Evaluating complexity in syntax

Presentation by Phillippe Blache, Laboratoire Parole et Langage, CNRS & Aix-Marseille Université

Part of the Measuring ling. complexity: A multidisciplinary perspective workshop at UCL, Belgium, 24 April 2015

Complexity means different things to different people

System vs Structural complexity (Dahl, 2004)

Existing models: incomplete dependency hypothesis, dependency locality theory, early intermediate constituents principle, activation. However, they all fail to describe language in natural environment.

Challenges: dealing with natural data and dealing with language in its context, esp. spoken language and natural interaction.

Hypothesis: difficulty depends on the search space size. The larger the search space, the more difficulty.

The more properties, the smaller the search space. Maximize online principle  (Hawkins, 2004).

Generative grammar is a very restrictive view.

Property grammars: linguistic statements as constraints (filtering + instantiating)

Basics: constraints are independent, linear precedence.

Constraint violation is possible.

 

L2 complexity, a difficult matter

Presentation by Alex Housen

Part of the Measuring ling. complexity: A multidisciplinary perspective workshop at UCL, Belgium, 24 April 2015

Complexity in SLA research

Early days: 70s and 80s; simplification vs complexification

1990-2010s: rarely investigates for its own sake

As indepedent variable: task complexity, complexity of the L2 target feature

As dependent variable: descriptor of L2 performance, indicatori of L2 proficiency, index of L2 development in studies dealing with the effects og age, learning context, learner variables, etc.

So far it has yielded inconclusive results.

Spada & Tomita (2010): meta analysis on the complexity of target feature on effectiveness of L2 construction

Definitions are varied and not consistent

Most studies show no construct definition and as a result complexity is often not explicitly defined as a theoretica lconstruct. Instead it usually is operationalised as a statistical construct either by means of raters or quantitative mesures of selected features.

Bulté & Housen 2012: review of 40 L2 studies

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Grammatical and lexical complexity

Only 3 measures are used in more than 5 studies (MLTunit + MLS, D + Guirault)

Motivation for the choice of complexity measures is not specified.

What units are being used?

-Frequency count

-Ratio measures

-Comples measures (inidices)

Norris & Ortega (2009): Towards an Organic Approach to Investigating CAF in Instructed SLA: The Case of Complexity

The challenge is to bring more clarity and identify the meanings and conceptions of L2 complesity that are relevant for investigating and understanding the nature of L2 structures and L2 systems.

Structural L2 complexity vs Cognitive L2 difficulty: may lead to a property theory in SLA

Complexity as diversity

Jarvis 2013 multidimensional model of lexical diversity

-size/volume

-richness/abundance

-effective number of types/variety

and many others

Abstract:

The range, variety, or diversity of words found in learners’ language use is believed to reflect the complexity of their vocabulary knowledge as well as the level of their language proficiency. Many indices of lexical diversity have been proposed, most of which involve statistical relationships between types and tokens, and which ultimately reflect the rate of word repetition. These indices have generally been validated in accordance with how well they overcome sample-size effects and/or how well they predict language knowledge or behavior, rather than in accordance with how well they actually measure the construct of lexical diversity. In this article, I review developments that have taken place in lexical diversity research, and also describe obstacles that have prevented it from advancing further. I compare these developments with parallel research on biodiversity in the field of ecology, and show what language researchers can learn from ecology regarding the modeling and measurement of diversity as a multidimensional construct of compositional complexity.

..

Morphological Complexity Index (MCI)

Available tool: Pallotti & Brezina

corpora.lancs.ac.uk/vocab/analyse/

 

Syntactic Diversity Index (SDI)

7 clauses and sentences categories

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reunión conjunta de las Comisiones Académica y Planificación

CONVOCATORIA PARA LA REUNIÓN CONJUNTA DE LA COMISIÓN

ACADÉMICA Y DE LA COMISIÓN DE PLANIFICACIÓN DE

Salón de Actos Hermenegildo Lumeras de Castro

ENSEÑANZAS

23/04/2015, 9:30 horas

(Facultad de Química)

ORDEN DEL DÍA

1. Lectura y aprobación, si procede, del acta de la sesión anterior

2. Informe del Vicerrector.

3. Sustituciones y bajas de profesorado para el curso 2014-2015.

4. Convocatoria de transformación de plazas de profesorado

5. Convocatoria de licencias por permiso sabático para el curso

6. Comisiones de selección de plazas de profesorado contratado.

7. Solicitud de prórroga de excedencia voluntaria por interés de la Comisión Académica, contratado a tiempo completo para el curso 2015-2016.

8. Solicitud de prórroga de comisión de servicios.

9. Solicitudes de permisos de Personal Docente.

10. Propuesta de modificación del “Reglamento por el que se

11. Informe sobre la capacidad docente para el curso académico

12. Aprobación, si procede, del acta de la sesión anterior de la Comisión

13. Oferta de plazas en títulos de Grado y Máster, porcentaje de cupos a

14. Propuesta de modificación del “Reglamento por el que se regulan las

15. Propuesta de modificación del “Reglamento de Progresión y

16. Propuesta de adscripción de asignaturas a áreas de conocimiento

17. Modificación de la oferta de enseñanzas para el curso académico

18. Modificación en la denominación del título de Máster

19. Programación Conjunta de Estudios Oficiales de Grado

20. Ruegos y preguntas

La educación superior como espacio multilingüe y multicultural

 

Mesa redonda: La educación superior como espacio multilingüe y multicultural

Higher Education as a multilingual and multicultural space

Viernes 17 de abril de 2015, 12:00 – 13:30

MR12, Fundación, Salón Actos

 AESLA 2015 Books of Abstracts

PANEL DE SOCIOLINGÜíSTICA

Organizadores: Emma Dafouz Milne (UCM) y  Pascual Pérez Paredes (UMU)

Foro para la reflexión y el debate del eje temático “La educación superior como espacio multilingüe y multicultural” programado dentro del panel de Socioligüística.

Desde el punto de vista organizativo tendrá el siguiente formato:

1) introducción por parte de los organizadores (5 minutos)

2) intervención de 3 ponentes explicando las experiencias/logros/retos en su respectivas universidades (5 minutos cada uno)

3) síntesis y reflexión/comentario por parte de un “discussant” externo (5 minutos)

4) intervención de los otros 3 ponentes (5 minutos) y

5) síntesis y reflexión/comentario de un segundo “discussant” (5 minutos),

6) puesta en común global con la intervención de todos los miembros de la mesa + preguntas del público (20 -30 minutos) y cierre por uno de los organizadores.

En total 90 minutos

 

IMG_2884

1) Introduction: Emma Dafouz, UCM

2) Part 1: 3 contributions

Striving to boost multilingualism in higher education: A case study
David Lasagabaster, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU

University policy

Spolsky: examine what all actors involved think about it

Less attention to teachers and admin workers

The Multilingual Program in UPV started in 2005

Found interest in multilingualism but students are more reluctant. Good students reluctant to take part in EMI programs, afraid of negative impact on their grades.

 

Identifying the challenges of bilingual programmes in Higher Education: first decisions
Victor Pavón, University of Córdoba (Spain)

A mono lingual context.

Authorities are to be motivated to invest in this area and understand EMI, ICLHE or CLIL focus.

Employability is a key issue.

University policy to be affected.

Global language policy.

Incentives essential.

 

English-medium instruction as a transformation policy
Pascual Pérez Paredes, University of Murcia

 

3. Discussant for Part 1: Ute Smit (University of Vienna)

The above as good examples of language policy in action.

Complex map.

Internationalisation in Spain as a different issue from Austria

Language proficiency is topicalised.

Those in the management positions are not precisely those with expertise in language teaching or multilingualism.

English as a Lingua Franca: a process approach, it’s action, dynamic, diverse

 

4. Part 2: 3 contributions

The International Classroom in the European Higher Education Area: Multilingual policies towards internationalization in a bilingual university
Carmen Pérez Vidal, Universidad Pompeu Fabra

UPF policies on multilinguism in bilingual territories.

The impact of Bolognia process on language use in HE.

The PAM plan.

Linguistic security, a novel concept.

 

Quality of Plurilingual Higher Education programs in Andalusia

Fernando D. Rubio Alcalá, Universidad de Huelva

Multi/pluri terminology

Language competence in teachers

Interesting project in Andalucía

 

An interdisciplinary and international approach to English-medium instruction in Higher Education

Emma Dafouz Milne, Universidad Complutense Madrid

The views of the content teachers.

INTER-R-LICA

Dafouz & Smit  (2014)

 

5. Discussant for part 2: Julia Hüttner, University of Southampton

Can universities do it all? Mutilingual programs in HE.

Education is a slow “project”.

What makes a university international?

We need more in-depth understanding of the comples landscape in different countries.

Cam we compare EMI in Spain to other countries?

 

6. Discussion: all participants take part as well as questions and comments from audience

7. Summary and conclusions: Pascual Pérez-Paredes

 

IMG_2874

Short bios

David Lasagabaster is Associate Professor at the University of the Basque Country. From 2005 to 2009 he was responsible for the implementation of the Multilingualism Programme at his university. He has co-edited the volume “English-medium Instruction at Universities: Global Challenges” published by Multilingual Matters in 2013.

As an author, researcher and lecturer at the University of Córdoba (Spain), Víctor Pavón is active in bilingual education development programmes including higher education. Most recently he is coordinating the linguistic policy and the Bilingual Programme in this University.

Pascual Pérez-Paredes is Associate Professor with the University of Murcia. His main research interests are quantitative research of register variation, the compilation and use of language corpora and the implementation of Information and Communication Technologies in the field of applied linguistics. From Feb. 2011 to May 2014, Prof. Pérez-Paredes was General Coordinator of Campus Mare Nostrum, part of the Excellence Program of the Spanish Ministry of Education.

Carmen Pérez is a full lecturer of the Department of Translation and Philology at UPF. Doctor in English Philology by the UB (1995), she was awarded the research prize by the Spanish Association of Applied Linguistics. Previously, she obtained her Master’s in Applied Linguistics (Reading, UK) and her degrees in Hispanic Philology (UAB) and English Philology (UB). She is an official translator for French and English. She is investigating language acquisition in bilingual and multilingual circumstances, the age factor and the impact of mobility, both in European and national projects. She has directed UPF’s Language Training Programme since it was set up.

Fernando Rubio is Vice Dean Of International Relations and Plurilingualism at the Faculty of Education and a lecturer at the University of Huelva. His research interests lie primarily in the area of teaching and learning foreign languages, concretely affective factors, curriculum and plurilingualism. He has published these articles about plurilingual education: with Víctor Pavón: Teachers’ concerns and uncertainties about the introduction of CLIL programmes. Porta Linguarum, 2010; Toledo, I., Rubio, F.D. y Hermonsín, M. (2012). Creencias, rendimiento académico y actitudes de alumnos universitarios principiantes en un programa plurilingüe. Rubio, F.D. y Hermosín, M. (2010). Implantación de un programa de plurilingüismo en el Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior: Análisis de contexto y detección de necesidades. Siglo XXI. Revista de Educación. He has run a plurilingual program at the Faculty of Education since 2010.

Emma Dafouz is associate professor at the Complutense University of Madrid. Since 2001 she has focused on English-medium instruction (EMI) in higher education and currently coordinates an interdisciplinary research group, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, on the Internationalization of Higher Education and EMI. She has published in national and international journals (Language and Education, Modern Language Journal or Applied Linguistics). At present, she works as Advisor of the Language Plan for Internationalization at the Complutense University.

L1 Teaching, Learning and Technology, Leipzig, 3/09

macbook

Satellite of SLaTE 2015: L1 Teaching, Learning and Technology

Satellite of Satellite of INTERSPEECH 2015, Leipzig, Germany, September 3, 2015

Due date full paper submission: May 1, 2015

The aim of this 1-day SoS (Satellite of a Satellite) workshop is to bridge the gap between researchers in education and researchers in speech and text processing technology by organizing a joint event where researchers from one workshop are able to visit the other workshop to get an idea of the respective positions on the state of the art on the topic of language and technology in education.
The SoS workshop intends to join researchers across countries on the topic of language teaching/learning. In contrast to SLaTE, papers submitted here do not have to employ any technology yet. We are looking for contributions from users that may not be aware of all the possibilities that the technologies have to offer to solve educational research problems. What these papers bring to the table are problem statements and data collections that the speech and text processing community may in turn not be aware of. Thus we are looking for symbioses between the two disciplines in research about learning/teaching language. Topics should include information about collection, annotation and free sharing of data for research purposes. Automation in data analysis and children’s applications for learning L1 and foreign language are equally important to share between researchers.

Submissions are expected to be formal papers that will be submitted to an international double-blind review process. It is important for both areas to get to know each others research questions and potential application for technologies. Key to this will be provided by this side-by-side platform that allows you to meet people with similar interests, share our work and forge new interactions across disciplines. In doing so, we are looking for a broad range of contributions from didactics, psychology and pedagogy from researchers interested in bridging the current gap to automation. Demonstrations as well as samples of data collections and annotations are welcome.

E-Platform 4 Adult Learning Europe @EPALE_EU

EPALE

On 15th of April, the European Commission will launch officially EPALE, the Electronic Platform for Adult Learning in Europe, during a one-day event in Brussels.

EPALE, funded under the Erasmus+ programme, aims to become the main reference point for adult learning professionals in Europe. It offers a place to meet and discuss important adult learning topics, as well as to exchange ideas and materials to support professional practice. This type of community platform is the first of its kind for the sector of adult learning.

The conference will be live-streamed in English and accessible through the following link.