مجال
التميز
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تميز دراسي و بحثي
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البحوث المنشورة
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البحث (1):
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A chapter in a book entitled: Adult Literacy, Second Language and Cognition
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عنوان البحث:
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The digital Literacy Instructor: Developing Automatic Speech recognition
and selecting learning material for opaque and transparent orthographies
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رابط إلى البحث:
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Click here
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تاريخ النشر:
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18/11/2015
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موجز عن البحث:
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While learning a new language can now be a
lot of fun because attractive interactive games and multimedia materials have
become widely available, many of these products generally do not cater for
non-literates and low-literates. In addition, their limited reading
capabilities make it difficult for these learners to access language learning
materials that are nowadays available for free on the web. More advanced
course materials that can make learning to read and spell in a second
language (L2) more enjoyable would therefore be very welcome.
This article reports on such an initiative,
the DigLin project, which aims at developing and testing online basic course
material for non-literate L2 adult learners who learn to read and spell
either in Finnish, Dutch, German or English, while interacting with the
computer, which continuously provides feedback like the most determined
instructor. The most innovative feature of DigLin is that in production
exercises learners can read aloud and get feedback on their speech production.
This is made possible through the use of Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR).
In this article we focus on what ASR is and what is needed to employ ASR to
develop learning materials for non-literates and low-literates L2 learners.
Central issue is the selection of the content for the four languages, which
differ in orthographic transparency and present their own specific problems
in combination with the mother tongue of the learners.
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المؤتمرات العلمية:
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المؤتمر (1):
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عنوان المؤتمر:
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Languages In The Uk: Bridging The Gap
Between Classroom And Community In Second Language Learning
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تاريخ الإنعقاد:
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29/05/2014
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مكان
الإنعقاد:
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Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, UK
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طبيعة المشاركة:
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Paper presentation
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عنوان المشاركة:
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Developing individualised
technology-enhanced language learning for low-literate ESOL learners
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ملخص المشاركة:
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We
report on a 2013-16 Grundtvig-funded Lifelong Learning Multilateral Project
which is applying Dutch-designed for low-educated immigrant adults starting
to learn to read in Dutch, English, German or Finnish. Our long-term goal is
learners’ transition from zero literacy to full use of the L2 in daily life.
The software introduces basic grapheme-phoneme correspondences in each
language while expecting autonomous or collaborative use of the materials.
The prototype comprises 15 sets of drag-and-drop and reading aloud exercises,
each of which introduces 20 new words. The first step in developing the
software was compiling a list of words and putting them in a logical order
for 15 successive exercise sets. Because these EU immigrants come from
similar backgrounds and are all post-puberty upon immigration, some choices
made by the four language teams were similar. For example, all learners
struggle with new target language phonemes and will not have acquired much
functional syntax. Choices made by the Dutch, English and German teams were
similar given learner difficulties with onset and coda consonant clusters.
Additional guidance on the order in which to introduce grapheme—phoneme
correspondences for Dutch, Finnish and German came from well-established
primary school methods which inform the teaching of low-educated immigrant
adults. This was difficult for English due to the affect its opaque
orthography continues to have on approaches to teaching irregular, sight
words. Here we drew on Vainikka’s (2013) innovative work on regular patterns
for monosyllabic sight words. The project is now creating reading aloud
exercises for each language by training an automatic speech recognition
system on a sub-set of learners’ native languages (Arabic and Bengali for
English). Before the next school year, teachers in each country will be
trained to support learners’ individual and collaborative use of the software
in the classroom and at home.
Statement:
benefits to teaching/research
In
exploring how teacher-dependent learners use software which expects their
autonomous use, we will look at their engagement with the software and at
patterns of individual and collaborative use by using behaviour tracking
technology, also known as log files. Tracking technology is attracting more
interest from language learning researchers, and the seminar will provide
opportunities to discuss its wider applications. We also hope to explore how
software users’ development as autonomous learners empowers them outside the
classroom and outside the home to support their use of English in the wider
community.
In the course of developing the software, a
range of issues has arisen that will benefit from discussion with others
involved in teaching/conducting research on adult immigrants. These include:
learners’ basic digital skills; individual learning in the classroom and at
home; choice of English variety for the software; challenges of software
expansion beyond single syllables and beyond the 300 words to a larger set of
words immigrants need in their daily lives and for transition from the
classroom to the community. Finally, we would like to discuss with others at
the seminar the potential for application of this Dutch-designed software to
community/heritage languages.
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المؤتمر (2):
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عنوان المؤتمر:
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LESLLA International Conference
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تاريخ الإنعقاد:
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11/11/2015
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مكان
الإنعقاد:
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Florida,
USA
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طبيعة المشاركة:
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Paper presentation
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عنوان المشاركة:
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What researchers, teachers, and
learners believe about working with DigLin
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ملخص المشاركة:
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We present the results of a pilot with
digital software for adult literacy learners. The software was tested in four
countries in four different languages. A first viewing of the data shows a
quick adaptation of using the software and a wide range of varying results
from class to class.
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المؤتمر (3):
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عنوان المؤتمر:
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LESLLA International Conference
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تاريخ الإنعقاد:
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12/11/2015
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مكان
الإنعقاد:
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Florida,
USA
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طبيعة المشاركة:
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Paper presentation
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عنوان المشاركة:
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The phonological awareness and
decoding development of low-literate immigrant adults learning English
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ملخص المشاركة:
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It is well-known that low-literate adult
learners have difficulty in learning to read in a second language and that
there are not many materials that target those groups to help achieve their
communicative goals. This study, which is based on learners who were tested
using the DigLin software (http://diglin.eu/, provides empirical evidence of
how learners’ acquisition of phonemic distinctions in English is connected to
their development of grapheme-phoneme correspondence and hence phonological
awareness.
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