400 likes | 575 Views
Language impairment and language difference in EAL pre-schoolers. Kommunika Centre for early intervention in Communication Pathology University of Pretoria. Negotiating the program. The research The materials The methods The collaborative process
E N D
Language impairment and language difference in EAL pre-schoolers Kommunika Centre for early intervention in Communication Pathology University of Pretoria
Negotiating the program • The research • The materials • The methods • The collaborative process • Distinguishing between difference and impairment
The context and the questions • Multilingual urban context – how multi? • Mother tongue education? • Assessment in primary language?
Language data from 32 pre - school classes in the Sunnyside/Pretoria CBD geographical area (n=760) Language data for LoLT in 32 32 teachers multilingual pre - Languagedatafor760pre - school classes , schoolers L1 L2/3 Home language unknown to Afrikaans English English only 31% teachers (36.9%) (84%) (88%) Official languages of South English Afrikaans Afrikaans only 3% Africa (9%) (19%) 10%+ representation SeSotho SeSotho English and Afrikaans, Sesotho, English, (3%) (9%) Afrikaans 66% and Setswana IsiZulu German Other 0% (3%) (6%) 2% - 10% representation IsiXhosa, Xhosa, Sesotho sa Leboa (the SePedi, Northern So tho varieties), SeSwati, Zulu IsiZulu, XiTsonga, 1% - Dutch, Tshivenda, IsiNdebele, Siswati, Sign Xitsonga language (3% each) Other languages African languages from other African countries (e.g. Swahili), French, Portugues e, other languages (non - African)
Language assessment is complex and multifaceted The stove blood me here • Language form • Phonology • Morphology • Syntax • Language content • Words (vocabulary items) • Figurative language • Meaning of longer units • Language use • Functions • Adaptations • Rules That sounds like fun! And how do you play with the jumping castle? You jump and you bump I went to the doctor. He’s checking me.
Research - outline • Research question: can a typical language profile be identified for a small group of EAL pre-school learners in a circumscribed urban area, from which a set of boundaries may be construed for the profile of EAL pre-school learners with potential language learning disorders?
Problem Statement – the South African urban context • Large multilingual pre-school classes • Multilingual/linguistically diverse teachers • Few speech-language therapists, and even fewer speak African languages • English is the language of mutual understanding • Children will be placed in schools with ELoLT • Dearth of data on language behaviours
“Sticky issues” in the multilingual urban pre-school “Language assessment should take place in L1” • What happens if no teacher or therapist can speak the child’s L1? “The child speaks English as Additional Language” • Does the child’s English resemble that of the other EAL pre-schoolers, or are there non-typical characteristics?
Research projectAim: to determine the feasibility of constructing a language profile for pre-school EAL learners in a circumscribed urban area • Select a pre-school with representative demographics • Select materials and methods to elicit a language sample • Transcribe and analyse language samples • Compare typical language behaviours to behaviours typical of children with language impairment
Three age groups: • 4-0 to 4-11 (Junior group) • 5-0 to 5-11 (Middle group) • 6-0 to 6-11 (Senior group) Developmental progress: • Generally speaking, a great leap forward from middle to senior group • Literature: EAL speakers eventually develop towards more EL1-like language behaviours But Early intervention is essential in cases of SLI
Are the results of any practical use? • Elicitation materials to use Table • Analyses to perform Table + info • Designing language development programs in collaboration with teachers Profile of typical language behaviour (2 forms) • Identifying learners with LI Risk profile
Activities/ material Language aspects elicited Language form Language content Language use Conversation Discussing a picture of a birthday party (Minskoff, Wiseman & Minskoff, 1972) Syntactic complexity Syntactic structures Morphology MLU Word counts: TNW TDW TTR TNV TDV TNN Utterances Mazes Connectives Functions, intents and devices Appropriate-ness Turns taken Elicitation materials
Conversation Story map for personal narrative about Going to the doctor (Rollins, McCabe & Bliss, 2000) Syntactic complexity Syntactic structures Morphology MLU TNW TDW TTR TNV TDV TNN Variety of utterances produced Mazes Discourse devices (connectives) Communicative functions, intents and devices Appropriate-ness Turns taken Narratives
Activities suggested for eliciting pragmatic behaviours (Creaghead, 1984) Communicative functions, intents and devices
Pictures and sentence completion (Subtest 9 – Grammatic Closure, from the Illinois Test of Psycho-linguistic Abilities [ITPA] [revised edition.] Kirk, McCarthy and Kirk, 1968).) Morphology
Story based on picture cards, as well as additional response utterances to Items 11-14, from the KLST-2 (Gauthier & Madison, 1998). Syntactic complexity MLU
S subject V verb O object Od direct object Oi indirect object C complement A adverbial c connective Q question/question word Comm command D/det determiner Prep preposition N noun V verb V part. verb particle Aux auxiliary verb Cop copula Adj adjective Pron pronoun Neg negative Syntax - examples
Personal narrative – Rollins, McCabe & Bliss, 2000 High point analysis of personal narratives We were playing outside But my mother’s friend was inside. Now, I was playing with my mother’s friend’s son. He was holding a stick. I looked in the dog’s eye Then I ran And then the dog bit me in the arm. That was a cruel dog
Three-step process for narrative assessment • Eliciting the narrative – conversation map 2. Coding the narrative Transcribed one clause on a line. Each clause assigned with appropriate element: orientation, action, evaluation, resolution, and coda. One clause may be multiply coded. 3. Scoring the narrative. Series of questions:
Are there two past tense events? Are there more than two past tense events? In the real world is there a logical or causal sequence to these events? Does the narrator’s order of the events mirror the sequence in which the events must have logically occurred? Is there a high point? Is there a resolution? If yes One-event narrative Two-event narrative Miscellaneous narrative Leap-frog narrative Chronological narr. End-at-high-point Classic narrative If the answer to a question on the left hand side is no, the narrative structure employed is indicated in the adjacent text box. If the answer to a question is yes, proceed to the next question. no no no no no no yes
Interpersonal Instrumental – satisfy needs Regulatory – control actions of others Interactional – establish interactions Personal – express feelings, attitudes, interest Ideational Heuristic – explore and organise environment Imaginative – create imaginary environment Informative – provide information Language functions in young children- Halliday
Communicative intents - examples Request object Request action Request information Comment Make choices Give reasons Conversational devices – examples Answer Take turns Specify topic Change topic Maintain topic Request clarification Creaghead’s protocol (1984)- Strategies for evaluating and targeting pragmatic behaviours in young children
Suggested classroom activities for • Language form - morphosyntax • Language content - meaning • Language use – conversations and narratives
Language form • Use LARSP/Language Therapy (Lewis & Penn) or some developmental scheme to know what to stimulate. Lewis & Penn also provide ideas on how to stimulate and elicit • Forced alternative • Verbal absurdities • Silence! • Manual code as cue • Focus stimulation • Expanding MLU: the expanding story
Language content • Developing TDW: list types of descriptives one can use, put into practice • Developing TDV: cognitive state verbs (theory of mind) after age 5 • Creating similes from experience
Language use • Narratives: • Story charts for personal experience • Story glove etc. for story grammar • Reflecting and alternatives • Conversations • Playing out stories • Role play and discuss
Identifying learners at risk for SLI • What is SLI? • How many risk indicators are needed to indicate risk? • A practice run