Diagnosing cross-cultural communicative ability in English as a second language to improve language learning and social integration. This project benefits a number of stakeholders. Its main long-term benefit will be to second language learners of English in Australia, particularly migrants and international students, who are most in need of training in cross-cultural communication to facilitate their settlement in the Australian community. As a consequence, the project benefits Australia as a wh ....Diagnosing cross-cultural communicative ability in English as a second language to improve language learning and social integration. This project benefits a number of stakeholders. Its main long-term benefit will be to second language learners of English in Australia, particularly migrants and international students, who are most in need of training in cross-cultural communication to facilitate their settlement in the Australian community. As a consequence, the project benefits Australia as a whole by making migrants' skills more quickly and readily available to the labour market, and allowing them to contribute more fully to the community. The project outcomes can also be adapted for other languages and address the national research priority of safeguarding Australia by helping to enhance understanding of the region.Read moreRead less
Trauma memory and narrative structure in post-traumatic distress. The project enhances understanding of factors that maintain enduring distress and disability following traumatic experiences which have major social and financial costs to individuals, communities and to the nation. Better knowledge of these factors is central to improving early detection and refining prevention and early intervention for individuals and to help understand how communities can better manage their response to sever ....Trauma memory and narrative structure in post-traumatic distress. The project enhances understanding of factors that maintain enduring distress and disability following traumatic experiences which have major social and financial costs to individuals, communities and to the nation. Better knowledge of these factors is central to improving early detection and refining prevention and early intervention for individuals and to help understand how communities can better manage their response to severe traumatic events. The results may lead to significant refinements to efficacious psychological treatments involving exposure to emotional memories. The project's innovative approach to studying autobiographical memories will enhance Australia's internationally competitiveness in a key area within psychology.Read moreRead less
Evolution Of Knowledge: Transformations And Universals. This project has two principal benefits: A basic scientific outcome concerning the evolution of language and an applied outcome that can inform the design of graphical communication tools. The evolution of language is one of the most hotly debated issues in contemporary science, but to date it has escaped experimental examination. This project develops an experimental methodology that permits examination of the processes by which human know ....Evolution Of Knowledge: Transformations And Universals. This project has two principal benefits: A basic scientific outcome concerning the evolution of language and an applied outcome that can inform the design of graphical communication tools. The evolution of language is one of the most hotly debated issues in contemporary science, but to date it has escaped experimental examination. This project develops an experimental methodology that permits examination of the processes by which human knowledge evolves across generations of teachers and learners. In addition, by also examining the final content of evolution, and by determining what type of graphical symbols emerge out of communal evolution, the project can inform the future design of graphical communication tools (e.g., road signs).Read moreRead less
How Strict is the Mother Tongue? Using Dialects to Probe Early Speech Perception and Word Recognition. This project will 1)advance knowledge of toddler word representations and their developmental precursors; 2) contribute to theories of phonological vs phonetic properties of spoken language; 3) explain how experience with the ambient language shapes children's phonological and lexical development. Moreover, the findings will 4) offer crucial new insights into sources of developmental disorders ....How Strict is the Mother Tongue? Using Dialects to Probe Early Speech Perception and Word Recognition. This project will 1)advance knowledge of toddler word representations and their developmental precursors; 2) contribute to theories of phonological vs phonetic properties of spoken language; 3) explain how experience with the ambient language shapes children's phonological and lexical development. Moreover, the findings will 4) offer crucial new insights into sources of developmental disorders (language delay, dyslexia) leading to improved early diagnosis and treatment; 5) bear on issues of second language learning; and by understanding the process by which young learners handle dialect variability, 6) provide insights into how automatic speech recognition systems can be made more robust to dialectal and foreign accent differences.
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Development of second language phonetic and phonological categories. The majority of the world's population speaks two or more languages, yet we know little about how multiple languages are accommodated within a single speaker. Why do children appear to learn a second language 'like a native' but adults invariably develop a clearly perceptible foreign accent? This project investigates a little-known fact - adult second language speakers also 'hear' with a foreign accent. As Australia becomes inc ....Development of second language phonetic and phonological categories. The majority of the world's population speaks two or more languages, yet we know little about how multiple languages are accommodated within a single speaker. Why do children appear to learn a second language 'like a native' but adults invariably develop a clearly perceptible foreign accent? This project investigates a little-known fact - adult second language speakers also 'hear' with a foreign accent. As Australia becomes increasingly multilingual increasing our understanding of the human capacity for language learning would strengthen Australia's social and economic fabric by leading to improved educational practices, work prospects for migrants and, most importantly, understanding between cultures.Read moreRead less
A computational and experimental investigation of reading aloud: Dyslexia, disyllables, and beyond. Australia is a world leader in computational cognitive science, particularly with respect to language processing. This project will help maintain and extend this position. Insights from the project will help us understand the processes that underlie both normal reading and reading disorders, particularly in areas that are comparatively neglected yet extremely important, such as how people read wor ....A computational and experimental investigation of reading aloud: Dyslexia, disyllables, and beyond. Australia is a world leader in computational cognitive science, particularly with respect to language processing. This project will help maintain and extend this position. Insights from the project will help us understand the processes that underlie both normal reading and reading disorders, particularly in areas that are comparatively neglected yet extremely important, such as how people read words of more than one syllable. Given that everyone in Australian needs to learn to read and that acquired and developmental disorders of reading are common, providing the theoretical base on which the processes involved in reading can be understood (and hence learnt and remediated most effectively) is of utmost importance.Read moreRead less
From Talking Heads to Thinking Heads: A Research Platform for Human Communication Science. In this project current Talking Head technology will be taken into the realm of a high-fidelity Thinking Head, with implications and applications for basic and applied research. Outcomes will bear on human-machine communication, telecommunications, e-commerce, and mobile phone technology; personalised aids for disabled users, the hearing impaired, the elderly, and children with learning difficulties, forei ....From Talking Heads to Thinking Heads: A Research Platform for Human Communication Science. In this project current Talking Head technology will be taken into the realm of a high-fidelity Thinking Head, with implications and applications for basic and applied research. Outcomes will bear on human-machine communication, telecommunications, e-commerce, and mobile phone technology; personalised aids for disabled users, the hearing impaired, the elderly, and children with learning difficulties, foreign language learning; and will facilitate the development of animation in new media, film, and games. In addition to output in scholarly journals, beta-versions of the Head will be made available, and public visibility for the project will be facilitated by the incorporation of high-profile installations and exhibitions.Read moreRead less
Phonological development in child speakers of mixed language. In Northern Territory Aboriginal communities where traditional languages are mostly spoken fluently by older people, the home language for many children is a kind of mixed language combining elements of traditional languages, Kriol and English. This project will document for the first time the sound system of this language, and investigate how children's background knowledge of this sound system prepares them to learn words in English ....Phonological development in child speakers of mixed language. In Northern Territory Aboriginal communities where traditional languages are mostly spoken fluently by older people, the home language for many children is a kind of mixed language combining elements of traditional languages, Kriol and English. This project will document for the first time the sound system of this language, and investigate how children's background knowledge of this sound system prepares them to learn words in English and traditional languages. This information is important because it can help parents, teachers and speech pathologists assess and teach Aboriginal children from mixed language backgrounds.Read moreRead less
A longitudinal study of the interaction of home and school language in three Aboriginal communities. The importance of language skills cannot be underestimated, and contribute to 'a healthy start to life'. In multilingual Indigenous communities, children must negotiate the complexities of different languages used for different purposes. This project will provide detailed insights into how children manage differences between home and school language, the kinds of problems they encounter when the ....A longitudinal study of the interaction of home and school language in three Aboriginal communities. The importance of language skills cannot be underestimated, and contribute to 'a healthy start to life'. In multilingual Indigenous communities, children must negotiate the complexities of different languages used for different purposes. This project will provide detailed insights into how children manage differences between home and school language, the kinds of problems they encounter when they enter the school system, and how their languages develop over the first four crucial years of school which provide the foundation for the children's future education. Their ability to manage the language of school underpins their ability to lead successful and engaged lives as adults. Read moreRead less