Introduction
The infantile language acquisition is, under normal circumstances, a quick as well as robust event in every child’s life. Naturally, a child is able to acquire the language it is surrounded by rather easily, effortlessly and successfully. After all, it usually leads to accurate and fluent language habits which are not impaired in any way. “In most children, normal language development depends on opportunity, good hearing and the absence of underlying neurological problems” (Warwick 2003, p.11). If, on the other hand, the infantile development is impaired, e.g. due to cognitive, social-emotional or sensory deficits, the language acquisition may often be affected, too. Apart from this, there are many children (approximately 15%) who do not use more than 50 words and barely any elaborate word combinations when they are two years old, even though they don’t show any primary impairments (cf. Dannenbauer 2003). No apparent reason for their delayed language development can be found. Still, not less than half of these so-called “late talkers” are able to (linguistically) catch up with their peers in pre-school age (cf. ibd.).
However, the other part of those “late talkers” can reveal compact and persistent deficiencies in their receptive and/ or expressive use of language without showing any primary impairment such as mental retardation or another disability. Even so, these children remain behind their contemporaries in their language comprehension as well as language production. Individual children whose language is impaired in that way, in spite of being cognitively “normal”, are diagnosed with “Specific Language Impairment”. This paper will deal with this language disorder and try to show an outline of this phenomenon.
Table of Contents
1 Introduction
2 Definition of Specific Language Impairment
3 Areas of difficulty of children with SLI
3.1 Pronunciation and lexicon
3.2 Grammatical deficits: syntax and morphology
4 Literacy development of children with SLI
5 Conclusion
6 Bibliography
Objectives and Topics
The primary objective of this paper is to examine the phenomenon of Specific Language Impairment (SLI) in children, exploring its defining characteristics, the specific linguistic challenges affected children face, and the subsequent impact on their literacy development.
- The definition and complex, heterogeneous nature of Specific Language Impairment.
- Challenges in oral language acquisition, specifically regarding pronunciation and lexicon.
- Grammatical deficits in syntax and morphology.
- The connection between language impairments and difficulties in literacy development.
- The need for early, systematic intervention for affected children.
Excerpt from the Book
3.2 Grammatical deficits: syntax and morphology
Especially in pre-school age children with SLI dominantly display dysgrammatical symptoms, so that the grammar deficit itself has attracted most of the researchers’ attention. According to Schöler (1998) affected children usually use easier syntactical structures than their peers. They often build easy and shorter sentences, leave out obligatory elements and tend to change the word order (cf. ibd.). Especially German-speaking children with SLI are inclined to place verbs, auxiliaries or modal verbs, such as “can” or “want” at the very end of a sentence. This is a particularly German occurrence, as children with SLI often don’t internalize that even if a subordinate clause takes a verb at the end, it doesn’t take it in a main clause. In the English language, however, this phenomenon of placing the verb at the very end of a sentence does not exist, as English is a mere S-V-O-language (subject-verb-object) (cf. Dannenbauer 2003).
The following excerpt taken from Dannenbauer (2003, p. 57) shows some significant utterances of English-speaking children with SLI (3-11 years old):
the four bus go in Boucherville them take all cookie
the superman is say good-by and hiding and he going down hill
she shout with my brother and put back on road again
me no more playroom somebody push me
As already mentioned before, no verb is placed at the end of the sentence like German children with SLI often do. However, some typical errors can be observed in the examples above: In many cases those children omit compulsory parts, so that sentences are often left incomplete. These elisions usually occur with function words, such as prepositions, modal- and auxiliary verbs, definite and indefinite articles (“down hill”), copula and pronouns (cf. Schöler 1998).
Summary of Chapters
1 Introduction: This chapter provides an overview of normal language acquisition and introduces children with Specific Language Impairment who show language deficits despite normal cognitive abilities.
2 Definition of Specific Language Impairment: This section defines SLI as a complex and heterogeneous disorder characterized by significant deficits in spoken language that cannot be attributed to other primary impairments.
3 Areas of difficulty of children with SLI: This chapter examines the specific challenges children with SLI face regarding formal aspects of language, including phonology, lexicon, syntax, and morphology.
4 Literacy development of children with SLI: This chapter discusses how linguistic deficits negatively impact the acquisition of reading and writing skills, leading to problems with phoneme-grapheme correspondence and text production.
5 Conclusion: The conclusion summarizes the current research landscape, emphasizing the need for early intervention and noting that many aspects of SLI remain to be fully understood.
6 Bibliography: This section lists the academic sources and research literature used throughout the paper.
Keywords
Specific Language Impairment, SLI, language acquisition, language disorder, syntax, morphology, phonology, lexicon, literacy development, language comprehension, language production, speech development, late talkers, intervention, grammatical deficits.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary focus of this paper?
This paper focuses on the phenomenon of Specific Language Impairment (SLI) in children, aiming to outline the disorder and its effects on language development.
What are the central themes discussed in the work?
The work covers the definition of SLI, the common areas of difficulty for affected children (lexicon, phonology, syntax, morphology), and the subsequent impacts on their literacy development.
What is the core research question or goal?
The goal is to provide an outline of the SLI phenomenon, describing how children with normal cognitive abilities can still suffer from significant, persistent language impairments.
Which scientific methods are utilized?
The paper utilizes a literature review and synthesis of existing epidemiological data and linguistic research regarding children with SLI.
What topics are covered in the main section?
The main section details the specific linguistic challenges children with SLI encounter, including difficulties in speech production, word retrieval, grammatical structure, and the consequences for reading and writing.
Which keywords best characterize the work?
Key terms include Specific Language Impairment, language acquisition, grammatical deficits, literacy, and early intervention.
Why is SLI often difficult to define universally?
Researchers find it difficult to agree on a universal definition because SLI is not defined positively by specific criteria, but rather by the exclusion of other symptoms such as hearing loss, mental retardation, or emotional disorders.
How does SLI specifically affect the writing skills of children?
The linguistic deficits associated with SLI, such as impaired phonological awareness and difficulty with grammar, lead to shorter texts, increased spelling errors, and challenges in identifying phoneme-grapheme correspondence.
- Quote paper
- Caroline Lorig (Author), 2007, Children with Specific Language Impairment , Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/86095
