Word Repetition Research Articles

Students’ development of mathematical meanings while participating vicariously in conversations between other students in instructional videos

Although interest in using videos in educational settings has surged in recent years, researchers know little about what mathematical meanings students develop from watching these videos or how they do so. To contribute to this gap in the research, we examined how two students appropriated mathematical meanings from instructional videos. In contrast to typical instructional videos, which rely heavily on an expert’s exposition, the videos in our study featured the unscripted conversation of two high school students as they engaged with novel mathematical problems. This allowed us to examine how other students watching the videos coordinated meanings expressed by both the video participants and each other, including meanings that were initially incorrect or incomplete. To analyze these data, we adopted a Bakhtinian-inspired lens, which allowed us to conceptualize meaning as emerging from the relationships among multiple voices. Additionally, the appropriation of meanings from the videos was not straightforward. Instead, we found evidence of the repetition (mimicry) of words and actions from the video participants, revision, resistance, and the invocation of previously-appropriated voices, before the students were able to make the meanings expressed in the videos their own.

Destigmatizing disfluency

Background: Typically understood as a symptom of a speech disorder, stuttering is the verbal repetition of sounds, words, or phrases that suspend the progression of a speaker’s turn. Method: Using conversation analysis, over 180 phrasal multisyllabic stutters were found in audio recordings of peer telephone support in the United States. Results: Most phrasal stutters arise from early, within-turn indicators of potential sequential, semantic, or syntactic trouble. Typically produced with quick pacing, the stutters are varied, including the latching of sounds across words, abbreviated words, word blends, and/or unintelligible sounds. Elongated or cut-off sounds often indicate the seeming end of a stutter, with either abandonment or a typically fluent completion of a current turn occurring upon a stutter’s conclusion. Importantly, the other interactant never interrupts or completes the stutter. Discussion/conclusion: These findings contradict prior conversation analytic studies of stutters and describe stuttering as a normalized everyday action, where speakers can successfully navigate disfluency to reach eventual fluency.

Modulating Phonological Working Memory With Anodal High-Definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation to the Anterior Portion of the Supplementary Motor Area.

Phonological working memory is key to vocabulary acquisition, spoken word recognition, real-time language processing, and reading. Transcranial direct current stimulation, when coupled with behavioral training, has been shown to facilitate speech motor output processes, a key component of nonword repetition, the primary task used to assess phonological working memory. In this study, we examined the efficacy of combining overt nonword repetition training with anodal high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD tDCS) to the presupplementary motor area (preSMA) to enhance nonword repetition. This study investigated whether 20 min of active or sham anodal HD tDCS targeting preSMA concurrently with a nonword repetition task differentially impacted nonword repetition ability. Twenty-eight neurotypical college-age adults (18-25 years; 19 females, eight males, one nonbinary) completed a 20-min nonword repetition training task where they received either active or sham 1-mA anodal HD tDCS to the preSMA while overtly repeating a list of four-, five-, six-, and seven-syllable English-like nonwords presented in a random order. Whole nonword accuracy and error patterns (phoneme and syllable) were measured prior to and following training. Following training, both groups showed a decrease in nonword repetition accuracy. The drop in performance was significantly greater for the active stimulation group compared to the sham stimulation group at the four-syllable nonword length. The findings suggest that targeting the speech motor component of nonword repetition through overt training and HD tDCS to the preSMA does not enhance phonological working memory ability.

Defining aphasia: Content analysis of six aphasia diagnostic batteries

Clear operational definitions of constructs are necessary to ensure that research findings are meaningful and interpretable. In the field of aphasiology, aphasia is often defined to the effect of “aphasia is an acquired language disorder often due to brain injury that affects expressive and receptive language.” To contribute to our understanding of the construct of aphasia, we conducted a content analysis of six diagnostic aphasia tests: the Minnesota Test for the Differential Diagnosis of Aphasia, the Porch Index of Communicative Ability, the Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination, the Western Aphasia Battery, the Comprehensive Aphasia Test, and the Quick Aphasia Battery. These chosen tests have historical prominence, with several in regular clinical and research use today. We hypothesized that the content of the aphasia tests should be very similar since they all purport to identify and characterize (if present) aphasia, with recognition that there may be some subtle differences in test content stemming in large part to epistemological differences in the test makers’ views of aphasia. Instead, we found predominantly weak Jaccard indices, a similarity correlation coefficient, between test targets. Only five test targets were found in all six aphasia tests: auditory comprehension of words and sentences, repetition of words, confrontation naming of nouns, and reading comprehension of words. The qualitative and quantitative results suggest that the content across aphasia tests may be more disparate than expected. We conclude by discussing the implication of our results for the field, including the importance of updating, if necessary, the operational definition of aphasia through conversation with a broad audience of interested and affected people.

Reduction or enhancement? Repetition effects on early brain potentials during visual word recognition are frequency dependent.

Most studies on word repetition have demonstrated that repeated stimuli yield reductions in brain activity. Despite the well-known repetition reduction effect, some literature reports repetition enhancements in electroencephalogram (EEG) activities. However, although studies of object and face recognition have consistently demonstrated both repetition reduction and enhancement effects, the results of repetition enhancement effects were not consistent in studies of visual word recognition. Therefore, the present study aimed to further investigate the repetition effect on the P200, an early event-related potential (ERP) component that indexes the coactivation of lexical candidates during visual word recognition. To achieve a high signal-to-noise ratio, EEG signals were decomposed into various modes by using the Hilbert-Huang transform. Results demonstrated a repetition enhancement effect on P200 activity in alpha-band oscillation and that lexicality and orthographic neighborhood size would influence the magnitude of the repetition enhancement effect on P200. These findings suggest that alpha activity during visual word recognition might reflect the coactivation of orthographically similar words in the early stages of lexical processing. Meantime, there were repetition reduction effects on ERP activities in theta-delta band oscillation, which might index that the lateral inhibition between lexical candidates would be omitted in repetition.

Machine Learning on Visibility Graph Features Discriminates the Cognitive Event-Related Potentials of Patients with Early Alzheimer's Disease from Healthy Aging.

We present a framework for electroencephalography (EEG)-based classification between patients with Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and robust normal elderly (RNE) via a graph theory approach using visibility graphs (VGs). This EEG VG approach is motivated by research that has demonstrated differences between patients with early stage AD and RNE using various features of EEG oscillations or cognitive event-related potentials (ERPs). In the present study, EEG signals recorded during a word repetition experiment were wavelet decomposed into 5 sub-bands (δ,θ,α,β,γ). The raw and band-specific signals were then converted to VGs for analysis. Twelve graph features were tested for differences between the AD and RNE groups, and t-tests employed for feature selection. The selected features were then tested for classification using traditional machine learning and deep learning algorithms, achieving a classification accuracy of 100% with linear and non-linear classifiers. We further demonstrated that the same features can be generalized to the classification of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) converters, i.e., prodromal AD, against RNE with a maximum accuracy of 92.5%. Code is released online to allow others to test and reuse this framework.

Disfluencies in the narratives of Russian-Hebrew bilingual children with and without Developmental Language Disorder (DLD)

ABSTRACT The present study examined disfluencies in the narratives of Russian-Hebrew bilingual children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) and Typical Language Development (TLD) in both Russian (home language) and Hebrew (societal language), with a focus on the independent and combined effects of language disorder and cross-linguistic differences on the rates and loci of disfluencies. Narratives were collected from 44 bilingual children (14 with DLD), ages 5;7–6;6, using a story retelling procedure. The narrative coding system targeted ratios of the following disfluencies (per C-unit): silent pauses, repetitions, self-corrections, and filled pauses. Silent pauses longer than 0.25 sec were identified using PRAAT software© and were classified according to the following durations: more than 0.5 sec, 1 sec, 1.5 sec, and 2 sec. In addition, the loci of pauses (utterance-initial or utterance-internal) and repetitions (content or function words) were coded. Overall, children with DLD and TLD had comparable rates of disfluencies but differed for pauses longer than 0.5 sec and repetition of content words in both languages. For the overall ratio of pauses (more than 0.25 sec), children with and without DLD had more pauses in Russian. Long pauses and repetition of content words reflect difficulties for bilingual children with DLD in dealing with the demands of storytelling, in particular planning processes. A higher ratio of pauses in Russian suggests that they reflect lower proficiency in that language.

New insights into hotel customer’s revisiting intentions, based on big data

PurposeThis study aims to use big data analysis and sheds light on key hotel features that play a role in the revisit intention of customers. In addition, this study endeavors to highlight hotel features for different customer segments.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a machine learning method and analyzes around 100,000 reviews of customers of 100 selected hotels around the world where they had indicated on Trip Advisor their intention to return to a particular hotel. The important features of the hotels are then extracted in terms of the 7Ps of the marketing mix. This study has then segmented customers intending to revisit hotels, based on the similarities in their reviews.FindingsIn total, 71 important hotel features are extracted using text analysis of comments. The most important features are the room, staff, food and accessibility. Also, customers are segmented into 15 groups, and key hotel features important for each segment are highlighted.Research limitations/implicationsIn this research, the number of repetitions of words was used to identify key hotel features, whereas sentence-based analysis or group analysis of adjacent words can be used.Practical implicationsThis study highlights key hotel features that are crucial for customers’ revisit intention and identifies related market segments that can support managers in better designing their strategies and allocating their resources.Originality/valueBy using text mining analysis, this study identifies and classifies important hotel features that are crucial for the revisit intention of customers based on the 7Ps. Methodologically, the authors suggest a comprehensive method to describe the revisit intention of hotel customers based on customer reviews.

VARIVM ET MVTABILE SEMPER FEMINA: DIVINE WARNINGS AND HASTY DEPARTURES IN ODYSSEY 15 AND AENEID 4

AbstractIn his second appearance to Aeneas in Aeneid 4 Mercury drives the hero to flee Carthage with a false allegation that Dido is planning an attack, capping his warning with an infamous sententia about the mutability of female emotion. Building on a previous suggestion that Mercury's first speech to Aeneas is modelled on Athena's admonishment of Telemachus at the opening of Odyssey 15, this article proposes that Mercury's second speech as well is modelled on Athena's warning, in which the goddess uses misdirection about Penelope's intentions and a misogynistic gnōmē about the changeability of women's affections to spur Telemachus’ departure from Sparta. After setting out how Virgil divides his imitation of Athena's speech verbally and thematically between Mercury's two speeches, the discussion turns to why both Athena and Mercury adopt these deceptive tactics. The speeches are shown to be culminations of the poets’ similar approaches to creating doubt and foreboding around the queens’ famed capacities for using δόλος. Common features in the ensuing hasty departures of Telemachus and Aeneas further confirm Virgil's use of Odyssey 15 in devising Aeneas’ escape from Carthage.

La forja de una opinión pública: Leer y escribir en Buenos Aires, 1800–1810

La forja de una opinión pública: Leer y escribir en Buenos Aires, 1800–1810

구어체적 글쓰기와 그 문제점

Student writings generally lack refinement. Lengthy and unstructured writing makes the information less coherent. It appears as speech in written form. Such writing is difficult to comprehend. The text should be “more designed, selected, and organized.”
 This study defined the problem of student writing as “the written language of spoken language.'” It was delineated as an “expression of psychology unrelated to the subject,” “unnecessary repetition of the same word,” and “strengthening of friendly functions rather than delivery of information.” Finally, it explained writing as an “instructional expression.”
 This study found that a meticulous rhetorical strategy could increase readability and persuasion. Along with that, writing education needs to be conducted in this direction. Follow-up research will discuss specific educational measures.

Typology of Speech Disfluency of Grade Ten Students of Samal National High School

This research aimed to determine the common speech disfluencies of the Grade Ten students of Samal National High School. Specifically, this study aimed to discover and describe the typology of speech disfluencies of the tenth graders. The participants of this study are grade ten students from Samal National High School. Among the 100 extemporaneous speeches of the respondents, there were 25 purposively selected speeches which were subjected to analysis. The analysis revealed ten typologies of speech disfluencies committed in speeches. These are prolongation, blocks, interjection, repetition of words, repetition of a phrase, repetition of a syllable, restart, false start, code-switching, and stuttering. The possible causes of these disfluencies are mother tongue interference, lack of knowledge of the target language, hesitation, and low vocabulary. With these, language teachers should continuously find strategies to help the students overcome or at least lessen the identified speech disfluencies in discourse and language learning.

What predicts word reading in Arabic?

Efficient and accurate word reading ability is critical for later reading success. As such, it is important to understand the component skills that underlie strong word reading ability. Although a growing research base points to the importance of phonological processing, morphological processing and orthographic processing for accurate and fluent word reading in Arabic, there are few studies that examine all three areas at one time to better understand their role in word reading. Additionally, it remains unclear whether the contribution of the various processes might differ across the early years when children are learning to read. 1,098 pupils in grades 1-3 participated in this study and took tests for phonological processing, morphological processing, orthographic processing, and word reading accuracy and fluency. According to the findings of regression analyses, the relative contribution of these underlying processes differed according to the method used to test word reading and the student's grade level. Regarding accuracy, several subscales of phonological processing and two measures of orthographic processing accounted for significant differences in word reading accuracy for first graders. For second grade students, nonword repetition, elision, and all three measures of orthographic processing accounted for variance. In third grade, elision and memory for digits, word creation and morpheme identification, and letter/sound identification and orthographic fluency were significant predictors of word reading accuracy. In terms of fluency, two subscales of phonological processing, two measures of orthographic processing, and two measures of morphological processing explained significant differences in word reading fluency for first graders. For second grade students, nonword repetition, elision, RAN-digits, isolation, segmenting and all the measures of orthographic processing and word creation explained unique variance in word reading fluency. In third grade, elision, RAN-letters, RAN-digits and phoneme isolation, all measures of orthographic processing and morphological processing, explained variance in word reading fluency. Implications and future directions in research are discussed.

Cohesion In the Texts of Arabic Textbooks Written by Indonesian Authors

Arabiyyah Li al-Hayât (ALH) is a book about learning Arabic as a second language written by non-native speakers. The State Islamic University of Malang uses this book as an Arabic learning book. This paper analyses the cohesion in the reading texts (nushush Qira‘ah) used for learning Arabic reading skills in the book. This library research uses a descriptive-qualitative approach. This study found that reading texts have several kinds of cohesion markers, both grammatical and lexical cohesion. Grammatical cohesion marker includes the use of pronoun personas and the use of conjunction markers. Lexical cohesion marker includes the use of repetition, that is, the repetition of words. The researchers also found reading texts in ALH books that lacked a relationship of greatness in them.
 Keywords: cohesion, Arabic, reading skill, non-native speaker

The impact of patient factors and tumor characteristics on language neuroplasticity in left hemispheric diffuse gliomas prior to surgical resection

Language networks are reorganized during glioma growth, leading to varying language performance in patients with gliomas located inor around language-eloquent areas. Therefore, pre-treated language performance reflects the neuroplasticity potential. Different domains of language processing, such as speech expression, repetition, and comprehension, involving different neural networks. We analyzed the effects of patient factors and tumor characteristics on the pre-treated performance to investigate neuroplastic potential of different language domains. Patient age, sex, education level, tumor grade, language pathway involvement, T1 contrast enhanced (C+), and FLAIR (T2) volume were selected as variables. The correlation with abnormal language performance was verified using univariate and multivariate logistic regression. In total, 104 left hemispheric gliomapatients were enrolled in this study. 44% of patients had repetitive abnormalities, 34.9% had comprehensive abnormalities, and 32.1% had expressive abnormalities. The proportion of normal language performance was 60% in grade 2 and 3 gliomas and 16% in grade 4 gliomas. Tumor grade (p = 0.006) and T2 volume (p = 0.008) were associated with abnormal performance in the expressive domain, education level (p = 0.004) and T1 C+ volume (p = 0.049) in the repetitive domain, and education level (p = 0.013), T2 volume (p = 0.011), and tumor grade (p = 0.089) in the comprehensive domain. Different clinical and radiological factors affected the abnormal performance of the three language domains, indicating their functional connectivity and neuroplastic potential are inherently varied. The dynamic interactions between patient factors, tumor characteristics, and language processing should be considered when resecting left hemispheric gliomas.

Comparative analysis of various feature extraction techniques for classification of speech disfluencies

Speech plays a vital role in communication, from expressing oneself, to utilizing speech-based platforms, speech is a necessity. Any disruption in speech is referred to as disfluency, and can impact one's quality of life. This paper presents an experimental study on various techniques for the detection and classification of speech disfluencies. Six different types of disfluencies are examined in this paper, namely Interjection, Sound Repetition, Word Repetition, Phrase Repetition, Revision and Prolongation (6 classes). However, this paper also goes a step further by including the clean speech signals as an added class alongside the six disfluencies, thereby making this work more robust with 7 classes. Various machine learning approaches have been investigated on the University College London Archive of Stuttered Speech (UCLASS) dataset; a standard disfluency dataset generated by University College London (UCL). Five different feature extraction techniques viz. Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC), Linear Predictive Cepstral Coefficients (LPCC), Gammatone Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (GFCC), Mel-filterbank energy features, and Spectrograms have been used. Comparative analysis of various classifiers shows that MFCC, GFCC, and Spectrograms achieved greater than 90% accuracy on both 6 and 7 classes with the kNN classifier. As a future scope to this study, the authors aim to focus on tackling the challenges of detecting multiple disfluencies present simultaneously in a speech sample.

Situation of the Practice of Mother Tongues in Cameroon and Proposal of Methods Aimed at Facilitating Their Learning

The purpose of this study was to highlight the situation of the practice of mother tongue in Cameroon in order to provide the community with a relevant technique capable of facilitating its teaching-learning in the neediest areas. For this, the work was jointly carried out in the field and indoors. Indoors, it was a question of refining the approaches as well as the means of their application, of processing the results obtained, then of writing the final report. In the field, it was a matter of communicating about the project and carrying out the tests. Many facts emerge from this study. Thus, the closer you get to rural areas, the more the mother tongue is used, and vice versa. In both rural and urban areas, the mother tongue is used much more in families with low purchasing power. In detail, however, people from the Northern part of Cameroon (Adamaoua, Far North, and North), regardless of their area of ​​residence (in their Region of origin or not), are those who speak the maternal language the most. Many endogenous and exogenous factors can disturb the expected results; here we can cite education, the consideration attributed to ancestral culture, and the motivation of children. The most appropriate technique in urban areas to improve the practice of the mother tongue within families is that based on the alphabet (APAA); this approach can be beneficially combined with that based on the repetition of sentences and words by children without bonuses (AARPSB). It is all the more relevant as it also offers parents the opportunity to improve while supporting their children. Overall, the vast majority of parents were flattered by this project.

Comparing the efficiency of speech and language therapy and transcranial magnetic stimulation for treating Broca's aphasia

ObjectivesAphasia is an acquired language-cognitive disorder that highly affects an individual's speech, language, and communication skills. Recovery from aphasia requires attentive treatment since it is a long and dynamic process. This study aimed to show interactive benefits of combining classical intervention strategies with new technological approaches and demonstrating their effectiveness. Materials and methodsA total of 40 individuals with Broca's aphasia were included in the study. The participants were divided into Application-1 Speech and Language Therapy, Application-2 Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, Application-3 (consecutive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and Speech and Language Therapy), and Application-4 (Control Group) experimental groups, with 10 participants in each group. ResultsAnalysis indicated that individuals in the group in which Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and Speech and Language Therapy were applied consecutively had further increases in speech fluency, repetition, and naming scores from pre-test to post-test (p<0.01). Picture naming and quality-of-life communication scores of individuals in the group in which Speech and Language Therapy was performed increased further from pre-test to post-test (p<0.01). ConclusionsThe results of the study showed a positive effect on language skills, naming scores, and participation in social life of Turkish-speaking aphasic individuals with the Speech and Language Therapy and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation methods. The use of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation alone is insufficient in this context. Although Speech and Language Therapy alone is effective in naming ability, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in addition to Speech and Language Therapy significantly increases the gain obtained with therapies.

Oral Diadochokinetic Performance on Perceptual and Acoustic Measures for Typically Developing Cantonese-Speaking Preschool Children.

This study investigated native Cantonese-speaking preschool children's diadochokinetic performance, including rate, accuracy, and regularity. The second aim of this study was to examine whether language-specific patterns exist by comparing diadochokinetic rates with the average DKK rate for native English speakers. Sixty-four typically developing preschool children who were native Cantonese speakers participated. The diadochokinetic task administered to the children involved repetitions of monosyllabic, disyllabic, and trisyllabic words and nonsense words. The maximum performance of the children was compared by diadochokinetic rate (number of syllables per second), accuracy (percentage of matched production), and regularity (pairwise variability indexes, known as PVIs). Monosyllabic units were produced faster, more accurately, and more regularly than multisyllabic units. Word repetition showed higher accuracy and generally lower regularity than nonsense words but similar rates. Older children were faster and more regular (higher raw PVI of initial consonants) than younger children, but younger children performed as accurately as them. When compared with data from English speakers, the diadochokinetic rates of Cantonese children were generally lower. Developmental progression was evident in terms of rate and regularity. The distinctive accuracy and regularity patterns between word and nonsense word repetition suggest a clinical value for both stimulus types. Language typology plays a role in diadochokinetic rate, supporting the use of language-specific reference data in practice. The typical diadochokinetic profile obtained in this study could serve as a clinical reference for speech motor assessments.

Clinical practice of childhood apraxia of speech in Hong Kong: A web-based survey study.

A survey study on clinical practice not only provides insight into the implementation of knowledge, but also informs future investigations. There is a limited understanding of childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) in Cantonese speakers. This study examined the clinical practice of CAS in Hong Kong and discussed future directions of research for better evidence-based practice. Qualified Hong Kong pediatric speech-language pathologists (SLPs) completed the online questionnaire, which had a total of 48 questions regarding their knowledge of and experience with CAS in Cantonese speakers, including assessment, diagnosis, and treatment. Seventy-seven responses were received from Hong Kong SLPs. Most of the SLPs (83.2%) rated their understanding of CAS as either "a little" or "fair". About half (53.2%) of the respondents had worked with children with CAS. No standardized assessment or objective/quantitative measures were used clinically. Instead, seven assessment tasks, including imitation of polysyllabic words and speech and language samples were used commonly. Perceptual judgment of clinical features is still the most popular approach for diagnosis, with a variety of lists in use. Of concern was that, in addition to using some evidence-based approaches, local SLPs treated CAS using approaches that have limited evidence, in the context of less treatment frequency, targeting both speech and language skills within the same session, and with only partial implementation of the approaches. The results suggest that the understanding of CAS among local SLPs requires attention. One reason for this is that evidence regarding the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of Cantonese speakers with CAS is still limited. Future investigations are needed.