Dr. M. Enamul Hoque- Components of language

DR. MD. ENAMUL HOQUE
D I R E C T O R
E D U C A T I O N A N D D E V E L O P M E N T R E S E A R C H C O U N C I L ( E D R C )
D H A K A , B A N G L A D E S H
Components of Language
Dr. Md. Enamul Hoque, EDRC

Definition of Language
 Language is a means of communication consisted of sounds,
words, symbols, and grammar used by the people in a
particular country, region, or group.
 It is a system of communication based upon words and the
combination of words into sentences.
 Language is a set (finite or infinite) of sentences, each finite
in length, and constructed out of a finite set of elements
(Chomsky, 1957).
 Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of
communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of
voluntarily produced symbols (Edward Sapir, 1921).
 A language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols by means
of which a social group cooperates (B. Bloch and G. Trager,
1942).

Theories of Language
 Behavioristic: Skinner
 Infant begins with no knowledge of language, but
possesses ability to learn it through reinforcement
and imitation
 Nativistic or psycholinguistic: Chomsky
 Child is prewired for language development and the
environment triggers its emergence
 Interactionistic: Piaget
 Language occurs through fixed developmental
stages

Language Components & Skills
 Form
 Phonology
 Morphology
 Syntax
 Content
 Semantics
 Use
 Pragmatics

Functionalist Language Theory
Pragmatics
Syntax
Semantics
Morphology
Phonology

Phonology
 Study and use of individual sound units in a
language and the rules by which they are combined
and recombined to create larger language units.
 Phonemes are the unit of sound such as /s/ or /b/ ,
they do not convey meaning.
 Phonemes alter meaning of words when combined
(e.g., sat to bat).

Phonological Deficits
 Frequently appear as articulation disorders.
 Child omits a consonant: “oo” for you
 Child substitutes one consonant: “wabbit” for rabbit
 Discrimination: child hears “go get the nail” instead of mail

Morphology
 Study and use of morphemes, the smallest units of
language that have meaning.
 A morpheme is a group of sounds that refers to a
particular object, idea, or action.
 Roots can stand alone (e.g., car, teach, tall)
 Affixes are bound such as prefixes and suffixes and when
attached to root words change the meaning of the words
(e.g., cars, teacher, tallest)

Morphological Deficits
 Elementary aged: may not use appropriate
inflectional endings in their speech (e.g.,“He walk”
or “Mommy coat”).
 Middle school: lack irregular past tense or
irregular plurals (e.g., drived for drove or mans for
men).
 Be aware of “Black English”: “John cousin” “fifty
cent”, or “She work here”.

Syntax
 Study of the rules by which words are organized into
phrases or sentences in a particular language.
 Referred to as the grammar of the language and
allows for more complex expression of thoughts and
ideas by making references to past and future events.

Syntactic Deficits
 Lack the length or syntactic complexity (e.g., “Where
Daddy go?”).
 Problems comprehending sentences that express
relationship between direct or indirect objects.
 Difficulty with wh questions.

Semantics
 The larger meaning component of language.
 More than single words, includes complex use of
vocabulary, including structures such as word
categories, word relationships, synonyms, antonyms,
figurative language, ambiguities, and absurdities.

Semantic Deficits
 Limited vocabulary especially in adjectives,
adverbs, prepositions, or pronouns.
 Longer response time in selecting vocabulary
words.
 Fail to perceive subtle changes in word meaning:
incomplete understanding and misinterpretations.
 Figurative language problems.

Pragmatics
 Knowledge and ability to use language functionally
in social or interactive situations.
 Integrates all the other language skills, but also
requires knowledge and use of rule governing the use
of language in social context.

Pragmatic Deficits
 Problems understanding indirect requests (e.g., may
say yes when asked “Must you play the piano?”).
 May enter conversations in a socially unacceptable
fashion or fail to take turns talking.
 Difficulty staying on topic.

Preschool and Kindergarten
 Difficulty with readiness skills: counting, naming
colors, naming the days of the week, and using
scissors.
 Unable to follow simple directions, follow a story
line, or enjoy listening to stories.
 May exhibit immature-sounding speech, word
finding difficulties, and inability to name common
objects.

Elementary Students
 Limited ability to identify sounds, analyzing and
synthesizing sound sequences and segmenting
words.
 Problems with temporal and spatial concepts (e.g.,
before-after, some, few).
 Word finding (retrieval) difficulties exist.
 Problems sounding out and blending sounds.
 Problems with expressive and oral language.

Secondary Students
 Tend to be passive learners and lack metacognitive
skills.
 Problems gaining information from class lectures
and textbooks, completing homework, following
classroom rules, demonstrating command of
knowledge through test taking, expressing
thoughts in writing, participating in classroom
discussions, and passing competency exams.

Bilingual and Culturally Diverse Students
 Assessment should be conducted in the student’s
primary language.
 Assessment should examine writing, reading,
listening, and speaking skills.
 Assessments should include both quantitative
measures (i.e., formal tests) and qualitative
measures (e.g., observations, adapted test
instruction, and a language sample).

Formal Language Assessment
 Standardized instruments used to compare a
student’s performance with pre-established
criteria.
 Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals, Peabody
Picture Voc. Test
 Screening Tests
 Provides general overview in particular area can norm
referenced.
 Diagnostic Tests
 Measure one or more specific language components. See
Table 6.3

Informal Assessment
 Often used to affirm or refute the results of formal
measures.
 Determine specific instructional objectives.
 Use large sample of items and repeated
opportunities for observations.

Informal Tests of Phonology
 Analyze student’s production of phonemes in
single words.
 List of all the consonant phonemes + pictures to depict
words containing each phoneme (e.g., picture of a pot for
initial /p/, map for final /p/).
 Include a comments section to describe the error
recorded.
 Provide prompts – “Tell me about your weekend for 3-
minute sample, count correct and incorrect phonemes.

Informal Test of Morphology
 Determine mastery level of each morpheme in a
hierarchy (Brown, 1973).
 ing: present a picture of girls playing and say “The
girls like to play. Here they are ________.”
Student adds missing word.
 Show a series of 20 action pictures and ask student
what they are doing.
 Accuracy below 90% - morpheme has not been mastered

Informal Tests of Syntax
 Expressive syntax: analyzing student’s spontaneous
speech, recording conversation.
 Sentence repetition: teacher states a sentence and
student repeats it.

Informal Tests of Semantics
 Logical relationships, cause-and-effect, and
verbal problem solving are difficult to assess.
 Verbal opposites: SRA picture cards of 40
pairs of opposites. Student sorts them into
opposites.
 Word categories: Teacher says a word and
student says as many words in the same
category.
 Semantic relationships: analyzing
spontaneous speech while playing or
interacting with friends.

Informal Test of Pragmatics
 Analyze spontaneous speech through videotape.
 Transcribe tape – see figure 6.3
 Classify pragmatic function
 Measure inappropriate loudness, talking at
inappropriate times, interrupting the speaker, and
using indirect requests.

Strategies for Increasing Language
Comprehension
 Establish eye contact and cue student to listen.
 Ask student to repeat directions.
 Classroom arrangement to reduce
distractions.
 Use familiar vocabulary when presenting new
concept.
 Present new concept in as many modalities.
 Teach memory strategies (e.g., visual imagery,
clustering and grouping information).

Strategies for Increasing Language Production
 React to the content of student’s message,
then correct syntax error.
 Teach language in various settings.
 Act as a good language model, have students
imitate what they hear.
 Comment or elaborate on students’ ideas to
provide more information.
 Use storytelling, role playing, or charades to
improve verbal expression.
 Use structured language programs that
provide adequate practice.

Students with Mental Retardation
 Develop language more slowly, including both
receptive & expressive delays
 Often don’t use make use of incidental learning
opportunities
 May have insufficient interactions with children
with more skilled language use
 Frequently less effective in social communication

Students with Behavior Disorders
 May possess age-appropriate skills at phonemic and
morphemic level, but have difficulties with syntax,
semantics, and pragmatics
 Difficulty expressing ideas, feelings, concerns, and
needs
 Oral language may be contain profanity
 Difficulty with social communication

Students with Learning Disabilities
 Problems understanding or using spoken or
written language (definition)
 Problems with word retrieval and word choice
 Ambiguity and lack of cohesion
 Inefficient decoding of messages presented by
speech of others
 Uneven language abilities in both school and social
settings

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