Deaf college students' comprehension of relational language in arithmetic compare problems

In this study of deaf college students' performance solving compare word problems, relational statements were either consistent or inconsistent with the arithmetic operation required for the solutions. The results support the consistency hypothesis Lewis and Mayer (1987) proposed based on research with hearing students. That is, deaf students were more likely to miscomprehend a relational statement and commit a reversal error when the required arithmetic operation was inconsistent with the statement's relational term (e.g., having to add when the relational term was less than). Also, the reversal error effect with inconsistent word problems was magnified when the relational statement was a marked term (e.g., a negative adjective such as less than) rather than an unmarked term (e.g., a positive adjective such as more than). Reading ability levels of deaf students influenced their performance in a number of ways. As predicted, there was a decrease in goal-monitoring errors, multiple errors, and the number of problems left blank as the reading levels of students increased. Contrary to expectations, higher reading skills did not affect the frequency of reversal errors.     

Common Neural Basis of Motor Sequence Learning and Word Recognition and Its Relation With Individual Differences in Reading Skill

ABSTRACT

To investigate the neural basis of a common statistical learning mechanism involved in motor sequence learning and decoding, we recorded brain activation from participants during a serial reaction time (SRT) task and a word reading task using functional magnetic resonance imaging. In the SRT task, a manual response was made depending on the location of a visual cue, and the order of the locations was either fixed or random. In the word reading task, visual words were passively presented. In the inferior frontal gyrus pars triangularis (IFGpTr) and the insula, differences in activation between the ordered and random condition in the SRT task and activation to printed words in the word reading task were correlated with the participants’ decoding ability. We speculate that extraction of statistically predictable patterns in the IFGpTr and insula contributes to both motor sequence learning and orthographic learning, and therefore predicts individual differences in decoding skill.     

汉英语言语序与限定范畴的关系比较

文章讨论汉英语言的语序与限定范畴之间的关系。对900句对的汉英平行语料的名词短语类型和语序进行赋码。利用Paraconc检索和分析平行语料,再用SPSS统计软件分析和比较汉英语言语序与限定范畴的分布情况。发现汉语的语序与其限定范畴之间有显著相关,即名词短语位于动词之前时倾向于有定,位于动词之后时倾向于无定,有定的名词短语倾向于位于动词之前,无定的名词短语倾向于位于动词之后,而英语的语序与其限定范畴之间没有显著相关。     

浅论现代汉语中的静态词义和动态词义

本文首先综述了各家对词义的界说，接着提出了我们对词义的认识：词义根据存在样态分为静态词义和动态词义。静态词义是语言中的词义；包括词汇间意义和语法意义；动态词义是言语中的词义，它在静态词义的基础上，根据两种不同语境而发生种种变化。     

《型世言》与《儿女英雄传》中的方位词“上下”计量比较研究

通过对《型世言》、《儿女英雄传》中的方位词"上下"计量对比研究,发现:从数量分布上看,《儿女英雄传》占据了绝对的优势,非常接近其在现代汉语中的分布。从功用的角度来看,尽管从明代末期到清代中期,仅仅只有二百多年的时间,但"上下"在两书中有着不小的差别:在《型世言》中,"上下"作为方位词,其各种用法刚刚萌芽,基本上只能单用,作主语、宾语、状语;而"上下"在《儿女英雄传》中,除了单用,还可以与其他词联合成短语,作主语、宾语、状语和定语,与现代汉语中的用法基本相仿。     

The role of orthographic analogies in reading for meaning: evidence from readers with dyslexia

The aim of this experiment was to investigate the use of orthographic analogies in conditions that involved making sense of print (picture‐word matching) and pronouncing print (reading aloud) for readers with dyslexia. An adapted version of the classic clue‐word paradigm developed by Goswami was used. Participants were 40 readers with dyslexia and 40 reading‐age‐matched comparison readers. Based on previous theory and research in this area, we predicted that readers with dyslexia would read significantly fewer analogous words than their reading‐age‐matched counterparts. In light of the supposition that word‐picture matching does not require the synthesised pronunciation of a word, we also predicted that readers with dyslexia might be less impaired at analogy use in the picture‐word matching than in the reading aloud condition. However, we found that the dyslexic group read significantly fewer analogous words at post‐test than their reading‐age‐matched peers in both conditions. Also, performance in overall word reading was better for both groups in the word‐picture matching condition. The implications of these results for theory and practice in reading development are discussed, and methodological limitations are noted.     

Indexical Expressions in Word Problems and their Influence on Multiple Referents of the Unknown

When translating word problems into equations, a common error consists of using the same letter to refer to two different quantities. This error, called multiple referents for the unknown, can be connected to the existence of deictic or indexical expressions within the problem statement. This paper aims to analyse the influence of indexical expressions on the incidence of the multiple referents for the unknown error. Results from a quantitative study with 117 Spanish secondary students show a significantly higher number of such type of error when the problem statement contains indexical expressions. The analysis of students’ performances in subsequent interviews indicates that this error may be due to the fragmented reading of statements.     

搭配词量化分析的统计学原理

搭配词统计分析方面的文献不乏对具体方法和计算公式的陈述,但是对于其统计原理的解释并不充分,具体包括如下一些重要问题:词汇统计研究中总体与样本的概念、搭配词统计分析的基本模式、词频分布与词语概率、词汇统计研究中的假设检验原理.本文综合相关文献中的理论、结合统计学理论,对现有文献进行总结和补充,为常用的搭配词统计分析原理构建一个简单明了的解释体系.     

Development and Prediction of Context-Dependent Vowel Pronunciation in Elementary Readers

ABSTRACT

As children learn to read, they become sensitive to context-dependent vowel pronunciations in words, considered a form of statistical learning. The work of Treiman and colleagues demonstrated that readers’ vowel pronunciations depend on the consonantal context in which the vowel occurs and reading experience. Using explanatory item-response models we examined child- and nonword-factors associated with children’s assignment of more versus less frequent grapheme-phoneme correspondences (GPC) to vowel pronunciations as a function of rime coda in monosyllabic nonwords. Students (N = 96) in grades 2-5 read nonwords in which more versus less frequent vowel GPCs were wholly supported or partially favored by the rime unit. Use of less frequent vowel GPCs was predicted by set for variability, word reading, and rime support for the context-dependent vowel pronunciation. We interpret the results within a developmental word reading model in which initially incomplete and oversimplified GPC representations become more context dependent with reading experience.     

The Relation of Knowledge-Text Integration Processes and Reading Comprehension in 7th- to 12th-Grade Students

The integration of knowledge during reading was tested in 1,109 secondary school students. Reading times for the second sentence in a pair (Jane’s headache went away) were compared in conditions where the first sentence was either causally or temporally related to the first sentence (Jane took an aspirin vs. Jane looked for an aspirin). Mixed-effects explanatory item response models revealed that at higher comprehension levels, sentences were read more quickly in the causal condition. There were no condition-related reading time differences at lower comprehension levels. This interaction held with comprehension- and inference-related factors (working memory, word and world knowledge, and word reading efficiency) in the models. Less skilled comprehenders have difficulty in knowledge-text integration processes that facilitate sentence processing during reading.     

University students' assessment of the explanatory content of justification statements

A test was devised involving familiar chemical examples and administered to samples of Portuguese university chemistry students in order to establish to what extent they recognised and correctly assessed the explanatory content of statements presented in the form of justifications, usually beginning with the word ‘because’. It was found that a high percentage of the students selected as the ‘best explanations’ statements that either involved tautology or simply invoked a rule, principle or general observation. Also, low‐level interpretations and correlations between facts and/or variables (or mathematical concepts) were also frequently taken as valid explanations; more surprising, however, was the finding that a significant proportion of statements involving high level interpretation in terms of fundamental concepts were rated as providing the least intellectual satisfaction.     

Exploring differential bundle functioning in mathematics by gender: the effect of hierarchical modelling

Researchers interested in exploring substantive group differences are increasingly attending to bundles of items (or testlets): the aim is to understand how gender differences, for instance, are explained by differential performances on different types or bundles of items, hence differential bundle functioning (DBF). Some previous work has modelled hierarchies in data in this context or considered item responses within persons, but here we model the bundles themselves as explanatory variables at the item level potentially explaining significant intra-class correlation due to gender differences in item difficulty, and thus explaining variation at the second item level. In this study, we analyse DBF using single- and two-level models (the latter modelling random item effects, which models responses at Level 1 and items at Level 2) in a high-stakes National Mathematics test. The models show comparable regression coefficients but the statistical significances of the two-level models are smaller due to the larger values of the estimated standard errors. We discuss the contrasting relevance of this effect for test developers and gender researchers.     

Evaluating the Power of Latent Growth Curve Models to Detect Individual Differences in Change

We evaluated the statistical power of single-indicator latent growth curve models to detect individual differences in change (variances of latent slopes) as a function of sample size, number of longitudinal measurement occasions, and growth curve reliability. We recommend the 2 degree-of-freedom generalized test assessing loss of fit when both slope-related random effects, the slope variance and intercept-slope covariance, are fixed to 0. Statistical power to detect individual differences in change is low to moderate unless the residual error variance is low, sample size is large, and there are more than four measurement occasions. The generalized test has greater power than a specific test isolating the hypothesis of zero slope variance, except when the true slope variance is close to 0, and has uniformly superior power to a Wald test based on the estimated slope variance.     

Area-socioeconomic disparities in mental health service use among children involved in the child welfare system

Relying on data from a nationally representative sample of youth involved in the child welfare system (CWS) in 1999–2000 (the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, Cohort 1) and 2008–2009 (Cohort 2), this study implemented a diverse set of disparity indicators to estimate area-socioeconomic disparities in mental health (MH) services use and changes in area-socioeconomic disparities between the two cohorts. Our study found that there are area-socioeconomic disparities in MH service use, indicating that the rates of MH service use among youth referred to the CWS differ by area-socioeconomic positions defined by county-level poverty rates. We also found that area-socioeconomic disparities increased over time. However, the magnitude of the increase varied widely across disparity measures, suggesting that there are different conclusions about the trend and magnitude of area-socioeconomic disparities, depending upon which disparity measures are implemented. A greater understanding of the methodological differences among disparity measures is warranted, which will in turn impact how interventions are designed to reduce socioeconomic disparities among children in the CWS.     

Control of pigeons’ matching and mismatching performance by instructional cues

Pigeons were trained on a two-stimulus-shape (a plus and a circle) complex conditional discrimination that required birds to match sample and comparison stimuli on some trials and to mismatch on other trials, depending on the level of chamber illumination (bright or dark). Following acquisition, the birds were transferred to a novel color (red and green) task. For half of the birds, the contingenties between levels of illumination and the match/mismatch response requirements were consistent with training (nonreversal condition). For the remaining birds, the contingencies between levels of illumination and match/mismatch response requirements were the opposite of those established in training (reversal condition). Birds in the nonreversal condition acquired the color match/mismatch task at a significantly faster rate than birds in the reversal condition. These results indicate that relation-based responding (generalized matching/ mismatching) is subject to discriminative control.     

Effect of Sample Size Ratio and Model Misfit When Using the Difficulty Parameter Differences Procedure to Detect DIF

This study examined the effect of sample size ratio and model misfit on the Type I error rates and power of the Difficulty Parameter Differences procedure using Winsteps. A unidimensional 30-item test with responses from 130,000 examinees was simulated and four independent variables were manipulated: sample size ratio (20/100/250/500/1000); model fit/misfit (1 PL and 3PLc =. 15 models); impact (no difference/mean differences/variance differences/mean and variance differences); and percentage of items with uniform and nonuniform DIF (0%/10%/20%). In general, the results indicate the importance of ensuring model fit to achieve greater control of Type I error and adequate statistical power. The manipulated variables produced inflated Type I error rates, which were well controlled when a measure of DIF magnitude was applied. Sample size ratio also had an effect on the power of the procedure. The paper discusses the practical implications of these results.     

How adolescents navigate Wikipedia to answer questions / ¿Cómo navegan los adolescentes en Wikipedia para contestar preguntas?

Abstract

In one experiment, we explored how high school students use hyperlink relevance cues while they navigate to answer questions from hypertexts. Current evidence has shown that students may navigate by either performing a deep semantic analysis of the relationship between the question and the existing hyperlinks, or by matching words in the question to words in the hyperlink labels. We focused on how students combine both cues during navigation, and how comprehension skills relate to the use of such cues. Our study revealed that 14 year old students (N = 53) selected hyperlinks by relying to a similar degree on both word matching and semantic overlap. Furthermore, when there was a conflict between an irrelevant link cued via word matching and a relevant link only cued through semantic overlap, students’ comprehension skills facilitated their initial selection of an informative relevant link. To conclude, we discuss the implications of these results for current models of hypertext navigation.     

中西方英文个人陈述的对比研究——从体裁分析看文化差异

尽管个人陈述在学生申请留学的过程中扮演着重要角色,却很少受到关注。为探讨中西方英文个人陈述的差异,运用体裁分析理论,对中国学生和英语本族语学生的英文个人陈述进行对比分析,发现两者在语步结构和语言特征两方面存在有明显的文化差异。旨在帮助中国学生进一步了解个人陈述的体裁特征,写出更加地道的英文个人陈述。     

卫辉方言中的补语表示法

卫辉方言与普通话相比,在连接中心语与补语的方面有许多不同之处,相比较而言,其表现格式更丰富。本文从四个方面来描写卫辉方言中中心语与补语的表示格式,并和普通话相比较以突显卫辉方言补语表达格式的特点。     

Improving the quality of statistical questions posed for group comparison situations

Posing statistical questions is a fundamental and often overlooked component of statistical inquiry. In this paper, we provide an overview of shared understandings regarding what constitutes a good statistical question. We then describe three approaches—a checklist for improving statistical questions, a three-phase feedback activity, and a matching game—that we find useful with preservice teachers to support the development of high-quality statistical questions for the comparison of data sets.