Sign language and the brain: a review

How are signed languages processed by the brain? This review briefly outlines some basic principles of brain structure and function and the methodological principles and techniques that have been used to investigate this question. We then summarize a number of different studies exploring brain activity associated with sign language processing especially as compared to speech processing. We focus on lateralization: is signed language lateralized to the left hemisphere (LH) of native signers, just as spoken language is lateralized to the LH of native speakers, or could sign processing involve the right hemisphere to a greater extent than speech processing? Experiments that have addressed this question are described, and some problems in obtaining a clear answer are outlined.     

Sign language comprehension: the case of Spanish sign language

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

从语篇分析角度浅谈语篇和语篇翻译

作为翻译的直接对象,语篇是比字、词、句更大的语言概念,它传递一个完整的信息。以语篇为对象的语篇分析不局限于研究语言本身,而是扩大到语境以及语言的交际功能上来。正因为语篇分析的特点,它与翻译才能够相互促进,使翻译实现语言层面、言内因素以及言外因素的传递。本文阐述了语篇分析翻译的特点,并且结合实例进行分析。     

Using natural language processing to support peer-feedback in the age of artificial intelligence: A cross-disciplinary framework and a research agenda

Advancements in artificial intelligence are rapidly increasing. The new-generation large language models, such as ChatGPT and GPT-4, bear the potential to transform educational approaches, such as peer-feedback. To investigate peer-feedback at the intersection of natural language processing (NLP) and educational research, this paper suggests a cross-disciplinary framework that aims to facilitate the development of NLP-based adaptive measures for supporting peer-feedback processes in digital learning environments. To conceptualize this process, we introduce a peer-feedback process model, which describes learners' activities and textual products. Further, we introduce a terminological and procedural scheme that facilitates systematically deriving measures to foster the peer-feedback process and how NLP may enhance the adaptivity of such learning support. Building on prior research on education and NLP, we apply this scheme to all learner activities of the peer-feedback process model to exemplify a range of NLP-based adaptive support measures. We also discuss the current challenges and suggest directions for future cross-disciplinary research on the effectiveness and other dimensions of NLP-based adaptive support for peer-feedback. Building on our suggested framework, future research and collaborations at the intersection of education and NLP can innovate peer-feedback in digital learning environments.

Practitioner notes

What is already known about this topic

• There is considerable research in educational science on peer-feedback processes.
• Natural language processing facilitates the analysis of students' textual data.
• There is a lack of systematic orientation regarding which NLP techniques can be applied to which data to effectively support the peer-feedback process.

What this paper adds

• A comprehensive overview model that describes the relevant activities and products in the peer-feedback process.
• A terminological and procedural scheme for designing NLP-based adaptive support measures.
• An application of this scheme to the peer-feedback process results in exemplifying the use cases of how NLP may be employed to support each learner activity during peer-feedback.

Implications for practice and/or policy

• To boost the effectiveness of their peer-feedback scenarios, instructors and instructional designers should identify relevant leverage points, corresponding support measures, adaptation targets and automation goals based on theory and empirical findings.
• Management and IT departments of higher education institutions should strive to provide digital tools based on modern NLP models and integrate them into the respective learning management systems; those tools should help in translating the automation goals requested by their instructors into prediction targets, take relevant data as input and allow for evaluating the predictions.

     

工业化后期的中国经济增长新动力

在以高质量发展扎实推进中国式现代化的进程中,需要坚持数字中国建设,做强做优做大数字经济。数字时代的基本特征主要有数据要素的流动性、数字技术的通用性、数字空间的包容性和数字经济的普惠性。数字中国建设通过四个层面推动中国要素体系、产业结构体系、国民经济体系以及国际贸易体系高质量发展。要加快建设数字中国,推动高质量发展,需要深化高质量数据要素市场改革、加快高质量产业数字化转型、注重高质量数字经济型人才培育、加大高质量数字经济领域对外开放力度。以数字中国建设驱动高质量发展进而推进中国式现代化,应始终以党对数字中国建设的领导为政治纲领;以坚持以人民为中心推进数字中国建设为价值立场;以结合科技发展的“四个面向”为重要抓手;以发挥新型举国体制的制度效能为关键依托;以构筑互利共赢的数字经济国际合作为积极举措。     

人工智能在金融领域的应用现状及未来需求分析

人工智能技术的不断进步促进了金融领域的规范化、智能化和模型化发展,在金融服务、金融监管、金融分析等邻域得到了广泛应用。现阶段人工智能技术在金融领域的应用还较为初级,通过研究人工智能技术在金融领域的应用现状和影响,分析未来金融领域人工智能技术的应用需求和前景,对促进真正的“智能金融”发展具有一定的意义。     

从语言冗余角度论翻译中的文化缺省

语言冗余理论,作为传播学的重要理论之一,给翻译研究提供了新的视角。它可以用来解决文化缺省这一语言现象给翻译带来的障碍。文化缺省是指作者在与其意向读者交流时对双方共有的相关文化背景知识的省略,是翻译需要解决的重要问题。从语言冗余角度探讨文化缺省的翻译原则和翻译策略,可以得出结论,只要通过扩大冗余度的翻译策略,使原文的冗余量与信息量保持动态平衡,就能够保证原文的信息量,从而成功地保证文化缺省的翻译补偿。     

从对等角度分析模糊语的翻译——以大学英语四六级汉译英为例

因文化差异引起的模糊语在大学英语四六级汉译英多常见。模糊语的翻译要求译者遵循功能对等原则,理解原文的文化内涵,运用目标语对原文的模糊语给予恰当的处理。     

从紧缩句的日译谈日汉语言差异

目前国内对于紧缩句的研究著作很多,成果也颇为丰富,但紧缩句的日译方面的研究并不多;从笔者所查阅资料看,有关紧缩句的日译方面的文章大多是从汉语角度来分析的,即:角度相同。紧缩句本是一种以单句形式表达复句意义的句式,那么这类句式在日译时该如何处理?本文尝试着从紧缩句的日译着手,从日译后的形式出发,对汉语紧缩句的日译作不同角度的分析,也试着探究日汉语言之间的差异。     

Second language acquisition and writing:: a multi-disciplinary approach

Writing is a complex activity whose components and sub-components involve action on a number of levels. It is multifaceted, requiring proficiency in several areas of skill and knowledge that make up writing only when taken together. Research into writing has mirrored this complexity and has developed concurrently in a number of disciplines — in psychology and the cognitive sciences, text linguistics and pragmatics, applied linguistics and first and second language education.This special issue of Learning and Instruction is a collection of four papers that represent different aspects of current research into writing in a second language. They do not cover the full range of research into this area of writing, but serve as examples of the depth and breadth of study in this one particular part of the field. They are introduced here within the context of a discussion of current interests in writing research and each of the papers will be presented within the research area into which it most reasonably fits.     

模糊语言的翻译技巧

汉英翻译的最大遗憾莫过于面对汉语模糊美感的磨蚀而难有作为,追根溯源,这种遗憾源于汉语与英语在语言美学生成机制方面存在巨大差异,即:汉语表达注重整体感应,是一种意境性语言,而英语则追求条分缕析,讲究逻辑,借助形合,漠视所谓的整体感应。英汉翻译中,译者常常遇到文化差异引起的模糊语义。本文主要分析了模糊语的功能,探讨模糊语言的翻译技巧。     

Sign language use and the appreciation of diversity in hearing classrooms

This article is the result of a year‐long study into the effects of sign language use on participation in one mainstream preschool setting. Observations and interviews were the primary data‐collection tools used during this investigation. This article focuses on how the use of sign language in the classroom affected the learning community's appreciation of diversity. The central themes discussed include appreciation of diverse language and diverse ways of communicating and appreciation of cultural diversity.     

小学德育工作中存在的问题及解决方法

习近平主席对教师提出了"三个牢固树立"的要求,希望全国广大教师牢固树立中国特色社会主义理想信念,带头践行社会主义核心价值观,自觉增强立德树人、教书育人的荣誉感和责任感,学为人师,行为世范,做学生健康成长的指导者和引路人。由此可见,立德树人在教师教学工作具有重要地位。德育工作在整个学校教育中占有举足轻重的地位,学校应给予十足的重视。     

Phonological attainment and foreign language anxiety in distance language learning: a quantitative approach

Learning a language through distance means is becoming increasingly widespread. The investigation reported in this paper was part of a large study (n = 590) carried out in 2011, which examined the experience of English-speaking students learning French pronunciation in a distance setting. This paper explores the hypothesis that there is a link between foreign language anxiety (FLA) and phonological attainment when learning in a distance setting. Quantitative methods included a questionnaire which explored FLA and learning pronunciation of English-speaking students learning French in a distance setting (n = 590). Pronunciation competence and FLA were measured using two instruments: an adapted version of the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale, which was part of the questionnaire, and a phonological attainment rating table, assessed through a reading activity. A significant correlation was found between good pronunciation skills and low levels of FLA.     

从英译汉误译问题来看中文自主性

随着中外交流的日益频繁 ,中文加进了许多西方用法 ,对中文产生了很大的冲击 ,致使中文自主性受到伤害。因此 ,本篇文章即探讨常见的误译问题及从事翻译时应有的态度 ,进而维护中文的自主性     

高中生物学新课程教学中的手势语言

在高中生物学课堂教学中,在利用一些直观的教学手段的同时,对一些知识如能巧妙地使用手势语言,运用自己的双手来辅助解说,能更好地活跃课堂气氛、促进理解、强化记忆,起到事半功倍的作用,正可谓“妙手回春”。     

论英汉习语在语言文化中的翻译

习语是经过长期使用而提炼出来的,是语言和文化的重要组成部分。习语与地理环境、传统习俗、宗教信仰、历史典故有关。真实地反映人们的生活。每个国家都有自己的文化,不同的文化产生的习语不同,这就导致了英汉习语在意思上的差异。针对英语和汉语之间的差异,通过比较和对比的方法加以阐述说明并介绍一些翻译方法。提高语言学习者的跨文化交际意识,以便准确地理解与运用来自不同文化背景的习语。