Spoken Language Samples Research Articles

Lexical bundles in three oral corpora of university students

On the basis of previous lexical bundle studies, this paper examines the forms, structures and functions of 4-word bundles in three corpora of spoken English, one of them of native speakers of English and the remaining two of non-native speakers of English, corresponding to university students in their first year of an English Studies degree and to the same students after two years of university instruction. The study focuses on three major characteristics: the overall distribution of bundles, their typical structures and their functions. The findings show significant differences in the types of lexical bundles used by native and non-native students, as well as in their structure and function. Our results support the idea that lexical bundles are important components in oral discourse. One of the pedagogical implications of this paper is that Spanish students should be exposed to more samples of spoken language.

Should We Stop Using Lexical Diversity Measures in Children's Language Sample Analysis?

Prior work has identified weaknesses in commonly used indices of lexical diversity in spoken language samples, such as type-token ratio (TTR) due to sample size and elicitation variation, we explored whether TTR and other diversity measures, such as number of different words/100 (NDW), vocabulary diversity (VocD), and the moving average TTR would be more sensitive to child age and clinical status (typically developing [TD] or developmental language disorder [DLD]) if samples were obtained from standardized prompts. We utilized archival data from the norming samples of the Test of Narrative Language and the Edmonton Narrative Norms Instrument. We examined lexical diversity and other linguistic properties of the samples, from a total of 1,048 children, ages 4-11 years; 798 of these were considered TD, whereas 250 were categorized as having a language learning disorder. TTR was the least sensitive to child age or diagnostic group, with good potential to misidentify children with DLD as TD and TD children as having DLD. Growth slopes of NDW were shallow and not very sensitive to diagnostic grouping. The strongest performing measure was VocD. Mean length of utterance, TNW, and verbs/utterance did show both good growth trajectories and ability to distinguish between clinical and typical samples. This study, the largest and best controlled to date, re-affirms that TTR should not be used in clinical decision making with children. A second popular measure, NDW, is not measurably stronger in terms of its psychometric properties. Because the most sensitive measure of lexical diversity, VocD, is unlikely to gain popularity because of reliance on computer-assisted analysis, we suggest alternatives for the appraisal of children's expressive vocabulary skill.

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.

Predicting Cognitive Impairment in Cerebrovascular Disease Using Spoken Discourse Production

Purpose: Dementia due to cerebrovascular disease (CVD) is common. Detecting early cognitive decline in CVD is critical because addressing risk factors may slow or prevent dementia. This study used a multidomain discourse analysis approach to determine the spoken language signature of CVD-related cognitive impairment. Method: Spoken language and neuropsychological assessment data were collected prospectively from 157 participants with CVD as part of the Ontario Neurodegenerative Disease Research Initiative, a longitudinal, observational study of neurodegenerative disease. Participants were categorized as impaired (n = 92) or cognitively normal for age (n = 65) based on neuropsychology criteria. Spoken language samples were transcribed orthographically and annotated for 13 discourse features, across five domains. Discriminant function analyses were used to determine a minimum set of discourse variables, and their estimated weights, for maximizing diagnostic group separation. Results: The optimal discriminant function that included 10 of 13 discourse measures correctly classified 78.3% of original cases (69.4% cross-validated cases) with a sensitivity of 77.2% and specificity of 80.0%. Conclusion: Spoken discourse appears to be a sensitive measure for detecting cognitive impairment in CVD with measures of productivity, information content, and information efficiency heavily weighted in the final algorithm.

The Importance of Speech-Language Pathologists' Explicit Knowledge of Morphology

Purpose Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) work with students with specific language impairment and specific learning disorder who are known to have deficits in morphological knowledge and morphological awareness. Thus, it is important that SLPs have explicit knowledge of morphology to classify, elicit, and correct morphological errors to improve these students' morphological knowledge and morphological awareness. The purposes of this clinical focus article are to summarize current evidence about SLPs and other educators' explicit knowledge of language, to identify information that supports explicit knowledge of morphology, and to illustrate the use of explicit knowledge of morphology with a hypothetical case study. Method A case-based demonstration of an SLP's use of his/her explicit knowledge of morphology to analyze a fourth-grade student's production of derivational morphemes in a spoken language sample and on a sentence completion task is presented. Results and Conclusion The SLP's morphological analyses and summarization of the analyses are presented.

Protracted and incomplete language recovery from SMART syndrome: a case report

ABSTRACT Background: Stroke-like migraine attacks after radiation therapy – also known as SMART syndrome – constitute a rare condition characterised by headache, seizures, vision abnormalities, hemiparesis, and aphasia. The condition usually resolves within a few days or weeks with little to no residual impairment; however, recovery in some cases is protracted and incomplete. Aims: The purpose of this case report was to describe the one-year progression of language in a person, GB, with slow recovery from SMART syndrome. Methods & Procedures: GB was diagnosed with SMART syndrome at 39 years of age. Formal and informal assessments occurred at six, 11, 18, 29, and 52 weeks post-onset of SMART syndrome. Standardised assessment involved administration of portions of the Western Aphasia Battery – Revised, and informal assessment took the form of written and spoken language sample analyses. Outcomes & Results: Initial evaluation at two weeks post-onset revealed global aphasia. This evolved into severe Wernicke’s aphasia by six weeks post-onset. Repeated evaluation over subsequent months revealed gradual improvement but continuing and substantial language impairment. At one-year post-onset, GB displayed anomic aphasia and persistent reading and writing deficits. Conclusions: Substantial language recovery from SMART syndrome can occur beyond the initial few months post-onset. Documentation of the nature and extent of language impairment provides a starting point for developing and refining efficacious treatment protocols.

Tests over time: Evaluating the currency of normative data in a complex multilingual environment

Background: Assessment of oral language skills is challenging in multilingual environments. With language policies promoting increased use of English and reduction of dialectal varieties of languages, rapid changes in language further confound assessment.Purpose: This study explores the currency of normative data on an expressive language screening tool in English for English-Mandarin bilingual Singaporean children.Method: Spoken language samples in English from 101 pre-school children were compared with those from 481 children in the original data collection in 2002. Scores for expressive vocabulary and morphosyntax were compared for the two main language groups.Result: Results indicate that the normative data for English-dominant children are still current. The data for younger Mandarin-dominant children showed improved test scores, indicating improvement in expressive morphosyntax in English.Conclusion: English language competency has changed over time for Mandarin-dominant children in Singapore, likely due to the influence of language policy on language use. This is a particular challenge in multilingual environments. Current literature emphasizes the need to develop language assessments specific to populations and language groups for standardized assessments to be valid and reliable. These results demonstrate the need to monitor normative data and characteristics of language over time and to update standardized language assessments accordingly.

Connected speech as a marker of disease progression in autopsy-proven Alzheimer's disease.

Although an insidious history of episodic memory difficulty is a typical presenting symptom of Alzheimer’s disease, detailed neuropsychological profiling frequently demonstrates deficits in other cognitive domains, including language. Previous studies from our group have shown that language changes may be reflected in connected speech production in the earliest stages of typical Alzheimer’s disease. The aim of the present study was to identify features of connected speech that could be used to examine longitudinal profiles of impairment in Alzheimer’s disease. Samples of connected speech were obtained from 15 former participants in a longitudinal cohort study of ageing and dementia, in whom Alzheimer’s disease was diagnosed during life and confirmed at post-mortem. All patients met clinical and neuropsychological criteria for mild cognitive impairment between 6 and 18 months before converting to a status of probable Alzheimer’s disease. In a subset of these patients neuropsychological data were available, both at the point of conversion to Alzheimer’s disease, and after disease severity had progressed from the mild to moderate stage. Connected speech samples from these patients were examined at later disease stages. Spoken language samples were obtained using the Cookie Theft picture description task. Samples were analysed using measures of syntactic complexity, lexical content, speech production, fluency and semantic content. Individual case analysis revealed that subtle changes in language were evident during the prodromal stages of Alzheimer’s disease, with two-thirds of patients with mild cognitive impairment showing significant but heterogeneous changes in connected speech. However, impairments at the mild cognitive impairment stage did not necessarily entail deficits at mild or moderate stages of disease, suggesting non-language influences on some aspects of performance. Subsequent examination of these measures revealed significant linear trends over the three stages of disease in syntactic complexity, semantic and lexical content. The findings suggest, first, that there is a progressive disruption in language integrity, detectable from the prodromal stage in a subset of patients with Alzheimer’s disease, and secondly that measures of semantic and lexical content and syntactic complexity best capture the global progression of linguistic impairment through the successive clinical stages of disease. The identification of disease-specific language impairment in prodromal Alzheimer’s disease could enhance clinicians’ ability to distinguish probable Alzheimer’s disease from changes attributable to ageing, while longitudinal assessment could provide a simple approach to disease monitoring in therapeutic trials.

O4‐04‐03: Logopenic aphasia in Alzheimer's disease: Clinical variant or clinical feature?

Background Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is a clinical syndrome characterised by progressive decline in components of the language system. Recent evidence suggests that the logopenic/phonological (LPA) variant is a reliable in vivo marker of Alzheimer related pathology. The aim of this study was to determine if patients with clinically typical early stage Alzheimer9s disease (AD) display a characteristic language disorder that resembles LPA, or if LPA is a clinical manifestation of an atypical form of AD. Methods Spoken language samples were obtained using the Cookie Theft picture description task from 18 post mortem confirmed cases of AD, where speech samples were taken at the first point of clinical diagnosis, and 18 post mortem confirmed healthy controls. Spoken samples were transcribed from tape recordings and analysed using the scoring system described by Wilson et al . Results Group comparisons between normal controls and AD patients showed no significant overall differences. Individual review of the linguistic variables compared with the PPA variants showed that a third of patients had normal language (n=6). The remainder showed varied patterns of linguistic impairment. In the majority of the affected group, the most salient feature was a reduction in one or more measures of syntactic complexity. One patient9s deficit was comparable to that found in LPA. Conclusions The impairment found in clinically typical early stage AD did not correspond consistently to the linguistic profiles described in any of the sub-syndromes of PPA. The only reliably distinguishing feature was a reduction across a range of syntactic complexity measures. The findings suggest that LPA represents an atypical clinical presentation of AD rather than a common clinical feature of typical AD.

CONTROLE MÚLTIPLO NO COMPORTAMENTO VERBAL: HUMOR BRASILEIRO E OPERANTES RELACIONADOS

O presente texto apresenta a formulação de Skinner (1957) a respeito das variáveis responsáveis por aquilo que é compreendido como humor, com exemplos relacionados à literatura e cultura brasileiras. O comportamento responsável por produzir efeitos humorísticos sobre o ouvinte é entendido como sendo passível de controle múltiplo. Esse comportamento é analisado através de seus produtos, como textos e amostras de linguagem falada, sendo possível fazer inferências a respeito das condições nas quais o comportamento ocorreu. Trocadilhos e piadas são exemplos de controle múltiplo dado que: 1) a força de uma determinada resposta é função de mais de uma variável, uma forma de controle múltiplo convergente; 2) uma única variável geralmente afeta mais de uma resposta, uma forma de controle múltiplo divergente. O controle múltiplo pode envolver uma palavra ou frase que está sob controle de pelo menos duas variáveis, ou “fontes” ao mesmo tempo. A palavra ou frase é denominada resposta crítica e as variáveis controladoras são consideradas fontes temáticas principais, fontes secundárias e fontes transportadoras. Através de diferentes exemplos, os três tipos de fontes e o conceito de resposta crítica são descritos, e sao apresentadas sugestões para a criação e análise de um trocadilho bom ou engraçado. A sátira e a ironia são apresentadas como exemplos de comportamentos controlados por audiências distintas, e poemas de Manuel Bandeira são usados para ilustrar o comportamento satírico. Argumenta-se que fazer humor é aprendido e possivelmente um comportamento adaptativo, na medida que um evento pode ser menos estressante se levado com um senso de humor. Palavras-chave: humor, comportamento verbal, controle múltiplo

Individual variability on discourse measures over repeated sampling times in persons with aphasia

Background: Although persons with aphasia typically have difficulty with the production of language at the level of discourse, there is a paucity of reliable measurement systems to quantify the characteristics of spoken language. Nicholas and Brookshire (1993) developed one of the few standardised, rule-based systems to quantify the informativeness of spoken language samples. While the authors reported temporal stability for all measures, they also noted variability at the individual level. Because individual data were not reported, it is difficult to determine the nature and extent of that variability. Aims: The aim of the current investigation was to further explore Nicholas and Brookshire's (1993) quantitative linguistic analyses, and to examine individual variability over time in persons with aphasia. Methods & Procedures: Five fluent and six nonfluent persons with aphasia produced language samples over repeated sampling times in response to the 10 stimulus items used by Nicholas and Brookshire (1993). Measurements of mean number of words, mean correct information units (CIUs), percent CIUs, words per minute, and CIUs per minute were calculated, and results from the sessions were compared. To examine factors related to individual variability, correlations between linguistic measures, months post onset of aphasia, and scores on standardised assessment tools were explored. Outcomes & Results: Visual inspection of the data and descriptive statistics suggested that participants were more variable in their repeated productions than previously described by Nicholas and Brookshire (1993). Repeated measures ANOVAs revealed non-significant effects at the group level. There was no pattern of variability uniquely associated with aphasia fluency type. Range of mean number of CIUs was positively and significantly correlated with all test measures; however, the other range correlations were non-significant. Conclusions: The current results suggest greater variability over repeated sampling times in the spoken language of persons with aphasia than previously reported by Nicholas and Brookshire (1993). Clinicians and researchers should consider this variability, and establish stable baselines prior to the initiation of treatment to document meaningful change over time.

Cognitive archaeology: Uses, methods, and results

The earliest stages of cognitive decline in cases of slowly progressive dementia are difficult to pinpoint, yet detection of the preclinical period of the illness is likely to be of significant importance to understanding Alzheimer's disease and other slowly progressive dementias at both clinical and biological levels. A number of authors have used retrospective analysis to describe preclinical linguistic decline in written texts and spoken language samples. This paper reviews the methods available for classifying and comparing such samples, and presents some exploratory analyses of historical texts derived from verbatim records of preclinical spoken activity. Change in the nature of the language used by Harold Wilson (Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1964–1970 and 1974–1976) is quantified in the light of a later diagnosis of probable Alzheimer's disease and historical uncertainties about his final months in office.

Exploring the Developmental Sentence Score for Japanese (DSSJ): A Comparison of DSSJ and MLU in Spoken Language Samples from Typically Developing Children and Children with Delayed Development

Exploring the Developmental Sentence Score for Japanese (DSSJ): A Comparison of DSSJ and MLU in Spoken Language Samples from Typically Developing Children and Children with Delayed Development

Grammatical Deviations in the Spoken and Written Language of Hebrew-Speaking Children With Hearing Impairments.

The present study reports a detailed analysis of written and spoken language samples of Hebrew-speaking children aged 11-13 years who are deaf. It focuses on the description of various grammatical deviations in the two modalities. Participants were 13 students with hearing impairments (HI) attending special classrooms integrated into two elementary schools in Tel Aviv, Israel, and 9 students with normal hearing (NH) in regular classes in these same schools. Spoken and written language samples were collected from all participants using the same five preplanned elicitation probes. Students with HI were found to display significantly more grammatical deviations than their NH peers in both their spoken and written language samples. Most importantly, between-modality differences were noted. The participants with HI exhibited significantly more grammatical deviations in their written language samples than in their spoken samples. However, the distribution of grammatical deviations across categories was similar in the two modalities. The most common grammatical deviations in order of their frequency were failure to supply obligatory morphological markers, failure to mark grammatical agreement, and the omission of a major syntactic constituent in a sentence. Word order violations were rarely recorded in the Hebrew samples. Performance differences in the two modalities encourage clinicians and teachers to facilitate target linguistic forms in diverse communication contexts. Furthermore, the identification of linguistic targets for intervention must be based on the unique grammatical structure of the target language.

Language performance and reading ability at 8 years of age

ABSTRACTLanguage performance measures obtained from poor readers at 8 years of age were significantly poorer than those for matched good readers. Impairment affected both language comprehension, as measured by the Token Test, and language production, as measured by a detailed syntactic analysis of spoken language samples. Children with combined performance impairment (both comprehension and production) were the poorest readers, and children with no measured language impairment were the best. Subjects with single-modality impairment (comprehension or production) were average readers at age 8. By age 9, the combined performance impairment group had deteriorated in reading level (against age), as had the comprehension impairment group. The results support proposals for age-dependent differences between reading groups, and further suggest that syntactic impairment may exert a greater constraint on reading ability with increasing age.

Comment on "A standardized method for obtaining a spoken language sample".

Comment on "A standardized method for obtaining a spoken language sample".

A standardized method for obtaining a spoken language sample.

The stimulus picture from the Picture Story Language Test was used to elicit a spoken language sample from 40 subjects ranging in age from three to seventeen years. Our results showed the stimulus picture to be useful for the standardized elicitation of a spoken language sample which seems to be representative of the subject’s language maturity. The method was found to have temporal reliability with the exception of the Words Per Sentence measure. The method required a minimum amount of time and equipment. The scoring procedures, with the exception of the Syntax Quotient, were found to be highly reliable with regard to interscorer and intrascorer agreement. All the language measures used in this study correlated satisfactorily with judged language maturity.

The Spoken Syntax of Normal, Hard-of-Hearing, and Deaf Children

A spoken language sample of 50 sentences was obtained from 30 normal and 30 hearing-impaired children and quantified according to total output and syntactical accuracy. A total score of structural accuracy (syntax) was obtained by combining the errors of addition, omission, substitution, and word order. The hard-of-hearing subgroup resembled the control group in its total output of words, but the deaf subgroup was significantly lower in this measure. The differences between syntax scores were significant among all three groups. A moderate correlation was found between average hearing loss and total words uttered; a higher correlation resulted when hearing loss and measures of syntax were paired.