Educational technology terminology is messy. The same meaning is often expressed using several terms. More confusingly, some terms are used with several meanings. This state is unfortunate, as it makes both research and development more difficult. Terminology is particularly important in the case of personalization techniques, where the nuances of…

One of the main limitations of natural language-based approaches to meaning is that they do not incorporate multimodal representations the way humans do. In this study, we evaluate how well different kinds of models account for people's representations of both concrete and abstract concepts. The models we compare include unimodal distributional…

Language learners are underserved if there are unlearned meanings of a word that they think they have already learned. For example, "circle" as a noun is well known, whereas its use as a verb is not. For artificial-intelligence-based support systems for learning vocabulary, assessing each learner's knowledge of such atypical but common…

Choosing the right word to express meaning can be a challenge for English language learners (ELLs) in both English as second language and English as a foreign language settings, persisting through all proficiency levels in productive language use for several reasons. In order to make correct word choices, ELLs must master the various aspects of a…

This dissertation presents various machine learning applications for predicting different cognitive states of students while they are using a vocabulary tutoring system, DSCoVAR. We conduct four studies, each of which includes a comprehensive analysis of behavioral and linguistic data and provides data-driven evidence for designing personalized…

The purpose of this study is to examine different formats of comment data to predict student performance. Having students write comment data after every lesson can reflect students' learning attitudes, tendencies and learning activities involved with the lesson. In this research, Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) and Probabilistic Latent Semantic…

The research investigated the roles of semantic and phonological processing in word production. Spanish-English bilingual individuals produced English target words when cued with definitions that were also written in English. When the correct word was not produced, a secondary task was performed in which participants rated the ease of…

This article reviews the terms and concepts that have been used for describing regulation of learning during cooperative and collaborative learning and suggests differentiating them on the basis of which parts of a regulatory feedback loop model are being shared. During cooperative and collaborative learning, not only self-regulation but also the…

Postmodern and deconstructionist approaches are necessarily concerned with "making visible" and working with marginalized "others". This article explores how theory as method might enable us to revisit methodological approaches that have conventionally relied upon semantic readings of the text. Deconstruction clears the way for such approaches…

This paper examines the concept of polysemy which serves as the basis of the "principled polysemy model" of spatial prepositions proposed by A. Tyler and V. Evans in a number of recent publications [Tyler, Andrea, Evans, Vyvyan, 2001. Reconsidering prepositional polysemy networks: The case of "over". Language 77, 724-765;…

Recent developments in the standardisation of learning technology have resulted in models of learning activities and resources including descriptive metadata and definitions of conditional flows for multirole activities. Nonetheless, such "learning designs" are actually representations of the "results" of the design process and do not provide…

Argues that the concepts "career" and "dual-career marriage" are loosely defined in the literature, hindering the comparability of findings and accumulation of scientific knowledge. Supports this assertion with a review of recent articles. Finds sociological and psychological levels of analysis not clearly differentiated, with researchers assuming…

Two experiments tested a set of predictions regarding category definitions and categorization latencies. Neither prediction was supported by the experiment results, leading to the formulation of an alternative feature-based model of category definitions using the notion of a polymorphous concept. (Author/AM)

Discusses lexicographic theory, various problems and models behind dictionary construction, and the role of the "cultural dictionary." (AM)

Presents a model that distinguishes between data as directly observable facts, information as structured collections of data, and knowledge as methods of using information. The discussion covers the likely benefits of the use of the model for a semantic information retrieval system using the concept of semantic categories. (28 references)…