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Assessing Basic Language Competence

The document discusses assessing basic language competence, which includes a functional vocabulary of about 2000 words and basic syntactic rules that children typically acquire by ages 3-4 with language exposure. It outlines the specific language skills and semantic relationships involved in basic language competence, and provides guidance on assessing deaf children's acquisition of this level of language competence prior to and after spending 4-5 years in language training programs.

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PallaviKulshrestha
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
2K views

Assessing Basic Language Competence

The document discusses assessing basic language competence, which includes a functional vocabulary of about 2000 words and basic syntactic rules that children typically acquire by ages 3-4 with language exposure. It outlines the specific language skills and semantic relationships involved in basic language competence, and provides guidance on assessing deaf children's acquisition of this level of language competence prior to and after spending 4-5 years in language training programs.

Uploaded by

PallaviKulshrestha
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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ASSESSING BASIC LANGUAGE

COMPETENCE
INTRODUCTION
 Language is a code that exists in the mind of its
users.
 It is not directly observable.

 A person who can use language appropriately &


correctly in most of the situations can be said to
have competence in that language.
 Linguistic Competence – Receptive & Expressive

 Linguistic Competence is the ability of the native


speaker to understand & generate sentences as
per the demands of situation.
 It requires at least 4-5 years of language
exposure to internalize the language.
TWO LEVELS OF LANGUAGE COMPETENCE
 Basic Language Competence (BLC)
 Advanced or Enriched Language Competence
(ELC) or Schooled Language Competence
BLC
 Every non-impaired child acquires this by 3 or 4
years just by hearing it.
 This mainly includes the functional vocabulary of
about 2000 words needed for day to day
communication (statements, requests,
commands, questions, use of ‘and’/’but’/’if’/’so’ etc.)
USES OF LANGUAGE AT BLC LEVEL
 To protect their own rights & interests
 To initiate & maintain relationships
 To report on a present experience
 To report on a past experience
 To direct their own or others actions
 To talk about future or anticipate
 To see casual & dependent relations (use of
‘why’/’if’)
 To deal with problems in imagination & see
possible solutions
 To justify behaviour
 To reflect upon own feelings & of others
ELC
 Adult competence in grammatical rules of
language is not attained until 14 or 15 years of
age.
 After BLC, following factors play an interactive
role in developing ELC :
 Maturity: physical – motor & cognitive

 Ever increasing store of varied experiences

 School education & environment

 Appropriate language exposure


STATUS OF LANGUAGE LEVELS OF HEARING
CHILDREN WHEN THEY ENTER SCHOOL
 BLC serves dual purpose:
 It provides the child a powerful tool to
communicate.
 Language acts as a mediator in shaping &
building up structures of world knowledge. The
BLC is the foundation & tool through which
instruction in the classroom takes place.
 The child learns to read what he already knows
orally.
 This language is taken for granted while
designing primary school curriculum &
textbooks; to focus on knowledge acquisition.
STATUS OF LANGUAGE LEVELS OF DEAF
CHILDREN WHEN THEY ENTER SCHOOL
 Majority of deaf children who enter school at the
age of 4 to 6 years are without any verbal
communication skills.
 The mild to moderate might have some words &
some grammatically incorrect sentences; but
severe to profound deaf have almost no speech or
language due to lack of exposure.
 They have limited vocabulary.
 They do not understand language structures.
 The language in the textbooks introduced from
class 1 is beyond their capacity.
 They may pass school examinations just by
memorizing a few questions & answers.
SPECIFIC LANGUAGE SKILLS INVOLVED IN
BLC
 BLC is that level of language ability where the
child has mastery over the functional vocabulary
of everyday usage & basic syntactic rules of
language.
 Basic Sentence Patterns:

 I eat: NP + Vi

 I eat a banana : NP1 + Vt + NP2

 I am a boy: NP1 + Vbe + NP2

 I am happy: NP1 + Vbe + Adjective

 I am watering the plants: NP1 + Vl or Vbe + NP2

 He walks slow: NP1 + V + Adverb


BASIC SEMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS ( TWO
WORD UTTERANCES)
 Agent + Action = Daddy push
 Action + Patient = Push truck

 Agent + Patient = Baby ball

 Possession + X = My dog

 Recurrence + X = More milk

 Attribute + X = Yellow bus

 No-existence + X = No milk

 Rejection + X = No sleep

 Denial + X = No dog

 X + Location = Baby bed/ Doll there/Put here


BASIC SEMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS (THREE
WORD UTTERANCES)
 Agent + action + patient = Daddy hit ball
 Mover + action + location = Mummy go outside

 Instrument + action + patient = Knife cut me

 Possessor + attribute + patient = Jimmy big dog


KNOWLEDGE OF THE MEANING OF WORDS
 The child ran fast.
 A river ran through the field.

 The car ran smoothly.

 Two candidates ran for the post of President.


KNOWLEDGE OF THE DIFFERENT
RELATIONSHIPS THAT CAN BE EXPRESSED IN
SENTENCES.

 Agent – action : Raju cried.


 Agent – action – patient : Raju slapped Mohan.
 Experiencer – process – patient : Mira wants some
cake.
 Beneficiary – process – patient : The girl received the
first prize.
 Agent – action – complement : Maya sang a song.
 Entity – state – equivalent : The boy became my friend.
 Entity – state – location : The car is outside.
 Entity – state – size : The ball is big/red.
 Entity – state – quality : The coffee is bitter.
 Entity – state – time : The meeting is in the morning.
ASSESSMENT OF ACQUISITION OF BLC
 Testing children particularly deaf is very
difficult.
 May not respond
 May be shy
 May be uncooperative
 May not understand the question
 One way – assessment in small group in
classroom situation in their teacher’s presence.
 Other way – teacher herself does the assessment
in a informal manner, as a game.
 Other way – observation of how a child responds
in a teaching-learning situation like directed
activity, story etc.
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT IN NON-
IMPAIRED HEARING CHILDREN
 First period : 1 to 11 months/1 year
 Small number of combinations of sounds with
special meanings, which express the idea of an
entire sentence.

 Second period: 11 months/ 1 year to 2 years


 The child realizes that everything has a name.
Vocabulary increases.

 Third period: 2 - 3 years


 Multi-word utterances, well formed sentences.
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT IN NON-
IMPAIRED HEARING CHILDREN
 Fourth period: 3 years onwards
 Attempts at complex sentences.

 Fourth period is when child acquires BLC.


ASSESSMENT PRIOR TO ACQUISITION OF
BLC
 The first 4-5 years must be devoted to laying the
foundation of language.
 Till the BLC is attained, the teacher can rely on
her weekly & monthly observation & evaluation
done at the end of each lesson.
 The assessment of BLC can only be done after
the child has spent 4-5 years in language
training.
 Even when BLC is acquired in pre-school classes,
it must be reinforced in primary years till it
becomes an automatic part of their langugage.
ASSESSMENT OF BLC
 Use of Cognitive Areas
 Daily routine

 Things normally seen/experienced

 School life related things

 Daily use vocabulary

 Language that a hearing child is normally


exposed to at 4-5 years.
GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR ASSESSMENT
 Ensure child has spent at least 4 -5 years in good pre-
school language programme.
 Ensure child is familiar with most of the words in the
assessment.
 Give practice questions to child to understand the
format.
 While giving practice, do not point or stress
unnecessarily.
 Do not leave the written question in front of child.
 Repeat the question or action, on twice. Do not start
explaining.
 Prepare the test in advance & test it on a hearing
child.

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