledge. The present study suggests that the three applied linguists# views of paradigms of professional education, models of teacher education, approaches to reflective practices, and views of teacher knowledge are related to the way they view how the relation between the teacher and knowledge is constructed. Since that view varies, the present study suggests that teacher knowledge will tend to be a multi-nature concept. In addition, this study points out, on the one hand, a possible fragmented view of the concept of teacher knowledge and of the education of the English language teacher. On the other hand, it acknowledges that the paradigms, models, approaches and views of teacher knowledge suggested by the three applied linguists reflect the development of scientific investigation throughout the history of mankind. Finally, the present study suggests widening the theme studied here, including not only the ideas of other Brazilian applied linguists, but also their empirical studies to get a more precise view of the concept of teacher knowledge in the area of English language teacher education in Brazil.
Este estudo, de natureza qualitativa e embasado na teoria fundamentada, visa investigar o conceito the conhecimento docente nos escritos de três linguistas aplicados brasileiros, com o objetivo de conceituá-lo. Os dados, estudos teóricos e empíricos sobre a formação de professor de inglês, produzidos entre o início de 1990 e de 2000 por José Carlos Paes de Almeida Filho, Luiz Paulo da Moita Lopes e João Antonio Telles, foram coletados e analisados com base nas estratégias da teoria fundamentada. A análise das idéias dos três linguistas aplicados brasileiros sobre a formação de professor de língua inglesa revelou que eles sugerem adotar (1) o paradigma de construção de conhecimento para a formação profissional, (2) o modelo reflexivo de ciência aplicada ou o modelo reflexivo experencial para a formação de professores, e (3) a pesquisa de base etnográfica para a abordagem de práticas reflexivas. Adicionalmente, eles vêem o conhecimento docente como (a) uma construção cognitiva, (b) como uma construção cognitiva-social, e (c) como uma construção experencial. Como uma construção cognitiva, o conhecimento docente está centrado no desenvolvimento de competências; como uma construção cognitiva-social, nas práticas discursivas; e como uma construção experencial, no conhecimento prático pessoal do professor. O presente estudo sugere que as concepções dos linguistas aplicados sobre paradigmas de formação profissional, modelos de formação de professores, abordagens de práticas reflexivas e concepções de conhecimento docente estão relacionadas a sua visão de como a relação entre o professor e o conhecimento docente é construída. Tendo em vista que os três linguistas aplicados têm visões diferentes de como esta relação é construída, este estudo sugere que o conhecimento docente tenderá a ser um conceito de naturezas múltiplas. Este estudo também alerta para uma possível visão fragmentada do conceito de conhecimento docente e da formação de professor de língua inglesa. Entretanto, ele também reconhece que os paradigmas, modelos, abordagens e concepções de conhecimento docente refletem o desenvolvimento de investigações científicas ao longo da história da humanidade. Por fim, o presente estudo sugere ampliar o tema aqui investigado, incluindo não somente as idéias de outros linguistas aplicados brasileiros, mas também seus estudos empíricos a fim de que uma visão mais precisa do conhecimento docente na área de formação de professor de língua inglesa possa ser delineada no Brasil.
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Davidson, Laura M. "Knowledge extraction technology for terminology." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1998. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/tape15/PQDD_0003/MQ32532.pdf.
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Becker, Barbara D. "Compiling pragmatic knowledge for conversational interactions /." The Ohio State University, 1994. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1487856076415611.
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Lievers, Menno. "Knowledge of meaning." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1997. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.363634.
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Klassen, Charlene Ruth. "Teacher education that is multicultural: Expanding preservice teachers' orientation toward learning through children's literature." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1993. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/186174.
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This inquiry into teacher education explores the potential for using multicultural children's literature to broaden preservice teachers' orientation toward the value of multiculturalism. The setting for this collaborative exploration was a College of Education course on Children's Literature during the 1992 spring semester. Literacy experiences with multicultural literature were created to provide preservice teachers with an opportunity to critically reflect on their awareness and understanding of multiculturalism. Weekly small group literature discussions, roving dialogue journals among three students and the university teacher, and end-of-semester interviews with each student were the primary sources of data collected during the semester. Findings from the analysis of data indicate the need for multicultural children's literature that accurately and authentically presents unique, diverse, and universal characteristics of a specific culture. Of equal importance to the selection of multicultural literature is the multicultural experience with these books which creates a critical consciousness among children and teachers. Evidence of the generative nature of dialogic experiences was seen where a multiplicity of voices pushed preservice teachers' awareness, acceptance, and appreciation of multiculturalism. As students reflected on their perspectives on culture that extended far beyond ethnic or racial perspectives, understanding of their own and other cultures was broadened. The results of this inquiry indicate the need for teacher education that is multicultural. A teacher's critical consciousness of the value of multiculturalism can transform her/his work with children in classrooms. Teacher themselves need opportunities to expand their orientation toward learning and living in a pluralistic society in order to foster critical students/citizens who actively participate in the nation's democracy.
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Delisle, Sylvain. "Text processing without a priori domain knowledge: Semi-automatic linguistic analysis for incremental knowledge acquisition." Thesis, University of Ottawa (Canada), 1994. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/6574.
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Technical texts are an invaluable source of the domain-specific knowledge which plays a crucial role in advanced knowledge-based systems today. However, acquiring such knowledge has always been a major difficulty in the construction of these systems--this critical obstacle is sometimes referred to as the "knowledge acquisition bottleneck". In order to lessen the burden on the knowledge engineer's shoulders, several approaches have been proposed in the literature. A few of these suggest processing texts pertaining to the domain of interest in order to extract the knowledge they contain and thus facilitate the domain modelling. We herein propose a new approach to knowledge acquisition from texts; this approach is comprised of a new methodology and computational framework for the implementation of a linguistic processor which represents the central component of a system for the acquisition of knowledge from text. The system, named TANKA, is not given the complete domain model beforehand. It is designed to process technical texts in order to incrementally build a knowledge base containing a conceptual model of the domain. TANKA is an intelligent assistant to the knowledge engineer; when it cannot proceed entirely on its own, the user is asked to collaborate. In the process, the system acquires knowledge from text; it can be said to learn about the domain. The originality of the research is due mainly to the fact that we do not assume significant a priori domain-specific (semantic) knowledge: this assumption represents a severe constraint on the natural language processor. The only external elements of knowledge we consider in the proposed framework are "off-the-shelf" publicly available and domain-independent repositories, such as a basic dictionary containing surface syntactic information (i.e. The Collins) and a lexical database (i.e. WordNet). Other components of the proposed framework are general-purpose. The parser (DIPETT) is domain-independent with a large coverage of English: our approach relies on full syntactic analysis. The Case-based semantic analyzer (HAIKU) is semi-automatic: it interacts with the user in order to get his$\sp1$ approval of the analysis it has just proposed and negotiates refined elements of the analysis when necessary. The combined processing of DIPETT and HAIKU allows TANKA, the encompassing system$\sp2$, to acquire knowledge, based on the conceptual elements produced by HAIKU. The thesis also describes experiments that have been conducted on a Prolog implementation of both of these text analysis components. The approach presented in the thesis is general and in principle portable to any domain in which suitable technical texts are available. The thesis presents theoretical considerations as well as engineering aspects of the many facets of this research work. We also provide a detailed discussion of many future work items that could be added to what has already been accomplished in order to make the framework even more productive. (Abstract shortened by UMI.) ftn$\sp1$In order to lighten the text, the terms 'he' and 'his' have been used generically to refer equally to persons of either sex. No discrimination is either implied or intended. $\sp2$DIPETT and HAIKU constitute a conceptual analyzer that can be used independently of TANKA or within a different encompassing system.
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Lepine, Christine. "Adolescent learners' awareness of first language influence on their second language knowledge." Thesis, McGill University, 2001. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=33912.
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This research is a replication and expansion of Lightbown and Spada (2000) which investigated the metalinguistic awareness of 11--12 year-old francophone learners of English as second language (ESL). Their research examined whether young L2 learners were able to make explicit L1 rules influencing their L2 performance. The present research builds on Lightbown and Spada (2000) by comparing their findings to those of older and more proficient francophone ESL learners (12--16 years old) in secondary school. As observed with the younger learners in Lightbown and Spada (2000), the interlanguage of the older learners revealed a clear influence of transfer of French even though they were more accurate in their overall performance. The results also indicated that the older learners were capable of considerable metalinguistic awareness regarding the target features (question formation and adverb placement). This contrasts sharply with Lightbown and Spada's (2000) in which there was no evidence of metalinguistic awareness on the part of the younger learners.
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Miller, David R. "Towards knowledge-base systems for translators." Thesis, University of Ottawa (Canada), 1994. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/9811.
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The aim of this thesis is twofold. First, on a theoretical level, it aims to examine knowledge from two standpoints: translation theory and artificial intelligence (AI). Second, on a more practical level, it aims to explore the applicability of research in the branch of AI known as knowledge engineering to the eventual development of knowledge-base systems for translators (KBSTs). The "opaqueness" of a text, or its resistance to understanding, often reflects a difference between the translator's knowledge profile and the knowledge profile that the author of the original text assumed for his reader. Consequently, knowledge maximization can be considered a viable translation strategy for countering opaqueness. When translators work without sufficient knowledge, they are forced to fall back on a "transcoding" or word-bound approach, which, although it sometimes produces acceptable results, is likely to produce an unidiomatic text and is much more prone to serious translation errors. The goal of a KBST, therefore, must be to provide enough knowledge to allow the translator to engage his "interpretative" or meaning-based mode of translating. A knowledge-management system developed at the University of Ottawa called CODE (Conceptually Oriented Description Environment) offers a knowledge acquisition and retrieval environment that can be adapted to the needs of translators. A knowledge base on stock-market options, called optionCODE, was developed by the present author using the system to explore the principle and problems of designing and using KBSTs. An informal experiment demonstrated that translators using this knowledge base as their sole source of knowledge to translate a text concerning options performed as well as, if not better than, a translator using traditional sources. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
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Kennison, Elletta A. "Alphabet knowledge : the facilitative effect of children's knowledge of the alphabet on early reading behavior /." Thesis, Connect to this title online; UW restricted, 1991. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/7558.
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Livingstone, G. M. "Semantics, understanding and knowledge." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1985. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.234326.
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Mukwambo, Muzwangowenyu. "Exploring and expanding situated cognition in teaching science concepts: the nexus of indigenous knowledge and Western modern science." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/8382.
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Certain teaching and learning strategies are appropriate in the context of exposing learners to modern science in situated cognition (SC) - the theory that posits that knowing is inseparable from doing - during, for example, visits to industrial operations. The distance and cost of travel, however, excludes most rural teachers and their learners from such SC exposure to Science and technology in industrial settings. To fill this gap between knowledge and practice in the curriculum experience for rural schools, this research investigated the extent to which a SC approach could be used in relation to indigenous knowledge practices (IKP) that have relevance to science teaching for rural science teachers. The study was conducted in three schools in the Zambezi Region of Namibia whereby six science teachers participated in the study. Also, to generate data from the community, the study included Indigenous community members as participants. Only three selected members from the community participated as representatives of the whole community. Essentially, the study explored and expanded possibilities for rural school teachers to use IKP as sites of SC in relation to concepts of pressure in particular and other science concepts. The research thus studied teaching practices as activity systems related to concepts in the school curriculum and the activity system of Indigenous community members. The patterns, regularities and irregularities provided the framing which was used to view SC through the lens of IKP. This framing of SC within the school curriculum was explored using cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) and Engestrom’s expansive learning cycle (ELC). The study was organized into two phases; exploration and the expansive phase. In the exploration phase, interviews, community analysis, document analysis, brainstorming, reflections and audiovisual evidence were used to generate data. The expansive stage used brainstorming, reflections, and interviews, an experimental test, audio-visual evidence, and interviews. Inductive and abductive modes of inference were used to come up with explanations of the research questions. Explanations proceeded using the frameworks of socio-cultural theory and social realism. Some findings from the data generated from the exploration phase revealed that science teachers in the schools studied do not always engage in a SC approach on account of a lack of Western modern science (WMS) resources and factors related to economic marginalization of the learners. Data generated in the same phase revealed that science teachers can engage the SC approach through embracing indigenous knowledge practices (IKP) reflecting Science whereby they can apprentice learners. Some of the other findings from the expansive learning phase show that science teachers in under-resourced schools can engage the SC approach if IK practices are used as mediational tools which can be used as models, icons/symbols, vocabulary, patterns, case studies and practical activities anchored in IKP. From the findings obtained the contribution which the study made was to come up with some methods of infusing indigenous knowledge systems in science teaching. The trend in research related to IK is more aligned to policies rather than how IK can be usefully used for the benefit of science teaching. As the study only looked into the IKP reflecting Science which the participating teachers brainstormed, it provides an insight into how and which other IK practices can be woven into WMS to encourage social transformation accommodative of Afrocentric world views which allows scientific literacy to be achieved.
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Hara, Yurie. "Grammar of knowledge representation Japanese discourse items at interfaces/." Access to citation, abstract and download form provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company; downloadable PDF file 0.81 Mb., 200 p, 2006. http://wwwlib.umi.com/dissertations/fullcit/3205429.
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Chandler, Kacey. "Variability in ontological knowledge and its relationship to intelligence." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1989. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/184874.
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This study examined children's performance on a decontextualization task requiring the ability to deduce the meaning of unknown words from verbal context and their ontological knowledge structure as indicated by their judgments about both anomalous and sensible statements containing the unknown words. A comparison was made between performance on the decontextualization task and verbal and nonverbal ability and between the subjects' ontological knowledge structures and verbal and nonverbal ability. It was hypothesized that performance on the decontextualization tasks would be positively correlated with both ability measures, but ontological knowledge structure would remain constant across ability levels. First, third and fifth grade subjects' participated in the study. Performance on the decontextualization task correlated positively with verbal ability for all three grade level and with nonverbal ability for grade one. Presence of the M-constraint (Keil, 1979) was evident across ability levels as well as grade levels. Greater differentiation in ontological knowledge was indicated across grade levels but not across ability levels within a grade level. Results supported previous research of Keil (1979, 1983a, 1983b).
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Ramos, González Juan José. "PML - A modeling Language for Physical Knowledge Representation." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/5801.
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Esta tesis versa sobre la automatización del proceso de modelado de sistemas físicos. La automatización del modelado ha sido el objetivo común en la mayor parte de las principales herramientas disponibles hoy en día. La reutilización de modelos es probablemente el principal enfoque adoptado por dichas herramientas con el objeto de reducir el coste asociado a la tarea de modelado. No obtante, permitir la reutilización de modelos predefinidos no es una cuestión trivial y, como se discute con profucdidad en la tesis, la reutilización de modelos no puede ser garantizada cuando han sido predefinidos para representar la dinámica del sistima en un contextor físico concreto. Con el fin de evitar las restricciones sobre la reutilización derivadas de la formylación matemática de las dinámicas de interés, el lenguaje de modelado debe establecer un clara separación entre los aspectos relacionados con la representación del comportamiento físico (conocimiento declarativo) y los aspectos matemáticos relacionados con las herramientas de simulación (conocimiento procedural). El conomiento declarativo representará el comportamiento físico y será utilizado para analizar el contexto físico de reutilización de los modelos con el objeto de establecer la formulación adecuada de las dinámicas de interés. El propósito de este trabajo ha sido el diseño de un lenguaje de modelado, PML, capaz de automatizar el proceso de modelado asegurando la reusabilidad de modelos que pueden ser predefinidos de manera independiente al contexto físico don seran reutilizados. La reutilización de modelos se contempla tanto en la contrucción de nuevos modelos (modelado estructurado) como en su utilización para diferentes objetivos de experimentación. Los nuevos modelos son contruidos acoplando modelos predefinidos de acurdo a la topología física del sistema modelado. Tales modelos pueden ser manipulados para adecuarlos a distintos objetivos de experimentación, adecuándose la formulación matemática de la dinámicas de interés marcadas por dichos objetivos.
PML es un lenguaje de modelado orientado a objetos diseñado para describir el comportamiento del sistema físico mediante estructuras de representación modulares (clases de modelado). La clases PML representan conceptos físicos que son familiares al modelador. El conocimiento físico declarado por la clases se utiliza para analizar los modelos estructurados, obteniéndose de manera automatizada la representación matemática de las dinámicas de interés.
The topic of this thesis is the automated modeling of physical systems. Modeling automation has been a common objective in many of the present modeling tools. Reuse of predefined models is probably the main approach adopted by many of them in order to reduce the modeling burden. However, to facilitate reuse is difficult to achieve and, as it is discussed thoroughly in the thesis, reusability of models can not be assured when they are predefined to represent the system dynamics in a particular physical context. In order to avoid the reuse constraints due to the system dynamics formulation, a modeling language should be defined with a clear separation between the physical behaviour representation aspects (declarative physical knowledge) and the computational aspects concerning to model simulation (procedural computational knowledge). The physical knowledge will represent the system behaviour and it will support the analysis of the model reusing context in order to set the system dynamics formulation.
The aim of this work is the design of a modeling language, PML, able to automate the modeling process by assuring the reusability of ready-made models independently of the physical context where they have been defined. The reuse of a predefined model contemplates both the construction of new models (structured modeling) and the model usage for different experimentation purposes. New models are constructed by coupling predefined models according to the physical system topology. Such structured models are manipulated in order to obtain the representation of the system dynamics which are of interest for the experimentation purposes.
PML is an object oriented modeling language designed to represent system behaviour by means of modular structures (modeling classes). The PML modeling classes describe physical concepts well-known by the modeller. The physical knowledge declared by the modeling classes is used to analyze structured models in order to generate automatically the mathematical representation of the system dynamics. The simulation model is obtained by means of an equation-based object oriented modeling language.
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Dellis, Nelson Charles. "Using Controlled Natural Language for World Knowledge Reasoning." Scholarly Repository, 2010. http://scholarlyrepository.miami.edu/oa_theses/48.
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Search engines are the most popular tools for finding answers to questions, but unfortunately they do not always provide complete direct answers. Answers often need to be extracted by the user, from the web pages returned by the search engine. This research addresses this problem, and shows how an automated theorem prover, combined with existing ontologies and the web, is able to reason about world knowledge and return direct answers to users' questions. The use of an automated theorem prover also allows more complex questions to be asked. Automated theorem provers that exhibit these capabilities are called World Knowledge Reasoning systems. This research discusses one such system, the CNL-WKR system. The CNL-WKR system uses the ACE controlled natural language as its user-input language. It then calls upon external sources on the web, as well as internal ontological sources, during the theorem proving process, in order to find answers. The system uses the automated theorem prover, SPASS-XDB. The result is a system that is capable of answering complex questions about the world.
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Goyette, Els Spekkens. "Second-language text comprehension : knowledge and text type." Thesis, McGill University, 1991. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=59956.
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The purpose of this study was to compare first- and second-language text comprehension across passage types.Results indicate that there was no main effect for language when the total texts were compared. In contrast, a large difference was found for the type of passage read. Significantly higher recall and inferencing were found on the passages for which subjects had prior knowledge, regardless of the language of presentation. Although global comprehension measures did not reveal differences in text processing, more detailed paragraph-level analyses indicated that text processing differences were present.
Total reading times indicated that there was a large effect for the language in which the passage was read, with significantly longer reading times recorded for passages read in the second language.
These findings were interpreted as an indication that second-language reading comprehension capacity is underestimated. The findings also suggest that the type of passage read influences text comprehension more than the language in which it is read.
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Zhang, Lidan, and 张丽丹. "Exploiting linguistic knowledge for statistical natural language processing." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2011. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B46506299.
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Stephens, Robert Andrew. "Representation and knowledge acquisition : the problem of language." Thesis, University of the West of England, Bristol, 1996. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.321831.
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Zeeland, Hilde van. "Second language vocabulary knowledge in and from listening." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2014. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.659194.
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Second language listening and vocabulary knowledge are closely related: vocabulary knowledge is required for successful listening, and listening is a prime vehicle for the acquisition of vocabulary. However, a look at the literature reveals surprisingly little research on both sides of this relationship. This thesis attempts to contribute to filling this gap by exploring both in turn. Studies 1 and 2 explore vocabulary knowledge in listening. Study 1 assesses learners' knowledge of the meaning of isolated word forms, and compares this to their knowledge of these same words in written and spoken context (i.e. in reading and listening tasks). This reveals a gap between knowledge of isolated and contextualised words, as well as between knowledge in the two modalities. Study 2 directly compares knowledge of isolated written and spoken word forms, which shows more similarities between the two than found by previous research. It also assesses knowledge of these same spoken word forms in context (i.e. continuous speech), and again finds a gap between knowledge of isolated and contextualised spoken vocabulary. Studies 3 and 4 focus on vocabulary knowledge from listening. Few studies have explored the incidental learning of vocabulary from listening, or how listeners go about inferring the meaning of unknown words. Study 3 assesses Ll and L2 listeners' success in inferencing word meaning, and also considers several variables that might affect their success. Study 4 measures L2 listeners' acquisition of vocabulary through spoken input. It takes a more thorough approach than previous research, in that it assesses the learning of dimensions besides the form-meaning link. Overall, the studies in this thesis emphasise the need of more research attention to spoken vocabulary knowledge, especially in continuous speech. They also reveal the potential of listening for expanding vocabulary knowledge, and provide insights into factors affecting success in inferencing and acquisition.
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Ziegler, Nathan E. "English Language Learners’ Epistemic Beliefs about Vocabulary Knowledge." University of Toledo / OhioLINK, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1420650754.
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Huber, Bernard J. Jr. "A knowledge-based approach to understanding natural language. /." Online version of thesis, 1991. http://hdl.handle.net/1850/11053.
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Jolly, Brooke M. "Knowledge and values of school speech-language pathologists." Connect to resource, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/1811/37099.
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Barber, Alexander. "Tacit-knowledge of linguistic theories." Thesis, McGill University, 1996. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=41974.
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What is the best way to understand 'applies to' when it is said of a linguistic theory that it applies to a particular language-user? We can answer by saying that a linguistic theory is applicable to an individual language-user just in case that individual tacitly-knows the theory. But this is an uninformative answer until we are told how to understand 'tacit-knowledge'. The end goal of this thesis is to defend the claim that we should take tacit-knowledge to be, simply, knowledge. Towards this end I argue against the satisfactoriness of competing ways of understanding 'tacit-knowledge'. For example, the instrumentalist position is neutral on whether linguistic theories are actually known by the ordinary language-users who tacitly-know them; instead, linguistic theories are to be such that knowing them would enable someone to do whatever it is that the tacit-knower can do. Other competing positions hold that, though tacit-knowledge is a psychological relation of some sort, it is not genuine knowledge. I also attempt to meet specific objections to the claim that a typical language-user (as opposed to a linguistic theorist) could plausibly be said to know a linguistic theory. An objection on which I focus is based on the claim that typical language-users do not possess the requisite concepts for having genuine knowledge of a linguistic theory. The aim in attempting to meet these objections is to open up the way for the linguistic theorist to exploit a paradigm of explanation: explanation of behaviour by knowledge attribution. Attributing knowledge of linguistic theories would be potentially explanatory of linguistic behaviour in exactly the same way that attributions of knowledge in non-linguistic spheres are potentially explanatory of behaviour. Finally, because my emphasis is specifically on semantic theories, I attempt to explicate and defend the claim that a semantic theory could and should have the form of a theory of truth.
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Leon, Michelle. "Investigation of Bilingualism Knowledge of Speech-Language Pathologists and Speech-Language Pathology Students." FIU Digital Commons, 2015. http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/2177.
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The purpose of this thesis was to administer a survey to obtain information on practicing Speech-Language Pathologists’ (SLPs) knowledge of bilingual issues, while also considering whether any academic background on bilingualism guides SLP’s diagnostic and treatment options. This was done by comparing survey results of practicing SLPs with different academic backgrounds on bilingualism with current Master’s students registered at the Communication Sciences and Disorders Masters’ program at Florida International University (FIU). The survey consisted of 26 questions that examined participant’s history, and bilingual knowledge.
Data was collected from 89 surveys. Data analyses showed that students and SLPs with a strong educational background on bilingualism had a tendency to prefer answers that correspond to recent research findings on bilingualism than students and SLPs with no or little educational background on bilingualism. These results suggest that academic background on bilingualism guides assessment interpretations and treatment options of bilingual clients.