Text Decoding Research Articles

From sight to insight: A multi-task approach with the visual language decoding model

Visual neural decoding aims to unlock the mysteries of how the human brain interprets the visual world through predicting perceived visual information from visual neural activity. While early studies made some progress in decoding visual activity for singular type of information, they failed to concurrently reveal the multi-level interweaving linguistic information in the brain. Here, we developed a novel Visual Language Decoding Model (VLDM) that can simultaneously decode the main categories, semantic labels, and textual descriptions of visual stimuli from visual activities. The large-scale NSD dataset was utilized to ensure the efficiency of the decoding model in joint training and evaluation across multiple tasks. For category decoding, we achieved the effective classification of 12 categories with an accuracy of nearly 70 %, significantly surpassing the chance level. For label decoding, we attained the precise prediction of 80 specific semantic labels with a 16-fold improvement over the chance level. For text decoding, the scores of the decoded text surpassed the corresponding baseline levels by remarkable margins on six evaluation metrics. These results highlight the complexity of how the brain processes visual information and the close connection between visual perception and language cognition. This study contributes significantly to extensive applications in multi-layered brain-computer interfaces, potentially leading to more natural and efficient human-computer interaction experiences.

The use of decodable texts in the teaching of reading in children without reading disabilities: a meta‐analysis

AbstractThe purpose of this meta‐analysis is to synthesise the research evidence on the use of decodable texts in the teaching of word reading and pseudoword decoding to determine their effectiveness in facilitating the development of reading skills in children without reading disabilities. A total of 821 articles were identified in the initial search. The search resulted in 16 articles that met the inclusion criteria and were included in the meta‐analyses. The results of the risk of bias assessment revealed that the majority of the studies had a moderate to serious bias. The average standardised mean difference for word reading was small g = 0.20 and moderate g = 0.30 for pseudoword decoding. This finding highlights how using decodable texts can facilitate word reading and decoding to some degree, but they need to be used in combination with other reading instructional materials.

Implication of Reading Skills Proficiency in First Year Students of UM Digos College: An in Depth Perception of First Year College students

Reading remains a fundamental pillar of education, beyond mere text decoding, proficient reading unlocks the doors to critical thinking, analytical reasoning, and the ability to navigate a world saturated with information. This study explored the implications of reading skills proficiency among first-year students of UM Digos College. The study used a phenomenological descriptive research design and thematic analysis to explore the perceptions of first-year students regarding the implication of reading skills proficiency in the school, their self-assessment of reading skill proficiency, and the difficulties they experience in reading. The result found that first-year students perceive reading skills proficiency as having a positive impact on their self-efficacy, knowledge, and ability to think critically. They also reported that reading skills proficiency helps them to improve their fluency and pronunciation. However, students also reported experiencing difficulties with reading, such as time management and encountering unfamiliar words. The findings of this study suggest that it is important to promote reading skills proficiency among first-year college students. This can be done by providing students with opportunities to practice their reading skills, teaching them strategies for dealing with difficulties, and helping them to build their background knowledge.

The sanctity of decoding: Reframing Hebrew literacy in the United States and Europe

Aims and Objectives: This article explores the challenges Jewish children face in educational programs teaching about Judaism and Jewish culture located in the United States and Europe. Students learn to decode Hebrew but not to read for comprehension, which conflicts with other types of literacy learning they encounter throughout their education in school and at home. Methodology: The study is based on long-term participant observation at two religious education programs, one in the United States and one in Luxembourg. Data and Analysis: A language socialization lens was applied to coded fieldnotes to bring findings into conversation with each other. Findings: Following initial frustrations stemming from a mismatch between American and European schooled literacy expectations and Hebrew decoding, students came to understand Hebrew as a distinctive sacred language. This allowed them to reconceptualize decoding as a successful and meaningful form of literacy and to see themselves as competent Hebrew users and members of a broader Jewish community. Originality: Existing studies primarily focus on sacred languages and literacies oriented around supporting connections with the divine. This study contributes to the existing body of work by illustrating religious literacy education aimed at cultivating communal and religious identification. Implications: This study provides evidence that decoding of sacred texts without comprehension of lexico-semantic content can be a meaningful form of literacy that enables religious members to affirm and do community without explicit reference to divine relations. It argues for a distinctive form of bilingualism in which the sacred language and talk about it work together to create meaningful religious learning.

A Healthy Diet for Beginning Readers: Decodable Texts as Part of a Comprehensive Literacy Program

AbstractWe suggest that a healthy literacy diet for beginning readers consists of literacy experiences along a number of dimensions, including experiences with decodable text. As such, this article explores the role of decodable texts in a comprehensive early literacy curriculum that recognizes literacy as a complex, culturally mediated, and multifaceted set of skills. We provide five guidelines for practitioners to use when evaluating decodable texts to be used with beginning readers. As an example of the type of analysis we recommend for selecting quality decodable text, we examine one decodable text for its merit in fulfilling the guidelines described in this article.

Wine and translation: an analysis of phraseological units in English and Spanish wine technical sheets

ABSTRACT The language used to market and describe wine is characterised by the subjectivity and creativity of the terms used. This makes the encoding and decoding of oenology-related texts a demanding task. As genres in this field are persuasive in nature, the correct translation of wine-related terminology is crucial to sell the product. In wine-related genres, phraseological units have been understudied especially with regards to translation. The aim of this paper is to shed light on the use of phraseological units in one of the most representative genres in the field, i.e. wine technical sheets, with a view to assisting translators in the comprehension and management of oenology-related texts. A contrastive analysis was carried out using an English-Spanish comparable corpus in order to identify and classify phraseological units according to their function and semantic characteristics; further analysis of the distribution of these units allowed us to define the rhetorical structure of wine technical sheets. The study evidenced the high frequency and complexity of phraseological units in the genre.

Word, Text and Reading in the Digital Age

The paper discusses the problem of reading in the digital environment among the young generation. The point of departure is the observation that young people’s reading practices have changed over the last decade. It was hypothesized that the reason for this change is that young people increasingly read electronic texts instead of printed texts. For the study, a literature review was performed, and five focus group discussions with secondary school and university teachers were conducted. Focus group discussions provided empirical material for the analysis of contemporary reading practices and the related problems of the learning process. The literature review and focus group discussions show that reading from screen devices has affected reading strategies and the text decoding and comprehension process. The participants of the discussions pointed to the crucial role of the internet in forming the attitude towards reading and the development of new reading practices among young people. The teachers were generally critical towards the effects of the information and communication technologies and expressed concern about the quality of reading from digital devices. It was pointed out that students now prefer to read shorter pieces of text, they often lack the necessary concentration and, as a result, do not achieve a satisfactory understanding of the text. Reading tends to become a practice of extracting information. Literature review points to the same tendency. The technological embeddedness of reading in the digital age brings about a change in the approach to reading. The internet allows quick access to vast volumes of information and provides the possibility of getting to know many facts, but it fosters extensive rather than intensive or deep reading.

Status of English Stylistic Terminology in Current Lexicographical Sources: Fixations, Ignorations, Omissions

Research in recent decades on specialised languages – the status and methods of terminology, terminological definitions, the characteristics of terms, the relationship between term and word, etc. – shows how radical changes have occurred in the field. We would like to note, however, that the stylistic and poetic metalanguage of the English language still remains outside the interests of researchers. So far we do not have studies, which would elucidate the systemic and functional complexity of English stylistic-poetic terminology. These specific languages are necessary, important, especially in the areas of interpretation, decoding, exegesis and hermeneutics of text. They have always been part of the linguistic terminology developed by various schools: in Paris, London, Heidelberg, Prague. The field of metalanguage, which is of interest to us, its lexicographical aspect has not been the subject of research in English. Terms such as anesis, antanagoga, antistasis, catabasis, colon, cycloid and many others have remained omitted, some ignored, others replaced. Our investigation aims to identify these terms, define them lexicographically and present them as integral elements of stylistic and poetic metalanguage that cannot, but do not deserve, to be marginalized.

Theory of Change and Theory of Education: Pedagogic and Curriculum Defects in Early Grade Reading Interventions in South Africa

Much of the field of educational change has focused on better understanding the theory of change, that is, what knowledge is needed to make substantial educational change, particularly improvement to learning outcomes at scale. This article suggests that the South African early grade reading study community may have been looking in the wrong place. The search for the optimal theory of change or theory of action is obviously very important, but could it not be that a key part of the problem is defects in our theory of education? It is argued that there may be something educationally unsound in certain aspects of the official pedagogy and curriculum. As such, the South African education system is unlikely to make much progress towards the goal of getting children to read for meaning by the time they are 10 years old if these defects are not addressed. To illustrate this argument, the article points to data from two examples in South African education policies on pedagogy and curriculum: the first relates to the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) Foundation Phase document’s under-specification and weak guidance with reference to the teaching of phonics with linked decodable texts; the second concerns the CAPS document’s privileging of an unworkable reading teaching methodology called Group Guided Reading. The article concludes that to achieve real knowledge breakthroughs, university academics working alongside researchers in government need to develop rigorous research programmes aimed at improving foundational learning outcomes.

Stimulating inference-making in second grade children when reading and listening to narrative texts

Inference-making is a central element of successful reading comprehension, yet provides a challenge for beginning readers. Text decoding takes up cognitive resources which prevents beginning readers from successful inference-making and compromises reading comprehension. Listening does not require any decoding and could therefore offer a less demanding context to practice inference-making. The present study examined whether stimulating inference-making in a listening context is more effective and less cognitively demanding for beginning readers than a reading context. In three experiments, Dutch second grade children read two narratives and listened to two narratives. Inference-making was stimulated by asking them inferential questions during reading or listening and we compared this to a no-questioning control condition. After each narrative, we measured cognitive load and comprehension. It was expected that inferential questioning would increase cognitive load and negatively affect reading comprehension, but positively affect listening comprehension. The results indeed showed that inferential questioning increased cognitive load, but did not lead to differences in performance on open-ended comprehension questions (Experiment 1 & 2). When measuring comprehension with a free recall protocol (Experiment 3), we found a negative effect on total recall in both the reading and listening conditions. Taken together, we found no support for the hypothesized interaction. This raises questions about the effectiveness of inferential questioning for reading and listening comprehension of beginning readers, and whether listening is a good modality for improving inference-making.

Text Types and Their Relation to Efficacy in Beginning Reading Interventions

AbstractResearchers disagree about the value of controlling the decodability of texts for students with reading difficulty, specifically what type of text they should read: decodable texts (words limited to taught patterns), nondecodable texts (those not limited by instruction), or both. We analyzed the effects of reading intervention for elementary‐age students with reading difficulty (k = 119) to determine whether effects varied by the type of texts students read—decodable, nondecodable, or both—compared with interventions without text reading. Inadequate information was available to code text type for 22 interventions including text reading; effect sizes were calculated for 97 studies. Effects for interventions with decodable or nondecodable reading did not differ from no‐text interventions. For both types of interventions, the effect (g = 0.28) approached significance versus no‐text, 95% CI [−0.09, 0.65]. Disaggregating effects by whether the measures were standardized or researcher‐designed showed a significant both‐types effect, g = 0.45, 95% CI [0.02, 0.89] relative to no‐text. Disaggregating by whether outcomes were for word recognition or reading comprehension showed a positive both‐types effect for word recognition outcomes; data were inadequate to examine comprehension. A possible confounding effect of time spent reading was tested but was uncorrelated with the intervention effect. The both‐types finding suggests the possible value of varied reading experiences in intervention, but this analysis did not account for other factors that might be correlated with text type and the intervention effect. Furthermore, more comprehensive reporting about text types is important for replication and meta‐analytic review.

텍스트 제시 유형에 따른 초등학교 2학년 발달성 난독 학생과 일반 학생의 읽기유창성 특성

Objectives Reading fluency is an important factor that connects decoding ability and reading comprehension ability. Given that fluent reading is essential for language classes in lower grades of elementary school in Korea, it is necessary to support not only the decoding ability but also student’s reading fluency. This study investigated the differences in reading fluency ability of two groups of children according to text presentation types.
 Methods Thirteen students with developmental dyslexia(DYS) and 13 typically developing students(TD) read two types of decodable texts, sentence-broken type and general type. Reading accuracy, speed and prosody were measured.
 Results DYS revealed lower accuracy and prosody scores than TD, while there were no differences in accuracy and prosody according to text presentation type. DYS took longer time to finish reading texts than TD, while only DYS took longer time to read general type text than sentence-broken type text.
 Conclusions When presenting a text that is decodable to a certain extent to DYS, the text presentation type didn’t seem to matter for reading accuracy, although reading speed was influenced by the presentation type. It seems very important to consider the visuo-spatial presentation format as well as the decodability of the texts to support DYS’s reading fluency meaningfully.

THE ONOMASTICON OF THE POETIC CALENDAR “ROADS OF LIGHT” BY OLEXANDR KOZYNETS’

This article examines the set of proper names recorded in Oleksandr Kozynets’ collection “Roads of Light” (2021), which has the form of a poetic calendar. Theoretical concepts concerning research were described: onomasticon, literary and art onomasticon, criteria for describing set of proper names. 453 proper names were recorded in 366 texts grouped by seasons and months. Poem titles were classified according to structural and parts of speech features and the following groups were identified: single-component poem titles (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns), multi-component poem titles (titles-compounds, titles with a subordinating conjunction, titles with a conjunctive conjunction, etc.). One-component titles were more frequent (92% of 366 units). 69% of the titles are represented by nouns, 16% by verbs. Compound titles predominate among multi-component units (45%). The functions of poem titles in the decoding of texts are described, the title of the collection is investigated. The functioning of repeated title lexemes in view of grammatical meanings (without change or with a change in grammatical form) is revealed. The examples made it possible to demonstrate the role of poem titles in the creation of means of textual imagery and phonostylistic means. Proper names were classified according to lexical-semantic features: chrononyms, theonyms, anthroponyms, biblionyms, oikonyms, choronyms, oronyms, etc. Chrononyms turned out to be the most frequent (39% of 87 units), which is explained by the form of the collection. This is a poetic calendar, where some texts are dedicated to holidays of various nature. The use of theonyms (17%) is caused by the author’s worldview and Christianity. It was found that most of the proper names are used in their literal meaning. These proper names reveal intertextual connections with other texts, outline the toponymy of the poem action, the feelings of the lyrical hero and the author.

How Is Working Memory Related to Reading Comprehension in Italian Monolingual and Bilingual Children?

This study explored how working memory resources contributed to reading comprehension using tasks that focused on maintenance of verbal information in the phonological store, the interaction between the central executive and the phonological store (WMI), and the storage of bound semantic content in the episodic buffer (immediate narrative memory). We analysed how performance in these tasks was related to text decoding (reading speed and accuracy), listening and reading comprehension. The participants were 62 monolingual and 36 bilingual children (mean age nine years, SD = 9 months) enrolled in the same Italian primary school. Bilingual children were born to immigrant parents and had a long history of exposure to Italian as a second language. The regression analyses showed that reading accuracy and listening comprehension were associated with reading comprehension for monolingual and bilingual children. Two working memory components-WMI and immediate narrative memory-exhibited indirect effects on reading comprehension through reading accuracy and listening comprehension, respectively. Such effects occurred only for monolingual children. We discuss the implications of such findings for text reading and comprehension in monolinguals and bilinguals.

WAR IN UKRAINE: HUMOR VS FEAR (COMMUNICATIVE AND PRAGMATIC ASPECT)

The article presents material on the peculiarities of the linguistic representation of the fight against fears of war in the modern Ukrainian language (using the example of posts on the Facebook social network and other Internet sources). The following methods were used for the research: linguistic observation and description of linguistic phenomena, text decoding method, comparison, analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, continuous sampling method. The article traces the evolution of the discourse of fear in general and in the life of a modern Ukrainian in particular. The study describes the system of emotional and psychological images expressing war fears and verbal means of overcoming them. The main purpose of using humor turns out to devalue fears, so the fears themselves and the negative characters associated with them are depicted in comical, uncomfortable situations. It has been proven that the means of humor in its most diverse manifestations (irony, satire, trolling, banter) permeate all resources of Ukrainian language thinking: dictionary, grammar, orthographic means, quotation thesaurus, linguistic and sociocultural stereotypes, language. norms and registers of speech. From a communicative and pragmatic point of view, images of putin, the aggressor country of russia, russian invaders, etc., were analyzed. It was established that some names form semantic microsystems and branched synonymous series (stereotypical names of russia, russians, and putin himself). As the analysis showed, a significant number of new creations, obscene and euphemistic vocabulary perform primarily protective (health-preserving), evaluative-reflective and integrative (socially unifying) functions, since they are primarily intended to calm, encourage Ukrainians and maintain at least a relative mental balance and at the same time help to sort out feelings, condemn the enemy and brace up to keep struggling on the way to victory. The study of the mechanisms of dispelling fear and means of overcoming it in the modern Ukrainian language have contributed to the knowledge of the connection between the people's worldview and their language and the national linguistic picture of the world.

Synthesizing Speech from Intracranial Depth Electrodes using an Encoder-Decoder Framework

Speech Neuroprostheses have the potential to enable communication for people with dysarthria or anarthria. Recent advances have demonstrated high-quality text decoding and speech synthesis from electrocorticographic grids placed on the cortical surface. Here, we investigate a less invasive measurement modality in three participants, namely stereotactic EEG (sEEG) that provides sparse sampling from multiple brain regions, including subcortical regions. To evaluate whether sEEG can also be used to synthesize high-quality audio from neural recordings, we employ a recurrent encoder-decoder model based on modern deep learning methods. We find that speech can indeed be reconstructed with correlations up to 0.8 from these minimally invasive recordings, despite limited amounts of training data.

Partes Concerts of the 1730s–1740s from the Kyiv Collection: New Assets

Relevance and current status of research. The Kyiv collection of partes music, which is kept in the Institute of Manuscript of V. Ι. Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine, is the largest in Ukraine. It includes about 700 choral works, and only a few dozen of them have been decoded, edited and published. In 2020, within the Musica sacra Ukraina project the author of this article decoded and prepared for performance three new partes concerts from the Kyiv collection. These are twelve-part anonymous concerts of the 1730 s – 40 s “The troubles of my heart”, “O sing unto the Lord a new song” and “Come, o people”.
 The purpose of the study is to describe the Kyiv partes collection and the current status of its research; to outline the main steps of working with partes manuscripts: deciphering, score compiling and editing; to present deciphered concerts in the context of current research problems of European baroque music, such as the aesthetics of oddity, as well as musical symbolism and rhetoric, which allow us to reveal the inextricable connection between the verbal and musical text of the works.
 Methodological framework. The work is based on proven methodologies of decoding and scientific editing of handwritten musical text, and methods of musical theoretical analysis are also used.
 Results and scientific novelty of the work. Three anonymous twelve-part partes concerts of the 1730 s –1740 s from the Kyiv collection “The troubles of my heart”, “O sing unto the Lord a new song” and “Come, o people” were deciphered, edited and analyzed. A comprehensive approach to studying Ukrainian baroque music is presented. It involves deciphering, editing (preparation for performance) and musicological interpretation of the work. The proposed musicological analysis, which is based on modern approaches to the analysis of baroque music, updates the European context of the Ukrainian baroque heritage

The metamorphosis of "Butterfly"

AbstractIn 2017, David Henry Hwang reworked his Tony Award‐winning play M. Butterfly (1988). This paper explores how Hwang wrote and rewrote M. Butterfly from the perspective of ethical literary criticism, probing into the role of brain text played in the process of drama writing. By investigating the variations of the Madame Butterfly story—from love legend to spy story—and the Madame Butterfly image—from Madame Butterfly to M. Butterfly, from Oriental Butterfly to Chinese Butterfly—this paper explains the forming of Hwang's brain text and his creation of M. Butterfly, the decoding of brain text and his writing of two Monsieur Butterflies, as well as the recoding of brain text and his building of a new cultural identity. It argues that brain text determines the playwright's writings and styles, and the dynamic revisions of M. Butterfly can be the manifestation and reconstruction of Hwang's brain texts, which represent his ethical choices made in the process of writing and rewriting. The metamorphosis of “Butterfly” in the two scripts of M. Butterfly reveals the playwright's dynamic thoughts on culture, gender, and identity: cultural stereotypes and the power relation between East and West; the cultural misunderstanding of Orientalism; and gender identity and fluidity in the twenty‐first century.

ЭЛОКУТИВНАЯ СПЕЦИФИКА МЕДИЦИНСКИХ МАССМЕДИЙНЫХ ТЕКСТОВ ТУРБУЛЕНТНОГО ПЕРИОДА В АСПЕКТЕ РИТОРИЧЕСКОГО ДЕКОДИРОВАНИЯ

Within the framework of the concept of rhetorical text decoding, a linguo-rhetorical reconstruction of the elocutionary strategy was carried out, implemented in the course of creating mass media texts of the turbulent period — pandemic interviews of the leading Russian doctors D. Protsenko and M. Lysenko. As a result of the analysis, the means of representing authorization and addressing tactics in the studied media texts were identified. Cases of combinatorics of addressing and authorization are noted. With the help of elements of SEO technology, keywords were found that act as an indicator of the tactics of axiological explication. The conclusion is made about the dialogueness and publicity of medical mass media texts of the pandemic time as a result of the implementation of the elocutionary strategy of text formation.

Problems and Strategies in Translating Legal Texts

Translating legal texts is considered as the most difficult translation task as it needs accurate and correct translation, and even minor errors can result in lawsuits and legal exposure. This paper aims at finding out the translation problems and formulating the strategies best applicable in translating legal texts from bahasa Indonesia into English. This is a descriptive study using a document analysis as the method. The data were 15 legal texts having been translated from bahasa Indonesia into English by semi-professional translators. In analysing the data, the document analysis was carried out by skimming, reading, and interpreting the translated legal texts. The results of data analysis reveal three general problems in translating legal texts done by the semi-professional translators, including finding the right equivalent, translator’s insufficient knowledge of English legal language and source text decoding. To overcome such problems, four strategies are proposed: (i) utilizing online resources, (ii) finding the proposition of the legal sentence, (iii) using a description technique, and (iv) employing functional approach to translation. It is concluded that translating legal texts requires translator’s good knowledge of applicable laws and language competence in both the source language and target language.