Category: PDFs

PDF #156 – Building a shared world: Mapping distributional to model-theoretic semantic spaces

In this paper, we introduce an approach to automatically map a standard distributional semantic space onto a set-theoretic model. We predict that there is a functional relationship between distributional information and vectoral concept representations in which dimensions are predicates and weights are generalized quantifiers.

In order to test our prediction, we learn a model of such relationship over a publicly available dataset of feature norms annotated with natural language quantifiers. Our initial experimental results show that, at least for domain-specific data, we can indeed map between formalisms, and generate high-quality vector representations which encapsulate set overlap information. We further investigate the generation of natural language quantifiers from such vectors.

In recent years, the complementarity of distributional and formal semantics has become increasingly evident. While distributional semantics (Turney and Pantel, 2010; Clark, 2012; Erk, 2012) has proved very successful in modelling lexical effects such as graded similarity and polysemy, it clearly has difficulties accounting for logical phenomena which are well covered by model-theoretic semantics (Grefenstette, 2013).

A number of proposals have emerged from these considerations, suggesting that an overarching semantics integrating both distributional and formal aspects would be desirable (Coecke et al., 2011; Bernardi et al., 2013; Grefenstette, 2013; Baroni et al., 2014a; Garrette et al., 2013; Beltagy et al., 2013; Lewis and Steedman, 2013). We will use the term ‘Formal Distributional Semantics’ (FDS) to refer to such proposals. This paper follows this line of work, focusing on one central question: the formalization of the systematic dependencies between lexical and set-theoretic levels

After reading “Model-Theoretic Semantic Spaces” you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs, and visit my YouTube channel.

PDF #155 – Talk, Talk, Talk 2: Speaking-Practice Textbook for Intermediate & Advanced Students

Talk, Talk, Talk 2 – Speaking-Practice Textbook for Intermediate & Advanced Students.

These books include 60 lessons that provide intermediate and advanced students with the opportunity to practice some of the most common types of questions and discussions that English speakers engage in.

In the early lessons, students answer a variety of questions, including wh-questions, but later the structure of the lessons forces them to generate their own questions.

A wide range of functions are covered in these books, including the following: stating excuses, identifying priorities, providing reasons, agreeing and disagreeing, explaining differences, describing qualifications, talking about stereotypes, explaining proverbs, arguing for certain positions, and many more. These books provide a firm foundation for students who want to participate in spirited discussions. A teacher’s guide is available for this series.

When choosing the best ESL textbooks for the classroom- a few things were taken into consideration.

Think about these factors when seeking out textbooks in the future!

Do these people know what they’re talking about?

Each one of these books was written by a professional (or multiple professionals) that’s been in the English teaching business for a very long time! They know their stuff and have lots to offer. They know the needs of both new teachers, who are just getting started, and well-seasoned teachers, who are looking for a way to spice up their existing curriculum.

How is this book specialized for children or for adults?

The list is broken down into two different categories: Textbooks that were either specially made for kids or have characteristics that would work well with children, and textbooks that were designed to accommodate older and adult students. The authors of these books understand that teaching kids and adults have their unique challenges and therefore have created textbooks specializing on one group or the other.

Is this book flexible?

In today’s classroom, flexibility is a must. Gone are the days of teaching out of a textbook for the entire class period. Gone are the days where it’s believed that every student is at the same learning level. We know that teaching and learning are more rounded experiences that must be filled with activity and variety in order to maximize learning. With that in mind, each of these textbooks is extra-flexible, and meant to be used and consulted when needed in different situations. It’s not necessary to do every single chapter in order for them to be used effectively!

After reading “Talk, Talk, Talk 2” you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs, and visit my YouTube channel.

PDF #154 – The Grammar and Lexis of Conversational Informal English in Advanced Textbooks

The field of foreign language teaching has undergone many fluctuations and dramatic shifts over the centuries. As opposed to physics or chemistry where progress is more or less steady, it is a field where fads and heroes have come and gone in a manner fairly consistent with what occurs in youth culture.

I believe that one reason for this almost random change is the fact that very
few language teachers have even the vaguest sense of history about their profession. They are unclear concerning the historical bases of the many methodological options they currently have at their disposal.

It is hoped that this brief and necessarily oversimplified survey will encourage many language teachers to learn more about the origins of their profession. Such knowledge will give them some historical perspective that will be healthy in evaluating the so-called “innovations or “new” methods that they are frequently exposed to.

The Grammar and Lexis of Conversational Informal English in Advanced Textbooks defends the view that the acquisition of conversational English depends highly on the kind of materials available to L2 learners. The need to acquire a proficient competence in English is growing exponentially in an incessantly demanding society, but it is the oral skill, and more specifically the ability to communicate in everyday situations, that learners are calling for.

The current learning process, nonetheless, is not particularly effective, as is shown in the data collected by the Eurobarometer and published in June 2012, which shows that only 38% of the Europeans surveyed were able to maintain a conversation in English, although 67% believed it to be the most useful language to learn for personal development.

The present study supports the idea expressed in The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, which states that a language is learnt reactively, following the instructions and carrying out the activities prescribed for them by teachers and by textbooks (2001: 141).

Consequently, these materials should reflect the everyday use of informal discourse and allow learners to analyse, understand and interpret the different underlying messages conveyed by means of lexico-syntactic, as well as paralinguistic, elements.

The book is divided into seven chapters in which various different linguistic aspects of conversation are dealt with. In the opening chapters, spoken language is presented and approached as a multidimensional entity, particularly as the sum of lexico-syntactic and socio-linguistic elements.

The following chapters provide a description of the main characteristics of conversational English based on corpus-informed grammars and publications. The final chapter analyses twenty ESL textbooks in order to determine how corpus data has influenced the materials designed for the acquisition of conversational discourse.

After reading “Conversational Grammar and Lexis ” you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs, and visit my YouTube channel.

PDF #153 – Language Teaching Methods from the Greeks to Gattegno

The field of foreign language teaching has undergone many fluctuations and dramatic shifts over the centuries. As opposed to physics or chemistry where progress is more or less steady, it is a field where fads and heroes have come and gone in a manner fairly consistent with what occurs in youth culture.

PDF #152 – A Survey of Teaching Strategies in ESL Classroom

The study surveys as to what kind of teaching strategies are applied by English language teachers for the development of linguistic abilities of ESL learners at intermediate level in Pakistan. English language pedagogy keeps on exploring the ways and means of teaching second language in various strategic forms to ESL learners.

After reading “Learning an L2 in a troubled world” you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs, and visit my YouTube channel.

PDF #151 – ESL Conversation Lessons

I have been involved in the ESL/TEFL/ESOL/EFL industry for over ten years now in one capacity or another. I started out as a TEFL teacher. I undertook a month long TEFL course in Latin America and started my teaching career in a private low paying language language school that could be described as a conveyor belt of students.

PDF #150 – Vivian Cook – Going Beyond the Native Speaker in Language Teaching – University of Essex

This article argues that language teaching would benefit by paying attention to the L2 user rather than concentrating primarily on the native speaker. It suggests ways in which language teaching can apply an L2 user model and exploit the students’ L1. Because L2 users differ from monolingual native speakers in their knowledge of their L2s and L1s and in some of their cognitive processes, they should be considered as speakers in their own right, not as approximations to monolingual native speakers. In the classroom, teachers can recognize this status by incorporating goals based on L2 users in the outside world, bringing L2 user situations and roles into the classroom, deliberately using the students’ L1 in teaching activities, and looking to descriptions of L2 users or L2 learners rather than descriptions of native speakers as a source of information. The main benefits of recognizing that L2 users are speakers in the own right, however, will come from students’ and
teachers’ having a positive image of L2 users rather than seeing them as failed native speakers.

PDF #149 – H. Douglas Brown – English Language Teaching in the “Post-Method” Era: Toward Better Diagnosis, Treatment, and Assessment

In the century spanning the mid-1880s to the mid-1980s, the language teaching profession was involved in what many pedagogical experts would call a search.

PDF #148 – David Vale – Picture Grammar for Children Starter 1999

This book is a lively and colorful grammar practice series for young learners. It’s fun to use and easy to teach and is compatible with any course.

PDF #147 – New English File – Advanced Workbook with key

A complete package for teachers and students

Common European Framework of Reference C1