LANGUAGE RESEARCH IN SERVICE TO THE NATION BUREAU FOR INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE CO-ORDINATION BUREAU DE COORDINATION LINGUISTIQUE INTERNATIONALE Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLIFLC) October 18, 2011 Richard Brecht, PhD Executive Director University of Maryland Center for Advanced Study of Language 1
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LANGUAGE RESEARCH IN SERVICE TO THE NATION
BUREAU FOR INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE CO-ORDINATION
BUREAU DE COORDINATION LINGUISTIQUE INTERNATIONALE
Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLIFLC)
October 18, 2011Richard Brecht, PhDExecutive DirectorUniversity of Maryland Center for Advanced Study of Language1
LANGUAGE RESEARCH IN SERVICE TO THE NATION
Unique UARC Mission/Role
CASL is charged to deliver independent, empirically-based research solutions that:• Improve the human-centric components of military and intelligence
operations that include language performance, analysis and culture• Underpin leadership decisions on language readiness for the
warfighter and the intelligence analysts who support them• Elevate language to the stature of math and science as an IC & DoD
core capability
CASL is the only University Affiliated Research Center devoted to the study of language
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LANGUAGE RESEARCH IN SERVICE TO THE NATION
UARCs
• Essential research, development and engineering "core" capabilities
• Maintain long-term strategic relationships with their DoD sponsors
• Operate in the public interest, free from real or perceived conflicts of interest
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LANGUAGE RESEARCH IN SERVICE TO THE NATION
CASL Core Competencies
• Foreign languages and dialects
• Linguistics
• Disciplines relevant to analysis and critical thinking (cognitive & neurological sciences)
• Disciplines relevant to the manipulation, use, and sharing of information of varying quantities & diverse forms (tools & technologies, Human-Computer Interaction)
• Morphological parsers: Grammars in Bangla, Urdu, and Pashto already imported into morphological parser and being used by USG professionals nation-wide
• Automatic tools for language analysis: Did You Mean? In Urdu and two dialects of Arabic
• Compendium of key words in 19 dialects of Arabic
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LANGUAGE RESEARCH IN SERVICE TO THE NATION
Cognitive Science for Improved Candidate Selection, Diagnostic Profiling and Curriculum Adaptation
Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLIFLC)
October 18, 2011Amy Weinberg, PhDDeputy Executive DirectorUniversity of Maryland Center for Advanced Study of Language
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LANGUAGE RESEARCH IN SERVICE TO THE NATION
Presentation Structure
• Predicting Language Success and Diagnosing Individual Differences:– Executive Function– Hi-LAB: Cognitive predictors of high level language
aptitude– ALAB: Applications to assessing aptitude for learning
English– Cognitive Profiling
• Improving Readiness to Learn:– Working memory abilities can be improved through
training• Individualized Curricula
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Predicting Language Success
LANGUAGE RESEARCH IN SERVICE TO THE NATION
A Causal Model of Language Proficiency
Cognitive and perceptual components associated with language aptitude and proficiency
the working memory system
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LANGUAGE RESEARCH IN SERVICE TO THE NATION
Executive Function: Working Memory• Active information storage that allows
attention to be focused for the purpose of higher level combination, reasoning, or other subsequent processing.
• Decays quickly
• Varies among individuals
• Affects language processing (e.g. error recovery)
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LANGUAGE RESEARCH IN SERVICE TO THE NATION
Instructions:Monitor the identity of a series of letters and
indicate when the current letter is the same as the one presented 2 trials previously
Afghan-LAB: Aptitude For EnglishNATO and DLIELC Requirement Need aptitude instrument to better predict language learning success in the DLIELC-Afghan program
RelevanceNeed better readiness for follow-on training and moreDLIELC graduates meeting graduation requirements
SolutionQuick fix for immediate implementation followed by more rigorously developed test27
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Executive Function: Induction
Induction
Ability to infer a general conclusion from particular instances.
Induction in the language domain
Ability to infer the rules generating language patterns (word or sentence structure)
LANGUAGE RESEARCH IN SERVICE TO THE NATION
Content of the ALAB
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Non-linguistic tests assess aptitude for learning
Linguistic tests assess aptitude for language learning
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Content of the ALAB: Raven’s Test
Choose the picture that completes the large pattern
LANGUAGE RESEARCH IN SERVICE TO THE NATION
Content of the ALAB
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Non-linguistic tests assess aptitude for learning
Linguistic tests assess aptitude for language learning
LANGUAGE RESEARCH IN SERVICE TO THE NATION
Linguistic Tests
• ALAB has two linguistic tests: Language Analysis and Words in Sentences
• In addition to the ALAB instructions, language and cultural concepts must be adapted and translated.
• Language Analysis: required transliteration of an artificial language from Roman to Arabic
• Direct assessment of linguistic ability
LANGUAGE RESEARCH IN SERVICE TO THE NATION
Example: Language Analysis Test• Word list:
zorit..............................the farmervolip.............................the workerzorit volipu pigom........The farmer pushed the worker.
•Exercise:
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The worker pushed the farmer.
A. zoritu volip pigom
B. volip zoritu pigom
C. zorit volip pigom
D. volip zorit pigom
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Cognitive Profiling
LANGUAGE RESEARCH IN SERVICE TO THE NATION
LANGUAGE RESEARCH IN SERVICE TO THE NATION
Improving Readiness to Learn
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Behavioral Working Memory Training Study
Goal: Test if training gains transfer to untrained measures of attention, language, and reasoning
Pre-testing Training (N = 47)(20 hours training)
Post-Testing
Follow-up
Training Condition
Control Condition
5 Weeks 3 Months
Pre-testing No Contact (N = 45) Post-testing
Follow-up
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Improvements on Training Tasks
Do training gains transfer to measures of sentence reinterpretation?
n-back task
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Accuracy on Comprehension Questions:“Did the thief hide himself?”
Pretest Posttest
Pro
port
ion
of E
rror
s
*
ns
Ambiguous
Unambiguous
ns
ns
*
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fMRI activation: PreTraining
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Pre-training brain activation in the high memory load condition for the vsWM and the placebo control group. Panel A shows the vsWM group, and panel B shows the placebo control group. Panel C shows the β values for the right and left IPL.
No difference in activation prior to training
LANGUAGE RESEARCH IN SERVICE TO THE NATION
fMRI activation: PostTraining
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Less diffuse activation following working memory training
Post-training minus pre-training BOLD brain activation in the high memory load condition for the vsWM and the placebo control group. Panel A shows the Post-Pre for the vsWM group, and panel B shows the Post-Pre for the placebo control group. Panel C shows Placebo control minus the vsWM Post-Pre. Panel D shows the β values for the right and left IPL.
LANGUAGE RESEARCH IN SERVICE TO THE NATION
Individualized Curricula
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LANGUAGE RESEARCH IN SERVICE TO THE NATION
Aptitude-by-Treatment Interaction
Problem
Individuals who are already selected for intelligence and motivation and have attained functional ability need to acquire higher levels of language
Solution
Match cognitive aptitude profile to language training procedures to optimize training and boost outcome levels