Poster Session #1: South UC Ballroom

Written Language Sampling in Seventh-Grade Students: An Examination of Syntax

Presentation Type

Poster

Faculty Mentor’s Full Name

Ginger Collins

Faculty Mentor’s Department

Communicative Sciences and Disorders

Abstract / Artist's Statement

Purpose: The investigator created a database of written language samples with the purpose of describing the nature of students’ persuasive discourse and providing local normative data for typically developing seventh-graders. Methods: Written language samples were collected from seventh-grade students from Meadow Hill Middle School. All students were prompted to write a persuasive essay on a common topic. Written samples will be analyzed for syntactic complexity, vocabulary complexity, and coherence. Results will be analyzed for common themes along demographic data (gender, age, ethnicity, socio-economic status, etc.). When assessing persuasive discourse samples of adolescents with language disorders, this repository of language samples may be useful for comparison to determine which areas of language are underdeveloped. Originality: Language sample analysis is under-utilized when assessing older students, since few language norms for this age group have been established. Significance: Language sample analysis is considered a best practice in clinical analysis of young children’s language skills. Standardized assessment tools are used to determine the presence or absence of a language disorder, whereas language sample analyses are useful for determining how an individual communicates in an authentic setting. Few studies have used language sample analysis to determine developmental milestones in adolescent language, so this study will contribute to the gap in the literature regarding adolescent language norms.

Category

Social Sciences

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Apr 17th, 11:00 AM Apr 17th, 12:00 PM

Written Language Sampling in Seventh-Grade Students: An Examination of Syntax

South UC Ballroom

Purpose: The investigator created a database of written language samples with the purpose of describing the nature of students’ persuasive discourse and providing local normative data for typically developing seventh-graders. Methods: Written language samples were collected from seventh-grade students from Meadow Hill Middle School. All students were prompted to write a persuasive essay on a common topic. Written samples will be analyzed for syntactic complexity, vocabulary complexity, and coherence. Results will be analyzed for common themes along demographic data (gender, age, ethnicity, socio-economic status, etc.). When assessing persuasive discourse samples of adolescents with language disorders, this repository of language samples may be useful for comparison to determine which areas of language are underdeveloped. Originality: Language sample analysis is under-utilized when assessing older students, since few language norms for this age group have been established. Significance: Language sample analysis is considered a best practice in clinical analysis of young children’s language skills. Standardized assessment tools are used to determine the presence or absence of a language disorder, whereas language sample analyses are useful for determining how an individual communicates in an authentic setting. Few studies have used language sample analysis to determine developmental milestones in adolescent language, so this study will contribute to the gap in the literature regarding adolescent language norms.