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1. Augmented Spanish-Persian Neural Machine Translation [Augmented Spanish-Persian Neural Machine Translation]

   https://doi.org/10.5220/0010369804820488  

   Ahmadnia, Benyamin; Aranovich, Raul (January 2021, Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Agents and Artificial Intelligence (ICAART 2021))

   null (Ed.)

   Neural Machine Translation (NMT) performs training of a neural network employing an encoder-decoder architecture. However, the quality of the neural-based translations predominantly depends on the availability of a large amount of bilingual training dataset. In this paper, we explore the performance of translations predicted by attention-based NMT systems for Spanish to Persian low-resource language pairs. We analyze the errors of NMT systems that occur in the Persian language and provide an in-depth comparison of the performance of the system based on variations in sentence length and size of the training dataset. We evaluate our translation results using BLEU and human evaluation measures based on the adequacy, fluency, and overall rating. 

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2. Strengthening Low-resource Neural Machine Translation through Joint Learning: The Case of Farsi-Spanish [Strengthening Low-resource Neural Machine Translation through Joint Learning: The Case of Farsi-Spanish]

   https://doi.org/10.5220/0010362604750481  

   Ahmadnia, Benyamin; Aranovich, Raul; Dorr, Bonnie (January 2021, Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Agents and Artificial Intelligence - Volume 1: NLPinAI)

   null (Ed.)

   This paper describes a systematic study of an approach to Farsi-Spanish low-resource Neural Machine Translation (NMT) that leverages monolingual data for joint learning of forward and backward translation models. As is standard for NMT systems, the training process begins using two pre-trained translation models that are iteratively updated by decreasing translation costs. In each iteration, either translation model is used to translate monolingual texts from one language to another, to generate synthetic datasets for the other translation model. Two new translation models are then learned from bilingual data along with the synthetic texts. The key distinguishing feature between our approach and standard NMT is an iterative learning process that improves the performance of both translation models, simultaneously producing a higher-quality synthetic training dataset upon each iteration. Our empirical results demonstrate that this approach outperforms baselines. 

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3. PARENTS AS FACILITATORS: UTILIZATION OF BILINGUAL LANGUAGING PRACTICES DURING MATHEMATICAL PROBLEM SOLVING

   Sánchez Gutiérrez, G.; Jones, S. R.; Johnson, A. R.; Méndez Pérez, K.; Burgess, C. F.; Aguilar, A.; Gómez Marchant, C. N. (March 2022, Proceedings of the 49th Annual Meeting of the Research Council on Mathematics Learning)

   Bateiha, S.; Cobbs, G. (Ed.)

   This study highlights parents’ linguistic capital and how they use specific languaging practices to facilitate their child’s learning. One bilingual family used multiple languages to facilitate their son’s learning through two mathematical tasks. Using Dominguez’ conceptual framework of bilingualism, we analyzed these conversations to look for natural units of communication and its relation towards their problem solving goals. The data shows the family would switch from English to Spanish to help their child surpass several barriers during their mathematical activities. Leveraging bilingual languaging practices can counter the deficit lens with which minoritized students are typically viewed. 

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4. Determinants of voice recognition in monolingual and bilingual listeners

   https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728919000075  

   Theodore, Rachel M.; Flanagan, Erin G. (January 2020, Bilingualism: Language and Cognition)

   Abstract Recent findings demonstrate a bilingual advantage for voice processing in children, but the mechanism supporting this advantage is unknown. Here we examined whether a bilingual advantage for voice processing is observed in adults and, if so, if it reflects enhanced pitch perception or inhibitory control. Voice processing was assessed for monolingual and bilingual adults using an associative learning identification task and a discrimination task in English (a familiar language) and French (an unfamiliar language). Participants also completed pitch perception, flanker, and auditory Stroop tasks. Voice processing was improved for the familiar compared to the unfamiliar language and reflected individual differences in pitch perception (both tasks) and inhibitory control (identification task). However, no bilingual advantage was observed for either voice task, suggesting that the bilingual advantage for voice processing becomes attenuated during maturation, with performance in adulthood reflecting knowledge of linguistic structure in addition to general auditory and inhibitory control abilities. 

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5. Bilingual attentional control: Evidence from the Partial Repetition Cost paradigm

   https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728923000731  

   deMeurisse, Grace; Kaan, Edith (October 2023, Bilingualism: Language and Cognition)

   Abstract The effects of bilingual language experience on cognitive control are still debated. A recent proposal is that being bilingual enhances attentional control. This is based on studies showing smaller effects of the nature of the preceding trial on the current trial in bilinguals (Grundy et al., 2017). However, performance on such tasks can also be accounted for by lower-level processes such as the binding and unbinding of stimulus and response features. The current study used a Partial Repetition Cost paradigm to explicitly test whether language experience can affect such processes. Results showed that bi- and monolinguals did not differ in their responses when the stimulus features were task-relevant. However, the bilinguals showed smaller partial repetition costs when the features were task-irrelevant. These findings suggest that language experience does not affect lower-level processes, and supports the view that bilinguals exhibit enhanced attentional disengagement. 

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