Discourse in formal domains, such as mathematics, is characterized by a mixture of telegraphic natural language and embedded (semi-)formal symbolic mathematical expressions. Due to the lack of empirical data, little is known about the suitability of input analysis methods for mathematical discourse in a dialog setting. We present an input understanding method for a tutoring system teaching math...

In this paper we apply natural language understanding and topic modeling methods to create an instructional tool for assessing science discourse in interactive multimedia presentations that are created, shared and discussed by students. The resulting assessment prototype will enable teachers to follow student discourse in real time, to understand gaps in student learning, and to improve teachin...

Researchers [1, 3, 5] have noted that discourse understanding can be enhanced by recognizing a user's goals, and that this recognition process requires reasoning about the agent's beliefs [7]. For example, in order to recognize from utterance IS2 in the following dialogue that the speaker has the communicative goal of expressing surprise at the proposition that Dr. Smith is teaching CIS360 and ...

Mathematics teachers are charged with the task of teaching children not only how to solve problems, but also how to explain their solutions. There is, however, very little pedagogical support for this enterprise, and very few tools that support the process. We argue that mathematical explanation is essentially a multi-modal activity, requiring the integration of several modes of discourse, and ...

In the last fifteen years, there have been major paradigm shifts in both general and applied linguistics toward acknowledging intonation as an indispensable component of language and communication. In addition, the hardware and software for conducting acoustic phonetic signal analysis have recently become more accessible. The main goal of this paper is thus to integrate the two seemingly dispar...

Many graduate and professional programs include Problem Based Learning (PBL) as a mainstay in their curricula. For many undergraduate students, this is a change from a teacher-centered to a student-centered learning method. This study was undertaken to learn about perceptions and test performances of college students (N=116) enrolled in liberal education classes when PBL is used vs. traditional...

PURPOSE The purpose of the two studies described in this paper was to assess whether adults with dementia could assume an advice-giving role (Study 1) and a teacher role (Study 2) despite their cognitive impairments. So far, no research on adults with dementia has compared language production in a social conversation condition with that in an advice-giving condition. Moreover, there are no data...