Language impairment and language difference in EAL preschoolers

Language impairment and language difference in EAL pre-schoolers Kommunika Centre for early intervention in Communication Pathology University of Pretoria

Negotiating the program • • • The research The materials The methods The collaborative process Distinguishing between difference and impairment

The context and the questions • Multilingual urban context – how multi? • Mother tongue education? • Assessment in primary language?

Language data from 32 pre - school classes in the Sunnyside/Pretoria CBD geographical area (n=760) Language data for 760 preschoolers , Home language unknown to teachers (36. 9%) Official languages of South Africa 10%+ representation Afrikaans, Sesotho, English, and Setswana Language data for 32 teachers L 1 L 2/3 Lo. LT in 32 multilingual preschool classes Afrikaans English only 31% (84%) (88%) English Afrikaans only 3% (9%) (19%) Se. Sotho English and (3%) (9%) Afrikaans 66% Isi. Zulu German Other 0% (3%) (6%) 2% - 10% representation Isi. Xhosa, Sesotho sa Leboa (the Se. Pedi, Northern Sotho varieties), Se. Swati, Zulu Isi. Zulu, Xi. Tsonga, 1% Tshivenda, Isi. Ndebele, Siswati, Dutch, Sign Xitsonga language (3% each) Other languages African languages from other African countries (e. g. Swahili), French, Portugues e, - African ) other languages (non

Language assessment is complex and multifaceted • Language form – Phonology – Morphology – Syntax • Language content – Words (vocabulary items) – Figurative language – Meaning of longer units • Language use – Functions – Adaptations – Rules The stove blood me here That sounds like fun! And how do you play with the jumping castle? You jump and you bump I went to the doctor. He’s checking me.

Language areas

Research - outline • Research question: can a typical language profile be identified for a small group of EAL pre-school learners in a circumscribed urban area, from which a set of boundaries may be construed for the profile of EAL preschool learners with potential language learning disorders?

Problem Statement – the South African urban context • Large multilingual pre-school classes • Multilingual/linguistically diverse teachers • Few speech-language therapists, and even fewer speak African languages • English is the language of mutual understanding • Children will be placed in schools with ELo. LT • Dearth of data on language behaviours

“Sticky issues” in the multilingual urban pre-school “Language assessment should take place in L 1” • What happens if no teacher or therapist can speak the child’s L 1? “The child speaks English as Additional Language” • Does the child’s English resemble that of the other EAL pre-schoolers, or are there non-typical characteristics?

Research project Aim: to determine the feasibility of constructing a language profile for preschool EAL learners in a circumscribed urban area • Select a pre-school with representative demographics • Select materials and methods to elicit a language sample • Transcribe and analyse language samples • Compare typical language behaviours to behaviours typical of children with language impairment

Three age groups: • 4 -0 to 4 -11 (Junior group) • 5 -0 to 5 -11 (Middle group) • 6 -0 to 6 -11 (Senior group) Developmental progress: • Generally speaking, a great leap forward from middle to senior group • Literature: EAL speakers eventually develop towards more EL 1 -like language behaviours But Early intervention is essential in cases of SLI

Are the results of any practical use? • Elicitation materials to use Table • Analyses to perform Table + info • Designing language development programs in collaboration with teachers Profile of typical language behaviour (2 forms) • Identifying learners with LI Risk profile

Elicitation materials Activities/ material Conversation Discussing a picture of a birthday party (Minskoff, Wiseman & Minskoff, 1972) Language aspects elicited Language form Language content Language use Syntactic complexity Syntactic structures Morphology MLU Word counts: TNW TDW TTR TNV TDV TNN Utterances Mazes Connectives Functions, intents and devices Appropriateness Turns taken

Conversation Story map for personal narrative about Going to the doctor (Rollins, Mc. Cabe & Bliss, 2000) Syntactic complexity Syntactic structures Morphology MLU TNW TDW TTR TNV TDV TNN Variety of utterances produced Mazes Discourse devices (connectives) Communicative functions, intents and devices Appropriateness Turns taken Narratives

Activities suggested for eliciting pragmatic behaviours (Creaghead, 1984) Communicative functions, intents and devices

Pictures and sentence completion (Subtest 9 – Grammatic Closure, from the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities [ITPA] [revised edition. ] Kirk, Mc. Carthy and Kirk, 1968). ) Morphology

Story based on picture cards, as well as additional response utterances to Items 1114, from the KLST-2 (Gauthier & Madison, 1998). Syntactic complexity MLU

Syntax - examples S V O Od Oi C A c Q Comm subject verb object direct object indirect object complement adverbial connective question/question word command D/det determiner Prep preposition N noun V verb V part. verb particle Aux auxiliary verb Cop copula Adj adjective Pron pronoun Neg negative

Personal narrative – Rollins, Mc. Cabe & Bliss, 2000 High point analysis of personal narratives We were playing outside But my mother’s friend was inside. Now, I was playing with my mother’s friend’s son. He was holding a stick. I looked in the dog’s eye Then I ran And then the dog bit me in the arm. That was a cruel dog

Three-step process for narrative assessment 1. Eliciting the narrative – conversation map 2. Coding the narrative Transcribed one clause on a line. Each clause assigned with appropriate element: orientation, action, evaluation, resolution, and coda. One clause may be multiply coded. 3. Scoring the narrative. Series of questions:

If the answer to a question on the left hand side is no, the narrative structure employed is indicated in the adjacent text box. If the answer to a question is yes, proceed to the next question. • Are there two past tense no events? • Are there more than two past no tense events? • In the real world is there a no logical or causal sequence to these events? • Does the narrator’s order of no the events mirror the sequence in which the events must have logically no occurred? • Is there a high point? no • Is there a resolution? If yes • One-event narrative • Two-event narrative • Miscellaneous narrative • Leap-frog narrative • Chronological narr. • End-at-high-point • Classic narrative

Language functions in young children- Halliday Interpersonal Ideational • Instrumental – satisfy • Heuristic – explore needs and organise environment • Regulatory – control • Imaginative – create actions of others imaginary • Interactional – establish environment interactions • Informative – provide • Personal – express information feelings, attitudes, interest

Creaghead’s protocol (1984)- Strategies for evaluating and targeting pragmatic behaviours in young children • Communicative intents - examples • Request object • Request action • Request information • Comment • Make choices • Give reasons • Conversational devices – examples • Answer • Take turns • Specify topic • Change topic • Maintain topic • Request clarification

Suggested classroom activities for • Language form - morphosyntax • Language content - meaning • Language use – conversations and narratives

Language form • Use LARSP/Language Therapy (Lewis & Penn) or some developmental scheme to know what to stimulate. Lewis & Penn also provide ideas on how to stimulate and elicit – – Forced alternative Verbal absurdities Silence! Manual code as cue • Focus stimulation • Expanding MLU: the expanding story

Language content • Developing TDW: list types of descriptives one can use, put into practice • Developing TDV: cognitive state verbs (theory of mind) after age 5 • Creating similes from experience

Language use • Narratives: – Story charts for personal experience – Story glove etc. for story grammar – Reflecting and alternatives • Conversations – Playing out stories – Role play and discuss

Identifying learners at risk for SLI • What is SLI? • How many risk indicators are needed to indicate risk? • A practice run

Picture sequence cards Stimulus Response Card 1 Drinking the juice What else? Drinking coffee Card 2 Fall down And then? NR Card 3 Mess What else is happening? And? Eating Drinking water

Picture sequence cards Card 1 Card 2 Card 3 The dog is on the floor This one is folding his arms This one, he’s doing like this with his hands This one is drinking cold drink The juice is falling This one, the doggie, drinking juice And this one is so sad

Picture discussion No. Adult Type Child Remarks 1 Doesn’t this look nice? QR Nice Picture 2 What’s happening here? QR Is the party 3 Why are they having a party? QR Because… 4 Why? QR I don’t know 5 Do you think somebody QR is having a birthday? Yes 6 Who is having the birthday party? QR A girl in my class, his name is Giani 7 Is she having a birthday? QR Yes 8 What’s happening in the QR picture? They are playing 9 With what? With the, with this things QR

Picture discussion 10 And this one? QR He’s blowing a candles 11 And that one? QR He’s playing 12 Ooh look there QR The dog he… the dog is open a present 13 And what will be inside? What do you think? QR NR 14 What’s inside? QR NR 15 What are they going to do now? QR They’re going to eat a cake 16 And then? QR I think eh… 17 Have you ever had a birthday party? QR No 18 Did you get a cake? QR Yes

Picture discussion 19 And what did your cake QR look like? A teddybear 20 Who made that cake? My mother 21 Did you invite some QR friends to come and play with you? Yes 22 And what did you do at QR your party? I eated 23 I eated? QR Yes 24 What? QR A party 25 Did you play any games QR then? Yes 26 What? QR Snakes- a snakes game 27 How do you play that? QR NR QR

Picture discussion No. Adult Type Child 1 What’s happening here? QR NR 2 What did the boy bring to the party? QR He did bring nothing 3 Why not? QR I don’t know 4 Why is the girl wearing a crown? QR Because it’s her birthday 5 What are they going to do now? QR They are going to drink some cooldrink 6 What else are they goingto do? QR I don’t know 7 What are they going to do when they’ve finished eating? QR They are going to play 8 With what? QR With their swing 9 And what else? QR With the toys 10 What do you like to play with? QR We play with the swings and the sand

Personal narrative No. Adult Type Child 1 Have you ever been to the doctor? QR NR 2 Have you ever been to the doctor? QR No 3 Have you ever been sick? QR No 4 Have you ever had a cold or hurt yourself? QR 5 So did your mommy take you to the doctor? QR 6 What did the doctor do? QR What happened? He give me a medicine 7 And then? I’m going home 8 And what did the doctor QR do to you? Eh. . 9 Tell me, what did the doctor do? He put me injection QR QR Remarks Nods Yes

10 Was it sore? QR Yes 11 What was wrong with you that day? QR Mm. . I was… 12 What was wrong? QR My head was sore 13 What made your head sore? QR Mm. . my mother 14 How did that happen? QR Mm … 15 Do you have a brother or a sister? QR A brother and a sister 16 You lucky girl! Do you ever fight with them? QR No 17 What do you do with them? QR I play with them 18 What do you play? QR With the hula-hoops

19 Tell me how to play that QR Nicely 20 But what do I do with the hulas? QR You run with it around 21 And then? QR You play with it 22 Have you ever been for X-rays? QR No 23 Did you ever get a plaster? QR No 24 Did Mommy ever put a plaster on your finger? QR He gave me 25 What happened – why QR did you need a plaster? Because is sore 26 What made it so sore? A shoe 27 A shoe! Tell me about CR it QR NR

Personal narrative No. Adult 1 Child VSR Who birthday? 2 Whose birthday is it? I CR don’t know. Tell me. This one 3 And what’s happening QR in this picture? A cat 3. 1 Sf I see a cat QR They play 4 And what are the children doing? 5 What are they going to QR do next? The eat a lot of food 6 And then? And the present 7 What do you think is in QR there? A car 8 Do you think this girl will play with a car? No, a “pop” 9 She’ll get a doll, a QR “pop”. What will they do when they’ve finished eating cake? QR QR Remarks They, this girl going to play Laughs

10 What games will they play? QR And swing 11 What did you do at your party? QR We are going to play, eat the cake, going to play 12 Where are you going to play? QR In home 13 Do you like playing in the park? QR Yes 14 What can we do in the park? QR Can eat, and drink water and play and swing and do and play with the sand anything 15 Have you ever played in the sand? QR No 15. 1 My mommy said I don’t play with the sand 15. 2 Because another one, they take to me the sand 16 And then? QR I told my mommy to hit others 17 What did she do? QR She hit 18 Did you also tell your teacher? QR Yes 19 Did it happen at school or in the park? QR At school

The end…. . or is it?