The Semantic Differential as a Method of Teacher Evaluation

Abstract

Fifty-one college freshmen in the researcher’s Communication 1 classes participated in two pilot studies to establish concepts and semantic differential scales for teacher evaluation. Scores for each concept were factor analyzed to determine unidimensional scales for each variable. The main study focused on the relationships among teacher variables. The analysis of the data revealed that correlations (1) among teacher credibility, content, delivery, and feedback, (2) among content, delivery, and feedback, and (3) between delivery and feedback were significant at the .01 level. The results of the study support the use of the semantic differential as a method of teacher evaluation.     

English teachers’ uses of motivational strategies beyond an established framework

ABSTRACT

Background: Although the usefulness of Dörnyei’s framework of motivational strategies to language teachers has been widely tested, motivational techniques that are not within the framework have less commonly been accounted for.

Purpose: This study explores the uses of motivational strategies beyond Dörnyei’s taxonomy, and the factors that cause English teachers to use them.

Methods: In total, 22 teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) in Hong Kong participated in this study. Reflective journal data and interview data, supported by classroom observations, were collected and analysed qualitatively.

Findings: The results reveal that, while most of the reported strategies corresponded closely to Dörnyei’s recommendations, two additional macrostrategies – routine teaching activities and uses of authentic materials – were employed. The most predominant factor leading to the use of these two macrostrategies was a concern about feasibility.

Conclusions: This study hence suggests the need for a new line of research on strategies that are primarily instructional and secondarily motivational, as well as further studies that take the feasibility of motivational strategies into greater consideration.     

面向信息处理的“二标三句式”复句层次关系判定

复句层次关系识别对计算语言学句法分析和复句信息工程意义重大。为解决关系标记显现不充足给复句层次关系识别所带来的困扰,需要充分挖掘可供计算机理解的复句关联的形式化句法语义知识。本文探讨了分句主语指称一致性和谓语语义相关性对分句语义关联的影响,深入分析了4种联结模式的"二标三句式"复句的句法语义特点,总结提取出11条层次关系判定规则,以期为复句层次关系识别奠定基础。语例验证表明,该研究能有效解决"二标三句式"复句的层次关系判定问题。     

甲骨文领域语义词典的构建研究

随着甲骨文数字化研究的不断深入,建立综合的甲骨文语义知识库已成为当前甲骨文研究的迫切要求,而语义词典则是构建语义知识库的基础。本文从甲骨文语言自身特点出发,首先明确甲骨文语义分析原则,给出了甲骨文语义分类体系;然后按照配价原则描述对应的语义属性及语义搭配;最后构造一个半自动化的甲骨文语义词典生成系统,以期更好地服务于甲骨学研究。     

How working memory relates to children’s reading comprehension: the importance of domain-specificity in storage and processing

Working memory is considered a well-established predictor of individual variation in reading comprehension in children and adults. However, how storage and processing capacities of working memory in both the phonological and semantic domain relate to reading comprehension is still unclear. In the current study, we investigated the contribution of phonological and semantic storage, and phonological and semantic processing to reading comprehension in 123 Dutch children in fifth grade. We conducted regression and mediation analyses to find out to what extent variation in reading comprehension could be explained by storage and processing capacities in both the phonological and the semantic domain, while controlling for children’s decoding and vocabulary. The analyses included tasks that reflect storage only, and working memory tasks that assess processing in addition to storage. Regression analysis including only storage tasks as predictor measures, revealed semantic storage to be a better predictor of reading comprehension than phonological storage. Adding phonological and semantic working memory tasks as additional predictors to the model showed that semantic working memory explained individual variation in reading comprehension over and above all other memory measures. Additional mediation analysis made it clear that semantic storage contributed indirectly to reading comprehension via semantic working memory, indicating that semantic storage tapped by working memory, in addition to processing capacities, explains individual variation in reading comprehension. It can thus be concluded that semantic storage plays a more important role in children’s reading comprehension than previously thought.     

基于语义关联的教学资源可视化管理及应用

探讨了教学资源组织形式及课程核心概念间的关系类型,基本语义Web和数据库技术进行了语义关系建模,并在可视化技术理论的指导下对课程核心概念间的语义关联进行可视化表示及应用设计,最后将所设计的教学资源可视化管理控件成功应用到《计算机动画方法与虚拟情境设计》课程的网络管理平台中,开展了教学应用。     

Memory at Play: Examining Relations Between Episodic and Semantic Memory in a Children’s Museum

The relation between episodic and semantic memory was examined by testing how semantic knowledge influences children’s episodic memory for events and their locations. Five-, six-, and seven-year-olds (N = 87) engaged in events in a children’s museum designed as a town. Events were semantically congruent or incongruent with the spatial location (e.g., sorting mail at post office vs. grocery store). In addition to this experimental paradigm, a semantic interview assessed children’s semantic knowledge about real-world locations. Accuracy in the experimental paradigm showed that children’s semantic memory influenced memory for locations. Interviews revealed age-related improvements in children’s semantic knowledge. Regression analyses examined factors that best supported episodic memory. These results provide novel insights and highlight the utility of research in naturalistic settings.     

量词的性质和数量表达的核心——语序类型学的研究

语序类型学对量词的考察可以这样进行:统计名量词和动量词在中国境内少数民族语言中的语序分布,运用逻辑组配和语义分析相结合的方法确定"最佳"轨层结构,并综合四分表来分析数量表达的核心归属和量词的整体性质。得到的结论是,名量组合的核心是数词,动量组合的核心是动词,量词整体正经历缀化的过程,呈现出联系项的特点。     

后疫情时代教育创新发展的新视域与中国卓越探索——出席“2020全球人工智能与教育大数据大会”的思考

我国教育信息化的发展脉络可以划分为新冠疫情前和新冠疫情后两个主要阶段。新冠疫情前,教育信息化是以学校和课堂为主阵地,信息技术的作用是课堂教学的辅助环境和工具。新冠疫情后,全社会和教育战线出现了顿悟般的觉醒,开始主动探寻网络空间和人工智能的潜能,教育信息化阵地从传统学校课堂发展到网络空间,信息技术从辅助工具转变为改革的核心动能。2020全球人工智能与教育大数据大会全面展示了疫情后我国教育信息化发展的新趋势。该文是作者对新趋势的引导和分析,文章全面梳理以互联网为支撑,以人工智能与大数据技术为核心的技术在破解我国教育矛盾,推动教育高质量发展中的改革作用和典型创新案例。主要内容包括:“停课不停学”中的教育创新;智能技术助力教育评价;智能技术助力因材施教;智能技术助力在线教育过程监控;大数据技术助力区域教育治理创新。希望该文能够帮助读者系统了解以互联网为核心的新一代信息技术,推动我国教育改革的整体进展和创新经验。     

The effects of different review opportunities on schematisation of knowledge

Recent research suggests that early in learning, students primarily use episodic memory when recalling information, but as learning develops and schematisation occurs, students’ knowledge is likely to be dominated by semantic memory. This shift has been examined through student’s memory awareness; ‘remembering’ is linked to episodic memory and ‘knowing’ is linked to semantic memory. This paper explores the effect of different review opportunities on students’ memory awareness and schematisation, and reports on findings that indicate students are more likely to shift from ‘remembering’ to ‘knowing’ if they have the opportunity to review the learning material, but regularly and in different formats.     

信息技术助力幼儿核心素养教育探研

电化教育和传播媒体呈现的生动形象的视频、动听的音乐、美轮美奂的画面,迎合了幼儿不同的感觉器官,符合幼儿的认知规律。信息技术运用于幼儿教育活动中,是时代发展对幼儿教育的要求,可以有效地促进幼儿核心素养的形成和发展,也使幼儿教育焕发出新的生命活力。文章对如何让信息技术助力幼儿核心素养教育进行探讨。     

语义翻译与交际翻译在文学作品翻译中的互为补充——以《桃花源记》不同英译本为例

彼得.纽马克翻译理论的核心是"语义翻译"和"交际翻译"。语义翻译力求最大限度地还原作者思想,交际翻译则注重读者理解度。两者侧重不同,应用范围不同。文章以《桃花源记》各知名翻译家的不同英译本作为比较,以林语堂的译文作为切入点,用翻译批判的视角说明在语义翻译为主导的文学作品翻译背景下引入交际翻译可以避免因语言文化差异产生的阅读困难,大大改善译文的翻译质量。两种翻译方式互为补充是文学翻译的理想途径。     

Science teachers’ perceptions of the appeal of science subjects to boys and girls

Science teachers’ perceptions of the type of subject that appeals to 14 year old pupils were investigated using bi‐polar semantic differential rating scales. It was found that science teachers believe that boys and girls prefer significantly different subject characteristics. Teachers’ beliefs about the subject characteristics preferred by boys are closer to the perceived characteristics of school science, as judged on the same semantic differential scales, than is the case for girls. Teachers perceive the characteristics of school science to be much less attractive to girls. A comparison between the responses from groups of science teachers and pupils revealed that teachers believe that boys’ and girls’ preferences for subject characteristics are more dissimilar than they actually are. Girls’ preferences are closer to those of boys and to the characteristics associated with school science than teachers realize.     

Motivational support from digital game-based learning environments (DGBLEs) for scientific topics designed by novice end users

The integration of digital game-based learning environment (DGBLE) enhanced by technology in recent years has been hampered by its complexity and difficulty in realistically addressing teachers’ instructional needs. The pedagogical gap between what teachers think a DGBLE can deliver and what DGBLE can actually offer remains substantial. To preliminarily address the gap, this present qualitative study adopted an end-user-development lens to understand how K-12 teachers as novice end users interpret and design game features in their DGBLEs. The design ideas, situated in teaching scientific subjects, were collected from 19 pre-service teachers in a public university in the United States by semi-structured interviews based on game features identified in the literature. The data analysis, grounded in the ARCS (attention, relevance, confidence, satisfaction) motivational design model, employed the direct content analysis method and revealed the distribution of motivational support among participants’ DGBLEs design ideas. The finding suggested that participants were more likely to incorporate intrinsic motivational support than extrinsic support in their design. This trend could compromise the motivational support of DGBLEs when students need additional extrinsic motives toward the end of learning processes. Further, the study illuminates the importance of incorporating end users’ perspectives early on in the DGBLE design process.     

搜索引擎的技术局限及改进策略研究

随着Web的不断发展,对高速而有效的信息检索系统需求日渐追切。本文对信息检索的核心技术-搜索引擎进行了分析,找出其表现不佳的原因并提出了基于Web社区和基于语义的改进策略。     

Technique for Evaluating Arithmetic Courses of Study

A graphic procedure for studying differential item functioning (DIF) designed to provide diagnostic information for psychometricians and educators is presented. Items from a certifying examination in a subspecialty of internal medicine are used as examples. The procedure provides a “signature” of each test item that may be used in conjunction with a summary statistic to flag items showing DIF. Advantages and limitations of the procedure are noted, as are additional areas for investigation.     

大学英语学习者对情态动词can的语义习得——基于语料库的个案研究

为帮助我国大学英语教师讲授和学习者习得英语情态动词can的语义,在语料库的基础上,调查中国大学英语学习者对can的语义习得情况,发现英语学习者笔语中英语情态动词can的语义使用频率分布与英语本族语使用者的使用频率分布存在明显差异,即大学英语学习者对can的语义习得不地道。试图从学习者的语言输入（主要针对教材）和母语迁移两个方面分析其习得不地道的原因,结果显示,中国大学英语学习者对情态动词can的语义习得不地道的这一现象,受其使用的大学英语教材影响不大,而可能受其母语影响。     

Radical sensitivity is the key to understanding Chinese character acquisition in children

This study investigated Chinese children’s development of sensitivity to positional (orthographic), phonological, and semantic cues of radicals in encoding novel Chinese characters. A newly designed picture-novel character mapping task, along with nonverbal reasoning ability, vocabulary, and Chinese character recognition were administered to 198 kindergartners, 172 second graders and 165 fifth graders. Children’s strategies in using positional, phonological, and semantic cues of radicals varied across grades. The higher the children’s grade level, the more commonly children used semantic and positional cues of radicals. Regression analyses showed that the contribution of semantic radical awareness for explaining Chinese character reading increased as children’s grade increased, whereas the contribution of positional regularity awareness decreased. These findings suggest that learning Chinese characters involves a transition from a sound- and position-based approach to a meaning-based approach.     

朱熹《诗集传》判断句研究

南宋朱熹《诗集传》是《诗经》注释史上第三座里程碑,其注释语言大量使用判断句,形式多样,语义关系复杂。文章从《诗集传》判断句的形式、构成成分及语义关系三方面展开共时描写。同时,与汉代的《毛传郑笺》和现代的《诗经注析》中的判断句进行历时对比,以揭示判断句的发展轨迹。     

Beyond English language proficiency scores: understanding the academic performance of international undergraduate students during the first year of study

ABSTRACT

Past research into the relationship between English proficiency test (EPT) scores and score profiles, such as the IELTS and the TOEFL, has shown that there is not always a clear relationship between those scores and students’ subsequent academic achievement. Information about students’ academic self-concept (ASC) may provide additional information that helps predict future academic success. Research has consistently shown a positive relationship between students’ ASC and subsequent academic achievement and educational attainment in both school and higher education settings. The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationship between the academic performance of international students and their language proficiency and academic self-concept as well as other characteristics related to academic success. The study focused on first year international students in undergraduate business programs at an English-medium university in Canada. The following information was collected about the student participants: grades in degree program courses, annual GPA, and EPT scores (including subscores). In addition, students completed an academic self-concept scale. To obtain additional information about success in first-year business courses, instructors in two required courses were interviewed about the academic and language requirements in their courses and the profile of successful students. Correlations between the students’ course grades, GPA, EPT scores, and ASC score were calculated. The instructor interviews were analyzed using a content analysis procedure. The findings from all data sources were triangulated and show that language ability, ASC, and other factors impact academic success during the first year in a business program. The implications of these findings are discussed.