This study investigated how the mode in which the reading-writing integrated continuation task was conducted modulates the effects of second language(L2) syntactic alignment, through the English motion event construct...This study investigated how the mode in which the reading-writing integrated continuation task was conducted modulates the effects of second language(L2) syntactic alignment, through the English motion event construction with manner verbs. Ninety Chinese students were assigned to either of the two experimental groups or a control group, and they all experienced a pretest, an alignment phase and a posttest. In the alignment phase, the two experimental groups completed a reading-writing integrated continuation task but in different modes. For the multi-turn mode,participants reconstructed a picture story by continuing the episodes extracted from the story with one episode presented and continued at a time;for the single-turn mode, the first half of the same picture story was presented as a chunk, and then participants read and continued it. Results show that L2 learners aligned with the target structure in completing the story, and the alignment effect was retained in the posttest conducted after a delay of two weeks. Moreover, syntactic alignment was modulated by task mode with the multi-turn group exhibiting stronger immediate and longterm alignment effects. We conclude that the continuation task is a fruitful context for L2 structural alignment, and the magnitude of alignment effect hinges on interactive intensity.展开更多
Based on the xu-argument, this study investigated the use of translation continuation tasks in commercial translation instruction. Forty-four second-year Business English majors at a Chinese university participated in...Based on the xu-argument, this study investigated the use of translation continuation tasks in commercial translation instruction. Forty-four second-year Business English majors at a Chinese university participated in the study. They were divided into equal-sized control and experimental groups. Members of the experimental group were asked to read Chinese-English parallel texts from a user manual, while those of the control group were asked to read the Chinese text only.Subsequently, both groups were required to translate the continued Chinese text into English. The results indicated the following: 1) the experimental group’s translated text was of significantly higher quality than that of the control group;and 2) the experimental group’s translations were well-aligned with the original text in their use of terminology, sentence structure, and stylistic features. The study concludes by suggesting that translation continuation tasks can improve commercial translation instruction and hence should be further applied in practice.展开更多
This study aims to uncover the relationship between interaction and alignment in a readingspeaking integrated continuation task, especially focusing on whether an increase in interaction intensity can lead to stronger...This study aims to uncover the relationship between interaction and alignment in a readingspeaking integrated continuation task, especially focusing on whether an increase in interaction intensity can lead to stronger alignment and further generate positive effects on L2 learning. To this end, 31 participants were asked to perform reading-speaking integrated continuation tasks under three different conditions featuring low, medium and high interaction intensity respectively. The results showed that 1) alignment existed in the reading-speaking integrated continuation task;2)increasing interaction intensity generated stronger alignment at both linguistic and situational levels;3) growing interaction intensity contributed to more coherent and accurate L2 oral production. These findings not only proved the workings of mind-body-world alignment, but also testified that increasing interaction intensity could bring about a stronger alignment effect(Wang,2010), which then contributed to better L2 oral performance. These findings confirm again the role of interaction in L2 learning and suggest that alignment could possibly be a mediating factor that links interaction and L2 development. Pedagogical implications for teaching and learning L2 speaking are discussed.展开更多
Alignment effect in language research refers to the social cognition process in which people cooperate,adjust,and adapt to each other in interaction.Through empirical study,this paper explores alignment effect in the ...Alignment effect in language research refers to the social cognition process in which people cooperate,adjust,and adapt to each other in interaction.Through empirical study,this paper explores alignment effect in the continuation task of translation(CTOT)and its possible influence on learning of English as foreign languge(EFL).The study was carried out by means of a CTOT.Participants were chosen from non-English major freshmen of similar capacity from a university in Guangzhou.They were divided into two groups,the experimental group(EG)and the control group(CG),with 13 students each.The students in EG were asked to carefully read some English-Chinese bilingual material.Then,the 26 participants were tasked with translating the paragraphs,which followed from Chinese into English.After that,they were asked to write down the words and expressions which they found difficult.Some of the participants were interviewed one month later for a deeper understanding of their memories of the vocabulary and their opinions on the CTOT.The data were analyzed by direct comparison and non-parametric test.The results showed that vocabulary alignment does occur in CTOT.The EG members tended to take advantage of words that appeared in the bilingual reading text.If multiple words from the reading appeared,with the same contextual meaning,they tended to choose the repeated words.As for influence of vocabulary alignment on EFL learning,it seemed that CTOT could not improve the quality of the translation itself,but could assist short-term vocabulary learning though no significant help to long-term vocabulary learning was revealed.The findings of this study provide support and explanation for some features and effects of CTOT,an important form of CT.However,the nature of CTOT itself,and its role in EFL learning deserve further research.展开更多
This study investigates the effects of alignment in the narrative and expository continuation tasks.Two groups of English learners(N=50)in a Chinese university were required to continue one narrative essay and one exp...This study investigates the effects of alignment in the narrative and expository continuation tasks.Two groups of English learners(N=50)in a Chinese university were required to continue one narrative essay and one expository essay,both of which had an English version and a Chinese version.The analysis of the data using the Antconc software demonstrated that the effects of alignment occurred in the two types of continued compositions to some extent.And learners committed fewer errors when continuing the English-version task.In addition,learners were required to complete a questionnaire.The questionnaire results showed that the continuation task,as a practical teaching mode,can facilitate the students’writing and learning.展开更多
The continuation task (Wang & Wang, 2014) proves to have language learning potentials by many empirical studies (Peng, 2018). This study intends to explore its underlining alignment mechanisms through two continua...The continuation task (Wang & Wang, 2014) proves to have language learning potentials by many empirical studies (Peng, 2018). This study intends to explore its underlining alignment mechanisms through two continuation tasks on English materi-als called Chon and Charles by two Chinese linguistics-major graduates (EFL learners). The results show that alignment is ubiqui-tous both linguistically and thematically, and the reading and writing are tightly coupled. This indicates that the continuation task will significantly benefit second language writing pedagogy if applied appropriately.展开更多
The iterative continuation task(ICT)requires English as a foreign language(EFL)learners to read a segment and write a continuation that aligns with the preceding segment of an English novel with successive turns,offer...The iterative continuation task(ICT)requires English as a foreign language(EFL)learners to read a segment and write a continuation that aligns with the preceding segment of an English novel with successive turns,offering exposure to diverse grammatical structures and opportunities for contextualized usage.Given the importance of integrating technology into second language(L2)writing and the critical role that grammar plays in L2 writing development,automated written corrective feedback provided by Grammarly has gained significant attention.This study investigates the impact of Grammarly on grammar learning strategies,grammar grit,and grammar competence among EFL college students engaged in ICT.This study employed a mixed-methods sequential exploratory design;56 participants were divided into an experimental group(n=28),receiving Grammarly feedback for ICT,and a control group(n=28),completing ICT without Grammarly feedback.Quantitative results revealed that both groups showed improvements in L2 grammar learning strategies,grit and competence.For the experimental group,significant differences were observed across all variables of L2 grammar learning strategies,grit,and competence between pre-and post-tests.For the control group,significant differences were only observed in the affective dimension of grammar learning strategies,Consistency of Interest(COI)of grammar grit,and grammar competence.However,the control group presented a significantly higher improvement in grammar competence.Qualitative analysis showed both positive and negative perceptions of Grammarly.The pedagogical implications of integrating Grammarly and ICT for L2 grammar development are discussed.展开更多
This study compares the relative efficacy of the continuation task and the model-as-feedbackwriting (MAFW) task in EFL writing development. Ninety intermediate-level Chinese EFL learnerswere randomly assigned to a con...This study compares the relative efficacy of the continuation task and the model-as-feedbackwriting (MAFW) task in EFL writing development. Ninety intermediate-level Chinese EFL learnerswere randomly assigned to a continuation group, a MAFW group, and a control group, each with30 learners. A pretest and a posttest were used to gauge L2 writing development. Results showedthat the continuation task outperformed the MAFW task not only in enhancing the overall qualityof L2 writing, but also in promoting the quality of three components of L2 writing, namely, content,organization, and language. The finding has important implications for L2 writing teaching andlearning.展开更多
This study aims to investigate the effect of the continuation task （CT） on the acquisition of the Chinese spatial phrase structure （SPS） by learners of various L1 backgrounds learning Chinese as a second language ...This study aims to investigate the effect of the continuation task （CT） on the acquisition of the Chinese spatial phrase structure （SPS） by learners of various L1 backgrounds learning Chinese as a second language （CSL）. Two groups of participants were formed： a continuation group and a reading comprehension group. The former was required to continue in Chinese a text with its ending removed, while the latter needed to complete the Q＆A questions after reading the same text. The effect of the tasks was measured by examining the CSL learners＇ correct use of the Chinese SPS in three aspects -- the circum-construction, the use of prepositions and the use of the locative. The study found that the continuation group made significant improvement from the pretest to the posttests while the reading comprehension group did not. Moreover, the continuation group outperformed the reading comprehension group significantly in the posttests, though there was no significant difference between them in the pretest. The results showed that CT can facilitate CSL learners＇ acquisition of the Chinese SPS, with a better effect than the reading comprehension task.展开更多
Although the story continuation writing task(SCWT) has attracted much research attention, few studies have investigated the construct of the task, particularly with respect to which language competence it focuses on. ...Although the story continuation writing task(SCWT) has attracted much research attention, few studies have investigated the construct of the task, particularly with respect to which language competence it focuses on. In addition, although some studies have demonstrated that China’s Standards of English Language Ability(CSE) provides comprehensive insights into the development of Chinese learners’ English language proficiency, little research has investigated the relationship between CSE and SCWT. This study drew upon the CSE to develop an SCWT language use inventory to address the above research gaps. A total of 358 high school students were asked to complete the questionnaire, of which 277 valid responses were analyzed. Exploratory factor analysis(EFA) on the CSE-based questionnaire revealed the presence of six factors, namely language correctness, language variety, task planning, connecting-and-generating, selecting-andmining, and organizing. The strategy of connecting-and-generating was the only significant predictor of the learners’ SCWT scores. The paper also discusses the findings relating to the SCWT rating and other integrated writing tasks.展开更多
This study presents a systematic review of xu-based studies in an attempt to clarify the construct of the xu-argument and the effectiveness of continuation tasks in foreign language learning.This review adopted a meta...This study presents a systematic review of xu-based studies in an attempt to clarify the construct of the xu-argument and the effectiveness of continuation tasks in foreign language learning.This review adopted a meta-analytic procedure consisting of effect-size aggregation and moderator analysis.While the former quantitatively synthesized evidence in support of xu-based interventions,the latter contextualized evidence in relation to learner and task features.Meta-analytic results indicated a medium-to-large effect of xu-based interventions for foreign language learning(g=1.18 and g=0.49 for within-group and between-group contrasts respectively).This effect was comparatively larger for(a)university-level students,(b)multilingual settings,(c)foreign languages other than English(LOTEs),(d)longer instructional treatments,and(e)specific language features.We interpret supportive evidence for xu-based interventions with respect to theoretical,methodological and pedagogical relevance,and provide empirically grounded recommendations for future task design and research on xu-based practices.展开更多
This study investigated the impact of the xu-argument-based continuation on Chinese high school students’English syntactic complexity captured using verb-argument constructions(VACs)over an 8-week period.Participants...This study investigated the impact of the xu-argument-based continuation on Chinese high school students’English syntactic complexity captured using verb-argument constructions(VACs)over an 8-week period.Participants were two comparable groups of students:one group worked with English input texts(i.e.,E-E),while the other worked with Chinese input texts with the same content(i.e.,C-E).The results showed that over time,the E-E group exhibited a greater tendency to use a wider range of VACs,such as caused-motion constructions,attributives,passives,and phrasal verbs.At the same time,they reduced their use of simpler VACs like intransitive-motion and simple transitive constructions,especially when compared to the C-E group.This pattern was also evident in the topic-based writing during the posttest.These findings strongly support the effectiveness of xu-argument-based continuation tasks in promoting the development of L2 VAC knowledge.They suggest that tasks combining language input with output can significantly enhance learners’ability to use more sophisticated VACs.展开更多
This study investigated the efficiency of learning the Chinese numeral classifiers by L2 Chinese learners by means of an alignment-oriented task. Participants were a total of 96 intermediate learners of L2 Chinese, wh...This study investigated the efficiency of learning the Chinese numeral classifiers by L2 Chinese learners by means of an alignment-oriented task. Participants were a total of 96 intermediate learners of L2 Chinese, who were randomly assigned to two experimental groups and one control group, with each group consisting of 32 participants. The continuation task used in this study consisted of a picture-based Chinese text depicting a room with an array of objects, which necessitates the use of classifiers. The two experimental groups were both required to first read the text and then write to describe their own rooms in comparison with the one in the text. One group was instructed to use the classifiers from the text as much as possible in their writing, whereas the other was not required to do so. Participants in the control group were first given the picture to look at in the absence of the text and then asked to describe their own rooms. The results showed that the continuation task significantly enhanced participants’ retention of the Chinese numeral classifiers, suggesting that the alignment-based approach is an effective way to learn difficult linguistic categories such as the Chinese classifiers.展开更多
Energy efficiency stands as an essential factor when implementing deep reinforcement learning(DRL)policies for robotic control systems.Standard algorithms,including Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient(DDPG),primarily o...Energy efficiency stands as an essential factor when implementing deep reinforcement learning(DRL)policies for robotic control systems.Standard algorithms,including Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient(DDPG),primarily optimize task rewards but at the cost of excessively high energy consumption,making them impractical for real-world robotic systems.To address this limitation,we propose Physics-Informed DDPG(PI-DDPG),which integrates physics-based energy penalties to develop energy-efficient yet high-performing control policies.The proposed method introduces adaptive physics-informed constraints through a dynamic weighting factor(λ),enabling policies that balance reward maximization with energy savings.Our motivation is to overcome the impracticality of rewardonly optimization by designing controllers that achieve competitive performance while substantially reducing energy consumption.PI-DDPG was evaluated in nine MuJoCo continuous control environments,where it demonstrated significant improvements in energy efficiency without compromising stability or performance.Experimental results confirm that PI-DDPG substantially reduces energy consumption compared to standard DDPG,while maintaining competitive task performance.For instance,energy costs decreased from 5542.98 to 3119.02 in HalfCheetah-v4 and from1909.13 to 1586.75 in Ant-v4,with stable performance in Hopper-v4(205.95 vs.130.82)and InvertedPendulum-v4(322.97 vs.311.29).Although DDPG sometimes yields higher rewards,such as in HalfCheetah-v4(5695.37 vs.4894.59),it requires significantly greater energy expenditure.These results highlight PI-DDPG as a promising energy-conscious alternative for robotic control.展开更多
文摘This study investigated how the mode in which the reading-writing integrated continuation task was conducted modulates the effects of second language(L2) syntactic alignment, through the English motion event construction with manner verbs. Ninety Chinese students were assigned to either of the two experimental groups or a control group, and they all experienced a pretest, an alignment phase and a posttest. In the alignment phase, the two experimental groups completed a reading-writing integrated continuation task but in different modes. For the multi-turn mode,participants reconstructed a picture story by continuing the episodes extracted from the story with one episode presented and continued at a time;for the single-turn mode, the first half of the same picture story was presented as a chunk, and then participants read and continued it. Results show that L2 learners aligned with the target structure in completing the story, and the alignment effect was retained in the posttest conducted after a delay of two weeks. Moreover, syntactic alignment was modulated by task mode with the multi-turn group exhibiting stronger immediate and longterm alignment effects. We conclude that the continuation task is a fruitful context for L2 structural alignment, and the magnitude of alignment effect hinges on interactive intensity.
文摘Based on the xu-argument, this study investigated the use of translation continuation tasks in commercial translation instruction. Forty-four second-year Business English majors at a Chinese university participated in the study. They were divided into equal-sized control and experimental groups. Members of the experimental group were asked to read Chinese-English parallel texts from a user manual, while those of the control group were asked to read the Chinese text only.Subsequently, both groups were required to translate the continued Chinese text into English. The results indicated the following: 1) the experimental group’s translated text was of significantly higher quality than that of the control group;and 2) the experimental group’s translations were well-aligned with the original text in their use of terminology, sentence structure, and stylistic features. The study concludes by suggesting that translation continuation tasks can improve commercial translation instruction and hence should be further applied in practice.
基金funded by the Center for Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, Guangdong University of Foreign Studiessupported by the Graduate Program of Scientific Research and Innovation at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (20GWCXXM-06)。
文摘This study aims to uncover the relationship between interaction and alignment in a readingspeaking integrated continuation task, especially focusing on whether an increase in interaction intensity can lead to stronger alignment and further generate positive effects on L2 learning. To this end, 31 participants were asked to perform reading-speaking integrated continuation tasks under three different conditions featuring low, medium and high interaction intensity respectively. The results showed that 1) alignment existed in the reading-speaking integrated continuation task;2)increasing interaction intensity generated stronger alignment at both linguistic and situational levels;3) growing interaction intensity contributed to more coherent and accurate L2 oral production. These findings not only proved the workings of mind-body-world alignment, but also testified that increasing interaction intensity could bring about a stronger alignment effect(Wang,2010), which then contributed to better L2 oral performance. These findings confirm again the role of interaction in L2 learning and suggest that alignment could possibly be a mediating factor that links interaction and L2 development. Pedagogical implications for teaching and learning L2 speaking are discussed.
文摘Alignment effect in language research refers to the social cognition process in which people cooperate,adjust,and adapt to each other in interaction.Through empirical study,this paper explores alignment effect in the continuation task of translation(CTOT)and its possible influence on learning of English as foreign languge(EFL).The study was carried out by means of a CTOT.Participants were chosen from non-English major freshmen of similar capacity from a university in Guangzhou.They were divided into two groups,the experimental group(EG)and the control group(CG),with 13 students each.The students in EG were asked to carefully read some English-Chinese bilingual material.Then,the 26 participants were tasked with translating the paragraphs,which followed from Chinese into English.After that,they were asked to write down the words and expressions which they found difficult.Some of the participants were interviewed one month later for a deeper understanding of their memories of the vocabulary and their opinions on the CTOT.The data were analyzed by direct comparison and non-parametric test.The results showed that vocabulary alignment does occur in CTOT.The EG members tended to take advantage of words that appeared in the bilingual reading text.If multiple words from the reading appeared,with the same contextual meaning,they tended to choose the repeated words.As for influence of vocabulary alignment on EFL learning,it seemed that CTOT could not improve the quality of the translation itself,but could assist short-term vocabulary learning though no significant help to long-term vocabulary learning was revealed.The findings of this study provide support and explanation for some features and effects of CTOT,an important form of CT.However,the nature of CTOT itself,and its role in EFL learning deserve further research.
文摘This study investigates the effects of alignment in the narrative and expository continuation tasks.Two groups of English learners(N=50)in a Chinese university were required to continue one narrative essay and one expository essay,both of which had an English version and a Chinese version.The analysis of the data using the Antconc software demonstrated that the effects of alignment occurred in the two types of continued compositions to some extent.And learners committed fewer errors when continuing the English-version task.In addition,learners were required to complete a questionnaire.The questionnaire results showed that the continuation task,as a practical teaching mode,can facilitate the students’writing and learning.
文摘The continuation task (Wang & Wang, 2014) proves to have language learning potentials by many empirical studies (Peng, 2018). This study intends to explore its underlining alignment mechanisms through two continuation tasks on English materi-als called Chon and Charles by two Chinese linguistics-major graduates (EFL learners). The results show that alignment is ubiqui-tous both linguistically and thematically, and the reading and writing are tightly coupled. This indicates that the continuation task will significantly benefit second language writing pedagogy if applied appropriately.
文摘The iterative continuation task(ICT)requires English as a foreign language(EFL)learners to read a segment and write a continuation that aligns with the preceding segment of an English novel with successive turns,offering exposure to diverse grammatical structures and opportunities for contextualized usage.Given the importance of integrating technology into second language(L2)writing and the critical role that grammar plays in L2 writing development,automated written corrective feedback provided by Grammarly has gained significant attention.This study investigates the impact of Grammarly on grammar learning strategies,grammar grit,and grammar competence among EFL college students engaged in ICT.This study employed a mixed-methods sequential exploratory design;56 participants were divided into an experimental group(n=28),receiving Grammarly feedback for ICT,and a control group(n=28),completing ICT without Grammarly feedback.Quantitative results revealed that both groups showed improvements in L2 grammar learning strategies,grit and competence.For the experimental group,significant differences were observed across all variables of L2 grammar learning strategies,grit,and competence between pre-and post-tests.For the control group,significant differences were only observed in the affective dimension of grammar learning strategies,Consistency of Interest(COI)of grammar grit,and grammar competence.However,the control group presented a significantly higher improvement in grammar competence.Qualitative analysis showed both positive and negative perceptions of Grammarly.The pedagogical implications of integrating Grammarly and ICT for L2 grammar development are discussed.
文摘This study compares the relative efficacy of the continuation task and the model-as-feedbackwriting (MAFW) task in EFL writing development. Ninety intermediate-level Chinese EFL learnerswere randomly assigned to a continuation group, a MAFW group, and a control group, each with30 learners. A pretest and a posttest were used to gauge L2 writing development. Results showedthat the continuation task outperformed the MAFW task not only in enhancing the overall qualityof L2 writing, but also in promoting the quality of three components of L2 writing, namely, content,organization, and language. The finding has important implications for L2 writing teaching andlearning.
基金supported by a grant from the China National Social Science Foundation (14CYY018)~~
文摘This study aims to investigate the effect of the continuation task （CT） on the acquisition of the Chinese spatial phrase structure （SPS） by learners of various L1 backgrounds learning Chinese as a second language （CSL）. Two groups of participants were formed： a continuation group and a reading comprehension group. The former was required to continue in Chinese a text with its ending removed, while the latter needed to complete the Q＆A questions after reading the same text. The effect of the tasks was measured by examining the CSL learners＇ correct use of the Chinese SPS in three aspects -- the circum-construction, the use of prepositions and the use of the locative. The study found that the continuation group made significant improvement from the pretest to the posttests while the reading comprehension group did not. Moreover, the continuation group outperformed the reading comprehension group significantly in the posttests, though there was no significant difference between them in the pretest. The results showed that CT can facilitate CSL learners＇ acquisition of the Chinese SPS, with a better effect than the reading comprehension task.
文摘Although the story continuation writing task(SCWT) has attracted much research attention, few studies have investigated the construct of the task, particularly with respect to which language competence it focuses on. In addition, although some studies have demonstrated that China’s Standards of English Language Ability(CSE) provides comprehensive insights into the development of Chinese learners’ English language proficiency, little research has investigated the relationship between CSE and SCWT. This study drew upon the CSE to develop an SCWT language use inventory to address the above research gaps. A total of 358 high school students were asked to complete the questionnaire, of which 277 valid responses were analyzed. Exploratory factor analysis(EFA) on the CSE-based questionnaire revealed the presence of six factors, namely language correctness, language variety, task planning, connecting-and-generating, selecting-andmining, and organizing. The strategy of connecting-and-generating was the only significant predictor of the learners’ SCWT scores. The paper also discusses the findings relating to the SCWT rating and other integrated writing tasks.
文摘This study presents a systematic review of xu-based studies in an attempt to clarify the construct of the xu-argument and the effectiveness of continuation tasks in foreign language learning.This review adopted a meta-analytic procedure consisting of effect-size aggregation and moderator analysis.While the former quantitatively synthesized evidence in support of xu-based interventions,the latter contextualized evidence in relation to learner and task features.Meta-analytic results indicated a medium-to-large effect of xu-based interventions for foreign language learning(g=1.18 and g=0.49 for within-group and between-group contrasts respectively).This effect was comparatively larger for(a)university-level students,(b)multilingual settings,(c)foreign languages other than English(LOTEs),(d)longer instructional treatments,and(e)specific language features.We interpret supportive evidence for xu-based interventions with respect to theoretical,methodological and pedagogical relevance,and provide empirically grounded recommendations for future task design and research on xu-based practices.
文摘This study investigated the impact of the xu-argument-based continuation on Chinese high school students’English syntactic complexity captured using verb-argument constructions(VACs)over an 8-week period.Participants were two comparable groups of students:one group worked with English input texts(i.e.,E-E),while the other worked with Chinese input texts with the same content(i.e.,C-E).The results showed that over time,the E-E group exhibited a greater tendency to use a wider range of VACs,such as caused-motion constructions,attributives,passives,and phrasal verbs.At the same time,they reduced their use of simpler VACs like intransitive-motion and simple transitive constructions,especially when compared to the C-E group.This pattern was also evident in the topic-based writing during the posttest.These findings strongly support the effectiveness of xu-argument-based continuation tasks in promoting the development of L2 VAC knowledge.They suggest that tasks combining language input with output can significantly enhance learners’ability to use more sophisticated VACs.
文摘This study investigated the efficiency of learning the Chinese numeral classifiers by L2 Chinese learners by means of an alignment-oriented task. Participants were a total of 96 intermediate learners of L2 Chinese, who were randomly assigned to two experimental groups and one control group, with each group consisting of 32 participants. The continuation task used in this study consisted of a picture-based Chinese text depicting a room with an array of objects, which necessitates the use of classifiers. The two experimental groups were both required to first read the text and then write to describe their own rooms in comparison with the one in the text. One group was instructed to use the classifiers from the text as much as possible in their writing, whereas the other was not required to do so. Participants in the control group were first given the picture to look at in the absence of the text and then asked to describe their own rooms. The results showed that the continuation task significantly enhanced participants’ retention of the Chinese numeral classifiers, suggesting that the alignment-based approach is an effective way to learn difficult linguistic categories such as the Chinese classifiers.
文摘Energy efficiency stands as an essential factor when implementing deep reinforcement learning(DRL)policies for robotic control systems.Standard algorithms,including Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient(DDPG),primarily optimize task rewards but at the cost of excessively high energy consumption,making them impractical for real-world robotic systems.To address this limitation,we propose Physics-Informed DDPG(PI-DDPG),which integrates physics-based energy penalties to develop energy-efficient yet high-performing control policies.The proposed method introduces adaptive physics-informed constraints through a dynamic weighting factor(λ),enabling policies that balance reward maximization with energy savings.Our motivation is to overcome the impracticality of rewardonly optimization by designing controllers that achieve competitive performance while substantially reducing energy consumption.PI-DDPG was evaluated in nine MuJoCo continuous control environments,where it demonstrated significant improvements in energy efficiency without compromising stability or performance.Experimental results confirm that PI-DDPG substantially reduces energy consumption compared to standard DDPG,while maintaining competitive task performance.For instance,energy costs decreased from 5542.98 to 3119.02 in HalfCheetah-v4 and from1909.13 to 1586.75 in Ant-v4,with stable performance in Hopper-v4(205.95 vs.130.82)and InvertedPendulum-v4(322.97 vs.311.29).Although DDPG sometimes yields higher rewards,such as in HalfCheetah-v4(5695.37 vs.4894.59),it requires significantly greater energy expenditure.These results highlight PI-DDPG as a promising energy-conscious alternative for robotic control.
