languageassessment 001
TRANSCRIPT
Assessing and Teaching Language
EXC 7130
Definition of Language
Any code employing signs, symbols, or gestures used for communicating ideas meaningfully between human beings.– Social tool to communicate meanings,
feelings, and intentions.– Language comprises of receptive skills
(understanding) and expressive skills (use) and includes both written and oral forms.
Theories of Language Behavioristic: Skinner
– Infant begins with no knowledge of language, but possesses ability to learn it through reinforcement and imitation
Nativistic or psycholinguistic: Chomsky– Child is prewired for language development and
the environment triggers its emergence
Interactionistic: Piaget– Language occurs through fixed developmental
stages
Language Components & Skills
Form– Phonology– Morphology– Syntax
Content– Semantics
Use– Pragmatics
Functionalist Language TheoryPragmatics
Syntax
Semantics
Morpholog yPh
onolog
y
Phonology
Study and use of individual sound units in a language and the rules by which they are combined and recombined to create larger language units.
Phonemes are the unit of sound such as /s/ or /b/ , they do not convey meaning.
Phonemes alter meaning of words when combined (e.g., sat to bat).
Phonological Deficits
Frequently appear as articulation disorders.– Child omits a consonant: “oo” for you– Child substitutes one consonant: “wabbit”
for rabbit– Discrimination: child hears “go get the nail”
instead of mail
Morphology
Study and use of morphemes, the smallest units of language that have meaning.
A morpheme is a group of sounds that refers to a particular object, idea, or action.– Roots can stand alone (e.g., car, teach, tall)
– Affixes are bound such as prefixes and suffixes and when attached to root words change the meaning of the words (e.g., cars, teacher, tallest)
Morphological Deficits
Elementary aged: may not use appropriate inflectional endings in their speech (e.g.,“He walk” or “Mommy coat”).
Middle school: lack irregular past tense or irregular plurals (e.g., drived for drove or mans for men).
Be aware of “Black English”: “John cousin” “fifty cent”, or “She work here”.
Syntax
Study of the rules by which words are organized into phrases or sentences in a particular language.
Referred to as the grammar of the language and allows for more complex expression of thoughts and ideas by making references to past and future events.
Syntactic Deficits
Lack the length or syntactic complexity (e.g., “Where Daddy go?”).
Problems comprehending sentences that express relationship between direct or indirect objects.
Difficulty with wh questions.
Semantics
The larger meaning component of language.
More than single words, includes complex use of vocabulary, including structures such as word categories, word relationships, synonyms, antonyms, figurative language, ambiguities, and absurdities.
Semantic Deficits
Limited vocabulary especially in adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, or pronouns.
Longer response time in selecting vocabulary words.
Fail to perceive subtle changes in word meaning: incomplete understanding and misinterpretations.
Figurative language problems.
Pragmatics
Knowledge and ability to use language functionally in social or interactive situations.
Integrates all the other language skills, but also requires knowledge and use of rule governing the use of language in social context.
Pragmatic Deficits
Problems understanding indirect requests (e.g., may say yes when asked “Must you play the piano?”).
May enter conversations in a socially unacceptable fashion or fail to take turns talking.
Difficulty staying on topic.
Preschool and Kindergarten
Difficulty with readiness skills: counting, naming colors, naming the days of the week, and using scissors.
Unable to follow simple directions, follow a story line, or enjoy listening to stories.
May exhibit immature-sounding speech, word finding difficulties, and inability to name common objects.
Elementary Students
Limited ability to identify sounds, analyzing and synthesizing sound sequences and segmenting words.
Problems with temporal and spatial concepts (e.g., before-after, some, few).
Word finding (retrieval) difficulties exist. Problems sounding out and blending sounds. Problems with expressive and oral language.
Secondary Students
Tend to be passive learners and lack metacognitive skills.
Problems gaining information from class lectures and textbooks, completing homework, following classroom rules, demonstrating command of knowledge through test taking, expressing thoughts in writing, participating in classroom discussions, and passing competency exams.
Bilingual and Culturally Diverse Students
Assessment should be conducted in the student’s primary language.
Assessment should examine writing, reading, listening, and speaking skills.
Assessments should include both quantitative measures (i.e., formal tests) and qualitative measures (e.g., observations, adapted test instruction, and a language sample).
Formal Language Assessment
Standardized instruments used to compare a student’s performance with pre-established criteria.– Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals,
Peabody Picture Voc. Test Screening Tests
– Provides general overview in particular area can norm referenced.
Diagnostic Tests– Measure one or more specific language
components. See Table 6.3
Informal Assessment
Often used to affirm or refute the results of formal measures.
Determine specific instructional objectives.
Use large sample of items and repeated opportunities for observations.
Informal Tests of Phonology
Analyze student’s production of phonemes in single words.– List of all the consonant phonemes + pictures to
depict words containing each phoneme (e.g., picture of a pot for initial /p/, map for final /p/).
– Include a comments section to describe the error recorded.
– Provide prompts – “Tell me about your weekend for 3-minute sample, count correct and incorrect phonemes.
Informal Test of Morphology
Determine mastery level of each morpheme in a hierarchy (Brown, 1973).
ing: present a picture of girls playing and say “The girls like to play. Here they are ________.” Student adds missing word.
Show a series of 20 action pictures and ask student what they are doing.– Accuracy below 90% - morpheme has not been
mastered
Informal Tests of Syntax
Expressive syntax: analyzing student’s spontaneous speech, recording conversation.
Sentence repetition: teacher states a sentence and student repeats it.
Informal Tests of Semantics Logical relationships, cause-and-effect, and
verbal problem solving are difficult to assess. Verbal opposites: SRA picture cards of 40
pairs of opposites. Student sorts them into opposites.
Word categories: Teacher says a word and student says as many words in the same category.
Semantic relationships: analyzing spontaneous speech while playing or interacting with friends.
Informal Test of Pragmatics
Analyze spontaneous speech through videotape.
Transcribe tape – see figure 6.3 Classify pragmatic function Measure inappropriate loudness, talking
at inappropriate times, interrupting the speaker, and using indirect requests.
Strategies for Increasing Language Comprehension Establish eye contact and cue student to
listen. Ask student to repeat directions. Classroom arrangement to reduce
distractions. Use familiar vocabulary when presenting new
concept. Present new concept in as many modalities. Teach memory strategies (e.g., visual
imagery, clustering and grouping information).
Strategies for Increasing Language Production React to the content of student’s message,
then correct syntax error. Teach language in various settings. Act as a good language model, have students
imitate what they hear. Comment or elaborate on students’ ideas to
provide more information. Use storytelling, role playing, or charades to
improve verbal expression. Use structured language programs that
provide adequate practice.
Students with Mental Retardation
Develop language more slowly, including both receptive & expressive delays
Often don’t use make use of incidental learning opportunities
May have insufficient interactions with children with more skilled language use
Frequently less effective in social communication
Students with Behavior Disorders
May possess age-appropriate skills at phonemic and morphemic level, but have difficulties with syntax, semantics, and pragmatics
Difficulty expressing ideas, feelings, concerns, and needs
Oral language may be contain profanity Difficulty with social communication
Students with Learning Disabilities
Problems understanding or using spoken or written language (definition)
Problems with word retrieval and word choice Ambiguity and lack of cohesion Inefficient decoding of messages presented
by speech of others Uneven language abilities in both school and
social settings