Assessing Pragmatics and Syntax between Age 4 and 9 -- Elicited Production Peter de VilliersSmith College Jill de VilliersSmith College Barbara Zurer PearsonUniversity of Massachusetts Frances BurnsUniversity of Massachusetts *supported by NIH grant N01-DC to the University of Massachusetts and Smith College *webpage:

Goals of the Project  To develop picture-based materials and communication situations that reliably elicit non-imitative production of several important language functions and their corresponding syntactic and semantic forms.  To assess language skills that are crucial for success in school and the development of fluent reading and writing.  To distinguish normal developmental variation from delayed or disordered development.  To create a test that is not biased against speakers of dialectal variations from Mainstream American English (MAE), especially African-American English (AAE) speakers.

Language Functions Elicited  Question-answer mapping -- asking the right Wh-question to find out specific information.  Uniquely specifying referents -- telling my listener(s) who and what I am referring to.  Linking meaning across referents and events -- discourse cohesion in extended turns.  Producing a cohesive narrative that communicates both the “landscape of action” and the “landscape of consciousness”  Communicative role taking -- understanding the communicative perspective of others and knowing what speech acts they are producing.

Key Features of the Elicitation Materials and Procedures  They provide referential support and pragmatic motivation for the language forms and functions to be produced, so they increase the likelihood that those forms and functions will be sampled in the assessment.  They constrain the range of appropriate utterances, so they are more easily scored than a more open-ended language sample.  They retain a considerable degree of communicative naturalness in the elicitation procedure rather than resorting to modeling and imitation to elicit these forms.

More Features of the Elicitation Materials and Procedures  They test the interaction of syntactic and semantic forms with specific pragmatic functions -- assessment of pragmatic skills cannot be divorced from the forms that are needed for those functions of language.  They sample a range of simpler to more complex syntactic forms that serve the same communicative functions.  The materials are all picture-based so they require minimal technology and can be administered and scored by a single clinician interacting with the child.

The Data to be Shown  The data come from the field testing of the DELV (Diagnostic Evaluation of Language Variation) -- a new comprehensive language assessment for 4 through 9 year olds to be published in 2003 by The Psychological Corporation (Seymour, Roeper, and J. de Villiers).  The DELV (Screener and Criterion-Referenced Clinical Version) identifies variations from Mainstream American English, and diagnoses developmental delay or disorder in Syntax, Semantics, Pragmatics, and Phonology in an unbiased way.

The Subject Sample  Data will be shown from 1014 four to nine year olds, most of them from working class backgrounds and from all regions of the USA.  There were 217 four-year-olds, 266 five-year-olds, 300 six-year-olds, 56 seven-year-olds, 101 eight-year-olds and 74 nine-year-olds.  Approximately 60% of the children were characterized by the testing clinicians as speakers of African American English (AAE), the other 40% as speakers of Mainstream American English (MAE).  Approximately 1/3rd of the children at each age and in each dialect group were identified by the participating clinicians and schools as having a specific language-impairment and were receiving language services.

Question-Answer Mapping  Asking a specific Wh-question to discover a piece of information that only your listener has.  Tests production of semantically appropriate what, who, where, how and why questions.

Wh-Question Asking Elicitation Procedure  The child is shown a picture with something missing from it.  They have to ask the right question to find out what the event is about.  The missing elements of the pictures include objects, people, locations, tools, and causes of emotions -- so what, who, where, how, and why questions are motivated.  Different levels of prompting are given for each trial if the child does not spontaneously ask an appropriate question -- varying from the semantic domain of the question to ask, to the specific wh-word to begin the question with.  If the child asks an appropriate question they are shown the complete picture.

The girl is painting something. Ask me the right question and I’ll show you the answer. c. The Psychological Corporation Copyrighted Picture Omitted

What? c. The Psychological Corporation Copyrighted Picture Omitted

The nurse is feeding somebody. Ask me the right question and I’ll show you the answer. c. The Psychological Corporation Copyrighted Picture Omitted

Who? c. The Psychological Corporation Copyrighted Picture Omitted

The girl went swimming someplace. Ask me the right question and I’ll show you the answer. c. The Psychological Corporation Copyrighted Picture Omitted

Where? c. The Psychological Corporation Copyrighted Picture Omitted

The girl is mad for a reason. Ask me the right question and I’ll show you the answer. c. The Psychological Corporation Copyrighted Picture Omitted

Why? c. The Psychological Corporation Copyrighted Picture Omitted

The woman is fixing the airplane somehow. Ask me the right question and I’ll show you the answer. c. The Psychological Corporation Copyrighted Picture Omitted

How? c. The Psychological Corporation Copyrighted Picture Omitted

Ask me the right question and I’ll give you the answer. c. The Psychological Corporation Copyrighted Picture Omitted

What? c. The Psychological Corporation Copyrighted Picture Omitted

Ask me the right question and I’ll give you the answer. c. The Psychological Corporation Copyrighted Picture Omitted

Why? c. The Psychological Corporation Copyrighted Picture Omitted

Here are four people and four things to eat. Each person is eating one of the foods. Ask me the right question, and I’ll show you the answer. c. The Psychological Corporation Copyrighted Picture Omitted

Who’s eating what? Who is eating which food? c. The Psychological Corporation Copyrighted Picture Omitted

Wh-Question production in MAE and AAE speaking children following all prompts.

Wh-Question production in typically developing and language impaired children following all prompts.

Appropriate how-question production in MAE and AAE speaking children following wh-word prompt.

Appropriate how-question production in typically- developing and language-impaired children following wh-word prompt.

Appropriate why-question production in MAE and AAE speaking children following semantic prompt.

Appropriate why-question production in typically- developing and language-impaired children following semantic prompt.

Semantically Inadequate Questions  Sometimes younger children ask all-purpose questions that do not specify the information needed in the answer.  e.g., “What is X doing?” or “What is it?” or just the wh-word without any content specified.  It has been suggested that language-impaired children are more likely than typically-developing children to use all- purpose words and phrases of this type.

Use of all-purpose Wh-questions by MAE and AAE speaking children.

Use of all-purpose Wh-questions by typically-developing and language- impaired children.

Uniquely specifying referents  Telling my listener(s) who or what I am referring to:  1. Using indefinite and definite articles (“a”/“the”) to refer to a specific or non-specific object.  2. Using adjectives, prepositional phrases, and relative clauses to identify a referent.

Use of Articles “a” and “the” Types of a and the Condition LabelDescription  Part-the:-- part of a previously mentioned object  Familiar-the:-- previously mentioned object  Specific-a:-- referent known to speaker only  Non-referential-a: -- non-referential, but assumed in situation  Predicational-a:-- nominal following have

Examples of eliciting questions Part-the: Sally was eating an ice-cream cone when suddenly slosh! something fell out and she only had the cone left. What was it? (THE icecream) Familiar-the: A cat and a bird were sitting in a tree. They were friends. One of them flew out of the tree. Guess which.. (THE bird) Specific-a: I'll bet you have something hanging on the wall of your room at home. What is it? (A picture) Non-referential-a: Tyrone is going to take a nap, and he wants to snuggle with something. What does he need? (A blanket) Predicational-a: Think of a baseball player. Can you imagine what one looks like? What does he have? (A glove)

Development of correct article use in MAE and AAE speaking children.

Development of correct article use in typically developing and language impaired children

Identifying Referents  Several linguistic devices in English serve to identify one object or person out of a possible set.  These include adjectives that specify a distinctive property of the object or person, prepositional phrases that specify their location, and relative clauses that refer to either a distinctive property, location, or action.

Reference Specification -- Testing Procedure  Examiner and child play a referential communication game.  The child sees a picture that the examiner cannot see. S/he has to describe an event that is happening in part of the picture so that the examiner can pick out the person or object involved in the event from a set of similar people or objects.  In some trials there is a distinctive property that distinguishes the referent. In others it is the location or action of the referent that must be mentioned.  In this way the linguistic form that must be produced increases in complexity from adjectives to prepositional phrases and finally to relative clauses.

Here are two horses. c. The Psychological Corporation Copyrighted Picture Omitted

Tell me what is happening in the red box. I need to know which horse it is. c. The Psychological Corporation Copyrighted Picture Omitted

Here are two policemen. c. The Psychological Corporation Copyrighted Picture Omitted

Tell me what is happening in the red box. I need to know which policeman it is. c. The Psychological Corporation Copyrighted Picture Omitted

Here are two boys. c. The Psychological Corporation Copyrighted Picture Omitted

Tell me what is happening in the red box. I need to know which boy it is. c. The Psychological Corporation Copyrighted Picture Omitted

Here are two girls. c. The Psychological Corporation Copyrighted Picture Omitted

Tell me what is happening in the red box. I need to know which girl it is. c. The Psychological Corporation Copyrighted Picture Omitted

Development of reference specification in MAE and AAE speaking children. Production of form and function following all prompts.

Development of reference specification in typically- developing and language-impaired children. Production of form and function following all prompts.

Development of reference specification in typically- developing and language-impaired children. Spontaneous production of form and function before any prompts.

Development of reference specification by property in MAE and AAE speaking children. Production of form and function following all prompts.

Development of reference specification by property in typically-developing and language-impaired children. Production of form and function following all prompts.

Development of reference specification by property in typically-developing and language-impaired children. Spontaneous production of form and function before any prompts.

Development of reference specification by location in MAE and AAE speaking children. Production of form and function following all prompts.

Development of reference specification by location in typically-developing and language-impaired children. Production of form and function following all prompts.

Development of reference specification by location in typically-developing and language-impaired children. Spontaneous production of form and function before any prompts.

Development of reference specification by action in MAE and AAE speaking children. Production of form and function following all prompts.

Development of reference specification by action in typically-developing and language-impaired children. Production of form and function following all prompts.

Development of reference specification by action in typically-developing and language-impaired children. Spontaneous production of form and function before any prompts.

Narrative  Uniquely specifying referents -- telling my listener(s) who and what I am referring to.  Linking meaning across referents and events -- discourse cohesion in extended turns.  Marking point of view -- appreciating different perspectives on events -- having a “theory of mind”.

Narratives Narratives have three important components:  Coherence = use of required story grammar components  Cohesion = a. use of linguistic devices to establish, maintain, and specify referents (e.g., articles and pronouns, or referent characterizing expressions) b. expression of causal and temporal links between events in the story.  Adopting different perspectives on the events -- “inside” versus “outside” view -- “landscape of action” versus “landscape of consciousness” (Bruner, 1986). This depends on having a “theory of mind”.

A short, wordless picture-sequence narrative to elicit reference specification, temporal cohesion, and mental state references. c. The Psychological Corporation Copyrighted Picture Omitted

Narrative Samples 1  I want my train. I’m gonna hide the train from him. I’m gonna play out of the toy box. I’m gonna find that train. Bring that train. (C: 4;2)  He was looking for the choo choo train because the other boy was playin’. And then… and then he said, “I want that choo choo train back”, and umm… he put it in his toy box. And then he came back to find it and he looked under the bed and it wasn’t there. (SC: 4;9)

Narrative Samples 2  They’re fighting for the choo choo train and he’s bringing it under the bed. And then he’s putting it all the way under. Now, he found it under the bed, and then he put it in the toy box, all the way down deep. And then the boy is going to go and look for his choo choo train. Then he didn’t see it under the bed. (S: 4;10)

Narrative Examples 3  The big boy came into the little boy’s room and took away the little boy’s train. Then he hid it under the boy’s bed where he couldn’t get it. Then the little boy… when he left… he got out his train and put it in the toy box while the big boy was eating. Then the big boy thought about the train and he went under the bed to go see it but it wasn’t there. (A: 6;4)  The little brother was trying to get his toy from the big brother. And the big brother hiding his toy under the bed. When he is eating his sandwich, the little boy go and get it and put it inside of his toy box. When his big brother walk in, he think about the train and he look under his bed for it. (J: 6;3)

Development of reference contrast in narratives (contrasting the two main characters) in typically developing MAE and AAE speaking children.

Development of reference contrast in narratives (contrasting the two main characters) in typically developing and language impaired children.

Development of the expression of temporal links between events in the narratives of typically developing MAE and AAE speaking children.

Development of the expression of temporal links between events in the narratives of typically developing and language impaired children.

Following their spontaneous narrative the children were asked two follow-up questions to probe for their theory of mind understanding: -- Tell me again what is happening in this picture (picture 5) --The big boy is looking for the train under the bed. Why is he looking there? c. The Psychological Corporation Copyrighted Picture Omitted

Development of mental state references to describe the “thought balloon” picture (typically developing MAE versus AAE speaking children)

Development of mental state references to describe the “thought balloon” picture (typically developing versus language impaired children).

Development of “theory of mind” explanations for the character’s mistaken action in the picture narrative (typically developing MAE versus AAE speaking children).

Development of “theory of mind” explanations for the character’s mistaken action in the picture narrative (typically developing versus language impaired children).

Development of combined narrative skills in MAE and AAE speaking children aged 4 to 12.

Overall narrative scores in typically developing and language impaired children aged 4 though 12.

Communicative Role Taking and Understanding Speech Acts  Children not only need to produce different kind of speech acts at appropriate times (e.g., asking for information, requesting action, rejecting or denying, prohibiting etc.); they also need to understand the circumstances and force of those utterances in other people.  The children were shown pictures in which a person was communicating to another about some object or event that was clearly depicted. They were asked what the characters were telling (reporting an observed event), asking, or saying (prohibiting an action), depending on the scenario.

Picture context for “telling” (reporting an event). c. The Psychological Corporation Copyrighted Picture Omitted

Picture context for “telling” (reporting an event). c. The Psychological Corporation Copyrighted Picture Omitted

Picture context for “asking” (requesting and object or action). c. The Psychological Corporation Copyrighted Picture Omitted

Picture context for “asking” (requesting and object or action). c. The Psychological Corporation Copyrighted Picture Omitted

Picture context for scolding or prohibiting action (what “saying?”) c. The Psychological Corporation Copyrighted Picture Omitted

Picture context for scolding or prohibiting action (what “saying?”) c. The Psychological Corporation Copyrighted Picture Omitted

Development of appropriate speech act production in a communicative role taking context (MAE versus AAE speaking children)

Development of appropriate speech act production in a communicative role taking context (typically developing versus language impaired children).

Pragmatics Assessment on the DELV  Four of the five elicitation procedures that we have covered appear on the DELV-CR (Clinical Version).  The scores from three of them: Wh-question asking, Narrative, and Communicative Role Taking are combined to create a Pragmatics Domain Score.

Development of MAE and AAE speaking children on the Pragmatics Domain Score

Development of typically developing and language impaired children on the Pragmatics Domain Score

Conclusions  We have shown that carefully crafted elicited production procedures can be used to assess a wide range of essential pragmatic skills and the forms (syntax and semantics) needed for those language functions.  These materials and procedures capture the development of several aspects of language that are vital for success in early schooling and the transition to literacy.  They therefore provide a rich evaluation of pragmatics that has direct implications for target areas and methods of intervention.  Finally, these methods provide an assessment of pragmatic development between the ages of 4 and 9 years that is not biased against speakers of AAE.