The Ability of Children With Language Impairment to Manipulate Topic in a Structured Task

Abstract

This study investigated the way in which 10 children with specific language impairment (SLI), 10 typical children of similar chronological ages (CA), and 10 typical children at similar levels of language functioning (LS) maintained topics that were introduced to them by an adult investigator. Two different types of topics were introduced in interaction with each child. One topic type involved verbal introduction of an object, the other involved verbal introduction of an event. Although most subject in all groups contributed appropriate utterances in response to the examiner’s topics, subjects with SLI contributed more inappropriate utterances than subject in either of the other groups. Children with SLI demonstrated particular difficulty with verbal topics when compared with their CA and LS peers.

Practitioner Review: The assessment of language pragmatics

“…Specific elicitation tasks are described repeatedly in the literature. For instance, Brinton et al (1997) developed a ‘topic task’ in which an examiner introduces a number of specific topics and encourages the child to develop that topic. The examiner takes a camera out of a bag and says to the subject ‘I got this for my birthday.…”

“…Brinton, Fujiki, and Powell (1997) concluded that formal testing of topic is not possible because the number of variables (contextual and personal) which impinge upon topic development and maintenance are impossible to control in a naturalistic setting. Estimates of ‘normality’ in topic management are impossible because of large variations in personal style (Brinton & Fujiki, 1985).…”

Methodology and Resources of the Itinerant Speech and Hearing Teacher

“…A more global, interactive approach to language would be required from all those intervening in the pupil's educational process (the other teachers, family members), focusing on facilitating social communication across all contexts of action, along the lines proposed by Brinton, Fujiki and Powell (1997).…”

“…This contrasts with highly structured approaches that rely on procedures such as imitation, shaping, fading and generalization, and pursue objectives that mainly have to do with articulatory skills (Hodson & Paden, 1991) or morpho-syntactic skills (Fey & Cleave, 1997). A more global, interactive approach to language would focus on facilitating social communication by means of interactive modeling, appealing at times to conversations or narrations in order to achieve linguistic objectives (Brinton, Fujiki & Powell, 1997), and always pursuing a collaborative perspective in conjunction with the team of teachers and family.…”

Effectiveness of Integrating Content and Language Instruction in an EFL Context

“…As Brinton, Snow and Wesche (1989) pointed out, content-based approach provides a larger framework for language development, in which the focus is not only on fragmented examples of correct language forms, but also on interaction and discourse patterns. According to Brinton, Fujiki and Powell (1997), the relevance of the material to the learners" needs and purposes in this type of instruction provides them with an intuitively attractive condition for learning.…”