Explainability of neural networks for child language: Agent-First strategy in comprehension of Korean active transitive construction

This study investigates how neural networks address the properties of children's linguistic knowledge, with a focus on the Agent-First strategy in comprehension of an active transitive construction in Korean. We develop various neural-network models and measure their classification performance on the test stimuli used in a behavioural experiment involving scrambling and omission of sentential components at varying degrees. Results show that, despite some compatibility of these models’ performance with the children's response patterns, their performance does not fully approximate the children's utilisation of this strategy, demonstrating by-model and by-condition asymmetries. This study's findings suggest that neural networks can utilise information about formal co-occurrences to access the intended message to a certain degree, but the outcome of this process may be substantially different from how a child (as a developing processor) engages in comprehension. This implies some limits of neural networks on revealing the developmental trajectories of child language.

Research Highlights

• This study investigates how neural networks address properties of child language.
• We focus on the Agent-First strategy in comprehension of Korean active transitive.
• Results show by-model/condition asymmetries against children's response patterns.
• This implies some limits of neural networks on revealing properties of child language.

     

Expository Texts in First-Grade Classroom Libraries: Issues in Teacher Selection

Abstract

In 2010, the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) were adopted by most states in the US. The authors of these standards called for a shift from previous standards by recommending that young children experience a 50-50 balance between informational and literary reading. For this mixed-methods study, researchers examined the contents of 23 first-grade classroom libraries 8?years after the implementation of the CCSS to determine the percentage of expository texts found in these libraries and if these percentages differed based on the SES of the school or the number of years a teacher had been teaching. In addition, researchers interviewed twelve selected classroom teachers to gain an understanding of how they selected books for their libraries and what influenced their decisions. Results indicated that 22.8% of the texts found in first-grade classroom libraries were expository and there was no difference based on SES of the school or years a teacher had been in the classroom. Teacher interviews indicated that book cost, reading level, student interest, and genre (both narrative and expository/nonfiction) influenced their library text selections. Only two teachers indicated that the CCSS impacted their book choices.