Focusing on applications for analyzing learner language which evaluate semantic appropriateness and accuracy, we collect data from a task which models some aspects of interaction, namely a picture description task (PDT). We parse responses to the PDT into dependency graphs with an an off-the-shelf parser, then use a decision tree to classify sentences into syntactic types and extract the logica...

Effective literacy education in deaf students calls for psycholinguistic research revealing the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying their written language processing. When learning a written language, deaf students are often instructed to sign out printed text. The present fMRI study was intended to reveal the neural substrates associated with word signing by comparing it with picture si...

This is an experimental study which aimed at investigating the ralationsship between working memory capacity and measures of L2 speech performance in a picture description task. The main assumption underlying the present study was that L2 speaking is a complex cognitive task which is carried out within the constraints of a limited-capacity system, namely, working memory. In this system, there a...

Knowledge Acquisition is an important task when developing image interpretation systems. Whereas in the past this task has been done by interviewing an expert, the current trend is to collect large data bases of images associated with expert description ( known as picture archiving systems). This makes it possible to use inductive machine learning techniques for knowledge acquisition of image i...

We investigate the influence of two processes on noun phrase production during a referential communication task: priming (co-ordination) and audience design (co-operation). Participants played a collaborative game that involved describing picture cards (Experiment 1) or wooden blocks (Experiment 2). They interacted with a confederate who was scripted to produce particular kinds of noun phrases....

In the present study, two different models of task complexity; namely, limited attentional capacity model and cognition hypothesis were examined. To this end, the manipulation of cognitive task complexity along +/- single task dimension on Iranian EFL learners’ production in terms of fluency was explored. Based on the results of the writing test of TOFEL (2004), 48 learners were selected as the...

Previous studies of spoken picture naming using event-related potentials (ERPs) have shown that speakers initiate lexical access within 200ms after stimulus onset. In the present study, we investigated the time course of lexical access in written, rather than spoken, word production. Chinese participants wrote target object names which varied in word frequency, and written naming times and ERPs...

Previous studies of spoken picture naming using event-related potentials (ERPs) have shown that speakers initiate lexical access within 200 ms after stimulus onset. In the present study, we investigated the time course of lexical access in written, rather than spoken, word production. Chinese participants wrote target object names which varied in word frequency, and written naming times and ERP...