Mean Length Of Utterance Research Articles

Examining Automatic Generated Language Features of Chinese Spontaneous Speech for Early Detection of Cognitive Decline

AbstractBackgroundConnected speech is sensitive on detecting cognitive decline in early Alzheimer disease. In this study, we apply artificial intelligence to develop an automatic assessment for analyzing speech data.Method79 samples of picture description speech data were collected. All participants were native Chinese speakers including 31 normal controls (59‐88 yrs) and 49 patients (amnestic mild cognitive impairment and early Alzheimer’s disease) (58‐88 yrs). We extracted 16 linguistic features from the manually transcribed text. These linguistic features were generated by well‐trained linguists or automatically processed by the machine. We also trained decision tree models with those two sets of linguistic features. Seventy percent of the data was used for training and the remainder was used for testing. We also applied a cross‐validation method to avoid overfitting.ResultTotal words, unique words, and content words generated from linguists or machines were highly correlated (about r = 0.99, p < .001). However, the correlations between verb ratio, mean length of sentences, and filler ratio were relatively low (about r = 0.75, p < .001). With manually corrected features, the model could achieve 91.67% accuracy. Among them, the pronoun ratio and MLU (mean length of utterance) appeared to be equally crucial for model prediction. By contrast, with automatically generated features, the model achieved 83.33% accuracy only. MLU and MLS (mean length of sentences) were essential features for prediction.ConclusionAutomatic assessment could also achieve a good accuracy rate compared to humans (83.33% v.s. 91.67%). Some linguistic features such as fillers or sentences were still highly dependent on the expert’s judgment. Interestingly, MLU was critical in the prediction model of automatic or experts.

Less Versus More: The Effect of Recast Length in Treatment of Grammatical Errors.

Although conversational recast treatment is generally efficacious, there are many ways in which the individual components of the treatment can be delivered. Some of these are known to enhance treatment, others appear to interfere with learning, and still others appear to have no impact at all. This study tests the potential effect of clinicians' recast length on child learning during a recast treatment. Twenty-six preschool children were treated for grammatical errors using Enhanced Conversational Recast Treatment. Half heard recasts of four or fewer words (Short Recast condition), and half heard recasts of five or more words (Extended Recast condition). Outcome measures included generalization of the treated grammatical form, spontaneous use of these forms, change in mean length of utterances in words, and the number of children in each condition who showed a clinically meaningful response. There was strong evidence of improvements in the use of grammatical forms targeted by the treatment compared with forms that were tracked but not treated. Twenty children (11 in the Short Recast condition and nine in the Extended Recast condition) showed a clinically meaningful response. There was minimal support for the hypothesis that the length of clinician utterance influenced either progress on a grammatical form targeted by the treatment or on the child's mean length of utterance in words. The study adds to the evidence for the efficacy of Enhanced Conversational Recast Treatment. However, there is little evidence that clinicians need to regulate the length of the recast they provide to children. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.24653613.

The diagnostic utility of picture description task in english, chinese and italian speaking individuals with primary progressive aphasia

AbstractBackgroundPrimary progressive aphasia (PPA) is a language‐predominant dementia syndrome (Mesulam et al.., 201) that impacts speakers of all languages. Despite there are more than 7,000 living languages, the diagnostic model is mainly tailored for English‐language speakers. Cross‐linguistic comparisons are called for, especially considering the heterogeneities of linguistic features in the different languages (Blasi et al., 2022). We intend to study the speech and language markers of English‐, Mandarin‐, Cantonese‐ and Italian‐speaking individuals with PPA when completing verbal picture description test. The goal is to (1) characterize the speech profiles of semantic(sv), logopenic(lv), nonfluent/agrammatic(nfv) PPA for each specific language, identifying key linguistic markers for the diagnosis; (2) identify similarities/differences in terms of markers across languages.MethodWe collected the oral picture description, based on the PicNic Scene from WAB battery (Schewan & Kertesz, 1980), of 30 English‐, 30 Chinese‐ (Mandarin and Cantonese), and 30 Italian‐ speaking PPA patients (equally distributed across the three variants) with 45 matched healthy controls (HC). Collected speech samples underwent CLAN and Whisper software analysis to characterize informativeness, lexico‐semantic, morpho‐syntactic, phonological and prosody features. We standardized PPA data relatively to their respective. Differences between PPA variants and with HC for the different features were only carried out for the Italian group, using non parametric tests. Performances across different language groups will be investigated as well.ResultAnalysis on Italian sample revealed that mean length of utterances, number of empty, filled pauses, abandoned words, and words repetition significantly distinguished PPA from HC. svPPA produced more irrelevant words and adverbs than other PPA groups. nfvPPA produced more sentences without verbs compared to HC and PPA. lvPPA produced more abandoned words than other PPA. svPPA and lvPPA produced less nouns and noun‐verbs ratio compared to HC and nfvPPA, meanwhile lvPPA and nfvPPA produced less words, open class words and more determiners‐noun ratio compared to HC. svPPA and nfvPPA showed reduced idea density compared to HC.ConclusionThose results are consistent with previous literature on PPA oral production. However, future comparisons across languages are extremely important and needed to ensure equitable assessment and minimize disparities globally.

The Acquisition of Black Language by Spanish-Speaking Preschoolers: A Community-Based Sociolinguistic Approach to Language Assessment.

The purpose of this case series was to demonstrate a community-based sociolinguistic approach to language sample analysis (LSA) for the evaluation of Spanish-English bilingual preschoolers acquiring Black language (BL). As part of a comprehensive bilingual speech-language evaluation, we examined sociolinguistic variables in the context of the children's English language samples. Specific emphasis is placed on sociolinguistic information to account for all language(s) and dialect(s) in each child's environment, BL feature patterns, and appropriate scoring procedures for characterizing language use. This case series includes four monolingual English-speaking and four bilingual Spanish-English-speaking 4-year-olds in a linguistically diverse preschool program. Play samples were collected from each child and coded for morphosyntactic features across three categories: BL, Spanish-Influenced English, and shared. Measures derived from the language samples include percent grammatical utterances, mean length of utterance in words, and number of different words. The children's language is characterized within a community-based sociolinguistic approach that combines three culturally responsive methods for assessment found in the speech-language pathology literature in addition to a novel sociolinguistic questionnaire. We explain how conducting LSA using a community-based sociolinguistic approach yields diagnostically relevant information that is pertinent to conducting a comprehensive and accurate evaluation of preschoolers in linguistically diverse settings without the use of standardized assessments. A community-based sociolinguistic approach to LSA is a useful procedure for mitigating misdiagnosis in preschoolers reared in linguistically diverse environments.

Impact of Discourse Type and Elicitation Task on Language Sampling Outcomes.

Language sampling is a critical component of language assessments. However, there are many ways to elicit language samples that likely impact the results. The purpose of this study was to examine how different discourse types and elicitation tasks affect various language sampling outcomes. A diverse group of K-3 students (N = 1,037) contributed eight spoken language samples in four elicitation conditions: (a) expository generation, (b) expository retell, (c) narrative generation, and (d) narrative retell. Samples were audio-recorded, transcribed, and coded for number of total words, number of different words, mean length of utterance in words (MLUW), and number of clauses per communication unit (i.e., Subordination Index [SI]). Narrative retell and expository generation conditions yielded the largest samples with the greatest lexical diversity when compared to narrative generation and expository retell. MLUW was higher in expository conditions, but mean SI was higher in narrative conditions. For both measures of syntax, narrative retell and expository generation yielded the highest mean scores. For each outcome, there were expected increases corresponding to grades; however, the differences faded between second and third grade. As a component of language assessments, clinicians' selection of language sampling procedures will impact the sample length, lexical diversity, utterance length, and syntactical complexity of the samples. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.24185649.

Accuracy of Undergraduate Students' Language Sample Analysis in Online and Face-to-Face Courses

Purpose: Language sample analysis (LSA) is an essential part of evaluations for young children, but few studies have investigated whether instructional methods for teaching LSA are effective based on student outcomes. Furthermore, with the growth of online coursework, there is a need to understand whether student outcomes differ depending on instructional modality. This study examined the results of an LSA project from two classes, online and face to face. Research questions addressed whether the measures calculated by the students differed significantly from the values derived by the instructor and whether the results of each language sample measure differed between the two classes. Method: There were 39 total participants: eight online students and 31 face-to-face students. Students transcribed an audio sample of a mother conversing with her 3-year-old son. Students calculated the number of complete and intelligible utterances, mean length of utterance in words (MLU-w), MLU in morphemes (MLU-m), number of total words (NTW), number of different words (NDW), and type–token ratio (TTR). Results: When compared to the instructor's values, students' results were significantly different for measures that involved totals (complete and intelligible utterances, NTW, NDW). However, the students used these values to calculate MLU-w, MLU-m, and TTR numbers that were not significantly different from those of the instructor. Results also indicated that there were no differences between the class calculations for most measures. Conclusion: Results are discussed considering how they inform the evidence-based teaching practices of instructors who are teaching undergraduate courses in communication sciences and disorders.

Linking Language to Action: Enhancing Preschoolers' Communicative Abilities Within Language Stimulation.

Children's vocabulary and syntactic skills vary upon school entry in depth and breadth, persistently influencing academic performance, including reading. Enhancing early communicative abilities through multisensory, playful, and conversational experiences is essential and will benefit children's school readiness. This study investigated whether a language-to-action link created during language stimulation, which combines multisensory input, play, and conversation using clay, improves preschoolers' communicative abilities in terms of vocabulary, syntactic, and pragmatic language abilities more than traditional toy-based language stimulation. Language skills were examined in a pre- to posttest design in which 43 typically developing participants, ages 3-5 years, were randomly assigned to clay-based (n = 24) or traditional play-based (n = 19) language stimulation for 8 weeks. Receptive and expressive vocabulary knowledge for items introduced in the language stimulation program, mean length of utterance (MLU), and conversational initiations improved for participants in the clay condition, whereas significant language skill growth was not observed for participants in the traditional play-based stimulation condition with toys. A language-to-action link is created when children engage with open-ended materials, such as clay, as they craft target objects hands on and step by step, affording additional opportunities for language input and output. Results preliminarily suggest that using open-ended materials may enhance children's communicative abilities in receptive and expressive vocabulary, syntax/MLU, and pragmatics (i.e., conversational initiations) more than prefabricated toy objects during language stimulation. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.24093780.

Tele-Assessment of Oral Personal Narratives in Arabic- and Hebrew-Speaking Children Using the Global TALES Protocol

Introduction: Tele-assessment (TA) has the potential to enhance access to speech therapy. This preliminary study aimed to investigate the impact of assessment mode (face-to-face [FTF] vs. TA) on the microstructure level and chosen topics of personal narratives produced by Arabic-speaking and Hebrew-speaking school-age children living in Israel. We also investigated whether performance variations, if evident, could be attributed to the children’s language/culture. Methods: Eighty-nine 10-year-old children, 38 Arabic-speaking and 51 Hebrew-speaking, living in Israel, participated in this study. Forty participants were assigned to a TA group (via Zoom) and 49 to a FTF group. All participants were assessed using the Global TALES protocol, generating six personal narratives each. The narratives were analyzed regarding the following microstructural measures: total number of words, total number of utterances (TNU), number of different words, and mean length of utterance in words (MLU-W). Additionally, each narrative was categorized into a topic according to the Global TALES protocol. Results: The analysis revealed no significant main effect of assessment mode on any of the microstructure measures. However, a significant interaction effect between language/culture and assessment mode was found for TNU and MLU-W, with a significant main effect for TNU exclusively in the Arabic narratives, with the Arabic-speaking children producing more utterances through FTF compared to TA. Across language/culture groups, there was a significant effect of assessment mode on the chosen topic. Additionally, there were significantly higher scores in the Hebrew compared to the Arabic narratives in all microstructure measures, and language/culture also influenced the chosen topics. Conclusions: The results support the feasibility of TA mode for assessing personal narratives in school-aged children, using the Global TALES protocol. However, the results also suggest that TA results may be affected by the language/culture of the narrator. Finally, the findings highlight the potential influence of TA on the chosen topics of personal narratives, perhaps due to a decrease in the quality of communication in TA.

Language Development of Autistic Children on Syntactic Acquisition in Indonesia through Story Stimulus

Purpose: This study shows that children with Autism Spectrum Disorder experience difficulties in communicating. Theoretical framework: This difficulty is in the form of limited syntactic complexity which has an impact on the low ability of autistic children to produce language, so that it will also have an impact on social life and the sustainability of autistic children's learning. This study investigates the language development of autistic children related to the provision of storytelling stimuli which are calculated using Mean Length of Utteranc. Design/Methodology/Approach: Study uses a descriptive qualitative research form with a case study approach. Findings: These findings indicate that based on observations of the syntactic production abilities of autistic children through Mean Length of Utterance, it can be seen that there are differences in children's language development, especially in the field of syntax before and after being given a fairy tale stimulus. Syntactic production of autistic children in 12 calculations showed a fluctuating graph, in contrast to the developmental conditions after being given a fairy tale stimulus, the subject experienced an increase which tended to be stable. Research, Practical & Social implications: Based on the fairy tale stimulus given, this type of fable is very appropriate and in great demand by children with mild category autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Originality/Value: The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and publication of this article.

The relationship between mean length of utterance (MLU), Persian developmental sentence score (PDSS), and photographic expressive Persian grammar test (PEGT) in typically developing children and those with developmental language disorder (DLD)

Purpose This study investigated the relationship between three practical measures for evaluating Persian grammar expression skills, MLU, PDSS, and PEGT, in preschool children with developmental language disorder (DLD) and their typically developing (TD) peers. Method Secondary data were obtained by re-analyzing language samples collected in previous studies. Previously audiotaped language samples of 25 monolingual 5–7 years-old Persian children with DLD and 25 TD children were transcribed and reanalyzed to calculate MLU in words (MLU-w) and PDSS for comparison with the results of PEGT. Results Children with DLD had lower scores in PEGT, PDSS, and MLU-w than TD children (p < 0.001). In addition, there was a strong correlation between PDSS and MLU-w in both DLD (r = 0.91) and TD groups (r = 0.79). There was a significant correlation between PEGT and MLU (r = 0.76) and PDSS (r = 0.78) in the DLD group, while these correlations were not significant in TD group. Conclusions Considering the positive and significant correlation between MLU, PDSS, and PEGT in children with DLD, the use of PEGT, as a valid, reliable, and accurate test of grammar, which can be implemented quickly and easily, is suggested for clinical purposes of identification and screening of Persian children with DLD.

Combined effects of age and hearing impairment on utterances and requests for clarification in spontaneous conversation and a referential communication task.

The impact of hearing impairment is typically studied in terms of its effects on speech perception, yet this fails to account for the interactive nature of communication. Recently, there has been a move towards studying the effects of age-related hearing impairment on interaction, often using referential communication tasks; however, little is known about how interaction in these tasks compares toeveryday communication. To investigate utterances and requests for clarification used in one-to-one conversations between older adults with hearing impairment and younger adults without hearing impairment, and between two younger adults without hearing impairment. A total of 42 participants were recruited to the study and split into 21 pairs, 10 with two younger adults without hearing impairment and 11 with one younger adult without hearing impairment and one older participant with age-related hearing impairment (hard of hearing). Results from three tasks-spontaneous conversation and two trials of a referential communication task-were compared. A total of 5 min of interaction in each of the three tasks was transcribed, and the frequency of requests for clarification, mean length of utterance and total utterances were calculated for individual participants and pairs. When engaging in spontaneous conversation, participants made fewer requests for clarification than in the referential communication, regardless of hearing status/age (p ≤ 0.012). Participants who were hard of hearing made significantly more requests for clarification than their partners without hearing impairment in only the second trial of the referential communication task (U = 25, p = 0.019). Mean length of utterance was longer in spontaneous conversation than in the referential communication task in the pairs without hearing impairment (p ≤ 0.021), but not in the pairs including a person who was hard of hearing. However, participants who were hard of hearing used significantly longer utterances than their partners without hearing impairment in the spontaneous conversation (U = 8, p < 0.001) but not in the referential communication tasks. The findings suggest that patterns of interaction observed in referential communication tasks differ to those observed in spontaneous conversation. The results also suggest that fatigue may be an important consideration when planning studies of interaction that use multiple conditions of a communication task, particularly when participants are older or hard of hearing. What is already known on this subject Age-related hearing impairment is known to affect communication; however, the majority of studies have focused on its impact on speech perception in controlled conditions. This indicates little about the impact on everyday, interactive, communication. What this study adds to the existing knowledge We investigated utterance length and requests for clarification in one-to-one conversations between pairs consisting of one older adult who is hard of hearing and one younger adult without hearing impairment, or two younger adults without hearing impairment. Results from three tasks (two trials of a referential communication task and spontaneous conversation) were compared. The findings demonstrated a significant effect of task type on requests for clarification in both groups. Furthermore, in spontaneous conversation, older adults who were hard of hearing used significantly longer utterances than their partners without hearing impairment. This pattern was not observed in the referential communication task. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? These findings have important implications for generalizing results from controlled communication tasks to more everyday conversation. Specifically, they suggest that the previously observed strategy of monopolizing conversation, possibly as an attempt to control it, may be more frequently used by older adults who are hard of hearing in natural conversation than in a more contrived communication task.

Personal Narratives of School-Age Children: A Cross-Sectional Developmental Study

Introduction: Personal narratives are monological stories based on a personal experience that help children explain and understand their emotional states, as well as process positive and negative experiences. The aim of this study was to identify age- and emotion-related traits of lexical and grammatical abilities and coherence of personal stories produced by school-aged children between 7 and 13 years. Methods: A total of 60 typically developing children, speakers of Croatian, were stratified into three groups according to age. Using the Global TALES protocol, each child was asked to produce six personal stories prompted by different emotional states. The personal narratives were analysed using measures of lexical diversity (lemma-token ratio and number of different words), productivity (total number of words), and syntactic complexity (mean length of utterances and clausal density). Based on the Narrative Coherence Coding Scheme, three coherence dimensions (context, chronology, and theme) were rated. Results: Age group was shown to explain 18% of the variance in the ability to produce personal narratives. Personal narratives elicited through positive prompts were overall more lexically diverse but were significantly less elaborated chronologically and thematically than negative and neutral narratives. Conclusion: This study showed that coherence of the produced stories was connected with the child’s lexicon and that both variables – lexicon and coherence – were influenced by emotional valence of the story. In contrast, grammatical aspects of the narrative were influenced only by age. Finally, it is possible to state that the Global TALES protocol is sensitive enough to capture specificities of creating personal stories, both developmental ones and those created under the influence of the emotional valence of the prompts.

Telling Personal Narratives: Comparing Stories Told by 10-Year-Old Speakers of Cypriot Greek Dialect and of Standard Modern Greek

Introduction: Cypriot Greek is the variety of Greek language used for oral communication by the Greek Cypriot people, while Standard Modern Greek is the official language. Cypriot Greek differs from Standard Modern Greek in various aspects, including lexicon, phonetics, phonology, morphosyntax, and pragmatics. This study examines whether there are differences between children who are native speakers of the Cypriot Greek dialect and those who are native speakers of Standard Modern Greek in narrative measurements obtained in a personal narrative context. Methods: Thirty-nine ten-year-old children (19 Cypriot Greek speakers and 20 Standard Modern Greek speakers) participated in the study. The Global TALES protocol was used to elicit personal narratives across 6 emotion-based prompts. Measures of microstructure (mean length of utterance, number of different words) and macrostructure (plot elements) are examined. Results: Analysis showed no differences in macrostructure between Cypriots Greek speakers and Standard Modern Greek speakers in response to the prompts. In contrast, group differences were found in syntactic complexity, with the Standard Modern Greek speakers producing longer sentences. Conclusion: This is the first study to compare the characteristics of personal narratives spoken by 10-year-old children who are speakers of Cypriot Greek and Standard Modern Greek. The results from this initial comparison highlight that children who are speakers of two varieties of the same language share similar narrative elements. However, they may differ in their linguistic profiles, such as in syntax. Understanding these differences is important for researchers, educators, and speech therapists. A detailed understanding of developmental milestones and a clear understanding of each variety’s characteristics are crucial from a research, pedagogical, and speech therapy perspective.

Evaluating the Personal Narrative Skills of Monolingual Turkish-Speaking 7- and 10-Year-Old Children with Typical Development through Global TALES: A Pilot Study

Introduction: Studies on personal narratives are rare in Turkey and there is no standard protocol for eliciting them. The aim of this small-scale study was to translate the Global TALES Protocol into Turkish, with cultural adaptations, and to present the results regarding its usability for two different age-groups of 7- and 10-year-old school children. We investigated narrative skills in terms of verbal productivity (number of utterances, total number of words), syntactic complexity (mean length of utterance), and semantic diversity (number of different words). In addition, group comparisons were made in terms of the participants’ gender and age. Methods: A total of 20 children, 10 from each age-group (7;0–7;11 and 10;0–10;11) participated in the study. All children were monolingual Turkish-speaking children with typical development. Participants were recruited through personal and/or social networks. All personal narratives were gathered via online connections (Zoom). Results: Descriptive statistics were used to describe the children’s performance, and the analysis of group differences was made separately according to age and gender. All children produced narratives in response to the six protocol prompts. In addition, the number of children who did not require the scripted follow-up prompts was higher than those needing a scripted follow-up prompt to produce a response. No statistically significant group differences were found in terms of gender and age on any of the measurements. Conclusion: The results from this small-scale investigation showed that the translated version of the Global TALES Protocol was effective in eliciting personal narratives from Turkish-speaking children. We concluded that there is no need to change the directions or give additional guidance or prompts to the children. Future studies with larger samples are needed to confirm these findings.

Personal Narratives of 10-Year-Old Children in Iceland: Verbal Productivity, Word Diversity, and Topics

Introduction: The feasibility of using a standard protocol, labelled as the Global TALES, to elicit personal stories was tested across 10 different countries between 2019 and 2021. Personal narratives have not been investigated in Iceland in a similar way. The aim was to explore personal narratives of monolingual children in Iceland by using the Global TALES (2018) protocol to investigate verbal productivity, semantic diversity, and narrative topics. Methods: Twenty-seven children (ages 9; 8–10; 9) with typical language development produced personal stories in response to six emotion-based prompts contained in the protocol. The children were interviewed by using the Zoom platform because of COVID restrictions. Children’s spoken language was analysed for total number of utterances (TNU), total number of words (TNW), number of different words (NDW), mean length of utterances in words (MLUw), and proportion of words with grammatical errors. The narrative topics were coded and documented. Results: The spoken language measures showed that there was a large individual variability within the group on all metrics examined. The mean TNU was 62.1 (SD 20.2) utterances, the mean for TNW was 546 (SD 219) words, the mean for NDW was 206 (SD 62) words, and the MLUw was 8.6 (SD 1.5) words in an utterance. Despite the variability in spoken language performance, around 70–75% of the participants produced TNU, TNW, NDW, and MLUw within +/− 1 SD from the mean. The topics of the stories were most frequently related to personal achievement or relationships with the family or friends. Conclusion: The Global TALES (2018) protocol can be used to elicit personal stories in 10-year-old children in Iceland. The results related to verbal productivity and the topics of interest were in line with previous studies around the world.

Effects of task variations on language productivity, syntactic complexity, and stuttering in children who stutter

ABSTRACT Purpose. The aim of this preliminary study was to compare the effects of variations in task demands on: (a) language productivity in sentences categorised into stuttered vs. non-stuttered sentences; (b) syntactic complexity in stuttered vs. non-stuttered sentence categories, and (c) stuttering and typical disfluencies in school-age children who stutter (CWS). Language Sample Analysis (LSA) was conducted on samples from three tasks – Conversation, fable retell, and critical thinking based on the fables. Methods. Participants were 14 CWS categorised into younger (9 to 12-year-olds, n = 8) and older age groups (13 to 15-year-olds, n = 6). The Computerized Language ANalysis program was used to conduct language and disfluency analyses. Repeated measures analysis of variance and nonparametric statistical analyses were used to investigate: (a) Language productivity in total number of words and sentences by task and sentence category; (b) Syntactic complexity at the word- (use of metacognitive verbs), phrase- (use of verb phrases), and utterance (Mean Length of Utterances in words, MLUw) levels by task and sentence category; and (c) Disfluencies measured using % stuttered syllables (%SS) and % typical disfluencies (%TD). Results and Conclusions. Task effects in language productivity did not differ by sentence category and suggested limited influences of propositionality and volubility in stuttering. In contrast, higher syntactic complexity was obtained in the stuttered compared to non-stuttered sentences at the word, phrase, and utterance levels and it was the same task – conversation, that elicited the effect. Additionally, variations in task demands did not result in significant differences in %SS. The findings inform assessment planning with the selection of tasks guided by task demands and assessment requirements.

The effects of virtual reality immersion on the content and structure of the narrative discourse of healthy adults.

Narrative discourse is central to effective participation in conversations. When discourse is assessed in people with communication disability, structured tasks (e.g., picture descriptions) provide experimental control, while unstructured tasks (e.g., personal narratives) represent more natural communication. Immersive virtual reality (VR) technology may provide a solution by creating standardized experiences for narrative retell, therefore balancing ecological validity and experimental control in discourse assessment. Research is needed to understand how VR immersion affects narrative retell, first for adults with no communication disability, before application with adults with aphasia or related communication disability. To assess (1) the effects of VR immersion on the linguistic content and structure of narrative retells in a healthy adult population; and (2) whether VR immersion can influence the way a narrative is retold so that the speaker conveys their own experience, rather than the experience of the characters they are watching. In this pilot cohort study, 13 healthy adult participants with no reported communication disability watched an animated short film and a comparable immersive VR short film in a randomized order. Participants were asked to retell the events of the story after each condition in as much detail as possible. Mean length of utterance (in morphemes) was significantly higher in the video condition compared with the VR condition. Significantly more first-person pronouns were used in the VR condition compared with the video condition. No other measures of linguistic content or structure were significantly different between the VR and video conditions. Increased morpho-syntactic length and complexity in the video condition may suggest effects of elicitation stimulus on the narrative produced. The larger number of first-person pronouns in the VR condition may reflect that participants experienced a sense of presence in the virtual environment, and therefore were able to retell their communication experience rather than narrating the experiences of characters from an external perspective. Given the increasing need for more functional assessment of discourse in people with communication disability, further research is needed to validate these findings. What is already known on this subject As an ecologically valid tool, discourse analysis is often used to assess daily communicative exchanges in adults with acquired communication disability. Clinicians and researchers using narrative discourse assessment must balance the experimental control and diagnostic reference sample capabilities of structured tasks with the ecological validity and real-life transferability of unstructured personal narratives. What this study adds to existing knowledge This study explores the use of immersive VR technologies to create standardized, replicable, immersive experiences as a foundation for narrative discourse assessment. It highlights how the 'sense of presence' in a virtual world can prompt healthy adult speakers to retell a narrative of a personal experience that can be replicated for many different participants. The results suggest that immersive VR narrative assessment for adults with communication disability may balance ecological validity with measurement reliability in discourse assessment. What are the potential or actual clinical observations of this work? Immersion in VR resulted in the production of narratives with morpho-syntactic features that aligned with typical narrative generation, rather than retell. Participants used more first-person pronouns, suggesting retelling of personal experience. Though further study is needed, these preliminary findings suggest clinicians can use immersive VR stimuli to generate structured story generations that balance experimental and diagnostic control with ecological validity in narrative discourse assessment for adults with communication disability.

Test-Retest Reliability of Microlinguistic Information Derived From Spoken Discourse in Persons With Chronic Aphasia.

The purpose of this study was to characterize test-retest reliability of discourse measures across a battery of common tasks in individuals with aphasia and prospectively matched adults without brain damage. We collected spoken discourse during five monologue tasks at two timepoints (test and retest; within 2 weeks apart) in an aphasia group (n = 23) and a peer group with no brain damage (n = 24). We evaluated test-retest reliability for percentage of correct information units, correct information units per minute, mean length of utterance, verbs per utterance, noun/verb ratio, open/closed class word ratio, tokens, sample duration (seconds), propositional idea density, type-token ratio, and words per minute. We explored reliability's relationship with sample length and aphasia severity. Rater reliability was excellent. Across tasks, both groups demonstrated discourse measures with poor, moderate, and good reliability, with the aphasia group having measures demonstrating excellent test-retest reliability. When evaluating measures within each task, test-retest reliability again ranged from poor to excellent for both groups. Across groups and task, measures that appeared most reliable appeared to reflect lexical, informativeness, or fluency information. Sample length and aphasia severity impacted reliability, and this differed across and by task. We identified several discourse measures that were reliable across and within tasks. Test-retest statistics are intimately linked to the specific sample, emphasizing the importance of multiple baseline studies. Task itself should be considered an important variable, and it should not be assumed that discourse measures found to be reliable across several tasks (averaged) are likewise reliable for a single task. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.23298032.

Acquisition Of Malay Syntax Among Five Years Old Children: Analysis From The Perspective Of Mentalist Theory

The field of language acquisition is divided into three parts namely syntax, semantic, and phonological acquisition. Previous studies have found that children's most common types of sentences are declarative sentences compared to interrogative sentences, exclamatory sentences, and command sentences. Thus, this study discusses aspects of the acquisition of Malay syntax among Malay children using the Mentalist Theory approach by focusing on the types and patterns of Malay sentences. This study was conducted at Tunas Permata Kindergarten, Faculty of Education, UKM with five-year-old girl. The research data was obtained through a storytelling activity where the researcher showed a picture and asked the respondent to tell a story based on the picture while in the coloring activity, the respondent was asked to tell a story while doing the coloring activity. The researcher recorded the sessions using a smartphone. Children's syntax mastery level is measured using Mean Length of Utterance (MPU). The results of the study shown that the type of declarative sentences was the most used compared to interrogative sentences, exclamatory sentences, and command sentences. This means that the tendency of children to produce declarative sentences followed by other sentences shows the level of language acquisition parallel to the level of self-development of five-year-old children based on the Mentalist Theory. This respondent can also produce basic sentences according to their patterns and compound sentences. The production of basic sentence patterns is seen to be higher than compound sentence patterns.

Can Narrative Skills Improve in Autism Spectrum Disorder? A Preliminary Study with Verbally Fluent Adolescents Receiving the Cognitive Pragmatic Treatment.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition affecting social and communicative skills, including narrative ability, namely the description of real-life or fictive accounts of temporally and causally related events. With this study, we aimed to determine whether a communicative-pragmatic training, i.e., the version for adolescents of the Cognitive-Pragmatic Treatment, is effective in improving the narrative skills of 16 verbally fluent adolescents with ASD. We used a multilevel approach to assess pre- and post-training narrative production skills. Discourse analysis focused on micro- (i.e., mean length of utterance, complete sentences, omissions of morphosyntactic information) and macrolinguistic measures (i.e., cohesion, coherence errors, lexical informativeness). Results revealed a significant improvement in mean length of utterance and complete sentences and a decrease in cohesion errors. No significant change was found in the other narrative measures investigated. Our findings suggest that a pragmatically oriented training may be useful in improving grammatical efficiency in narrative production.