Getting Started
Because people apply their language differently in different sampling contexts, the decision of which sampling context to use is very important. The sampling context you select must result in obtaining a language sample that represents the speaker's productive language ability under usual speaking conditions. The goal is to have the speaker use his own words and form his own phrases without examiner intervention aiding or reducing productivity. A representative sample must have reliability, which is the degree to which repeated samples are similar in content. This means that the elicitation of language samples is done the same way each time so that the speaker's language sample can be compared to language samples from other speakers or to language samples collected at different points in time.
How do I decide what type of language sample to elicit?
There are several things to consider when choosing the type of language sample.
- Sampling Context: Conversational samples target pragmatic language skills for social interaction and classroom participation. These skills include: turn acting, topic maintenance, and responding to contingent speech in conversation. Narratives and expositories are often considered to have the most relevance for school performance and can be tied to state or district standards for oral language. Narrative samples provide information about the speaker's oral communication skills which are required for learning to read, maintaining a story structure, relating the order of events, and describing the relationship of story characters. Expository samples target the speaker's organizational skills needed to describe, provide information, or inform the listener clearly and logically.
The SALT project has developed elicitation protocols to standardize the language sampling process for conversation, narration, and exposition. Following these protocols will allow for comparison to the SALT reference databases of typical speakers and give you an accurate assessment of the speaker's productive language.
- Speaker's Age: Choose a sampling contexts which is appropriate for the speaker's age and/or grade in school.
| Age |
Conversation |
Narration |
Exposition |
| Preschool |
Yes |
No |
No |
| Elementary school |
Yes |
Yes |
Age 10 |
| Middle and High school |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
- How will you interpret the samples? Will you be using the reference databases or tracking the speaker's progress in intervention? If you choose to use the reference databases, pay attention to the language and age range of the database subjects you will be using for comparison.
What skills are needed to elicit the samples?
One doesn't have to be a speech language pathologist to elicit a language sample. The examiner should, however, have experience talking with children. The first few minutes of the language sample interaction are critical. If the examiner fails to establish a comfortable rapport with the speaker, the resulting language sample will be strained and will lack the necessary spontaneity to function as a valid index of the speaker's productive language performance. Suggestions for eliciting a good language sample.
What type of equipment do I need?
- An audio or video recorder. Consider going digital for better sound quality and more playback options.
- A watch, clock or timer if recording an open-ended sample.
General Instructions for eliciting and recording language samples
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