EDU 3201 The Language Deficient Learner Dr. Ghazali Mustapha Faculty of Educational Studies Universiti Putra Malaysia Mobile: Off:

Language deficient/disorders: Defined The impairment or deviant development of comprehension and/or use of a system, written, and often symbol system. 3 types of disorder  Form of lg. (phonological, morphological, syntactic systems.  The Content of Lg. (semantic system)  The function of language in communication (pragmatic system) {ASLHA (1982a)}

LD is also “the inability of an individual to understand or use language system of a society. It may range fr. A minor developmental delay in acquiring a lg. or a complete absence of one’s ability to use lg. To communicate (ASLHA, 1982a). LD can be categorized as: Lg. Delay – slow development of language acquisition Lg. Deviance – lg. Development does not happen at expected stage.

LD – Global nature Defns. of LD must assume that lg. & communication are a synergistic system as they’re parts of the process. LD are categorised as: Specific LD – such as;  reduced vocab.  restricted sentence length  omission of morphological markers e.g. plural and term markers, limited use of modifies, articles, prepositions.  limited ability to give/receive information General LD – ass. with characteristics that impede or interfere with lg. Acq. and use. Examples;  attention to tasks, c/r instructions  memory span  Organization skills  evaluative skills Students with limited memory - understand words and single series of words in a command BUT have difficulty in retention. Lg. Impaired students – unable to follow a Command due to failure to understand The words or combination of words.

Process of identification of the Lg. Impaired Students 1. Referral of students  Surface form criteria –decision is based on Aspects of grammatical system eg. Correct tenses, use of nouns, posessives etc.   Pragmatic criteria  Based on ability to use lg. to give or receive information. (pg. 9 Module)

2. Assessment – done by lg. pathologist to determine eligibility: in accordance with Lg. Goals and objectives An analysis of a spontaneous lg. Samples Tr. Assists pathologists. Interpret tests 3. Placement – recommended by assessment team 4. Implementation Parent Class teacher Speech lg. Pathologist Other professionals