Top the TOEFL Leong, Kaiwen; Leong, Elaine
2015., 2015-10-09
eBook
Top the TOEFL is a TOEFL book like no other. It recognizes an essential key to the problem: students who struggle with the TOEFL have problems mastering English. Hence, while other TOEFL books teach ...strategies with long wordy explanations that hardly make sense to the average student, Top the TOEFL focuses on teaching students in the most intuitive way possible: examples.Each unit is systematically broken down to make it simple for any student to Top the TOEFL. First, "Simple Steps" are condensed at the outset for easy reference. Next begins "Elaboration with Examples" - a section where the "Simple Steps" are put into practice. The unit concludes with the "TOEFL Trainer" which divides exercises according to the "Simple Steps", allowing students a chance to directly put the strategies to practice rather than just throwing students into the deep end by providing a full set of TOEFL practice tests.Contents:Topping the Reading Section:Reading Fast and Reading WellUnlocking VocabularyStructure and Organization IStructure and Organization IIPerfect ParaphrasingSuccinct SummariesIntelligent InferencesTopping the Independent Writing Section:Toning the ToneSkeletons to SuccessBridging IdeasIntroductions Made EasyTopic SentencesStitching the Essay TogetherTopping the Integrated Writing SectionEffective Note-TakingFraming ArgumentsReadership: Students who intend to take the TOEFL test, students who intend to improve their English language capabilities.Keywords:TOEFL;English;ESL;Admissions;Test;United States;USAKey Features:Systematic breakdown of TOEFL questions with specific strategies to tackle each questionStrategies taught via direct examples instead of abstract conceptsEach unit concludes with exercises specially designed for students on how to apply the strategies
El desarrollo del lenguaje es un proceso de esencial importancia en la infancia. Sin embargo, los trastornos del lenguaje constituyen un problema frecuente durante el desarrollo de los niños, ...especialmente los denominados trastornos fonológicos. En este sentido, el estudio que se presenta muestra los resultados de una investigación realizada con escolares de 5, 6 y 7 años de edad con trastorno fonológico. Su objetivo fue comprobar los efectos que tiene un programa de intervención en el desarrollo lingüístico de niños de educación infantil y primaria, en el nivel articulatorio. Participaron en el estudio 50 escolares: 25 controles (13 niños y 12 niñas) y 25 en el grupo de intervención (19 niños y 6 niñas) y se adoptó un diseño cuasiexperimental pre-post con grupo control no equivalente. Los resultados mostraron diferencias significativas entre el grupo de tratamiento y el grupo de control, tras la aplicación del programa. Se ha demostrado, por tanto, la eficacia de este programa para mejorar las habilidades fonológicas.
Language models are increasingly attracting interest from writers. However, such models lack long-range semantic coherence, limiting their usefulness for longform creative writing. We address this ...limitation by applying language models hierarchically, in a system we call Dramatron. By building structural context via prompt chaining, Dramatron can generate coherent scripts and screenplays complete with title, characters, story beats, location descriptions, and dialogue. We illustrate Dramatron’s usefulness as an interactive co-creative system with a user study of 15 theatre and film industry professionals. Participants co-wrote theatre scripts and screenplays with Dramatron and engaged in open-ended interviews. We report reflections both from our interviewees and from independent reviewers who critiqued performances of several of the scripts to illustrate how both Dramatron and hierarchical text generation could be useful for human-machine co-creativity. Finally, we discuss the suitability of Dramatron for co-creativity, ethical considerations—including plagiarism and bias—and participatory models for the design and deployment of such tools.
In Issues in Coursebook Evaluation, Azarnoosh, Zeraatpishe, Faravani and Kargozari (Eds.) take a theory to practice approach in investigating basic topics in evaluating English language textbooks. In ...each case, theoretical foundations, specific evaluation criteria, and practical examples are presented.
O objetivo do presente estudo foi investigar como áreas corticais comprometidas por um acidente vascular encefálico (AVE) estão relacionadas com os diferentes tipos de afasia, visto que há ...controvérsias com relação à localização da lesão no cérebro e as características dos quadros de alteração da linguagem. Foram avaliados 26 indivíduos destros, portadores de lesão cérebro-vascular esquerda e de sintomas afásicos, através do protocolo de Montreal-Toulose, módulo standard inicial - versão alpha, que inclui provas de nomeação, repetição, compreensão oral, compreensão escrita e leitura, e de uma entrevista, que possibilitou a avaliação da fluência do discurso. Os sujeitos foram divididos em quatro subgrupos, de acordo com o sítio de lesão: frontal, temporal, têmporo-parietal e parietal/ parieto-occipital. Os dados foram submetidos a uma análise multidimensional (Similarity Structure Analysis SSA) e o método das variáveis externas como pontos. Os resultados revelaram uma correlação positiva alta entre lesão na área frontal e o acometimento da fluência no discurso, assim como correlações positivas altas entre lesão no lobo temporal e prejuízos em todas as habilidades avaliadas no teste: nomeação, repetição, compreensão oral, compreensão escrita e leitura, o que, até certo ponto, corrobora as idéias de estudos localizacionistas, na medida em que estabelece o papel preponderante do lobo temporal para a linguagem e a importância do lobo frontal para as praxias da fala. No entanto, nos demais subgrupos, têmporo-parietal e parietal/ parieto-occipital, se observou correlações positivas apenas com a compreensão oral e com a repetição, essa última somente no segundo grupo e com índice baixo, e correlações negativas altas com a fluência no discurso, o que sugere que esta habilidade se manteve preservada nestes grupos e fragiliza o argumento localizacionista.The aim of the present work was to investigate how cortex areas compromised by Cerebral Vascular Accident (CVA) are related to the classification of aphasia, since there are controversies about the location of the lesion in the brain and the characteristics related to variations in speech patterns. Through the Montreal-Toulose protocol, 26 right-handed persons who were affected by left cerebral-vascular lesion and have been showing aphasic symptoms have been evaluated. The Montreal-Toulose protocol, initial standard module - version alpha, includes nomination, repetition, oral comprehension, reading and writing comprehension tests as well as an interview, which allows an evaluation of the discourse fluency. The subjects were allocated into four sub-groups, according to the lesion sites: frontal, temporal, temporo-parietal and parieto-occipital. For the analysis of the data, a Multidimensional Similarity Structure Analysis (SSA) was carried out along with an external variable method. The results show a high positive correlation between the lesion in the brain's frontal lobe and difficulties in the discourse fluency as well as a high positive correlation between the lesion in the brain's temporal lobe and hindrances in all abilities tested: nomination, repetition, oral comprehension, reading and writing comprehension. It is in accordance with localizational studies, since it highlights the fundamental role of the temporal lobe for the language and the importance of the frontal lobe for the speech praxis. However, in the remaining sub-groups (temporo-parietal and parieto-occipital) there have been positive correlations only between oral comprehension and repetition, with the latter showing correlation only with the second group and presenting a low score. High negative correlations with the discourse fluency were observed. It suggests that this ability has remained preserved in those groups, which in turns weakens the localization argument.
Mean length of utterance (MLU) is a frequently used measure of the expressive language of young children. The suggested conventional, contemporary, clinical practice is to calculate it from a ...language sample of a minimum of 50 to100 contiguous intelligible utterances. This practice places considerable strain on professionals working with young children with language disorders, for it is often impractical to devote the time needed to collect, transcribe, and analyse the recommended number of utterances. This research investigated the consistency of MLU calculated across language samples of different sizes for the same children. Transcripts of expressive language samples of research participants with developmental language impairment were analysed, with MLU being calculated on samples of varying sizes. The language samples ranged from 10 to 150 utterances. Measures of statistical differences and consistency of MLU across the various language samples were examined. Results demonstrate that, on the whole, one can reliably and efficiently determine MLU on much smaller language samples than that typically recommended, although, not surprisingly, there may be notable individual differences attesting to the vicissitudes of MLU.
Top the TOEFL is a TOEFL book like no other. It recognizes an essential key to the problem: students who struggle with the TOEFL have problems mastering English. Hence, while other TOEFL books teach ...strategies with long wordy explanations that hardly make sense to the average student, Top the TOEFL focuses on teaching students in the most intuitive way possible: examples.Each unit is systematically broken down to make it simple for any student to Top the TOEFL. First, 'Simple Steps' are condensed at the outset for easy reference. Next begins 'Elaboration with Examples' - a section where the 'Simple Steps' are put into practice. The unit concludes with the 'TOEFL Trainer' which divides exercises according to the 'Simple Steps', allowing students a chance to directly put the strategies to practice rather than just throwing students into the deep end by providing a full set of TOEFL practice tests.
This paper outlines efforts from the 2005 CLEF cross– language image retrieval campaign (ImageCLEF). Aim of the CLEF track is to explore the use of both text and content–based retrieval methods for ...cross–language image retrieval. Four tasks were offered in ImageCLEF: ad–hoc retrieval from an historic photographic collection, ad–hoc retrieval from a medical collection, an automatic image annotation task, and a user–centered (interactive) evaluation task. 24 research groups from a variety of backgrounds and nationalities (14 countries) participated in ImageCLEF. This paper presents the ImageCLEF tasks, submissions from participating groups and a summary of the main findings.
Die Reihe DaZ-Forschung stellt aktuelle Forschungen zum Deutsch-als-Zweitsprache-Erwerb sowie zu Bildungschancen im Kontext von Migration und Mehrsprachigkeit in Form von Monographien oder ...Sammelbänden vor. Die Bandbreite reicht von empirischen und theoriebildenden Studien bis hin zu anwendungsbezogenen Arbeiten aus dem Kontext der Zweitspracherwerbsforschung, angewandten Linguistik, Bildungsforschung, Sprachdidaktik und Sprachförderung.
In order to facilitate effective patient identification and treatment, this paper presents a centralized AI-based support platform for individuals in Sri Lanka suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress ...Disorder (PTSD) and for counselors. The main goal of the platform is to assess the severity of patients and categorize them according to their criticality by combining acoustic features from voice recordings with content analysis from chat-bot interactions. The next step involves guiding patients through self-treatment virtual therapy exercises such as self-medication instruction, talking circles, and in-depth conversations with licensed counselors. Patients then have a last assessment with a mental health professional to see if they are ready to be released, and the session is videotaped for an AI-powered evaluation of their well-being using body language analysis. The architecture of the platform, the severity assessment methodology used, the results of the implementation, and the opportunities for improving and growing this novel PTSD support approach are all described in the paper. This platform offers valuable insights for mental health professionals and shows great promise for improving the efficacy and accessibility of PTSD treatment. Talking circles, PTSD, exposure therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and body language evaluation are some of the key terms.
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