Language Learning in 3D Virtual World

Second Life (SL) is an ideal platform for language learning. It is called a Multi-User Virtual Environment, where users can have varieties of learning experiences in life-like environments. Numerous attempts have been made to use SL as a platform for language teaching and the possibility of SL as a means to promote conversational interactions has been reported. However, the research so far has largely focused on simply using SL without further augmentations for communication between learners or between teachers and learners in a school-like environment. Conversely, not enough attention has been paid to its controllability which builds on the embedded functions in SL. This study, based on the latest theories of second language acquisition, especially on the Task Based Language Teaching and the Interaction Hypothesis, proposes to design and implement an automatized interactive task space (AITS) where robotic agents work as interlocutors of learners. This paper presents a design that incorporates the SLA theories into SL and the implementation method of the design to construct AITS, fulfilling the controllability of SL. It also presents the result of the evaluation experiment conducted on the constructed AITS.

Assessment of English Language Learners Seeking a Graduate Degree in Speech Language Pathology

A shortage of bilingual/bicultural speech language pathologists may reflect a problem with recruitment and retention of bilingual/bicultural students. The purpose of the present study was to survey graduate training programs in speech language pathology to determine typical policies and practices concerning students who apply and are admitted as ELLs. With a growing number of ELL children needing services from a bilingual SLP, it seems that little is being done to address the issue. The problem may be with the reluctance of programs to not only accept ELL students, but there also seems to be a disinclination for any sort of training program to be established for these ELL students. Clinic directors were asked to complete a survey about ELLs seeking clinical training in speech language pathology. In particular, we were interested in obtaining information about whether clinical training programs a) provided opportunities for ELL to participate in clinic, b) assessed the English skills of these students, and c) provided remediation if these students English skills were judged to be less than proficient.

Evaluating a web-based clinical decision support system for language disorders screening in a nursery school

Background: Early and effective identification of developmental disorders during childhood remains a critical task for the international community. The second highest prevalence of common developmental disorders in children are language delays, which are frequently the first symptoms of a possible disorder. Objective: This paper evaluates a Web-based Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) whose aim is to enhance the screening of language disorders at a nursery school. The common lack of early diagnosis of language disorders led us to deploy an easy-to-use CDSS in order to evaluate its accuracy in early detection of language pathologies. This CDSS can be used by pediatricians to support the screening of language disorders in primary care. Methods: This paper details the evaluation results of the ?Gades? CDSS at a nursery school with 146 children, 12 educators, and 1 language therapist. The methodology embraces two consecutive phases. The first stage involves the observation of each child?s language abilities, carried out by the educators, to facilitate the evaluation of language acquisition level performed by a language therapist. Next, the same language therapist evaluates the reliability of the observed results. Results: The Gades CDSS was integrated to provide the language therapist with the required clinical information. The validation process showed a global 83.6% (122/146) success rate in language evaluation and a 7% (7/94) rate of non-accepted system decisions within the range of children from 0 to 3 years old. The system helped language therapists to identify new children with potential disorders who required further evaluation. This process will revalidate the CDSS output and allow the enhancement of early detection of language disorders in children. The system does need minor refinement, since the therapists disagreed with some questions from the CDSS knowledge base (KB) and suggested adding a few questions about speech production and pragmatic abilities. The refinement of the KB will address these issues and include the requested improvements, with the support of the experts who took part in the original KB development. Conclusions: This research demonstrated the benefit of a Web-based CDSS to monitor children?s neurodevelopment via the early detection of language delays at a nursery school. Current next steps focus on the design of a model that includes pseudo auto-learning capacity, supervised by experts.

Cerebral organization for language in deaf and hearing subjects: Biological constraints and effects of experience

Cerebral organization during sentence processing in English and in American Sign Language (ASL) was characterized by employing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) at 4 T. Effects of deafness, age of language acquisition, and bilingualism were assessed by comparing results from (i) normally hearing, monolingual, native speakers of English, (ii) congenitally, genetically deaf, native signers of ASL who learned English late and through the visual modality, and (iii) normally hearing bilinguals who were native signers of ASL and speakers of English. All groups, hearing and deaf, processing their native language, English or ASL, displayed strong and repeated activation within classical language areas of the left hemisphere. Deaf subjects reading English did not display activation in these regions. These results suggest that the early acquisition of a natural language is important in the expression of the strong bias for these areas to mediate language, independently of the form of the language. In addition, native signers, hearing and deaf, displayed extensive activation of homologous areas within the right hemisphere, indicating that the specific processing requirements of the language also in part determine the organization of the language systems of the brain.

Teaching and testing for academic achievement : the role of language development /

"Spring 1991"--Cover.

The study of Italian in the United States /

Mode of access: Internet.

Polyglot reader, and guide for translation : consisting of a series of English extracts, with their translation into French, German, Spanish, and Italian : the several parts designed to serve as mutual keys /

[v. 1] English text -- [v. 2] German translation / Reinhold Solger. 1867. -- [v. 3] Spanish translation. 1870. -- [v. 4] Italian translation / Vincenzo Botta. 1856.

A new dictionary of the English and Italian languages : containing the whole vocabulary in general use ... /

[v. 1] English and Italian.--[v. 2] Italiano-inglese.

Breue informatione dell'istituto, e modo di viuere della Compagnia delle Vergini di Giesu : erretta nella cittáa di Castiglione.

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Regola, e costituzioni di vita comune, da osservarsi dalle monache claustrali di Santa Maria di Misericordia, dell'Ordine de' Servi di Maria, sotto la pastorale facoltáa dell'illämo, e rämo monsignore Antonio de' conti Guidi Talenti di Bagno, vescovo di Mantova, assistente al solio pontificio, e principe del S.R.I.

Acquisition made accessible thanks to a 2015-2017 grant from the Council on Libraries and Information Resources.

De nuptiis Mariae Theresiae Austriacae : epigramma.

Acquisition made accessible thanks to a 2015-2017 grant from the Council on Libraries and Information Resources.

Avviso.

Acquisition made accessible thanks to a 2015-2017 grant from the Council on Libraries and Information Resources.

Inscrizioni sparse per Castiglione delle Stiverie raccolte sul fine dell'anno MDCCLIX : cosái come stanno incise.

Acquisition made accessible thanks to a 2015-2017 grant from the Council on Libraries and Information Resources.

Sentimenti umilissimi esposti dalla Sp. Valle Trompia all'illustriss. et eccellentiss. sig. Lonardo Mocenigo dignissimo capitanio di Brescia per otternerne la protezione.

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Regola data da Sant'Agostino alle monache.

Acquisition made accessible thanks to a 2015-2017 grant from the Council on Libraries and Information Resources.