Notes on Social Language and Communicative Competence

Social Language or Communicative Competence

  • Refers to learning the rules for speaking and interacting with others.
  • Includes how to greet, request, and comment appropriately.
  • Emphasizes the importance of language use in different contexts.

Adjusting Language

  • Requires adjusting communication style based on the audience or setting.
    • Example: Different styles when talking to a peer, a younger sibling, or a professor.
  • Failure to adjust can lead to difficulties in communication.

Importance of Pragmatic Skills

  • Pragmatic skills are crucial for being seen as a competent communicator.
    • Understanding social language is essential alongside vocabulary and syntactic skills.
  • Lack of pragmatic ability can hinder effective communication, even with good vocabulary and syntax.

Turn Taking

  • Definition: Appropriate timing in communication where speakers take turns.
  • Begins in infancy; children learn to wait for their turn to respond during interactions.

Feedback

  • Refers to the ability to ask for clarification during conversations.
  • Many children with language disorders struggle to ask for further information, leading to misunderstandings.

Topic Maintenance

  • The ability to stay on topic during conversations.
  • Children with pragmatic difficulties may struggle to keep the conversation cohesive.
  • Can often switch topics abruptly without proper indicators of transitioning.

Pragmatics and Extra Linguistic Aspects

  • Includes paralinguistic and nonlinguistic cues:
    • Paralinguistic Cues: Intonation, stress on certain words, prosody.
    • Nonlinguistic Cues: Body language, gestures, and eye contact.
  • Nonlinguistic cues may have cultural variations, affecting how communication is perceived.

Cultural Sensitivity in Assessing Pragmatics

  • Be cautious when assessing nonverbal communication as it can vary greatly between different cultures.
  • Ey contact, for instance, may not be the same across cultures.

Challenges for Children with Pragmatic Deficits

  • Can occur even with typical semantics, syntax, morphology, and phonology.
  • Challenges in pragmatics could impact emotional health and social interactions.

Impact on Narrative Discourse

  • Children with pragmatic deficits may struggle with storytelling:
    • Can tell stories out of sequence or miss important details.
    • Difficulty identifying critical vs. minor details in narratives.

Long-Term Importance of Pragmatic Skills

  • Essential for effective communication across various contexts.
  • May affect a child's ability to socialize and navigate different social environments.

Assessing Pragmatics

  • Several assessment methods include questionnaires, teacher interviews, and standardized tests.
  • Observational tools can provide insights into a child's pragmatic abilities.
  • Examples include the Social Language Development Test and the Test of Narrative Language.

Key Assessment Focus Areas

  • Narrative Skills: Storytelling and the ability to sequence and maintain topics.
  • Turn Taking: Ability to share speaking time appropriately.
  • Conversational Repair: Ability to ask for clarification or repair misunderstandings in conversation.