Pragmatics of Conversation & Social Language Use

Pragmatics of Conversation & Social Language Use

Demands of Conversation

• Listening and Comprehension:
  • Understand literal meanings as well as implied or figurative meanings.
  • Handle ambiguous messages effectively.
• Planning Contributions:
  • What to say should be relevant to the topic and the preceding turns in conversation.
  • Add new information to advance one's goals/motivations.
  • Follow social and cultural norms of appropriateness.
• Turn-Taking:
  • Recognize when it is time to speak and do so promptly.

Additional Skills Influencing Conversational Ability

• Cognitive Skills:
  • Memory: Retaining information while speaking.
  • Attention: Focusing on the conversation at hand.
  • Reasoning: Making connections and inferences during discussions.
• Social Skills:
  • Theory of Mind (ToM): Understanding others' perspectives.
  • Empathy: Recognizing and responding to emotions of others.
• Nonverbal Cues:
  • Understanding facial expressions and gestures.
• Background Knowledge:
  • Applying past experiences and cultural/linguistic background to conversations.

Conversation Challenges for Students with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD)

• Key Difficulties:
  • General language deficiencies.
  • Pragmatic language disorders affecting contextual usage.
  • Associated issues: intellectual disabilities, social understanding impairments (e.g., ASD), hearing loss, learning disabilities, slower processing capabilities, weaker working memory, and executive functions like attention and inhibition.

Social/Cultural Aspects of Conversation

• Variability of Social Norms:
  • Language use is influenced by cultural and linguistic backgrounds.
  • Factors such as identity, belonging, and neurodivergence play roles in language use.
• Assessment and Intervention:
  • Should consider the cultural context of language use and students' individual goals.

Assessment Methods

• Standardized Tests:
  • Limitations include lack of natural context.
  • Examples: TILLS – Social Language Subtest, TOPS, TOPL, CAP.
• Observational Rating Scales:
  • Gathered from multiple contexts (classroom, lunch, activities).
• Pragmatics Profile:
  • CELF-5 assesses conversational skills.
• Probes and Elicitation Tasks:
  • Focus on specific communicative intents and contextual awareness.
• Language Sample Analysis:
  • Analyze discourse management while considering cultural and social norms.

Areas of Assessment

Range of Communicative Intents

• Evaluate understanding and expression of intents (complimenting, encouraging, declining, etc.).
• Observe peer interactions for a range of intentions and communicative techniques (direct vs. indirect).

Contextual/Situational Flexibility

• Assess adjustments in language based on:
  • Addressee characteristics (e.g., peer vs. teacher).
  • Context of the situation (e.g., classroom or noisy lunchroom).
  • Needs of the addressee (emotional/attentional).
• Utilize role play to determine appropriateness in different situations.

Discourse Management

• Assess abilities in:
  • Initiating and joining conversations.
  • Topic maintenance and shifting.
  • Turn-taking and relevance of contributions.
  • Using nonverbal communication effectively.
  • Identifying and repairing misunderstandings.

Intervention Strategies

• Target Areas:
  • Interventions can target any conversational skill area.
• Naturalistic Practice:
  • Engage in various contexts and with different interlocutors (peers, small groups).
• Sample Intervention Sequence:
  1. Introduction: Importance of the skill.
  2. Guided Instruction: Teaching skills systematically.
  3. Modeling: Use role-play or videos.
  4. Rehearsal: Students describe and role-play the skill.
  5. Feedback: Constructive, positive feedback including self-assessment.
  6. Planning: Strategies for real-life application.
  7. Generalization: Practicing skills in and beyond therapy sessions, promoting self-monitoring.

Barrier Games

• Comprehension Monitoring:
  • Clients identify gaps in understanding and seek clarification.
• Presupposition Tasks:
  • Addressing clarity issues arising from the listener’s background knowledge and perspective.

Classroom Discourse

• Metalinguistic Discussions:
  • Discussing rules of discourse (like turn-taking).
  • Exploring the importance and exceptions to these rules with examples.
• Classroom Organizers:
  • Create visual aids to support understanding and management of classroom discourse.