Assessment of language skill.ppt

7/26/2019 Assessment of language skill.ppt

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Assessing and TeachingLanguage

EXC 7130


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Definition of Language

Any code employing signs, symbols, or

gestures used for communicating ideas

meaningfully between human beings. !ocial tool to communicate meanings,

feelings, and intentions.

"anguage comprises of recepti#e s$ills%understanding& and e'pressi#e s$ills %use&

and includes both written and oral forms.


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Theories of Language (eha#ioristic) !$inner

*nfant begins with no $nowledge of language, but

possesses ability to learn it through reinforcement

and imitation

+ati#istic or psycholinguistic) Choms$y

Child is prewired for language de#elopment and

the en#ironment triggers its emergence

*nteractionistic) iaget "anguage occurs through fi'ed de#elopmental

stages


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Language Components & Skills

-orm honology

orphology !ynta'

Content

!emantics /se

ragmatics


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Functionalist Language Theory

Pragmatics

Syntax

Semantics

Mor

ph

olo

gy

Phonology


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Phonology

!tudy and use of indi#idual sound units in a

language and the rules by which they are

combined and recombined to create largerlanguage units.

honemes are the unit of sound such as s

or b , they do not con#ey meaning.

honemes alter meaning of words when

combined %e.g., sat to bat&.


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Phonological Deficits

-reuently appear as articulation

disorders.

Child omits a consonant) 2oo for you

Child substitutes one consonant) 2wabbit

for rabbit

4iscrimination) child hears 2go get the nailinstead of mail


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Morphology

!tudy and use of morphemes, the smallest

units of language that ha#e meaning.

A morpheme is a group of sounds that refersto a particular ob5ect, idea, or action.

6oots can stand alone %e.g., car, teach, tall&

Affi'es are bound such as prefi'es and suffi'es

and when attached to root words change themeaning of the words %e.g., cars, teacher, tallest&


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Morphological Deficits

Elementary aged) may not use appropriate

inflectional endings in their speech %e.g.,2e

wal$ or 2ommy coat&. iddle school) lac$ irregular past tense or

irregular plurals %e.g., dri#ed for dro#e or

mans for men&.

(e aware of 2(lac$ English) 28ohn cousin

2fifty cent, or 2!he wor$ here.


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Syntax

!tudy of the rules by which words are

organi9ed into phrases or sentences in

a particular language. 6eferred to as the grammar of the

language and allows for more comple'

e'pression of thoughts and ideas byma$ing references to past and future

e#ents.


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Syntactic Deficits

"ac$ the length or syntactic comple'ity

%e.g., 2:here 4addy go;&.

roblems comprehending sentences

that e'press relationship between direct

or indirect ob5ects.

4ifficulty with whuestions.


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Semantics


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Semantic Deficits

"imited #ocabulary especially in ad5ecti#es,

ad#erbs, prepositions, or pronouns.

"onger response time in selecting #ocabularywords.

-ail to percei#e subtle changes in word

meaning) incomplete understanding and

misinterpretations.

-igurati#e language problems.


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Pragmatics

=nowledge and ability to use language

functionally in social or interacti#e

situations. *ntegrates all the other language s$ills,

but also reuires $nowledge and use of

rule go#erning the use of language insocial conte't.


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Pragmatic Deficits

roblems understanding indirect

reuests %e.g., may say yes when

as$ed 2ust you play the piano;&. ay enter con#ersations in a socially

unacceptable fashion or fail to ta$e

turns tal$ing. 4ifficulty staying on topic.


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!lementary Students

"imited ability to identify sounds, analy9ing

and synthesi9ing sound seuences and

segmenting words. roblems with temporal and spatial concepts

%e.g., before>after, some, few&.

:ord finding %retrie#al& difficulties e'ist.

roblems sounding out and blending sounds.

roblems with e'pressi#e and oral language.


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Secondary Students


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"ilingual and Culturally Di#erse

StudentsAssessment should be conducted in the

student?s primary language.

Assessment should e'amine writing, reading,listening, and spea$ing s$ills.

Assessments should include both uantitati#e

measures %i.e., formal tests& and ualitati#e

measures %e.g., obser#ations, adapted test

instruction, and a language sample&.


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Formal Language Assessment

!tandardi9ed instruments used to compare astudent?s performance with pre>establishedcriteria.

Clinical E#aluation of "anguage -undamentals,eabody icture @oc.


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$nformal Assessment

Bften used to affirm or refute the results

of formal measures.

4etermine specific instructionalob5ecti#es.

/se large sample of items and repeated

opportunities for obser#ations.


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$nformal Tests of Phonology

Analy9e student?s production of phonemes in

single words.

"ist of all the consonant phonemes pictures todepict words containing each phoneme %e.g.,

picture of a pot for initial p, map for final p&.

*nclude a comments section to describe the error

recorded.

ro#ide prompts 2minute sample, count correct and incorrect

phonemes.


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$nformal Tests of Syntax

E'pressi#e synta') analy9ing student?s

spontaneous speech, recording

con#ersation. !entence repetition) teacher states a

sentence and student repeats it.


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$nformal Tests of Semantics

"ogical relationships, cause>and>effect, and#erbal problem sol#ing are difficult to assess.

@erbal opposites) !6A picture cards of G0 pairs

of opposites. !tudent sorts them intoopposites.

:ord categories)


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$nformal Test of Pragmatics

Analy9e spontaneous speech through

#ideotape.


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Strategies for $ncreasing

Language Comprehension Establish eye contact and cue student tolisten.

As$ student to repeat directions.

Classroom arrangement to reducedistractions.

/se familiar #ocabulary when presenting newconcept.

resent new concept in as many modalities.


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Strategies for $ncreasing

Language Production 6eact to the content of student?s message,then correct synta' error.


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Students %ith Mental etardation

4e#elop language more slowly, including both

recepti#e H e'pressi#e delays

Bften don?t use ma$e use of incidentallearning opportunities

ay ha#e insufficient interactions with

children with more s$illed language use

-reuently less effecti#e in social

communication


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Students %ith "eha#ior Disorders

ay possess age>appropriate s$ills atphonemic and morphemic le#el, but

ha#e difficulties with synta', semantics,and pragmatics

4ifficulty e'pressing ideas, feelings,concerns, and needs

Bral language may be contain profanity 4ifficulty with social communication


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Students %ith Learning Disa'ilities

roblems understanding or using spo$en or

written language %definition&

roblems with word retrie#al and word choiceAmbiguity and lac$ of cohesion

*nefficient decoding of messages presented

by speech of others

/ne#en language abilities in both school and

social settings

Assessment of language skill.ppt

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