Language Samples - 9/23

what 6 major things are included in a language sample?

• transcribed utterances from observation & interactions with child

• calculation of MLU/other tool

• analysis of purposes of communication

• analysis of language components

• examples of language components

• analysis of speech sound production in connected speech

why are language samples useful? (4)

• provide snapshot of child’s language skills in a natural environment

• some children cannot complete standardized tests

• standardized tests do not provide all info needed to assess language skills

• allow us to analyze components and purposes of communication

what kinds of info do we get from a language sample? (8)

utterance length, complexity, articulation skills, narrative skills, perspective-taking, comprehension, imitation, direction-following abilities

what are the 5 different calculations used to assess language?

• mean length utterance (MLU)

• number of different words (NDW)

• total number of words (TNW)

• type-token ratio (TTR)

• percent grammatical utterances (PGU)

what does mean length utterance (MLU) find? how is it calculated?

finds average number of morphemes in an utterance. calculated by: total number of morphemes/total number of utterances

what does number of different words (NDW) find?

how many types of words are used, such as nouns, verbs, negatives, conjunctions, etc.

what does total number of words (TNW) find?

how many total words are in the sample

how is type-token ratio (TTR) calculated?

number of different words/total number of words = NDW/TNW

what does percent grammatical utterances (PGU) find? how is it calculated?

finds how many utterances are grammatically correct in the sample. calculated by (total utterances-ungrammatical utterances)/(total utterances) * 100%

how do we identify phonology in a language sample? (2)

sound errors, phonological processes

how do we identify morphology in a language sample? (2)

grammatical/inflectional morphemes, derivational morphemes

how do we identify syntax in a language sample? (2)

length of utterances, grammatical complexity of utterances (syntax only occurs with 2+ word utterances)

how do we identify semantics in a language sample? (2)

semantic feature analysis, word knowledge (receptive and expressive lexicon)

how do we identify pragmatics in a language sample? (3)

purposes of communication, conversational skills, narrative skills

list and define the 6 semantic categories. give an example for each

1. agent: who performs the action, ex. Megan kicked the ball

2. action: a perceivable movement or activity, ex. Dad threw the ball

3. object: person/thing that is receiving the action, ex. My sister ate the sandwich

4. entity: labeling a present object/person, ex. Baby

5. attribute (adjective): some sort of description such as shape, size, or quality of an object/person, ex. Huge elephant

6. possessor: person/thing that is related to an object with/which it belongs, ex. Mommy’s blanket

why is it important to identify semantic categories in language samples?

they are early forms of syntax

list and explain the 8 rules for counting morphemes

1. if you can understand the word, then you can count it. if not, use an X and don’t count it. Ex. “He X here” = 2 morphemes

2. if the child stutters, only count the attempt at the single word once in the most completed form. Ex. “I (w*) (w*) want this” = 3 morphemes

3. do not count filler words, such as mhm, uh, hm, um, ah, etc.

4. count compound words, proper names, and ritualized reduplications as one single word (basketball, night-night, John Smith)

5. count all irregular past tense forms of verbs as one morpheme (swam, got, etc.)

6. count all diminutives as one morpheme (doggie, birdie, etc.)

7. count auxiliaries as separate morphemes (is, will, have, etc.), count catenatives as single morphemes (gonna, wanna, etc.), count inflections as single morphemes (-’s, -ed)

8. MLU should always be calculated for the total transcription, not for 100 utterances

how many morphemes are in this utterance? “He wants the basketball”

5

how many morphemes are in this utterance? “Turning this way”

4

how many morphemes are in this utterance? “The girl doesn’t like pizza”

6

how many morphemes are in this utterance? “He goed”

3

how many morphemes are in this utterance? “She X store”

2