Answer

Language Sample Analysis Assignment Part 1: 

This file contains all of the instructions and is the form you need to fill out and turn in by April.  **This assignment is graded for completion, rather than accuracy.  It is worth 10 points. **

Read the instructions in the posted assignment above. The video of the 26-month-old child is included in this video. Double tap to get the video to start.

You can also view the zoom video from Friday at 11am that explains the assignment if you’re unclear after reading through the posted document. Note: Please note that I changed a few things on the posted assignment (above) such that it differs from what was displayed on the screen during this introduction to the assignment. Please follow the written directions.

Written Directions:

LSA/MLU Practice #1 INSTRUCTIONS

This assignment is graded for completion, rather than accuracy.  It is worth 10 points.

*The video of a 26-month-old child is in the Page “LSA Assignment 1”. 

Part 1

The goal of part one is to get practice—if you need it—breaking up utterances (based primarily on the communicative intent).  The first few are done.  If you need more practice with this, please see the Part 1 Video Tutorial in the Page “LSA Assignment 1”

Blankie

step off

blankie here

uhoh (uhoh)

try again

YOU CAN continue finding utterances with the rest of Part 1 of the transcript, but this is optional.  If you do not need this practice, move on to Part 2 on page 3 of these instructions.

Part 1 Uncoded Transcript, continued:

jump off jump off blankie elmo jump off blankie elmo jump off blankie elmo help blankie down do this help self get pillow get pillow pillow no walk self bed do it bed do it bed do it hop off pillow there one two three four jump sit picnic blankie picnic blankie picnic blankie sit down on it sit down it go get go get car pink pink car in bed go get food picnic help ok wheel/s here blankie here blankie here picnic chair picnic chair yeah go get picnic chair right there picnic chair here these you here these you these you these you elmo go eat elmo these elmo these picnic chair these picnic chair here sit

Part 2: Recall the steps to Steps to conducting a Language Sample Analysis to calculate an MLU.

1. Break down utterances. Use the video!  What do you think is the intended utterance?  You did this in Part 1.  It is done for you in Part 2. 
2. Find mazes—exact repetitions that are not repeated for emphasis— and ‘code’ with parenthesis. This has been completed for you in the Coded portion of Part 2 of the transcript below.
3. Code bound grammatical morphemes with slash /

This has been PARTIALLY completed for you in the Coded portion of the transcript below.  You will need to add codes to the highlighted utterances IF THEY ARE NEEDED.  One of these is tricky!  Just do your best; you’re not graded for accuracy.

4. Count morphemes (bound grammatical and free)
5. Count utterances
6. Calculate MLU

Be sure that Steps 3-6 are completed when you turn this in.

See Part 2 of the transcript below.

Part 2 (starts at 5:05 in the video)  The goal of Part 2 is to gain an understanding of the steps of LSA/ MLU calculation as a process and get some basic practice with coding morphemes in the highlighted utterances, counting utterances (starting after #32) and counting morphemes using ALL of Part 2, and calculating MLU.

1. sit blue block
2. ok
3. sit Elmo (sit)
4. sit blankie here
5. sit blankie pink here
6. no lie down
7. Sleep/ing lie down
8. block you
9. block
10. Right back
11. right back
12. bus com/ing (bus coming)
13. here bus
14. (turtle) turtle
15. sit
16. over there
17. here
18. mommy glass/es
19. here mommy
20. hey
21. Davie com/ing
22. Com/ing blanket
23. com/ing on blanket
24. yellow blankie (yellow blankie yellow blankie)
25. yellow blankie **Why might you count this one and not the other two ‘repetitions’?
26. no come out paci
27. stay in
28. right there
29. mommy sit
30. sit mommy
31. blankie
32. that blankie

       (so)

       yellow block

       yellow blankie

       here

       sit

       place  sit 

       sit down on it

    Sitt/ing on it  (sitting on it)

     lean/ing back (leaning back)

     look toe/s

     look other foot

     see it

     see picture        

      Come clos/er that

Answer the following about MLU:

1. Given your coded utterances (the highlighted ones) AND the ones coded for you in Part 2, what grammatical morphemes is the child using?

-present progressive; -ing

-plural regular; -es, -s

2. How many morphemes total in the transcript? 38
3. How many utterances total in the transcript? 14
4. Use the two totals above to calculate an MLU. What is it? 2.1

Beyond MLU: Semantic Analysis

We can also get information about the child’s semantic development from this transcript.  For example, the approximate number of different words (NDW) she uses in this 10 minute sample = 43

5. What Word Types does she use? ABOUT how many of each?  Fill in the blanks for nouns, verbs, and adjectives.  I’ve filled in Proper names, Prepositions, and “Other”.

Nouns:       8 ( blankie, bus, turtle, glasses, blanket, toes, foot, picture)

Does she use Pronouns– Yes or no? Yes

Proper names: 3 (Mommy, Davie, Elmo)

Verbs:   11 (sit, sleeping, block, coming, come, stay, sitting, leaning, look, see)

Adjectives: 4(blue, pink, yellow, closer)

Prepositions:  6

Other: ~5 (Here, no, there, other, it)

6. Given what you know about early vocabulary taxonomy, is the above variety of word types in this transcript (remember, this is not her entire vocabulary!) what you would basically expect for her language level?  Yes or No? Yes.

I think yes.