Language Sampling With Adolescents: Building a Normative Database With Fables.

PURPOSE: The goal of the study was to create a language sampling task appropriate for adolescents and to contribute normative data from speakers with typical language development. METHOD: Thirty adolescents (mean age = 14 years, 1 month) participated in an interview that involved the retelling and interpretation of 4 Greek fables. Each speaker's performance on the task was audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and entered into the Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts computer program (Miller & Iglesias, 2015). Samples were analyzed statistically for language productivity and syntactic complexity. In addition, each participant's perspective on the moral messages of the fables was examined informally. RESULTS: The Fables task was effective in prompting adolescents to use complex language and in encouraging them to express their opinions about the moral messages. Although boys and girls did not differ in their performance on the task, some fables were more effective than others at eliciting spoken language and complex syntax. Moreover, the adolescents tended to agree with the moral messages of the fables and appeared to find them relevant to their lives. CONCLUSION: The Fables task has potential for clinical use with adolescents. Research is necessary to expand the normative database to include larger and more diverse groups of adolescents.

Metacognitive verb production in adolescents: The link to complex syntax.

Metacognitive verbs (MCVs) such as believe, know and think allow a speaker to describe the thoughts, feelings and perspectives of the self and others. As such, these words reflect the speaker's awareness of differing mental events and activities, or Theory of Mind (ToM). This study investigated the use of MCVs in adolescents with typical language development in relation to the production of complex sentences. It was of interest to determine the frequency with which adolescents used MCVs and to explore the links between MCVs and different types of subordinate clauses. Language samples that had been collected during previous research involving fables were examined. The results indicated that adolescents frequently used MCVs, particularly during a critical-thinking task, and that MCVs were associated with the production of complex sentences containing various types of subordinate clauses. This information may be useful to speech-language pathologists in their work with adolescents who have language impairments.

Spoken Language Production in Young Adults: Examining Syntactic Complexity.

Purpose: In this study, we examined syntactic complexity in the spoken language samples of young adults. Its purpose was to contribute to the expanding knowledge base in later language development and to begin building a normative database of language samples that potentially could be used to evaluate young adults with known or suspected language impairment. Method: Forty adults (mean age = 22 years, 10 months) with typical language development participated in an interview that consisted of 3 speaking tasks: a general conversation about common, everyday topics; a narrative retelling task that involved fables; and a question-and-answer, critical-thinking task about the fables. Each speaker's interview was audio-recorded, transcribed, broken into communication units, coded for main and subordinate clauses, entered into Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts (Miller, Iglesias, & Nockerts, 2004), and analyzed for mean length of communication unit and clausal density. Results: Both the narrative and critical-thinking tasks elicited significantly greater syntactic complexity than the conversational task. It was also found that syntactic complexity was significantly greater during the narrative task than the critical-thinking task. Conclusion: Syntactic complexity was best revealed by a narrative task that involved fables. The study offers benchmarks for language development during early adulthood.