Analyzing Language Samples
The first step in analyzing the speaker's language sample is to read through the transcript several times paying attention to the quality of the samples. Is the speaker able to perform the task? Does the examiner follow the elicitation protocol? Do you feel that the speaker's language sample accurately represents his/her oral language?
After familiarizing yourself with the transcript, you are ready to generate the SALT reports. There are three ways to analyze your transcript: 1) by itself, 2) in comparison to similar transcripts selected from the reference databases, and 3) linked with another transcript from the same speaker for Time1/Time2, Pre/Post, L1/L2, or Protocol1/Protocol2 comparison. Depending on how your transcript is being analyzed, there are different menu options to select from.
- The Database menu compares your transcript to a reference databases of typical speakers. The individual may be matched on age, grade, gender, sampling context, and transcript length. Matched records are selected from the database and mean, range, and standard deviation statistics are given or many of the analysis variables.
- The Analyze menu, available for analyzing your transcript by itself or linked with another transcript, contains an assortment of standard analyses.
- The Explore menu, available for analyzing your transcript by itself or linked with another transcript, is used to select specific words and/or utterances found in the transcript. You specify the list of words and codes you are interested in. The contents of this list are then used to select the words and utterances.
- The Link feature compares the analyses from any two transcripts. Linking is typically used to compare two language samples from the same speaker - pre and post therapy, time 1 versus time 2, language 1 versus language 2, story 1 versus story 2. Once linked, analyses selected from the Analyze menu and Explore option are based on the linked transcripts.
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