Investigated whether syntactic computation takes place in an ambiguous sentence fragment in Japanese and if and how information from constituents other than the verb is utilized. Experiments were conducted using automated, word-by-word visual presentations with a lexical decision task on an extrasentential target. (Author/VWL)

Examines the theoretical and practical rationale for processing instruction as a method of incorporating grammar instruction in a communicative foreign language approach. Presents results of a study on the role of processing instruction on the learning of the Italian future indicative tense by a group of English-speaking students. Results…

Proposes a two-step model of discovery in which new scientific hypotheses can be generated and subsequently tested. Applying advanced natural language processing techniques to find biomedical concepts in text, the model is implemented in a versatile interactive discovery support tool. This tool is used to successfully simulate Don R. Swanson's…

Relative own-language preference (ROLP) depends on: the publication share of the language and the self-citing rate. ROLP and the openness of one language with respect to another can be represented by partial order. Logarithmic dependence on the language share(s) seems a natural additional requirement for measuring language preferences. Gives…

University English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) learners' responses to five different types of text-based vocabulary exercises were examined. The objective was to understand better how such exercises can promote different kinds of lexical processing and learning and to compare these outcomes with those from thematic reading for comprehension.…

Examines the assumptions behind three attempts to introduce formulaic language into second language teaching. Contextualizes the discussion by briefly outlining the nature of formulaic language as a phenomenon. (Author/VWL)

Demonstrates that an understanding of children's language-acquisition difficulties with a wide range of syntactic constructions should be derived from limitations on the child's ability to deal with processing load and formal representational complexity. Maintains this can be done only in the context of a view of syntactic representation…

Describes a think-aloud protocol study exploring translation processes of degree-level language students when dealing with culture-specific lexis. Found that one of the students' main problems was a fixation on questionable word-level parameters at the expense of text-level processes. (Author/VWL)

Reviews template mining research and shows how templates are used in World Wide Web search engines and metasearch engines for helping end-users generate natural language search expressions. Potential areas of application of template mining for extraction of information from digital documents are highlighted, and how such applications are used is…

Forty Spanish-speaking children with reading disability (RD) were matched for age and reading level with normal readers. Since RD children performed more poorly than younger normal readers on a word/nonword naming task in orthographically transparent Spanish, results suggest their poor phonological skills were due to a deficit in phonological…

Examines samples of primary-school-aged children's writing to identify and describe the various ways in which boys and girls use language to construct meaning, and to discuss the gendered ways of knowing and being that are revealed and constructed. Findings indicate that girls generally write longer, more complex texts, using a wider range of both…

Aims to foster discussion of the means by which bilinguals control their two language systems. Proposes an inhibitory control model that embodies the principle that there are multiple levels of control. The model is used to expand the explanation of the effect of category blocking in translation proposed by Kroll and Stewart (1994). (Author/VWL)

When presented with stimuli that contain illegal consonant clusters, Japanese listeners tend to hear an illusory vowel that makes their perception conform to the phonotactics of the language. Assesses an alternate hypothesis that this illusion is due to a top-down lexical effect. (Author/VWL)

Discusses the effectiveness of mental imagery in processing and understanding idiomatic expressions. Investigates the usefulness of mental hypothesizing on the etymological origins of idioms as a key to learning them. (Adjunct ERIC for ESL Literacy Education) (Author/VWL)

The role that affective states play in learning was investigated from the perspective of a constructivist learning framework. We observed six different affect states (frustration, boredom, flow, confusion, eureka and neutral) that potentially occur during the process of learning introductory computer literacy with AutoTutor, an intelligent…