2. Definition of Language
Anycode 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.
3. 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
4. Language Components & Skills
Form
– Phonology
– Morphology
– Syntax
Content
– Semantics
Use
– Pragmatics
6. 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).
7. 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
8. 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)
9. 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”.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. 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.
13. 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.
14. 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.
15. 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.
16. 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.
17. 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.
18. 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.
19. 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).
20. 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
21. 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.
22. 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.
23. 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
24. Informal Tests of Syntax
Expressive syntax: analyzing student’s
spontaneous speech, recording
conversation.
Sentence repetition: teacher states a
sentence and student repeats it.
25. 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.
26. 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.
27. 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).
28. 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.
29. 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
30. 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
31. 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
Hinweis der Redaktion
Critical to success as a learner Vehicle by which content is presented and elaborated on Means by which an individual becomes part of a social group Review Meet Tom and pp. 219-220 Make a list of the functional skills and deficits suggested by this narrative You don’t need to use technical terminology, just use everyday language to describe his language successes and failures.
Form: rules by which a given communications system is governed; the “how” of language Content: the meaning component; the “what” of language Use: reason, purpose: the “why” of language Integration of the three components is referred to as Language Competence Problems in language may be result of Simple delay in development of language competence Disruption in one or more of the three components Failure to integrate the three components functionally
The three language components are composed of five separate skills Form: phonology, morphology, and syntax Content: semantics Use: pragmatics No hierarchical relationship implied; skills not expected to develop sequentially In normal language development, growth occurs in all five simultaneously Skilled communicators typically competent in all five areas; may have deficit in one area but still be able to function reasonably well in others Phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics must all work together to support pragmatics, or functional language use
Phonology: the system of rules that governs sounds and sound combinations. A phoneme is a unit of sound that combines with other sounds to form words. It is the smallest unit of language, and does not, by itself, convey meaning. English language consists of about 40 phonemes, classified as either vowels or consonants. Symbols used to represent these sound are called phonograms or graphemes. 26 letters or graphemes in English, combined to stand for various phonemes. Phonological or phonemic awareness is the capability of analyzing and manipulating the sound components of language without respect to meaning. Problems in phonology frequently appear as articulation discrimination difficulties, by decoding deficits in reading, or by deficits in handwriting and spelling. There is a strong relationship between phonological disorders and reading problems. Vignette 9.1 on page 223.
Morphology: the rule system that governs the structure of words and the construction of word forms from the basic elements of meaning. A morpheme is the smallest unit or segment of language that conveys meaning. Root morphemes: free morphemes that can stand alone. These are typically considered to be vocabulary words. Affixes: bound morphemes such as prefixes and suffixes (change meaning of word: derivational suffixes (change word class, e.g., verb walk becomes noun walker) inflectional suffixes (change the meaning of a word, e.g., boys changes the meaning to more than one boy. Some students with morphological problems demonstrate delayed development of vocabulary; they may have difficulty acquiring and maintaining new words; their vocabulary may be restricted to very concrete words.
Syntax: rule system governing the order and combination of words to form sentences, and the relationships among the elements within a sentence. Frequently referred to as grammar. Children with syntactical problems often lack the length or syntactic complexity of their age peers. Problems in comprehension of sentences and questions Understanding relationships between direct and indirect objects Passive sentence construction Negative sentences
Semantics: language meaning; the meaning of individual words as well as the meaning that is produced by a combination of words. Categories include objects in general, actions in general, and relations between objects and relations between events Students with semantic problems may use or understand a limited number of words. May be in specific areas, such as adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, or pronouns. Dysnomia: difficulty in retrieving or recalling specific words Lack of understanding of how context can change the meaning of words Understanding of idioms Linguistic concepts such as before/after, if/then, many, some, few Misuse of transition words
Pragmatics: use of language in communication; may include verbal, vocal, or motoric expression. Rules that govern the use of language in social contexts to convey a variety of intentions such as requesting, asserting, or questioning. Sometimes referred to as communicative competence; may be least likely to be identified as an area of instruction or to be includes as part of the formal school curriculum. Problems include inability to understand indirect requests (Isn’t it time to go to bed now?), determining when the listener doesn’t understand, entering conversations in a socially-unacceptable manner, monopolizing conversation, inappropriate facial expressions, difficulty staying on topic. Figure 9.2: Pragmatic skills for communication