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Center for Language Research

 
Conte Crayon view of Mt. Bandai

GRANTS

KAKENHI
[National-level multi-year grants from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science – acceptance rate of 20-30%]

Years (April – March) Professor(s) Role Title
2024–2027 Stuart BENSON P.I. The nature of vocabulary in academic computer science speech
2023–2026 Tzu-Yin CHEN P.I. Exploring the Role of Prosody in Processing Compound Structures in East Asian Languages: A Comparative Study
2023–2026 Nick CARR & John BLAKE P.I. & Co-Investigator Dynamic Genre-Specific Automated Online Feedback Tool
2023–2026 Allan NICHOLAS & John BLAKE P.I. & Co-Investigator A Computerized Diagnostic Language Assessment of Japanese EFL Learners' Spoken Requesting
2022–2025 Will LINGLE P.I. Using eye tracking to investigate inference generation during L2 reading
2022–2025 Jeremy PERKINS P.I. F0 cue conflicts between tone and consonant effects
2022–2025 John BLAKE P.I. Natural language generation of trend descriptions for pedagogic purposes
2022–2025 Emiko KANEKO P.I. Cognitive process of Computer-based test takers: An exploratory study with eye tracker
2022–2025 Ian WILSON Co-Investigator 調音音韻論とジェスチャー音声表現から見た韻律階層 [Articulatory Phonology and prosodic hierarchy in terms of gestural phonetic expression]
2020–2023 Ian WILSON P.I. Articulatory settings of English, Japanese, and Chinese bilingual and trilingual speakers
2020–2023 Debopriyo ROY & John BLAKE P.I. & Co-Investigator Preparing Computer Science Students for Job Interviews with English Video Production and Analysis
2020–2023 Peter ILIC & Debopriyo ROY P.I. & Co-Investigator Using Machine Learning to Identify Learner Styles across Devices in Online EFL Lessons
2020–2023 John BLAKE Co-Investigator Cross-disciplinary approach to prosody-based automatic speech processing and its application to computer-assisted language teaching
2020–2023 Ian WILSON Co-Investigator インターフェイスにみる英語プロソディの習得と視覚情報を活用した学習法の開発 [Acquisition of English prosody at interfaces and development of visual information based learning methods]
2019–2022 Allan NICHOLAS & John BLAKE P.I. & Co-Investigator Developing a diagnostic language assessment of Japanese EFL learners' English language email writing
2019–2022 John BLAKE P.I. Feature visualizer and detector for scientific texts
2019–2022 Jeremy PERKINS P.I. Psychoacoustic roughness as a measure of glottalization in consonants
2019–2021 John BLAKE Co-Investigator 役割語分析で英語のアカデミックライティングスキル向上を目指す地域貢献型PBL
2018–2022 Younghyon HEO & Jeremy PERKINS P.I. & Co-Investigator Using Google Translate for Academic English Writing Instruction
2016–2021 Emiko KANEKO P.I. 困難度情報付き絵プロンプトの開発と、その特性のL2発話への影響
2016–2020 Emiko KANEKO Co-Investigator 英語到達度指標CEFR-J準拠のCAN-DO指導タスクおよびテスト開発と公開
2016–2019 Younghyon HEO Co-Investigator 日本語版マンガ分析の英語教育導入：役割語分析のアカデミックライティングへの応用
2015–2019 Emiko KANEKO Co-Investigator 英語発話流暢性を向上させる語彙・文法指導
2015–2018 Younghyon HEO P.I. Improving English speaking with parsing training
2015–2018 Jeremy PERKINS P.I. An Acoustic Typology of Creaky Voice
2015–2018 Debopriyo ROY P.I. 3D Printing in Creative Factory Contexts for English Language Learning
2014–2017 Younghyon HEO Co-Investigator Classification and linguistic analysis on natural disaster warnings
2014–2017 Emiko KANEKO Co-Investigator 成人に対する多読の有効性検証と大学アウトリーチ活動としての多読教育モデル構築
2014–2017 Debo ROY & Emiko KANEKO Co-Investigators Digital Storytelling for Computer Science Team Project Documentaries
2013–2015 Younghyon HEO P.I. Improving English Listening and Reading Comprehension via Using Visuals
2013–2016 Emiko KANEKO P.I. シャド－イングと誘出模倣のL2自発発話に対する影響の比較
2013–2016 Ian WILSON Co-Investigator Exploration of methods of teaching English rhythm based on acoustic and articulatory biofeedback
2012–2016 Emiko KANEKO Co-Investigator 学習者コーパスによる英語ＣＥＦＲレベル基準特性の特定と活用に関する総合的研究
2011–2014 Emiko KANEKO Co-Investigator Comparative study of comprehension and audience acceptance of oral presentation styles
2011–2014 Ian WILSON P.I. Visual speech recognition using ultrasound tongue and video lip/face images
2010–2013 Emiko KANEKO P.I. Working memory training and its effects on oral proficiency in English: implications to automatically graded speaking tests
2007–2009 Debopriyo ROY P.I. Spatial Instructions for Designing Software Manuals for Non-native Speakers of English
2007–2009 Ian WILSON P.I. Japanese articulatory setting : Instrumental measurements and effectiveness in pedagogy

KENZAIDAN
[Prefectural-level single-year grants from Fukushima Pref. Foundation for the Advancement of Science & Educ.]

Year (April – March) Professor Role Title
2018 Ian WILSON, Emiko KANEKO P.I. & Co-Investigator Preservation and deep learning of Aizu regional dialects
2013 Emiko KANEKO, Ian WILSON & Younghyon HEO P.I. & Co-Investigators Relationship between pronunciation and perception: Mysteries of Aizu dialect speakers
2012 Ian WILSON & Emiko KANEKO Co-Investigators Research on Aizu Dialect: Analysis of Structure of Interrogative Sentence and Phonetic Structure
2009 Ian WILSON & Emiko KANEKO P.I. & Co-Investigator Dialects of the Aizu Area: Digital Audio Documentation and Phonetic Analysis
2008 Ian WILSON P.I. Dialects of the Aizu Area: Digital Audio Documentation and Phonetic Analysis

COMPETITIVE RESEARCH FUNDING
[University-internal single-year competitive grants from the University of Aizu]

Year (April – March) Professor Role Title
2019 Emiko Kaneko, Ian Wilson, Younghyon Heo, & Allan Nicholas P.I. & Co-Investigators Development of learning/testing materials from the UoA survival English list
2019 John Blake P.I. Tense Activator: Automatic identification and explanation of tense in context
2019 Allan Nicholas & John Blake P.I. & Co-Investigator Professional Communicative Writing and Pragmatics: Addressing the Needs of University of Aizu Students
2018 Emiko Kaneko, Ian Wilson, Younghyon Heo, & Allan Nicholas P.I. & Co-Investigators Development of learning/teaching materials with the UoA survival word list
2018 John Blake P.I. Interactive Language Feature Visualizer for Thesis Writing
2018 Allan Nicholas & Jeremy Perkins P.I. & Co-Investigator Investigating the effect of explicit, conversation analysis-based instruction on learners' oral speech act performance
2017 John Blake P.I. Online error detection and feedback tool for graduate theses
2017 Debopriyo Roy & John Blake Co-Investigators Graduation Thesis and Presentation Development through Student-produced Video
2017 Emiko Kaneko, Ian Wilson, Younghyon Heo, & Allan Nicholas P.I. & Co-Investigators Development of the UoA survival word list
2016 Younghyon Heo P.I. Basic Academic Writing Expressions for Japanese Learners of English
2016 Emiko Kaneko P.I. Development of effective picture prompts to elicit utterances from lower level learners
2016 Ian Wilson P.I. Assessing effects of speech-accent exposure on English word identification
2015 Emiko Kaneko & Younghyon Heo Co-Investigators A System for Awarding Points in the Digital Badges English-village
2015 Younghyon Heo & Emiko Kaneko P.I. & Co-Investigator Developing a corpus of useful English vocabulary and sentence structures for Japanese computer science majors learning academic writing
2015 Emiko Kaneko & Younghyon Heo P.I. & Co-Investigator Enhancing Unique Features of UoA Short-term Study-abroad Programs
2015 Debopriyo Roy P.I. Physical LEGO Design for Robots and 3D Printing in Creative Factory Contexts for English Language Learning
2015 Ian Wilson P.I. Differences between Japanese and English underlying articulatory setting
2015 Younghyon Heo Co-Investigator Comics for L2 Paragraph Writing: How visuals can help EFL learners to understand paragraph structures
2014 Younghyon Heo P.I. Testing Japanese learners of English for their knowledge of English syntactic parsing and intonation pattern
2014 Emiko Kaneko P.I. Student Preparation for Overseas Technical Communication Program
2014 Debopriyo Roy P.I. Developing Usability Testing Facilities at the Technical Communication Laboratory, CLR for Usability Testing of English Language Learning Interfaces and Informational Websites
2014 Jeremy Perkins P.I. Sentence-Level Intonation in Languages with Contrastive Phonation
2013 Ian Wilson P.I. Tongue Bracing in English and Japanese Speech
2013 Emiko Kaneko & Ian Wilson P.I. & Co-Investigator Neutralization by Aizu Dialect speakers: their perception and production
2013 Younghyon Heo P.I. Influence of picture questions on English reading comprehension in the Center Examination
2012 Emiko Kaneko P.I. Comparison between spontaneous L2 speech and the scores provided by two representative English speaking tests
2012 Ian Wilson & Emiko Kaneko Co-Investigators Analysis of the Syntactic and Phonetic Structures of Interrogative Constructions in the Aizu Dialect
2011 Emiko Kaneko P.I. The effects of working memory training on oral proficiency - Comparison between experimental and control groups
2010 Debopriyo Roy P.I. Studying the Efficacy of Concept Maps in Technical Communication Courses: Understanding Text Applications and Interface Richness
2010 Emiko Kaneko P.I. Working memory training and oral proficiency in English as a second language
2009 Ian Wilson P.I. Neural Network Based Real-time Pronunciation Evaluation System
2009 Emiko Kaneko P.I. Symposia on Global Citizenship
2007 Debopriyo Roy P.I. Logistics of Setting up a Usability Laboratory at University of Aizu for Identifying Patterns in Multimedia Comprehension and Helping to Design Usable Product Interfaces
2006 Ian Wilson P.I. Ultrasound for Dynamic Analysis of the Tongue in Pronunciation & Speech Research

SPECIAL GRANTS

Year (April – March) Professor Role Title
2021 John Blake P.I. Proof-of-concept software to detect computer-generated papers [source: Aston Institute of Forensic Linguistics]
2017 Ian Wilson, John Blake, Younghyon Heo, Jeremy Perkins, & Debopriyo Roy P.I. & Co-Investigators Project-Based Language Learning [source: University of Aizu]