This paper offers a critical discourse analysis of documents relating to the introduction of predictive learning analytics at a small, UK university. Semiotic and interdiscursive analysis was carried out on texts from three different sources: the institution, the commercial analytics software provider, and one academic subject area. Authority…

Whereas a growing bulk of work has demonstrated that both adults and children are sensitive to frequently occurring word sequences, little is known about the potential role of meaning in the processing of such multiword chunks. Here, we take a first step toward assessing the contribution of meaningfulness in the processing of multiword sequences,…

This article reviews two aspects of human learning: (1) people draw inferences that appear to rely on hierarchical conceptual representations; (2) some categories are much easier to learn than others given the same number of exemplars, and some categories remain difficult despite extensive training. Both of these results are difficult to reconcile…

In this study of first-year intercollegiate athletes (N = 2241), we examined predictors of the character-rich qualities of life purpose and integrity. Three dimensions of purpose were included--seeking purpose, found purpose, and purpose beyond-the-self. The predictor variables investigated included contesting orientations, fear of failure, goal…

Ambridge's proposal cannot account for the most basic observations about phonological patterns in human languages. Outside of the earliest stages of phonological production by toddlers, the phonological systems of speakers/learners exhibit internal behaviours that point to the representation and processing of inter-related units ranging in size…

Language is one of the hallmarks of intelligence, demanding explanation in a theory of human cognition. However, language presents unique practical challenges for quantitative empirical research, making many linguistic theories difficult to test at naturalistic scales. Artificial neural network language models (LMs) provide a new tool for studying…

Hyperbole supports irony comprehension in adults by heightening the contrast between what is said and the actual situation. Because young children do not perceive the communication situation as a whole, but rather give precedence to either the utterance or the context, we predicted that hyperbole would reduce irony comprehension in six-year-olds…

Using the metaphors "body" and "voice" and drawing on critical contributions on biopolitics, this article interrogates children's participation rights in a knowledge culture of 'evidencing'. With child welfare and protection practice as an empirical example, I analyse written assessment reports from a Swedish child welfare…

Metaphor development in conjunction with verbal intelligence and linguistic competence in middle childhood and at the transition to early adolescence was investigated. 298 individuals between seven and ten years (chronological age) who attended grades two-four (mental age) were tested for metaphor processing by the Metaphoric Triads Task, for…

Previous research has consistently demonstrated that false-belief (FB) understanding correlates with and predicts metalinguistic ability in preschoolers. Surprisingly, however, there is scant evidence on the question of whether this relation persists at later ages. The present cross-sectional study sought to fill this gap by examining the…

Vocabulary researchers generally point out three strategies that learners apply in order to find out the meanings of unknown words on their own (Graves, 2006; 2007). The use of context, word parts, reference materials ((e.g. dictionaries, glossaries, thesauruses, both print and online) in-text definition/explanations, synonyms, examples,…

This study investigates how figurative language is processed by learners of a second language (L2). With an experiment testing L2 comprehension of figurative expressions in three categories, each combining shared and unshared first language (L1) and L2 lexical representations and conceptual representations in a different way, the study…