National Agency for Education for the results of national sample results show that students with another mother tongue than Swedish have low results with a larger percentage than majority students. Research shows that this depends on their mother tongue and the importance of language in the subject to learn. The purpose of this study was to examine how teachers experience, plan and implement their teaching field of mathematics in the preparatory class. The focus is on two perspectives; an intercultural perspective and a social perspective. The newly arrived pupils in the preparatory class come from different parts of the world which leads to an intercultural classroom being formed. The aim of the social perspective is understand how students integrate into the social in the classroom.I use qualitative methods through interviews. The interviews were conducted with four practicing teachers in different schools in a given municipality. Each teacher has explained their attitude to the new arrival students, working, and what difficulties they face. The results show that the teachers teaching is based on students own ideas and previous knowledge. The teachers take into account students' background and knowledge to provide trends of the intercultural approach. This intercultural attitudes is seen even when the students come with their own methods they may use. The existing school takes into account that students have different backgrounds and skills that teachers try to assume as well as study. Students integrate into the social in small groups learning to communicate, solve problems and present their results together. The teachers try to apply different teaching styles, which is one of the intercultural learning´s important aspects. The teachers use different methods to become aware of their students’ knowledge. One disadvantage is though that some teachers, as a method, choose not to use a test in the beginning of their teaching of a class to become aware of the variety of their students’ knowledge. Instead they choose to become aware of their students’ knowledge as they are teaching, through the different classes. / Skolverkets resultat från nationella provet visar att elever med annat modersmål än svenska har sämre resultat än majoritetseleverna. Forskningen visar att detta resultat kan bero på modersmålets och det nya språkets betydelse för inlärningen i ämnet. Syftet med denna undersökning har varit att studera hur lärare, planerar och genomför och upplever sin undervisning inom ämnet matematik i förberedelseklasserna. Fokus ligger på två perspektiv vilket är interkulturella perspektivet och sociala perspektivet.  De nyanlända eleverna i förberedelseklasserna kommer från olika delar av världen, vilket leder till att ett interkulturellt klassrum bildas. Med det sociala perspektivet avses förståelse för hur eleverna integreras i det sociala i klassrummet. Jag har valt att använde mig av kvalitativ metod i form av intervjuer.  Intervjuerna genomfördes med fyra verksamma lärare i olika skolor i en kommun. Respektive lärare har fått delge sin inställning om nyanlända elever, arbetssätt, samt vilka svårigheter de möter. Resultatet visar att lärarna utgår från elevernas egna idéer och tidigare kunskaper i undervisningen. Lärarna tar hänsyn till elevernas bakgrund och kunskaper, vilket ger tendenser av det interkulturella förhållningssättet. Detta interkulturella förhållningssätt ser man även när eleverna kommer med sina egen lösningsmetoder som de får använda.  I skolan tar man hänsyn till att elever har olika bakgrund och kunskaper som lärarna försöker utgå från och ta del av dessa erfarenheter.  Elever integreras i det sociala genom att vara i små grupper där lär de sig att kommunicera, lösa uppgifter och redovisa tillsammans. Lärarna försöker visa olika metoder inom ämnet vid undervisningen, vilket är en av interkulturella lärandets aspekt. De väljer kartlägga kunskaperna hos eleverna på olika sätt. Fast som en nackdel kan det vara att vissa av de  inte väljer att ha en form av test från början och föredrar att känna efter vid undervisningen.

Schema and ontology matching play an important part in the field of data integration and semantic web. Given two heterogeneous data sources, meta data matching usually constitutes the first step in the data integration workflow, which refers to the analysis and comparison of two input resources like schemas or ontologies. The result is a list of correspondences between the two schemas or ontologies, which is often called mapping or alignment. Many tools and research approaches have been proposed to automatically determine those correspondences. However, most match tools do not provide any information about the relation type that holds between matching concepts, for the simple but important reason that most common match strategies are too simple and heuristic to allow any sophisticated relation type determination. Knowing the specific type holding between two concepts, e.g., whether they are in an equality, subsumption (is-a) or part-of relation, is very important for advanced data integration tasks, such as ontology merging or ontology evolution. It is also very important for mappings in the biological or biomedical domain, where is-a and part-of relations may exceed the number of equality correspondences by far. Such more expressive mappings allow much better integration results and have scarcely been in the focus of research so far. In this doctoral thesis, the determination of the correspondence types in a given mapping is the focus of interest, which is referred to as semantic mapping enrichment. We introduce and present the mapping enrichment tool STROMA, which obtains a pre-calculated schema or ontology mapping and for each correspondence determines a semantic relation type. In contrast to previous approaches, we will strongly focus on linguistic laws and linguistic insights. By and large, linguistics is the key for precise matching and for the determination of relation types. We will introduce various strategies that make use of these linguistic laws and are able to calculate the semantic type between two matching concepts. The observations and insights gained from this research go far beyond the field of mapping enrichment and can be also applied to schema and ontology matching in general. Since generic strategies have certain limits and may not be able to determine the relation type between more complex concepts, like a laptop and a personal computer, background knowledge plays an important role in this research as well. For example, a thesaurus can help to recognize that these two concepts are in an is-a relation. We will show how background knowledge can be effectively used in this instance, how it is possible to draw conclusions even if a concept is not contained in it, how the relation types in complex paths can be resolved and how time complexity can be reduced by a so-called bidirectional search. The developed techniques go far beyond the background knowledge exploitation of previous approaches, and are now part of the semantic repository SemRep, a flexible and extendable system that combines different lexicographic resources. Further on, we will show how additional lexicographic resources can be developed automatically by parsing Wikipedia articles. The proposed Wikipedia relation extraction approach yields some millions of additional relations, which constitute significant additional knowledge for mapping enrichment. The extracted relations were also added to SemRep, which thus became a comprehensive background knowledge resource. To augment the quality of the repository, different techniques were used to discover and delete irrelevant semantic relations. We could show in several experiments that STROMA obtains very good results w.r.t. relation type detection. In a comparative evaluation, it was able to achieve considerably better results than related applications. This corroborates the overall usefulness and strengths of the implemented strategies, which were developed with particular emphasis on the principles and laws of linguistics.

abstract: Turing test has been a benchmark scale for measuring the human level intelligence in computers since it was proposed by Alan Turing in 1950. However, for last 60 years, the applications such as ELIZA, PARRY, Cleverbot and Eugene Goostman, that claimed to pass the test. These applications are either based on tricks to fool humans on a textual chat based test or there has been a disagreement between AI communities on them passing the test. This has led to the school of thought that it might not be the ideal test for predicting the human level intelligence in machines. Consequently, the Winograd Schema Challenge has been suggested as an alternative to the Turing test. As opposed to deciding the intelligent behavior with the help of chat servers, like it was done in the Turing test, the Winograd Schema Challenge is a question answering test. It consists of sentence and question pairs such that the answer to the question depends on the resolution of a definite pronoun or adjective in the sentence. The answers are fairly intuitive for humans but they are difficult for machines because it requires some sort of background or commonsense knowledge about the sentence. In this thesis, I propose a novel technique to solve the Winograd Schema Challenge. The technique has three basic modules at its disposal, namely, a Semantic Parser that parses the English text (both sentences and questions) into a formal representation, an Automatic Background Knowledge Extractor that extracts the Background Knowledge pertaining to the given Winograd sentence, and an Answer Set Programming Reasoning Engine that reasons on the given Winograd sentence and the corresponding Background Knowledge. The applicability of the technique is illustrated by solving a subset of Winograd Schema Challenge pertaining to a certain type of Background Knowledge. The technique is evaluated on the subset and a notable accuracy is achieved. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters thesis defense presentation slides / Masters Thesis Computer Science 2014

abstract: Desert Elementary is a suburban Phoenix K-5 school. The school has undergone a significant change in its approach to reading instruction due to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) instructional shift of building knowledge through content rich nonfiction. Teachers implemented this shift in their classrooms through a 16-month professional development program called Students Talking for a Change (STFAC). This qualitative action research study explored how teacher perception of reading instruction was affected by this change in instructional practice. Data collection comprised of classroom observations, teacher interviews, planning artifacts, professional development session artifacts and student work in order to determine teacher understandings about reading comprehension and perception of classroom practice. Prior to the professional development, teachers understood reading comprehension to be answering questions correctly and acquiring skills dictated by a basal reader. The texts teachers once used to teach reading lacked topical coherence. As teachers learned how to integrate content into language arts through long-term planning and sustained exposure to a topic of study, teachers changed their understanding about reading instruction. The perception was that content, discussion and multiple interpretations were central components to comprehension. Further, planning documents evolved from student packets to unit plans based on social studies, science and literature. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2017

The objective of this research was to analyze the role of background knowledge in the process of reading comprehension of English texts used in the College Entrance Exams entitled Programa Alternativo de Ingresso ao Ensino Superior (PAIES). We assumed that the activation of background knowledge in reading classes can, in fact, influence reading comprehension of the texts used in PAIES. The research includes the regular classroom teacher and two groups of 37 students each named as group A and group B The groups were selected after a reading exercise and a self-evaluation of their reading performance based on the European document named Quadro Europeu Comum de Referência para as Línguas (2001). With the data obtained we decided to develop different pre-knowledge activities before participants of group B read the texts. Such activities were elaborated by the researcher, who, acted as a participant observer. Group A read the same texts in English, however without developing the pre-reading activities which were developed with the other group. Data were collected through an informative questionnaire, self-evaluation on their reading skills, interview and reading activities. This study was based mainly on theoretical studies by Kleiman (2004), Leffa (1996) and Smith (1989). After analyzing the data we could note that the participants of group B believe, that, although background knowledge on a given subject is important when reading and understanding texts in English Language, problems related to the lexicon seem to hinder sense apprehension. In other words, in the students' view lexical knowledge is more important for reading comprehension. However, in spite of the students view regarding the role of the background knowledge, the results indicates that this knowledge has positively influenced their reading skills, although it was not possible to evidence a much more expressive statistical result of group B in comparison to group A . We can infer that the underlying reading model that seems to guide the teaching of this activity in the investigated context, more specifically when it has to do with the participants of group B , is reflected through classroom linear reading practices that aim at apprehending the sense of the text by means of understanding word by word. Such reading conception ingrained in the students´ mind might have influenced the research results. / O objetivo desta pesquisa de base etnográfica foi analisar o papel do conhecimento prévio sobre o assunto na leitura e compreensão de textos em Língua Inglesa utilizados no Programa Alternativo de Ingresso ao Ensino Superior (PAIES) por alunos que estão cursando a terceira série do Ensino Médio de uma instituição pública estadual de ensino. Para a realização deste trabalho partimos do pressuposto de que a ativação do conhecimento prévio sobre o assunto em aulas de Língua Inglesa em uma escola da rede pública pode influenciar na leitura e compreensão de textos utilizados no PAIES. Os participantes da pesquisa compreendem o professor da turma e dois grupos de 37 alunos que foram denominados grupos A e B . Os grupos foram selecionados após a leitura de um texto em inglês bem como a realização de uma auto-avaliação de desempenho de leitura. Frente aos dados obtidos inicialmente optamos por desenvolver diferentes atividades de pré-conhecimento antes da leitura dos textos em inglês com os participantes do grupo B . Tais atividades foram elaboradas pela pesquisadora que atuou como observadora participante. Já o grupo A leu os mesmos textos em inglês, porém sem desenvolver atividades de pré-leitura desenvolvidas com o outro grupo. Os dados referentes a esta investigação foram coletados por meio de Questionário Informativo, autoavaliação de habilidade de leitura, entrevista e atividades de leitura. Como suporte teórico para nortear este trabalho baseamo-nos em estudos de KLEIMAN, 2004; LEFFA, 1996; SMITH, 1989. Após a análise e triangulação dos dados pudemos compreender que os participantes do grupo B manifestam acreditar que, embora o conhecimento prévio sobre o assunto seja importante na leitura e compreensão de textos em Língua Inglesa, os problemas relacionados ao léxico dificultam a construção do sentido. Na perspectiva desses alunos o conhecimento lexical se sobrepõe aos demais conhecimentos necessários para a leitura e compreensão. Contudo, apesar da visão dos alunos face ao papel do conhecimento prévio sobre o assunto na leitura, os resultados apontam indícios de que este conhecimento influenciou de forma positiva nas atividades de leitura realizada por eles, embora não tenha sido possível evidenciar um resultado estatístico muito mais expressivo do grupo B com relação ao grupo A . Pudemos inferir que o modelo de leitura que parece nortear o ensino desta atividade no contexto investigado, mais especificamente no que tange aos participantes do grupo B , pauta-se em uma prática de leitura linear que busca apreender o sentido do texto na compreensão de todas as palavras. Essa concepção de leitura que parece sistematizada na mente dos alunos pode ter influenciado no resultado da pesquisa. / Mestre em Lingüística

Com a crescente demanda por certificações como pré-requisito para o acesso aos cursos de pós-graduação para profissionais de diferentes áreas, a habilidade de leitura tornou-se um campo de grandes possibilidades para a pesquisa de ensino-aprendizagem para fins específicos. O objetivo desta pesquisa é fazer um levantamento das estruturas léxico-gramaticais que possam impedir a fluência da leitura dos diferentes gêneros relacionados à área médica. A partir daí, oferecer ao professor maiores subsídios na preparação e na organização do conteúdo programático em cursos de leitura instrumental, além de possibilitar a elaboração de atividades que possam auxiliá-lo nessa tarefa. Para tanto, foi compilado um corpus de estudo composto por três subcorpora: um acadêmico (NEJM) e dois de divulgação na área de saúde (Health News e WebMD), a partir de textos disponíveis na internet. A compilação do corpus foi feita de forma manual e automática, esta com a ajuda da ferramenta BootCat. A análise do corpus foi feita de forma semiautomática por meio do AntConc 3.3 w 2012. A metodologia baseada em corpus permitiu que o levantamento de alguns padrões léxico-gramaticais recorrentes fosse feito de uma forma adequada e eficiente, além de ter demonstrado ser possível a elaboração de um corpus individualizado, não muito laborioso, que possa atender às necessidades dos aprendizes de leitura com necessidades específicas. Diferenças significativas foram encontradas na comparação dos três subcorpora. Confirmando estudos anteriores, como, por exemplo, o de Biber (1998), a forte presença da voz passiva nos textos acadêmicos demonstrou ser uma característica importante para a organização de um conteúdo programático, bem como a forte presença dos verbos regulares. A ordem dos adjetivos nesse tipo de gênero foi outro tópico levantado. Nos textos de divulgação, a presença de características da linguagem falada, como a omissão do that nas orações substantivas e a sequência to be likely, apresentou um forte indício da dificuldade encontrada pelos aprendizes brasileiros de inglês na leitura desse tipo de gênero textual. / Given the growing number of certification in the academic area in English, reading has become of utmost importance for professionals in different areas. Brazilian professionals in the area of health are required to get a proficiency certificate to be accepted in the post graduate programme of an important university in São Paulo. Having that in mind, the aim of this study is to analyse the lexico-grammatical structures and items that can hinder reading comprehension of texts in the medical area. Results may aid teachers in getting more subsidies for the preparation and organisation of their reading syllabi in a course for specific purposes. To be able to accomplish that task we have compiled a corpus which is composed of three subcorpora: one with research articles from the New England Journal of Medicine online version and the two other ones with articles also published on the internet (Health News and WebMD). The compilation was both manual and automatic using the Bootcat. The corpus analysis was initially performed with the help of Wordsmith Tools 5.0 and continued with the AntConC 3.3.w 2012. The use of Corpus Linguistics has allowed the researcher to observe more effectively some of the lexico-grammatical patterns which were typical and recurrent in the analised genres. Besides, this study has demonstrated that it is possible to build a specialized corpus without much effort so as to help teachers and students alike. Significant differences were found as a result of the comparison of the three subcorpora. This study has confirmed the massive presence of the passive voice in academic texts (Biber, 1998). In the information genre, it has revealed its proximity to the spoken variety, which might be the cause for the difficulty encountered by most Brazilian students when reading this kind of articles.

Postprocessing is like data preparation one of the most challenging tasks in data mining that users must deal with. It is desirable to simplify it so that the path to results is as fast and efficient as possible. The extension of the EasyMiner research project to filter the association rules by similarity to the knowledge-based rules, should be helped in this respect, which is the subject of this diploma thesis. The objectives were accomplished by a detailed analysis of the default state of EasyMiner in conjunction with a thoroughly thought-out implementation proposal without increasing the demands on the server or user of the application. An analysis of general practices and the author's deep knowledge of Internet application issues served to do this. The future deployment of this extension to the EasyMiner infrastructure will benefit from a clearer and more efficient work with the Knowledge base part, where it will no longer be necessary to evaluate the interest in the same or similar rules and the user will be able to focus directly on the quality of the results. This thesis is divided into chapters as a detailed description of how a similar problem can be approached in any other project that works with a certain form of knowledge base. Initial input analysis with access search for comparison of the various elements passes through a description of the default application state to a specific solution design. This should be a guideline for the implementation itself and for the testing of the proposed and implemented procedures.

Schema and ontology matching play an important part in the field of data integration and semantic web. Given two heterogeneous data sources, meta data matching usually constitutes the first step in the data integration workflow, which refers to the analysis and comparison of two input resources like schemas or ontologies. The result is a list of correspondences between the two schemas or ontologies, which is often called mapping or alignment. Many tools and research approaches have been proposed to automatically determine those correspondences. However, most match tools do not provide any information about the relation type that holds between matching concepts, for the simple but important reason that most common match strategies are too simple and heuristic to allow any sophisticated relation type determination. Knowing the specific type holding between two concepts, e.g., whether they are in an equality, subsumption (is-a) or part-of relation, is very important for advanced data integration tasks, such as ontology merging or ontology evolution. It is also very important for mappings in the biological or biomedical domain, where is-a and part-of relations may exceed the number of equality correspondences by far. Such more expressive mappings allow much better integration results and have scarcely been in the focus of research so far. In this doctoral thesis, the determination of the correspondence types in a given mapping is the focus of interest, which is referred to as semantic mapping enrichment. We introduce and present the mapping enrichment tool STROMA, which obtains a pre-calculated schema or ontology mapping and for each correspondence determines a semantic relation type. In contrast to previous approaches, we will strongly focus on linguistic laws and linguistic insights. By and large, linguistics is the key for precise matching and for the determination of relation types. We will introduce various strategies that make use of these linguistic laws and are able to calculate the semantic type between two matching concepts. The observations and insights gained from this research go far beyond the field of mapping enrichment and can be also applied to schema and ontology matching in general. Since generic strategies have certain limits and may not be able to determine the relation type between more complex concepts, like a laptop and a personal computer, background knowledge plays an important role in this research as well. For example, a thesaurus can help to recognize that these two concepts are in an is-a relation. We will show how background knowledge can be effectively used in this instance, how it is possible to draw conclusions even if a concept is not contained in it, how the relation types in complex paths can be resolved and how time complexity can be reduced by a so-called bidirectional search. The developed techniques go far beyond the background knowledge exploitation of previous approaches, and are now part of the semantic repository SemRep, a flexible and extendable system that combines different lexicographic resources. Further on, we will show how additional lexicographic resources can be developed automatically by parsing Wikipedia articles. The proposed Wikipedia relation extraction approach yields some millions of additional relations, which constitute significant additional knowledge for mapping enrichment. The extracted relations were also added to SemRep, which thus became a comprehensive background knowledge resource. To augment the quality of the repository, different techniques were used to discover and delete irrelevant semantic relations. We could show in several experiments that STROMA obtains very good results w.r.t. relation type detection. In a comparative evaluation, it was able to achieve considerably better results than related applications. This corroborates the overall usefulness and strengths of the implemented strategies, which were developed with particular emphasis on the principles and laws of linguistics.

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