Publication Date

Spring 2019

Advisor(s) - Committee Chair

Janice Smith (Director), Lauren Bland, and Jo Shackelford

Degree Program

Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders

Degree Type

Master of Science

Abstract

The current study examined a method of language sampling (the Dixit Method- Science, Math, Engineering, Arts, and Math) in early adolescents with typically developing language. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the DM-STEAM in eliciting lexically sophisticated spoken language samples in the early adolescent population. To examine lexical sophistication, traditional measures of analysis such as mean length of utterance (MLU) and average type token ratio (AVG TTR) were applied along with a measure of low frequency vocabulary. To compare performance on the DM-STEAM, school standardized assessments were obtained to measure student skill in academic content areas. Twenty-two student participants in the sixth grade (11 years to 12 years 11 months) were recruited from a local elementary school. The data was evaluated using a paired tailed t test and a path analysis test. Although the sample size is small, results from the study indicate the DM-STEAM elicits low frequency academic vocabulary in early adolescent populations.

Disciplines

Rehabilitation and Therapy | Semantics and Pragmatics | Syntax

Download

Share

COinS