Member Spotlights
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August 3, 2022A Future With AI Writing Companions: Changing The Landscape for Writers
Modern language models now have the capability to generate written text that approaches human-level writing, foreshadowing the eventual advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI) writing companions. However, while this new technology boasts increased productivity and support for writers, it also…
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August 2, 2022Is There a Correlation Between the Use of Representational Gestures and Self-Adaptors? Q&A with Dr. Elena Nicoladis
In the study, 'Is There a Correlation Between the Use of Representational Gestures and Self-Adaptors?' the research team tested the hypothesis that people who produce more representational gestures also produce more self-adaptors. A secondary purpose of the study was to test whether there were…
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July 27, 2022Member Spotlight: Xing (Ezra) Yu
Language Sciences member, Xing (Ezra) Yu, is a Masters' Student in the School of Population and Public Health at UBC. What are your current research interests? I have always been interested in public health issues caused by urbanization and how they can be studied using advanced health…
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July 7, 2022Introducing Turjuman: A Public Tool For Neural Arabic Machine Translation
Recent progress in artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming lives. In particular, advances in deep learning, a subfield of AI that loosely mimics information processing in the brain, has enabled innovations across a wide range of domains. One area where rapid progress is taking place is machine…
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June 23, 2022Member Spotlight: Dr. Mark Turin
Language Sciences member, Dr. Mark Turin, is an anthropologist, linguist and radio presenter. At the University of British Columbia, Mark currently serves as an Associate Professor of Anthropology. He previously served as Chair of the First Nations and Endangered Languages…
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June 16, 2022Member Feature: Denitza Dramkin
Language Sciences member, Denitza Dramkin, is currently pursuing her PhD in Developmental Psychology working with Dr. Darko Odic in the Centre for Cognitive Development. Don't miss her upcoming Language Sciences Talk, 'Exploring the link between language and perception through number words and…
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June 1, 2022Digital Media: Providing opportunities for language and literacy learning for youth from refugee backgrounds
The world of digital media is providing new pedagogical opportunities for authentic and engaging language and digital literacy learning for culturally and linguistically diverse youth from refugee backgrounds. Dr. Maureen Kendrick, Dr. Margaret Early, Amir Michalovich and Meena Mangat developed…
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May 4, 2022An Examination of French and English Reading Comprehension in Canadian French Immersion Programs: Q&A with Dr. Stefka H. Marinova-Todd
Parental level of education, instruction time, and amount of language practice that children receive have enhanced our understanding of how bilingual and multilingual children learn to comprehend text. Guided by the simple view of reading and the interdependence hypothesis, the study, 'A…
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May 4, 2022New Platform for Deep Learning Training Launches
Assistant Professor, Dr. Muhammad Abdul-Mageed, and his team at the Deep Learning & Natural Language Processing (DLNLP) Group at UBC have recently launched Learnera.ai, a new educational platform for Deep Learning training. Learnera will focus on offering hands-on Deep…
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May 3, 2022Language Science Members Awarded 2021-22 CUES Funding
Congratulations to Language Sciences members, Dr. Jiaying Zhao, PhD Candidate Marianne Huijsmans, Dr. Christine Schreyer and Dr. John Lyon for receiving 2021-22 Community University Engagement Support (CUES) funding! CUES funding reduces financial barriers and prioritizes reciprocal, inclusive…