Mathematical approaches to comparative linguistics.

Institute for Research in Cognitive Science Mathematical Approaches to Comparative Linguistics Tandy Warnow

A Comparative Study of Effect of Bottom-up and Top-down Instructional Approaches on EFL Learners’ Vocabulary Recall and Retention

This quasi-experimental study investigated the effect of bottom-up and top-down instructional approaches on English as a foreign language (EFL) vocabulary recall and retention. To this end, 44 high school students from two intact classes were assigned to bottom-up (n = 21) and top-down (n = 23) groups. The participants were exposed to 20 hours of explicit vocabulary instruction during 10 weeks ...

Qualitative and Quantitative Examination of Text Type Readabilities: A Comparative Analysis

This study compared 2 main approaches to readability assessment. Thequantitative approach applied idea density based on part of speech tagging andcompared 3 sets of text types (i.e., narrative, expository, and argumentative) withrespect to their ease of reading. The qualitative approach was done throughdeveloping questionnaires measuring intermediate EFL learners’ perceptions oncontent, motivat...

Comparative Study of Nominalization in Applied Linguistics and Biology Books

This study explored nominalized expression types in an applied linguistics book and a biology book as 2 distinct disciplines. The books were carefully read, the nominalized expression types were identified, the frequencies of the nominalization types were counted, and eventually chi-square was administered. Results revealed no significant difference in using nominalization. Furthermore, the den...

A Comparative Study of Generic Structure of Applied Linguistics and Chemistry Research Articles: The Case of Discussions

This genre-based study investigated the cross-disciplinary variations in the rhetorical structure of the Discussion sections of 104 applied linguistics and chemistry research articles (RAs), drawing upon Basturkmen’s (2009, 2012) framework and taking into account the new insights proposed by Bhatia (2004), Shehzad (2008), and Lim (2012). To this end, in addition to collecting quantitative data ...

Institute for Research in Cognitive Science Mathematical Approaches to Comparative Linguistics

The inference of the evolutionary history of a set of languages is a complex problem Although some languages are known to be related through descent from common ancestral languages for other languages determining whether such a relationship holds is itself a di cult problem In this paper we report on new methods developed by linguists Johanna Nichols Berkeley Donald Ringe Penn and Ann Taylor Pe...