Assessment of Semantic Knowledge: Use of Feedback and Clinical Interviewing

ABSTRACT

Assessment of semantic knowledge is particularly challenging for clinicians working with children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Vocabulary often reflects individual experiences, home language, and familiarity with school curriculum. Research demonstrates that children from nonmainstream backgrounds often score poorly on vocabulary tests yet may possess knowledge that is not evident in the kinds of tests that they take. Thus, a single word vocabulary test may not adequately capture the scope of such children's semantic knowledge. It is important that, before a diagnosis of language impairment is made, clinicians gain insight into children's semantic knowledge. This article describes the use of two procedures, feedback and the clinical interview,[1] that can be utilized to probe children's language abilities.

KEYWORD

Clinical interview - feedback - semantics

REFERENCES

• 1 Ginsburg H P. Entering the Child's Mind: The Clinical Interview in Psychological Research and Practice.  New York: Cambridge University Press; 1997
• 2 Rescorla L, Schwartz E. Outcome of toddlers with specific expressive language delay.  Appl Psycholinguist . 1990;  11 393-408
• 3 Fenson L, Dale P S, Reznick J S. MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories.  San Diego, CA: Singular; 1993
• 4 Gardner M F. Expressive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised. Novato, CA: Academic Therapy Publications; 1990 . 
• 5 Dunn L, Dunn L. Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service; 1981 . 
• 6 Gardner M F. Receptive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test.  Novato, CA: Academic Therapy Publications; 1985
• 7 Dollaghan C. Child meet words: ``fast mapping'' in preschool children.  J Speech Hear Res . 1985;  28 449-452
• 8 Rice M L. Children with specific language impairment: toward a model of teachability. In: Krasnegor NA, Rumbaugh DM, Schiefelbusch RL, Studdert-Kennedy M, eds. Biological and Behavioral Determinants of Language Development Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates 1991: 447-480
• 9 Leonard L B. Lexical development and processing in specific language impairment. In: Schiefelbusch RL, Lloyd LL, eds. Language Perspectives: Acquisitions, Retardation, and Intervention, 2nd ed Austin, TX: PRO-ED 1988: 69-87
• 10 Weismer S E, Hesketh L. Hypothesis-testing abilities of language-impaired children.  J Speech Hear Res . 1993;  34 1013-1025
• 11 German D. Word-finding intervention for children and adolescents.  Top Lang Disord . 1992;  13 33-50
• 12 Peña E, Bedore L, Zlatic R. Use of a category generation task to assess vocabulary skills of Spanish-English bilinguals.  (in review).
• 13 Washington J, Craig H. Performances of low-income, African American preschool and kindergarten children on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised.  Lang Speech Hear Serv Schools . 1992;  23 329-333
• 14 Peña E, Quinn R. Task familiarity: effects on the test performance of Puerto Rican and African American children.  Lang Speech Hear Serv Schools . 1997;  28 323-332
• 15 Duran R. Testing of linguistic minorities. In: Linn R, ed. Educational Measurement, 3rd ed New York: Macmillan 1988: 573-587
• 16 Duran R. Assessment and instruction of at-risk Hispanic students.  Teach Except Child . 1989;  56 145-152
• 17 Peña E D, Jackson J. The social and cultural bases of communication. In: Gillam R, Marquardt T, Martin F, eds. Communication Sciences & Disorders: From Science to Clinical Practice San Diego: Singular; 2000: 63-84
• 18 Iglesias A. Cultural conflict in the classroom: the communicatively different child. In: Ripich DN, Spinelli FM, eds. School Discourse Problems San Diego: College-Hill 1985: 79-96
• 19 Wyatt T. An Afro-centered view of communicative competence. In: Kovarsky D, Duchan J, Maxwell M, eds. Constructing (in)Competence . Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates 1999: 197-222
• 20 Tamayo J. Frequency of use as a measure of word difficulty in bilingual vocabulary test construction and translation.  Educ Psychol Meas . 1987;  47 893-902
• 21 Lin P, Schwanenflugel P J, Wisenbaker J M. Category typicality, cultural familiarity, and the development of category knowledge.  Dev Psychol . 1990;  26 805-813
• 22 Schwanenflugel P J, Rey M. The relationship between category typicality and concept familiarity: evidence from Spanish- and English-speaking monolinguals.  Mem Cognit . 1986;  14 150-163
• 23 Choi S, Gopnik A. Early acquisition of verbs in Korean: a cross-linguistic study.  J Child Lang . 1995;  22 497-529
• 24 Choi S. Caregiver input in English and Korean: use of nouns and verbs in book-reading and toy-plan contexts.  J Child Lang . 2000;  27 69-96
• 25 Tardif T, Gelman S, Xu F. Putting the ``noun bias'' in context: a comparison of English and Mandarin.  Child Dev . 1999;  70 620-635
• 26 Carlson J, Wiedl K H. Use of testing-the-limits procedures in the assessment of intellectual capabilities in children with learning difficulties.  Am J Ment Defic . 1978;  82 559-564
• 27 Carlson J, Wiedl K H. The dynamic assessment of intelligence. In: Haywood HC, Tzuriel D, eds. Interactive Assessment New York: Springer-Verlag 1992: 167-186
• 28 Gardner M F. Expressive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test.  Novato, CA: Academic Therapy Publications; 1979
• 29 Peña E D. [Performance of African American and Puerto Rican preschoolers on the EOWPVT in feedback vs. no-feedback conditions]. In.: Unpublished raw data; undated
• 30 Ginsburg H P. Do's and Don'ts of Clinical Interviewing.  New York: Columbia University; 1993
• 31 Lincoln Y, Guba E. Naturalistic Inquiry.  Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications; 1985