Referenzsemantik in der Partnermodellierung

How can we explain that an assertion on something perceived can be understood in the same manner by somebody who cannot perceive that scene? This problem bases the interest in computational linguistics in how listener modeling could possibly be harmonized with reference semantics. Mental images substituting real perception appear as a way out. The architecture of the listener model has to be adapted to the creation and use of such pictorial data structures. Furthermore, the relation between the latter and a verbal (i. e., propositional) representation must be understood. The resulting architecture of a listener model with reference semantics can be employed to solve communicational problems from three general classes in a better way, as is demonstrated by an example implementation.     

Text Comprehension Training for Disabled Readers: An Evaluation of Reciprocal Teaching and Text Analysis Training Programs

Forty-six reading disabled adolescents were randomly assigned to one of three 25-hr instructional programs. Two programs provided training in expository text comprehension, and a third offered training in academic problem solving and organizational and study skills (an alternative treatment control). One reading comprehension program was designed to remediate a deficient knowledge base, forcing disabled readers to elaborate and further process new text knowledge, focusing on both specific informational content in a text and knowledge of text structure per se. The second program was patterned after the Palincsar and Brown (1984) reciprocal teaching techniques and focused on training four text comprehension strategies used by skilled comprehenders. Both the “knowledge-base” and the “strategy” training approaches were associated with significant improvement in disabled readers' comprehension skills, although training effects did not generalize across all aspects of reading comprehension performance. Strategy-trained readers applied the trained strategies with equal success on instructed and uninstructed text materials, providing strong evidence of transfer of learning. Knowledge-base readers also demonstrated successful transfer of specifically trained procedures (semantic mapping, text analysis) to unfamiliar text. In both programs, the best outcomes were obtained when specific strategies and operations were targeted for training.     

Test of structural relationships within a proposed exercise and self-esteem model

This study tested structural relationships within a model proposed to explain the manner in which self-esteem changes are associated with exercise experiences. As initially assessed by self-efficacies (EFFs) specific to physical tasks within a training program, we postulated that competence can generalize to feelings of global self-esteem (SE) through an intervening construct of perceived physical competence (PC). Three measures of EFF and two each of PC and SE were administered to 145 people in their mid- to late adulthood. Confirmatory factor analysis examined orthogonal and oblique versions of three measurement models and identified three distinct but correlated factors, each assessed by its hypothesized indicators. Alternative structural equation models were specified and tested using both normal and nonnormal estimation procedures. The proposed model provided the most parsimonious fit and explained 29% of the variance in SE. Confirmation of its structural relationships provides preliminary validity for model use in examining the manner in which exercise experiences influence levels of self-perception.