Language Sampling with Adolescents

Transcription

1 Laguage Samplig with Adolescets Implicatios for Itervetio Secod Editio Marily A. Nippold, PhD, CCC-SLP

2 Cotets Preface Ackowledgmets vii xi PART I. WORKING WITH ADOLESCENTS 1 Chapter 1. Why Laguage Samplig? 3 Chapter 2. History of Laguage Samplig 15 Chapter 3. Adolescet Laguage Developmet 27 Chapter 4. Laguage Samplig Guidelies 33 Chapter 5. Laguage Samplig Tasks 41 Chapter 6. Adolescets with Autism Spectrum Disorders 67 Chapter 7. Itervetio: Coversatioal ad Narrative 85 Discourse Chapter 8. Itervetio: Expository ad Persuasive Discourse 99 Chapter 9. Brigig It All Together: The School Newspaper 111 PART II. GRAMMAR REVIEW AND EXERCISES 121 Chapter 10. Types of Words ad Phrases 123 Chapter 11. Types of Clauses 149 Chapter 12. Types of Seteces 179 Chapter 13. Uits of Measuremet 191 Chapter 14. Aalyzig Laguage Samples from Adolescets 205 Appedix A. Aswer Keys for Chapter Exercises 233 Refereces 309 Idex 321 v

3 Preface I Jue 1972, I graduated from the Uiversity of Califoria Los Ageles with a B.A. degree i philosophy, also havig studied psychology. That autum, istead of readig the works of Plato ad Piaget, I bega workig as a teacher s assistat i a preschool program for low-icome families i Souther Califoria. Wheever the speech-laguage pathologist came ito the classroom to evaluate the childre who spoke very little or whose speech was uclear or disfluet, I observed with great iterest as I cotiued my duties of settig up for sack, cleaig pait brushes, orgaizig bookshelves, ad creatig seasoal bulleti boards. By the ed of the school year, havig had the opportuity to observe idividual ad smallgroup therapy sessios, I kew that I had foud my callig to become a speech-laguage pathologist ad work with childre. Thus, I spet the summer of 1973 takig classes i commuicative disorders at earby Califoria State Uiversity Log Beach where I read the works of scholars such as Roger Brow (1973), Noam Chomsky (1965), Mildred Berry (1969), ad Mildred Templi (1957). Upo learig about the cocept of spotaeous laguage samplig, I bega audio-recordig coversatios with eighborhood childre as they happily talked about story books, pets, ad favorite activities. I the trascribed their samples by had, laboriously calculatig mea legth of utterace (MLU) i words, ad attemptig to aalyze their speech with a emergig program called Developmetal Setece Scorig, or DSS (Lee & Cater, 1971). After that summer, I etered the master s degree program at Califoria State Uiversity Log Beach, cofidet i my choice of career ad eager to lear more about it. After earig my M.A. degree i 1976, I bega workig as a speechlaguage pathologist i Souther Califoria, first i a private cliic with preschool childre, ad later i a public school with youg adolescets. Durig those years, I cotiued to lear about laguage developmet ad disorders, readig books ad articles ad attedig cofereces. I also cotiued to record, trascribe, ad aalyze my cliets coversatios. At the time, it was easy to fid iformatio o how to aalyze the spoke laguage of youg childre. However, I was hard pressed to fid solid guidace from textbooks, jourals, or cofereces that would help me to evaluate the spoke laguage of childre over the age of 7 years. Although vii

4 viii Laguage Samplig with Adolescets it was obvious to me that laguage developmet cotiued well beyod that poit, little research had bee published o later laguage developmet or o laguage disorders i school-age childre ad adolescets. My work as a speech-laguage pathologist with adolescets was particularly heartbreakig. For those youg people, the years of strugglig with a laguage disorder had impacted them greatly, gradually erodig their self-esteem, social developmet, ad school success. Ufortuately, oe of my studets could read or write at grade level or speak with clarity, precisio, or cofidece. However, I believed that much could be doe to help them succeed, if more iformatio were available from research o later laguage developmet. I the sprig of 1978, I was accepted ito the doctoral program i speech-laguage pathology at Purdue Uiversity i West Lafayette, Idiaa. As a doctoral studet, my goal was to lear as much as possible about laguage developmet ad laguage disorders i school-age childre ad adolescets. Sice graduatig from Purdue i 1982, I have bee o the faculty i Commuicatio Disorders ad Scieces at the Uiversity of Orego, where I have cotiued to lear about later laguage developmet ad disorders, by coductig research projects i areas such as figurative laguage uderstadig, word learig, metaliguistics, verbal reasoig, readig, ad spoke ad writte discourse. This book o laguage samplig with adolescets is a effort to pull together some of my recet projects o discourse developmet, i a applied format. Its major purpose is to provide guidace for elicitig, trascribig, ad aalyzig coversatioal, arrative, expository, ad persuasive discourse samples with studets i grades 5 through 12 (ages years). Suggestios are offered o how to use that iformatio to promote studets laguage developmet. The book is writte for speech-laguage pathologists who struggle, as I have, to make itervetio relevat ad effective for older studets. Speech-laguage pathologists who work i the schools ofte are called upo to evaluate the spoke ad writte laguage skills of adolescets, a activity that should iclude laguage samplig i order to lear how well youg people commuicate i atural settigs. This iformatio the ca be used to desig itervetio activities to assist studets i meetig Commo Core State Stadards ad i helpig them to excel at formal speakig ad writig assigmets i the classroom. Speech-laguage pathologists are ideally suited for coductig these activities because of the extesive traiig they receive i laguage developmet ad disorders. However, laguage samplig with adolescets ca be challegig. For example, speech-laguage pathologists ofte report that they are ufamiliar with laguage samplig tasks that are appropriate for adolescets; that they are usure of how to ecourage adolescets to talk; ad that they have little uderstadig of how to aalyze a sample, ot kowig what to expect or what to do with the fidigs. I additio, they ofte report that they have

5 Preface ix difficulty performig liguistic aalyses, such as idetifyig differet types of words (e.g., particles versus prepositios; participles versus geruds; fiite versus ofiite verbs), seteces (e.g., simple versus complex; complex versus compoud), ad clauses (e.g., mai, relative, adverbial, omial) ad i calculatig various uits of measuremet (e.g., clausal desity, mea legth of utterace, mea legth of C-uit, mea legth of T-uit). This book addresses these ad other issues ad provides sets of exercises to ehace learig or review. It also offers suggestios for desigig itervetio goals ad activities to promote adolescets use of complex laguage. After readig this book ad completig the exercises, speechlaguage pathologists should be able to elicit, trascribe, ad aalyze laguage samples with adolescets quite successfully. They should also kow what to do with that iformatio to pla meaigful, relevat, ad egagig itervetio activities for adolescets. A Note TO Istructors Whe this book is used as a text for uiversity courses i laguage assessmet ad itervetio, it is suggested that studets be assiged to read chapters from Part II: Grammar Review ad Exercises, while they are readig chapters from Part I: Workig With Adolescets. This would provide studets the opportuity to review grammar i maageable chuks before they are expected to apply the iformatio to aalyze a laguage sample. Note that the chapters i Part II build upo each other. For example, by coverig word types (e.g., ou, verbs, adjectives) i Chapter 10 before clause types (e.g., omial, adverbial, relative) i Chapter 11, studets will uderstad how differet types of words are similar to differet types of clauses (e.g., ous ad omial clauses; adjectives ad relative clauses). Moreover, by coverig clause types (e.g., mai, coordiate, subordiate) before setece types (e.g., simple, compoud, complex) i Chapter 12, they will uderstad how the type of setece is determied by the type(s) of clause(s) it cotais. Fially, by coverig setece types before uits of measuremet (Chapter 13), studets will be able to distiguish betwee complete ad icomplete C-uits ad T-uits ad to determie whether a ru o setece is actually oe, two, or three C-uits or T-uits. Thus, it is suggested that durig the first half of a semester, studets be assiged to read the chapters i this sequece: 1 ad 10, 2 ad 11, 3 ad 12, ad 4 ad 13 ad 14. It is also recommeded that class time be spet discussig their aswers to the grammar review exercises. The, durig the secod half of the semester, they could read the followig chapters: 5, 6, 7, 8, ad 9. Followig this sequece, studets would be prepared to elicit, trascribe, ad aalyze laguage samples from adolescets with typical or impaired laguage developmet durig the secod half of the

6 x Laguage Samplig with Adolescets course. The experiece of coductig a laguage sample the will help to prepare them to apply their fidigs as they read ad discuss the three chapters o laguage itervetio (Chapters 7, 8, ad 9). Marily A. Nippold

7 Part I Workig With Adolescets

8 Chapter 1 Why Laguage Samplig? The ability to use laguage to express oeself with clarity, precisio, ad cofidece i social, academic, ad vocatioal settigs is a basic huma right. I our moder iformatio-drive world i which effective ad effortless commuicatio is the stadard expectatio for all citizes, idividuals who experiece difficulties with spoke or writte laguage durig formal or iformal situatios are seriously hampered i their pursuit of persoal satisfactio, idepedet livig, ad ecoomic prosperity. At least 10% of adolescets have laguage disorders that restrict their ability to express themselves verbally. This icludes, for example, studets with specific laguage impairmet (SLI), ospecific laguage impairmet (NLI), learig disabilities, autism spectrum disorders (ASD), ad traumatic brai ijury (TBI; e.g., Bishop & Dola, 2005; Lada & Goldberg, 2005; Lewis, Murdoch, & Woodyatt, 2007; Mariellie, 2004; Mora & Gillo, 2010; Mora, Kirk, & Powell, 2012; Nippold & Hesketh, 2009; Nippold, Masfield, Billow, & Tombli, 2008, 2009; Scott & Widsor, 2000; Ward-Loerga, 2010; Ward-Loerga, Liles, & Aderso, 1999). Frequetly, studets with these coditios exhibit limitatios i their use of complex sytax, literate vocabulary, appropriate pragmatics, laguage cotet, ad i their overall laguage productivity. Regardig sytax, adolescets with laguage disorders ofte produce shorter ad simpler utteraces tha their peers with typical laguage developmet (TLD). Although some adolescets with laguage disorders also make errors o verb teses, plurals, ad proous (Scott, 2004), for the most part, they have mastered grammatical morphology but cotiue to struggle to produce complex seteces with adequate subordiatio (Nippold et al., 2008, 2009). Regardig the lexico, may adolescets have difficulty uderstadig ad usig literate vocabulary such as abstract ous, morphologically complex words, metacogitive verbs, ad figurative expressios. Durig social situatios, pragmatic issues may 3

9 4 Laguage Samplig with Adolescets arise where they have difficulty aswerig questios, stayig o topic, ad showig sesitivity to other peoples perspectives. Moreover, the cotet of their discourse may be impoverished, ad they may be less productive speakers ad writers tha their peers with TLD. I recet years, much has bee leared about typical laguage developmet durig adolescece ad about the ature of laguage deficits experieced by some adolescets (Berma, 2004, 2008; Berma & Nir, 2010; Nippold, 2007; Paul & Norbury, 2012). Armed with a clear uderstadig of typical laguage developmet, speech-laguage pathologists ca examie adolescets abilities to commuicate i atural settigs by elicitig ad aalyzig spoke ad writte laguage samples ad usig the results to establish appropriate itervetio goals. Stadardized laguage tests such as the Cliical Evaluatio of Laguage Fudametals-Third Editio (Semel, Wiig, & Secord, 1995) are helpful i idetifyig laguage deficits (Nippold et al., 2009). However, they sample laguage out of cotext ad do ot provide the type of aturalistic iformatio that is required to pla relevat itervetio activities. Laguage samplig ca help the speech-laguage pathologist address these limitatios, focusig o the laguage of the curriculum ad specific aspects of later laguage developmet, icludig complex sytax, the literate lexico, ad pragmatics. Laguage samplig also offers greater ecological validity tha stadardized laguage testig. Some of the may beefits of laguage samplig are listed i Table 1 1. This book addresses laguage samplig i four essetial geres: coversatioal, arrative, expository, ad persuasive discourse. A coversatio is a dialogue i which people take turs expressig their ideas, makig commets, ad askig questios i a spotaeous fashio. Because the goal of a coversatio ofte is to establish, build, or maitai a relatioship, speakers ted to support each other by actig as scaffolds, helpig to expad or clarify what is beig said. Durig the years betwee 10 ad 18, youg people sped icreasig amouts of time i coversatios with peers i perso or o the telephoe sharig iformatio, buildig solidarity, ad helpig each other to solve complex problems (Nippold, 2007). The ability to use laguage to covey subtle ad sophisticated thoughts to peers is essetial for a adolescet s social developmet, self-esteem, persoal idetity, ad overall well-beig (Schickedaz, Schickedaz, Forsyth, & Forsyth, 2001). The iteractive ature of coversatios makes them more supportive tha other geres such as arrative, expository, or persuasive discourse i which the speaker is egaged i more of a moologue ad bears most of the resposibility for commuicatig i a clear ad efficiet maer. Nevertheless, these other geres also are critical for social developmet, as whe a adolescet tells stories to etertai a peer (arrative), explais to a classmate how to complete a assigmet (expository), or tries to covice a fried to assist with a commuity project (persuasive).

10 Table 1 1. Some Beefits of Laguage Samplig with Adolescets The results of a laguage sample ca idicate how well the adolescet commuicates i real-world settigs: Coversig with others o the phoe or i perso Tellig stories to etertai a group of frieds Givig a oral report i history class Explaiig to a peer how to play a game or sport Covicig a seior citize to vote for a school bod Durig cogitively challegig speakig tasks, a laguage sample ca reveal weakesses i the use of complex sytax ad the literate lexico: Frequet use of simple or icomplete seteces with little subordiatio You deal the cards. Take your tur. Pay a fie. You throw it to first base. Get the guy out. It s about two guys. Oe s bad. Frequet use of imprecise, vague, or cocrete words You play the sog with this guitar-type thig. I do t kow what it s called, but it s small ad roud. Our team eeds stuff. We do t got eough. Difficulties with pragmatics ca be observed, especially durig coversatios Frequet iterruptios ad overlaps Off-topic commets Lack of empathy, sesitivity, awareess Failure to cosider others perspectives Laguage productivity may be low i spoke or writte laguage Adolescet produces fewer words ad utteraces Cotet is iaccurate, limited, or otherwise impoverished The results ca supplemet the fidigs of a stadardized test. Adolescet uses short, simple utteraces Adolescet produces grammatical errors Adolescet uses vague, imprecise vocabulary The results ca offer directio for itervetio, focusig o: Laguage eeded to succeed socially, i school, ad o the job Appropriate pragmatic behaviors Use of complex sytax ad literate vocabulary Subordiate clauses (relative, adverbial, omial) Subordiate clauses embedded withi other subordiate clauses Abstract ous (e.g., ambitio, strategy, expectatio) Morphologically complex words (e.g., availability, philathropic) Metacogitive verbs (e.g., determie, surmise, perceive) Figurative expressios (metaphors, similes, idioms, proverbs) 5

11 6 Laguage Samplig with Adolescets Beyod the social uses of laguage, adolescets i today s schools are expected to use spoke ad writte laguage to meet state-madated educatioal stadards or bechmarks ad to excel i the classroom. Speech-laguage pathologists who work i middle schools ad high schools frequetly are called upo to address adolescets spoke ad writte laguage skills. Workig collaboratively with classroom teachers, may speech-laguage pathologists tailor their assessmet ad itervetio activities to assist adolescets to meet specific Commo Core State Stadards (CCSS) for Eglish Laguage Arts (Natioal Goverors Associatio Ceter for Best Practices ad Coucil of Chief State School Officers, 2010; Accordig to the CCSS, begiig i grade 6 ad cotiuig through grade 12, studets are expected to demostrate icreasig levels of spoke ad writte laguage proficiecy. Regardig spoke laguage, examples of school stadards iclude the ability to participate effectively i a rage of coversatios ad collaboratios with diverse parters, buildig o others ideas ad expressig their ow clearly ad persuasively (p. 48). I additio, they are expected to preset iformatio, fidigs, ad supportig evidece such that listeers ca follow the lie of reasoig (p. 48). Similarly, regardig writte laguage, school stadards iclude the ability to produce persuasive ad expository essays that are clear, coheret, orgaized, logical, ad supported by evidece, ad to produce arrative essays that covey real or imagiary evets with proper sequecig, structure, ad detail. Give the key role that spoke ad writte laguage plays i school success, it is critical that speech-laguage pathologists have the appropriate kowledge ad tools to assess ad itervee effectively regardig coversatioal, arrative, expository, ad persuasive discourse. I additio to CCSS i speakig ad writig, teachers place their ow high expectatios o studets o a daily basis i the classroom. For example, regardig arrative discourse, the laguage of storytellig, a 5thgrade teacher may ask the class to read, retell, ad discuss (orally or i writig) a folk tale such as The Baker s Neighbor, which cocers a coflict betwee a agry shopkeeper ad a cheerful customer (Afflerbach, Beers, Blachowicz, Boyd, & Diffily, 2000). The story cotais may abstract words (e.g., disbelief, fragrace, pleasures, privilege), ad the characters express cotrastig values ad persoality traits (e.g., greed, selfishess, cotetmet, hoesty). To perform these activities, studets must uderstad the story ad its characters, icludig their actios, perspectives, ad motivatios. This requires that studets liste, read, speak, ad write proficietly. As studets progress through grade levels, classroom expectatios become eve higher. I high school, for example, Eglish teachers may require studets to read, retell, ad discuss the fable by Jea de La Fotaie, The Value of Kowledge (McDougal Littell, 2006). This story, a commet o pretetious ad excessive wealth, cocers two citizes who represet cotrastig values oe who is wealthy but rude ad arrogat (the boor)

12 Why Laguage Samplig? 7 ad aother who is poor but witty ad humble (the bookma/wit). The fable cocludes with the followig literate lies: Our bookma does t deig respod: There s much too much that he might say. But still, revege is his, ad far beyod mere satire s meager meas. For war breaks out ad Mars wreaks havoc roud about. Homeless, our vagabods must beg their bread. Scored everywhere, the boor meets glare ad glower; welcomed, the wit is plied with board ad bed. So eds their quarrel. Fools take heed: Kowledge is power! (p. 543) Adolescets with laguage disorders are likely to be challeged mightily by this literate activity as they attempt to retell the fable ad make sese of its low-frequecy words (e.g., deig, revege, satire, meager, plied), figurative expressios (e.g., beg their bread, kowledge is power), ad ucommo sytactic structures (e.g., revege is his, ad far beyod mere satire s meager meas; Mars wreaks havoc; plied with board ad bed). For example, if asked to iterpret the characters actios, a studet might reasoably be expected to use complex sytax ad literate vocabulary, as i the followig setece: Although oe of the characters i the story, the boor, is wealthy, people do ot ejoy spedig time with him because he is rude ad arrogat. Expository discourse, the use of laguage to covey iformatio, is the most commo gere used i the upper grades. Although arrative discourse predomiates durig the early grades, whe studets reach the 4th grade, a trasitio occurs i which expository discourse becomes the stadard gere of the classroom (Nippold & Scott, 2010). At that time, teachers begi lecturig about complex topics i areas such as sciece, social studies, geography, mathematics, ad history, ad studets textbooks are writte primarily i a direct, iformative maer. I tur, studets must display their kowledge of this ewly acquired iformatio through oral reports, group presetatios, formal essays, ad other assigmets i which expository discourse is the expected gere. For example, cosider the followig excerpt from a 5th-grade sciece textbook: Scietists have classified plats ito two mai groups. Vascular plats, such as fers ad trees, have tubes. Because they have tubes to carry water, utriets, ad food, vascular plats ca grow quite tall. Novascular plats, such as mosses, do ot have tubes. So water must move from cell to cell. These plats eed to live i a moist place, ad they do ot grow to be very large. (Joes et al., 2002, p. A53) After readig about differet classificatios of plats ad listeig to their teachers lectures, studets are asked to write a expository essay i which they do the followig: