Reese Heitner

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English language proficiency requirements in university conditional admission

Journal of Academic Language and Learning, Oct 22, 2021

Application of Confirmatory Factor Analysis in Construct Validity Investigation: The Case of the Grammar Sub-Test of the CEP Placement Exam

An important assumption in language testing is that test items or observable variables tap the un... more An important assumption in language testing is that test items or observable variables tap the underlying latent traits hypothesized in the theoretical model or constructs governing the design of the testing instrument (e.g., Shin, 2005). Accordingly, the present study sought to investigate the extent to which scores from the grammar sub-test of the Columbia University Community English Program (CEP) placement test could be interpreted as indicators of test takers’ grammatical knowledge. The authors adopted Pupura’s (2004) theoretical model of grammatical knowledge, which hypothesizes that grammatical knowledge consists of two underlying traits of form and meaning. To this end, the authors conducted a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to investigate whether there is a match between the CEP grammar test data (n= 144) and the theoretical model as hypothesized. Since the test items were not discrete point but were nested within one of four tasks (each with their own theme), by endorsi...

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Revisiting Roger Brown’s "Original Word Game": An Experimental Approach to the Pseudo-Semantic Basis of Language-Specific Speech Perception in Late Infancy

Recent experimental research in developmental phonology confinns that within their first year, in... more Recent experimental research in developmental phonology confinns that within their first year, infants demonstrate language-sp~ific patterns of speech perception discrimination. Data, however, outpaces theory in this line of research. For wtaile it is clear that this transition is related to the particular linguistic environment of the infant, it remains obscure whether mere acoustic exposure to-as opposed to interpretive expe~qenee with-the target language is sufficient to support he details of this development. The logical dynamic language-specific allophonic variation imposes on phonological development is integrated into an account of the transition from language-general to language-specific stxx~h perception obsen,ed mthin the first year of infancy. An experiment, reminiscent of Brown’s "Original Word Game", but specifically designed to test the "cognitive " hsq~othesis that 8- to 10-month old subjects can exploit nascent sixx~ch-referent pairs to bootstrap ...

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Views into the Chinese Room: New Essays on Searle and Artificial Intelligence : John Preston and Mark Bishop, eds., Views into the Chinese Room: New Essays on Searle and Artificial Intelligence, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2002, xvi + 410, ISBN 0-19-925277-7 (Book Reviews)

Minds and Machines, Feb 1, 2005

Roger Brown’s ‘Original Word Game’

Oxford Handbooks Online, 2014

From a Phono-Logical Point of View: Neutralizing Quine’s Argument Against Analyticity

Synthese, 2006

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The cyclical ontogeny of ontology: an integrated developmental account of object and speech categorization

Philosophical Psychology, 2004

ABSTRACT

An Integrated Theory of Linguistic Descriptions [1964]

The Philosophical Forum, 2003

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Views into the Chinese Room: New Essays on Searle and Artificial Intelligence

Minds and Machines, 2005

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Book Review: Language, Brain and Cognitive Development: Essays in Honor of Jacques Mehler

Minds and Machines, 2000

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Brackets and slashes, stars and dots: understanding the notation of linguistic types

Language Sciences, 2003

The standard by which token expressions are classified as linguistically type equivalent has pers... more The standard by which token expressions are classified as linguistically type equivalent has persistently attracted both philosophical speculation and linguistic inquiry. Yet while psychophysical, perceptual, structural and semantic accounts have all competed for preeminence, one problem affects every theoretical position: how to actually refer to a linguistic type. The notational technique of phonetic brackets and phonemic slash bars, while developed and deployed within linguistics, was also independently conceived of by the philosopher Wilfrid Sellars [Philosoph. Stud. 1 (1950) 24] in the form of his ''star'' and better known ''dot'' quotes. This convergence between phonological theory and philosophical semantics, and the significance of a concretized notation for referring to linguistic types, is highlighted by relating the Descriptivist failure to ''reduce the phoneme'' within American Structural linguistics to the philosophical challenge (Quine, W.V. 1953. From a Logical Point of View. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA) to provide a non-semantic reduction of analytic equivalence. #

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An odd couple: Chomsky and Quine on reducing the phoneme

Language Sciences, 2005

Though typically viewed as if in diametrical opposition, W.V. Quine-arguably one of the most stri... more Though typically viewed as if in diametrical opposition, W.V. Quine-arguably one of the most strident anti-mentalistic philosophers in contemporary philosophy of language-and Noam Chomsky have both explicitly defended the behavioral ''paired-utterance test'' as a non-semantic definition of basic phonemic equivalence. Indeed, consistent with some standard neo-Bloomfieldian reservations regarding semantics generally, and his own commitment to the autonomy of phonology, ChomskyÕs early rejection of a semantic-based phonology in favor of a behavioral reduction of phonemic equivalence is virtually indistinguishable from QuineÕs own intermittent behaviorist remarks on the phoneme. There are, of course, important philosophical, linguistic and even personal reasons for this seemingly odd convergence. Indeed, just as significant as the misleading claim to have provided a non-semantic criterion for basic phonological equivalence (given that native informants inevitably rely upon, albeit their own, semantic knowledge) is a linguistic historiography so concentrated so as to permit such a convergence between two towering figures in linguistics and the philosophy of language. The phoneme, in addition to dividing similar-minded linguists, could also unite otherwise incompatible language theorists too.

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Is Design Relative or Real? Dennett on Intentional Relativism and Physical Realism

Minds and Machines, 2000

Dennett's intended rapprochement between physical realism and intentional relativism fails b... more Dennett's intended rapprochement between physical realism and intentional relativism fails because it is premised upon conflicting arguments governing the status of design. Indeed, Dennett's remarks on design serve to highlight tensions buried deep within his theory. For inasmuch as Dennett succeeds in objectifying attributions of design, attributions of intentionality readily follow suit, leading to a form of intentional realism. But

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Preface/vii

aaai.org

Dennis Ross, Andrew Brook, and David Thompson, eds., Dennett's Philosophy: A Comprehensive Assessment

Minds and Machines, 2002

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Revisiting Roger Brown's "Original Word Game": An Experimental Approach to the Pseudo-Semantic Basis of Language-Specific Speech Perception in Late Infancy

Recent experimental research in developmental phonology confinns that within their first year, in... more Recent experimental research in developmental phonology confinns that within their first year, infants demonstrate language-sp~ific patterns of speech perception discrimination. Data, however, outpaces theory in this line of research. For wtaile it is clear that this transition is related to the particular linguistic environment of the infant, it remains obscure whether mere acoustic exposure to-as opposed to interpretive expe~qenee with-the target language is sufficient to support the details of this development. The logical dynamic languagespecific allophonic variation imposes on phonological development is integrated into an account of the transition from language-general to language-specific stxx~h perception obsen,ed mthin the first year of infancy. An experiment, reminiscent of Brown's "Original Word Game", but specifically designed to test the "cognitive" hsq~othesis that 8-to 10-month old subjects can exploit nascent sixx~ch-referent pairs to bootstrap phonological development is proposed.

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