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Examined the role of textual constraints, rather than previous knowledge, in resolving lexical ambiguities in second-language learning. Twenty ambiguous words with differing Portuguese translations were selected, disambiguated based on collocation, and tested with a concordancer, using a 20,000,000-word English language corpus of expository text. Results suggested that collocation is superior to using encyclopedic knowledge to solve lexical ambiguities. (SM)

Investigated how adult learners of English-as-a-Second- Language (ESL) process sentences containing verbs that are temporarily ambiguous in interpretation between a main verb and a reduced relative clause. Seventeen Chinese, 17 Korean or Japanese, and 17 Romance learners with advanced ESL proficiency and a comparison group of 17 monolingual native speakers of English provided word-by-word reading times for six sentence types. (Author/JL)

Examines aspects of communicative classroom discourse that may affect the potential of recasts to be noticed as negative evidence by young second-language learners. The database comprises transcripts of over 18 hours of interaction recorded during 27 lessons in four immersion classrooms at the primary level. (Author/JL)

Categorization of lone lexical items from one language embedded in another is often difficult due to their ambiguous status as either loanwords or codeswitches. Following variationist principles, a comparative method is used to disambiguate lone English-origin nouns in Acadian-French discourse. (Author/VWL)

Determines the status of ambiguous lone English-origin nouns in Persian discourse. Utilizing the variationist comparative method, their distribution and conditioning are analyzed and they are compared to their counterparts in unmixed English. Results show remarkable similarities between treatment of native Persian nouns, attested loanwords, and untested lone English-origin words. (Author/VWL)

Explores relations between political orientation and cognitive style among Israeli university students. Finds that intolerance of ambiguity contributed significantly to political orientation and that the political Left showed more complex cognitive styles than the Right. Notes implications for testing competing hypotheses about cognitive style and political orientation. (DSK)

Examines the need to cognitively structure reality through the use of stereotypes as a predictor of individual attitudes toward homosexuality. Shows that responses were slightly, yet significantly, related to attitudes toward homosexuality and that the gender of the respondent did not significantly alter the impact. Suggests additional future research topics. (DSK)

Finds that detection of flaws in a list provides an opportunity to widen perspective on list content, and further opportunity exists when list headings have two meanings. Argues that the list may be represented better by a two-dimensional array. Considers the term "function" used in a list heading, splitting it into its most common meanings, "objective" and "means used." (PA)

A study investigated whether 20 individuals (ages 9 to 19) with mental retardation would use "common ground" (i.e., physical copresence, linguistic copresence, and community membership) to resolve verbal referential ambiguity. Both participants and matched-mental-age controls used all sources of common ground, but were less successful in using community membership. (Author/CR)

Examines problem solving as a central aspect of human intellectuality. Illustrates how students can learn problem solving through instruction in the arts, a part of the curriculum not normally associated with intellectual activity. Describes how a teacher can lead a student or a class through a problem-solving process, deepening the experience in a way encouraged by contemporary art educators. (MLH)

Examines various kinds of uncertainty in information science. The notion of ambiguity is defined and contrasted with the more familiar notions of randomness and vagueness. Functional forms resistant to ambiguity are defined, and it is shown how to incorporate a random component, that is itself also resistant to ambiguity, into a resilient, but deterministic, model. (Author/AEF)

Programs that teach scientific ethics must maintain vigilance against scientific misconduct; prepare scientists to deal with ethical ambiguity; and stress the importance of consultation and consensus, adherence to accepted standards of evidence, and commitment to due process using procedures established in advance. (Author/MSE)

Presents a model of high-dimensional context space, the Hyperspace Analogue to Language (HAL), with a series of simulations modelling human empirical results. Proposes that HAL's context space can be used to provide a basic categorization of semantic and grammatical concepts; model certain aspects of morphological ambiguity in verbs; and provide an account of semantic context effects in syntactic processing. (77 references) (Author/CK)

Proposes a dynamical systems approach to parsing in which syntactic hypotheses are associated with attractors in a metric space. The experiments discussed documented various contingent frequency effects that cut across traditional linguistic grains, each of which was predicted by the dynamical systems model. (47 references) (Author/CK)

Focuses on the consequences that the structural configuration of lexical knowledge has for the timecourse of parsing. Discusses reduced relative clauses and proposes a new lexical-structural analysis for manner of motion verbs. The article examines consequences for frequency-based models and all models whose difficulty derives from the ambiguity of the past participle form. (52 references) (Author/CK)

Reviews some history of how lexical representations have acquired an important role in sentence processing research. Discusses relevant issues, including the importance of timecourse information in theorizing; the importance of frequency information in theories of sentence processing; and the question of the grain of frequency information. (42 references) (Author/CK)

Focuses on student modeling within an Intelligent Tutoring System. Describes three domain-independent properties that the formalism representing student knowledge and the processes synthesizing this knowledge must possess to build accurate student models for second-language learning. Notes when, how, and where hypothetical reasoning mechanisms must intervene. (32 references) (Author/CK)

Describes LEARN, a software system for computer assisted foreign language vocabulary acquisition. Notes that the system processes English unrestricted text by translating selected English words in it into foreign words before presenting the text to the student. Points out that the natural path for the system's future is to add more languages. (23 references) (Author/CK)

Reviews the literature on dispositional factors related to critical thinking, focusing on two characteristics: individuals' need for cognition and tolerance of ambiguity. Describes a study of 198 university students investigating the relationship between critical thinking skills and disposition, reporting a strong correlation between ability and disposition. (84 citations) (AJL)

Describes research using observation and interviews to collect information on the aesthetic experience of learning in an experimental multidisciplinary program for first-year undergraduate students. Finds three areas that shaped the aesthetic sensibility of the classroom: active learning, classroom control, and ambiguity in class structure and teachers' roles. (40 citations) (AJL)

Examined the use of the mutual exclusivity constraint in naming objects among young children monolingual in English or bilingual in English/Urdu or in English/Greek. The study used three tests of the constraint: disambiguation, rejection and restriction. Findings revealed that bilingual children used the constraint to a lesser extent than monolinguals. (25 references) (Author/CK)

Investigates the linguistic abilities of a subgroup of grammatical specific language impaired (SLI) children, focusing on the use of referential expressions in a narrative discourse and providing insight into the underlying nature of grammatical SLI. Findings support the hypothesized modular nature of grammatical SLI children's underlying linguistic deficit. (56 references) (Author/CK)

Reports on a study of news discourse in Hong Kong. The study argues that, across the world of news discourse, in English as well as other languages, there is a very high level of diversity and interdiscursivity of practice. (19 references) (Author/CK)

Investigates the age effects on the abilities of older and younger adults in Canada to use contextual information to resolve ambiguous pronouns. Findings reveal that both groups were equally influenced by the contextual information available, although older adults responded more slowly and were less accurate than the younger adults. (50 references) (Author/CK)

Examines the concept of strategic ambiguity in communication, and addresses the ethics of strategic ambiguity from an intrapersonal perspective that considers the congruity of communicators' espoused-ethics, ethics-in-use, and behavior, where ethical judgements are based on the congruity between espoused-ethics and actual behavior. Poses questions for further research. (SR)

States that the Supreme Court's 1996 ruling in Romer v. Evans is widely seen as a significant extension of civil rights to gays and lesbians. Offers a reading of the case that eschews traditional and formalistic legal analysis in favor of more critical approaches to understanding the role of law in lived experience and communal life. (PA)

To design effective academic health centers for the future, medical leaders must define the competencies needed by tomorrow's physicians, including the ability to manage the uncertainty associated with creating clinical models and the uncertainty associated with managing care delivery. Currently, focus is on the former, but there is increasing demand for the latter competency. (MSE)

The belief in the unambiguity of specialist texts relies upon a conception of translation limited to purely linguistic levels and a central concept of "stable meanings." From the recognition that specialist texts are, to a great degree, linked to cultural and situational contexts, criteria important for the realization and evaluation of specialist translation, as well as the determination of the modern translator's profile, are proposed. (AP)