Spoken dialogue systems are an active research field with wide applications. But the differences in the Chinese spoken dialogue system are not as distinct as that of English. In Chinese spoken dialogues, there are man...Spoken dialogue systems are an active research field with wide applications. But the differences in the Chinese spoken dialogue system are not as distinct as that of English. In Chinese spoken dialogues, there are many language phenomena. Firstly, most utterances are ill-formed. Secondly, ellipsis, anaphora and negation are also widely used in Chinese spoken dialogue. Determining how to extract semantic information from incomplete sentences and resolve negation, anaphora and ellipsis is crucial. SHTQS (Shanghai Transportation Query System) is an intelligent telephone-based spoken dialogue system providing information about the best route between any two sites in Shanghai. After a brief description of the system, the natural language processing is emphasized. Speech recognition sentences unavoidably contain errors. In language sequence processing procedures, these errors can be easily passed to the later parts and take on a ripple effect. To detect and recover these from errors as early as possible, language-processing strategies are specially considered. For errors resulting from divided words in speech recognition, segmentation and POS Tagging approaches that can rectify these errors are designed. Since most of the inquiry utterances are ill-formed and negation, anaphora and ellipsis are common language phenomena, the language understanding must be adequately adaptive. So, a partial syntactic parsing scheme is adopted and a chart algorithm is used. The parser is based on unification grammar. The semantic frame that extracts from the best arc set of the chart is used to represent the meaning of sentences. The negation, anaphora and ellipsis are also analyzed and corresponding processing approaches are presented. The accuracy of the language processing part is 88.39% and the testing result shows that the language processing strategies are rational and effective.展开更多
Language teaching entails the use of varied methods to maximize learning. Most language educators, particularly those teaching foreign languages tend to use lesson review sheets, dialogue practice, drills on grammar, ...Language teaching entails the use of varied methods to maximize learning. Most language educators, particularly those teaching foreign languages tend to use lesson review sheets, dialogue practice, drills on grammar, audio tapes or text recordings. Educators also make use of media to enhance learning while a few language instructors use graded-conversations. Thus, this paper explores ways in which graded-conversations impact language learning. This paper shows how using graded-conversations in a Swahili language classroom enhanced language learning and encouraged students to collaborate in and outside the classroom. More specifically, the findings indicate that while graded-conversations motivated students to communicate with each other beyond classroom and use social media to help each other study, assignments shape the type and quality of students＇ collaboration. Implications for teaching are presented.展开更多
The core of dialogue teaching is dialogue. The dialogue here refers to the way in which the teachers and students based on mutual respect, trust and equal position carry on the two-way communication and mutual learnin...The core of dialogue teaching is dialogue. The dialogue here refers to the way in which the teachers and students based on mutual respect, trust and equal position carry on the two-way communication and mutual learning through conversation and listening. One of the marked differences between dialogue teaching and traditional teaching is that dialogue teaching highlights the essence of the teaching process of communication and cooperation. At the same time dialogue teaching is based on students＇ psychological demand, which makes the teaching full of strong emotion. Using the dialogue teaching as the background, this paper mainly provides the guiding principles and practical advice for the teachers＇ classroom language strategies so as to achieve more effective teaching effect.展开更多
Types of communicative behaviors consists of verbal communication and non-verbal communication. It is generally believed that the latter refers to concrete language people use to produce an utterance, while the latter...Types of communicative behaviors consists of verbal communication and non-verbal communication. It is generally believed that the latter refers to concrete language people use to produce an utterance, while the latter mainly refers to body language as well as silence in a conversation. Silence is another way of communication and is part of a conversation. In different culture, silence may have different representative meanings and intentions, because of the various cultural background of each country or nation in the whole world. From the perspective ofpragmatics, silence plays an important role in a particular situation, and it has its own functions in communication.展开更多
According to sociolinguistic research of speech events, the choice of linguistic forms is determined by the formality of the context and the relationship between interlocutors in a speech event. In this respect, addre...According to sociolinguistic research of speech events, the choice of linguistic forms is determined by the formality of the context and the relationship between interlocutors in a speech event. In this respect, address forms are socially driven phenomena which make the fundamental point in sociolinguistics clearly. The attempt of this study will be made to discuss the impact of the cultures, especially people in America and China. Mainly, the paper is pertinent to ask some questions： （1） whether there are any different pronouns of address used in different cultures, （2） the discrepancy of forms of address used in America and China and how interlocutors used them respectively and （3） are there any semantic systems presented in both two cultures based upon interlocutors＇ social position and cultural background.展开更多
Drama is a motivational, powerful, and feasible technique and tool for language learning. Interactions in the class play an important role. Thus, teachers exploit a number of opportunities to give chance to participan...Drama is a motivational, powerful, and feasible technique and tool for language learning. Interactions in the class play an important role. Thus, teachers exploit a number of opportunities to give chance to participants for communication. Writing drama and enacting it can be a good space for generating discussion to develop language skills. Analysis of language interaction in drama focuses on negotiations of language. Co-generative dialogues help participants to focus on the social aspects of life. The interaction and communication to environment play a vital role as it conveys a positive message through performance and fulfills the socio effective requirement. As English Language teaching teachers, we always look for innovative and motivational ideas for language learning and thus, “Drama for language learning through co-generative dialogues” helped me to expand the repertoire of dynamics in the classroom. Drama included co-generative dialogues stage production and performance. It is a powerful and innovative medium for exploring and learning language. It communicated response, moods, and information to the audience. The research explored the effect of drama for language learning through co-generative dialogues, to build cultural awareness, create bondage, meet people, and solve problems.展开更多
This pilot study explored the linguistic gains of intermediate level Spanish learners who completed community-based learning at a Spanish-speaking seniors center. Leamers had the opportunity, rare in foreign-language ...This pilot study explored the linguistic gains of intermediate level Spanish learners who completed community-based learning at a Spanish-speaking seniors center. Leamers had the opportunity, rare in foreign-language instruction, to discuss topics from their textbook in authentic native/non-native dyads. The interactions also allowed the seniors to fulfill an identified community needed by socializing in Spanish. Analyses of a post-service survey revealed that learners assessed the experience positively, because they spoke Spanish creatively. Seniors were described as cooperative and fun interlocutors, suggesting that age difference minimally affected the interactions. Direct observation revealed that learners managed to produce L2 Spanish output in connected speech for an extended period of time. Likewise, the seniors enjoyed a moment of socialization and first language use while sharing their views on the topics of discussion with the young visitors. Seniors＇ active participation likely encouraged learners to cope with sudden switches of topics that required negotiating for meaning and pushing the still limited interlanguages. A new service leaming study proposes to investigate the use of native/non-native dyads in Spanish in fulfilling a dual function： socialization and first language maintenance for the seniors at the center and language learning for the students.展开更多
文摘Spoken dialogue systems are an active research field with wide applications. But the differences in the Chinese spoken dialogue system are not as distinct as that of English. In Chinese spoken dialogues, there are many language phenomena. Firstly, most utterances are ill-formed. Secondly, ellipsis, anaphora and negation are also widely used in Chinese spoken dialogue. Determining how to extract semantic information from incomplete sentences and resolve negation, anaphora and ellipsis is crucial. SHTQS (Shanghai Transportation Query System) is an intelligent telephone-based spoken dialogue system providing information about the best route between any two sites in Shanghai. After a brief description of the system, the natural language processing is emphasized. Speech recognition sentences unavoidably contain errors. In language sequence processing procedures, these errors can be easily passed to the later parts and take on a ripple effect. To detect and recover these from errors as early as possible, language-processing strategies are specially considered. For errors resulting from divided words in speech recognition, segmentation and POS Tagging approaches that can rectify these errors are designed. Since most of the inquiry utterances are ill-formed and negation, anaphora and ellipsis are common language phenomena, the language understanding must be adequately adaptive. So, a partial syntactic parsing scheme is adopted and a chart algorithm is used. The parser is based on unification grammar. The semantic frame that extracts from the best arc set of the chart is used to represent the meaning of sentences. The negation, anaphora and ellipsis are also analyzed and corresponding processing approaches are presented. The accuracy of the language processing part is 88.39% and the testing result shows that the language processing strategies are rational and effective.
文摘Language teaching entails the use of varied methods to maximize learning. Most language educators, particularly those teaching foreign languages tend to use lesson review sheets, dialogue practice, drills on grammar, audio tapes or text recordings. Educators also make use of media to enhance learning while a few language instructors use graded-conversations. Thus, this paper explores ways in which graded-conversations impact language learning. This paper shows how using graded-conversations in a Swahili language classroom enhanced language learning and encouraged students to collaborate in and outside the classroom. More specifically, the findings indicate that while graded-conversations motivated students to communicate with each other beyond classroom and use social media to help each other study, assignments shape the type and quality of students＇ collaboration. Implications for teaching are presented.
文摘The core of dialogue teaching is dialogue. The dialogue here refers to the way in which the teachers and students based on mutual respect, trust and equal position carry on the two-way communication and mutual learning through conversation and listening. One of the marked differences between dialogue teaching and traditional teaching is that dialogue teaching highlights the essence of the teaching process of communication and cooperation. At the same time dialogue teaching is based on students＇ psychological demand, which makes the teaching full of strong emotion. Using the dialogue teaching as the background, this paper mainly provides the guiding principles and practical advice for the teachers＇ classroom language strategies so as to achieve more effective teaching effect.
文摘Types of communicative behaviors consists of verbal communication and non-verbal communication. It is generally believed that the latter refers to concrete language people use to produce an utterance, while the latter mainly refers to body language as well as silence in a conversation. Silence is another way of communication and is part of a conversation. In different culture, silence may have different representative meanings and intentions, because of the various cultural background of each country or nation in the whole world. From the perspective ofpragmatics, silence plays an important role in a particular situation, and it has its own functions in communication.
文摘According to sociolinguistic research of speech events, the choice of linguistic forms is determined by the formality of the context and the relationship between interlocutors in a speech event. In this respect, address forms are socially driven phenomena which make the fundamental point in sociolinguistics clearly. The attempt of this study will be made to discuss the impact of the cultures, especially people in America and China. Mainly, the paper is pertinent to ask some questions： （1） whether there are any different pronouns of address used in different cultures, （2） the discrepancy of forms of address used in America and China and how interlocutors used them respectively and （3） are there any semantic systems presented in both two cultures based upon interlocutors＇ social position and cultural background.
文摘Drama is a motivational, powerful, and feasible technique and tool for language learning. Interactions in the class play an important role. Thus, teachers exploit a number of opportunities to give chance to participants for communication. Writing drama and enacting it can be a good space for generating discussion to develop language skills. Analysis of language interaction in drama focuses on negotiations of language. Co-generative dialogues help participants to focus on the social aspects of life. The interaction and communication to environment play a vital role as it conveys a positive message through performance and fulfills the socio effective requirement. As English Language teaching teachers, we always look for innovative and motivational ideas for language learning and thus, “Drama for language learning through co-generative dialogues” helped me to expand the repertoire of dynamics in the classroom. Drama included co-generative dialogues stage production and performance. It is a powerful and innovative medium for exploring and learning language. It communicated response, moods, and information to the audience. The research explored the effect of drama for language learning through co-generative dialogues, to build cultural awareness, create bondage, meet people, and solve problems.
文摘This pilot study explored the linguistic gains of intermediate level Spanish learners who completed community-based learning at a Spanish-speaking seniors center. Leamers had the opportunity, rare in foreign-language instruction, to discuss topics from their textbook in authentic native/non-native dyads. The interactions also allowed the seniors to fulfill an identified community needed by socializing in Spanish. Analyses of a post-service survey revealed that learners assessed the experience positively, because they spoke Spanish creatively. Seniors were described as cooperative and fun interlocutors, suggesting that age difference minimally affected the interactions. Direct observation revealed that learners managed to produce L2 Spanish output in connected speech for an extended period of time. Likewise, the seniors enjoyed a moment of socialization and first language use while sharing their views on the topics of discussion with the young visitors. Seniors＇ active participation likely encouraged learners to cope with sudden switches of topics that required negotiating for meaning and pushing the still limited interlanguages. A new service leaming study proposes to investigate the use of native/non-native dyads in Spanish in fulfilling a dual function： socialization and first language maintenance for the seniors at the center and language learning for the students.
