Language Sampling
What is Language Sampling?
Language samples provide the most useful information we can gather about a child’s communication because it’s an immediate snapshot of:
Utterance length and Complexity
Vocabulary skills
Articulation abilities
Narrative skills
Perspective-taking
Language samples offer bonus details for diverse populations! Formal assessments can't even provide the information you can obtain from a language sample such as:
Second-language influence
Cultural differences
Limited language experience
Multimodal language experience
Prath, S. (2018, June 20). The how and why of collecting a language sample. @ASHA. Retrieved December 6, 2022, from https://leader.pubs.asha.org/do/10.1044/the-how-and-why-of-collecting-a-language-sample/full/
In our lab, we use a software program called Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts (SALT) to assist with the language sampling process.
What is SALT?
- SALT software standardizes the process of eliciting, transcribing, and analyzing language samples. It includes a transcription editor, standard reports, and reference databases for comparison with typical peers.
Why SALT?
- Databases of typically developing children - normative data
- Consistent transcription format for all your language samples
- Fast results
- Easy analysis and interpretation
- Assists with diagnostic reports
We are also interested in understanding how SALT compares to other language sample analysis methods,
like SUGAR (Owens & Pavelko, 2018).
Language Sampling Steps:
Step 1 : Eliciting a language sample in a standardized way
Elicitation Contexts:
- Play - great for younger kids
- Conversation - most naturalistic approach and targets pragmatic skills
- Narrative Retell - most control over content and content is related to academic standards
- Expository - more advanced, appropriate for 5th grade and up, and content related to academic standards
- Persuasion - Most advanced, appropriate for 9th grade and up, and content related to academic standards
Step 2 : Transcribing a language sample systematically
You can utilize a transcription software called "INQSCRIBE" which is installed on all the computers in our lab; it makes transcription faster thanks to a foot pedal!
Follow the SALT transcription conventions.
Step 3 : Analyzing a language sample with SALT
Utilizing the SALT software, you can analyze your sample and compare it to the SALT database!
We often ask SALT to provide a standard measures report and a performance report, but SALT has many more tools that can provide even deeper insights into an individual's communication abilities.
SALT will let you know what each variable in a sample means and how to interpret it.