A Main Concept Analysis for Aphasic Discourse in Irish-English Speakers

Abstract

Objective: Various methods for the collection of aphasic discourse samples, including single and sequential picture description, storytelling, interactive conversation and monologic recounts, have been reported. The first aim of this study is to examine the cultural appropriateness of the Main Concept Analysis (MCA; Kong, 2009), a discourse analysis developed for Chinese speakers in Hong Kong, for the Irish population. The second aim is to provide preliminary evidence on the clinical applicability of the tool. A case study of using the MCA to assess an Irish-English (IE) speaker with aphasia and a control speaker is presented. Method: Five therapists, who were native IE speakers, were recruited to comment on whether the MCA pictures and scoring criteria were culturally appropriate to the Irish population. The MCA was piloted on six typical native IE speakers and the modified MCA was used to assess one participant with Broca’s aphasia and a matched control to evaluate their performance differences. Main results: The MCA was considered to be culturally appropriate to the Irish population. Preliminary results of the case study indicated that it could differentiate between normal and aphasic discourse production. Conclusion: Future extension should recruit a larger number of participants and should establish reliability and validity of the MCA.