Abstracts - Earli

A model of basic literacy for foreign language learningLynn Erler, Oxford University, United KingdomFindings from empirical research with middle school learners of French as a foreign language inEngland have revealed underlying problems with their basic literacy in French which may be dueto the prevailing communicative language teaching methodology used by their teachers. In a seriesof projects carried out by the author of this paper it was found that key skills needed for decodingfrom written to spoken language were weak and that this virtual language impairment causedstudents to feel unhappy about learning the language (Erler 2004). This paper briefly reviews thesefindings and from them proposes a model of basic literacy when learning a foreign language. Thispaper represents a partial response to Bernhardt’s (2005) call for a comprehensive a model ofsecond language (L2) reading comprehension: the model conceptualises L2 reading processes atpre-lexical and lexical levels and includes the roles played by the L1 at this level. The modeldraws on work by connectionist theorists (Seidenberg & McClelland 1989) as well as traditionaldual-route models of access from cognitive psychology (Eysenck 2001). The reading disabilities inFrench which result from students’ deficits in basic literacy skills will be demonstrated in theproposed model and supported by findings from research with 12-year old students.. In the light ofthese respondents’ self-report experiences and in conjunction with models of memory drawn fromBaddeley (1986, Gathercole & Baddeley 2001) the potential usefulness of this L2 word accessmodel for teachers and curriculum development will be argued.Learning interactions with artificial intelligences: a fallibilist perspectiveJames Aczel, The Open University, United KingdomAfter many false starts, the potential advantages of artificial intelligence for education are startingto appear. It remains in question, though, whether current theoretical frameworks are adequate forunderstanding processes of learning with artificial intelligence. This paper re-examines a recentstudy of children telling stories in collaboration with a virtual conversational agent, in which it wasfound that children who played with the agent told stories with more linguistically advancedcharacteristics than the stories of children who played with a friend. Conventional explanations interms of "scaffolding" or that portray the agent as a "tool" seems to have limited predictivepotential. It is argued that a fallibilist philosophy offers the potential of new insights and testablehypotheses in relation to such learning interactions with virtual peers.The development of the categorization ability in children age 8 to 12Tatjana Taraszow, Knowledge Media Research Center, Tübingen, GermanyYiannis Laouris, Cyprus Neuroscience & Technology Institiute, CyprusCategorization is fundamental in prediction, inference, decision making and in all kinds ofinteraction with our environment. It has also been suggested that categorization based onprototypes is the basis for human development, and that such learning relies on learning about theworld via embodiment. Finally, categorization may also play an important role in the way thebrain calls and engages schemata when interacting with, and integrating new knowledge. Despiteits great importance, this mental ability has not yet been systematically studied using moderntechnologies. Although there are different theories that attempt to explain the underlyingmechanisms we lack extensive developmental and correlation data upon which to base or to testcompeting theories. Within this context, the purpose of our study was to evaluate the ability ofchildren of different ages to categorize different classes of objects. In addition, the study aimed to– 698 –