[Book Review] Noel Starkey (ed), Connectionist Natural Language Processing: Readings from 'Connection Science'

Review of: Noel Starkey (ed), Connectionist Natural Language Processing: Readings from 'Connection Science'

A policy-definition language and prototype implementation library for policy-based autonomic systems

This paper presents work towards generic policy toolkit support for autonomic computing systems in which the policies themselves can be adapted dynamically and automatically. The work is motivated by three needs: the need for longer-term policy-based adaptation where the policy itself is dynamically adapted to continually maintain or improve its effectiveness despite changing environmental conditions; the need to enable non autonomics-expert practitioners to embed self-managing behaviours with low cost and risk; and the need for adaptive policy mechanisms that are easy to deploy into legacy code. A policy definition language is presented; designed to permit powerful expression of self-managing behaviours. The language is very flexible through the use of simple yet expressive syntax and semantics, and facilitates a very diverse policy behaviour space through both hierarchical and recursive uses of language elements. A prototype library implementation of the policy support mechanisms is described. The library reads and writes policies in well-formed XML script. The implementation extends the state of the art in policy-based autonomics through innovations which include support for multiple policy versions of a given policy type, multiple configuration templates, and meta-policies to dynamically select between policy instances and templates. Most significantly, the scheme supports hot-swapping between policy instances. To illustrate the feasibility and generalised applicability of these tools, two dissimilar example deployment scenarios are examined. The first is taken from an exploratory implementation of self-managing parallel processing, and is used to demonstrate the simple and efficient use of the tools. The second example demonstrates more-advanced functionality, in the context of an envisioned multi-policy stock trading scheme which is sensitive to environmental volatility

The AGILE policy expression language for autonomic systems

This paper presents the AGILE policy expression language. The language enables powerful expression of self-managing behaviours and facilitates policy-based autonomic computing in which the policies themselves can be adapted dynamically and automatically. The language is generic so as to be deployable across a wide spectrum of application domains, and is very flexible through the use of simple yet expressive syntax and semantics. The development of AGILE is motivated by the need for adaptive policy mechanisms that are easy to deploy into legacy code and can be used by non autonomics-expert practitioners to embed self-managing behaviours with low cost and risk. A library implementation of the policy language is described. The implementation extends the state of the art in policy-based autonomics through innovations which include support for multiple policy versions of a given policy type, multiple configuration templates, and higher-level ‘meta-policies’ to dynamically select between differently configured business-logic policy instances and templates. Two dissimilar example deployment scenarios are examined.

Issues in second language proficiency

Benati provides clarity about the characteristics and notion of language proficiency in the field of second language acquisition. He looks at four areas of research paradigmatically related to the role of proficiency: theorizing and measuring second language proficiency; the dimensions of L2 proficiency; factors contributing to the attainment of L2 proficiency and attaining L2 proficiency in the classroom. It also contains a variety of research accounts about the specific factors which have an effect on proficiency together with a theorised measurement of proficiency in second language research. It will be required reading for researchers in applied linguistics and second language acquisition.

Japanese language teaching: a communicative approach

Japanese Language Teaching examines the practical aspects of the acquisition of Japanese as a second language, underpinned by current theory and research. Each chapter examines the theory and practice of language teaching, and progresses to a consideration of the practical design of tasks for teaching. The final section applies theory and practice to an empirical case study, drawn from a classroom with Japanese as a second language. With its emphasis on practice underpinned by contemporary theory, this book will be of interest to postgraduates studying second language acquisition and applied linguistics. [Source: publisher's description].

Key terms in second language acquisition

Key Terms in Second Language Acquisition includes definitions of key terms within second language acquisition, and also provides accessible summaries of the key issues within this complex area of study. The final section presents a list of key readings in second language acquisition that signposts the reader towards classic articles and also provides a springboard to further study.

[Book Review] The role of formal features in second language acquisition - edited by J. Liceras, H. Zobl, and H. Goodluck

Book review of: J. Liceras, H. Zobl, and H. Goodluck (eds.), 2008, The Role of Formal Features in Second Language Acquisition. London/New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 577 pages, ISBN: 0-8058-5354-5.

Second language processing: an analysis of theory, problems and possible solutions

Second Language Processing examines the problems facing learners in the second language classroom from the theoretical perspectives of Processing Instruction (structured input) and Enhanced Input. These two theories are brought to bear on a variety of processing problems, such as the difficulty of connecting second language grammatical forms encoding tense and mood as well as noun-adjective agreement with their meaning. Empirical studies examine a range of languages including Japanese, Italian and Spanish, through which the authors suggest practical solutions to these processing problems.

Why do we struggle when we try to learn a language as adults?

Whereas the acquisition of a first language is successful for normally developing individuals, native-like attainment in a language learnt as adults is not guaranteed. As far as grammar is concerned, the area that typically shows up as more problematic is that of Morphology, and more specifically, that part of Morphology related to the specific ways languages have to indicate notions like temporal location (e.g. English –-ed for past tense She walked) or person agreement (e.g. English –s for the third person singular She sings). Language students and teachers are familiar with exclamations like “Oh, after so many years I still have problems with the past tenses in Spanish!” or “I cannot cope with the masculine/feminine thing in French!” In this talk I will present two different accounts that are currently debated in the field of Second Language Acquisition about why it is not enough to memorize those “blessed endings” for us to master their use in our speech production. I will also introduce the latest study I have conducted in collaboration with colleagues, with the aim of evaluating the explanatory power of the hypotheses debated in current literature. [From the Author]