Learn Beyond The Answer: Training Language Models with Reflection for Mathematical Reasoning

Zhihan Zhang, Tao Ge, Zhenwen Liang, Wenhao Yu, Dian Yu, Mengzhao Jia, Dong Yu, Meng Jiang


Abstract
Supervised fine-tuning enhances the problem-solving abilities of language models across various mathematical reasoning tasks. To maximize such benefits, existing research focuses on *broadening* the training set with various data augmentation techniques, which is effective for standard single-round question-answering settings. Our work introduces a novel technique aimed at cultivating a *deeper* understanding of the training problems at hand, enhancing performance not only in standard settings but also in more complex scenarios that require reflective thinking. Specifically, we propose **reflective augmentation**, a method that embeds problem reflection into each training instance. It trains the model to consider alternative perspectives and engage with abstractions and analogies, thereby fostering a thorough comprehension through reflective reasoning. Extensive experiments validate the achievement of our aim, underscoring the unique advantages of our method and its complementary nature relative to existing augmentation techniques.
Anthology ID:
2024.emnlp-main.817
Volume:
Proceedings of the 2024 Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing
Month:
November
Year:
2024
Address:
Miami, Florida, USA
Editors:
Yaser Al-Onaizan, Mohit Bansal, Yun-Nung Chen
Venue:
EMNLP
SIG:
Publisher:
Association for Computational Linguistics
Note:
Pages:
14720–14738
Language:
URL:
https://aclanthology.org/2024.emnlp-main.817
DOI:
Bibkey:
Cite (ACL):
Zhihan Zhang, Tao Ge, Zhenwen Liang, Wenhao Yu, Dian Yu, Mengzhao Jia, Dong Yu, and Meng Jiang. 2024. Learn Beyond The Answer: Training Language Models with Reflection for Mathematical Reasoning. In Proceedings of the 2024 Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing, pages 14720–14738, Miami, Florida, USA. Association for Computational Linguistics.
Cite (Informal):
Learn Beyond The Answer: Training Language Models with Reflection for Mathematical Reasoning (Zhang et al., EMNLP 2024)
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https://aclanthology.org/2024.emnlp-main.817.pdf
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