How Grammatical Are 3-Year-Olds?

Eisenberg, Sarita; Guo, Ling-Yu; Germezia, Mor

doi:10.1044/0161-1461(2011/10-0093)

Cited by 35 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…PGU was significantly correlated (r = .53) with the Structured Photographic Expressive Language TestPreschool 2 (SPELT-P2; Dawson et al, 2005), a standardized test of morphology and syntax (Eisenberg & Guo, 2010). Following Sackett (1991), a cutoff score for PGU was determined by first using a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve to generate pairs of sensitivity and specificity rates for a range of cutoff scores and then choosing the cutoff that maximized diagnostic accuracy.…”

Section: Percent Grammatical Utterances (Pgu) As a Measure Of Grammatmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Eisenberg and colleagues examined PGU in 3-yearold children with and without LI using picture-elicited language samples (Eisenberg & Guo, 2013;Eisenberg, Guo, & Germezi, 2012). In those studies, language samples were collected by asking children to describe 15 pictures one at a time in response to four elicitation questions (see Appendix A).…”

Section: Percent Grammatical Utterances (Pgu) As a Measure Of Grammatmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Picture-elicited language samples rather than conversational samples during free play were chosen as the context for assessing grammaticality in the studies of Eisenberg and colleagues (Eisenberg & Guo, 2013;Eisenberg et al, 2012) for two reasons. First, even when materials and topics are controlled for during conversation, utterances addressed to the child will vary.…”

Section: Types Of Language Samples For Measuring Grammaticalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, children with LI have also been reported to make other grammatical errors, such as argument omissions , pronoun errors (Loeb & Leonard, 1991;Moore, 2001), and omissions and errors on other grammatical morphemes (e.g., articles, plurals) more often than typically developing children (Leonard, Eyer, Bedore, & Grela, 1997;Polite, Leonard, & Roberts, 2011;Watkins & Rice, 1991). Eisenberg and colleagues (Eisenberg & Guo, 2013;Eisenberg, Guo, & Germezi, 2012), therefore, suggested using percent grammatical utterances (PGU) as a broader measure that incorporates a variety of properties that can affect grammaticality rather than focusing exclusively on verb tense marking.Eisenberg and colleagues examined PGU in 3-yearold children with and without LI using picture-elicited language samples (Eisenberg & Guo, 2013;Eisenberg, Guo, & Germezi, 2012). In those studies, language samples were collected by asking children to describe 15 pictures one at a time in response to four elicitation questions (see Appendix A).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fey, Catts, ProctorWilliams, Tomblin, and Zhang (2004) used an identical calculation in their study of school-aged children, dividing the percentage of C-units not containing errors by the total number of C-units. Similarly, L. L. Lee (1974) awarded one point (termed a sentence point) to utterances without errors and divided total sentence points by the total number of utterances to calculate a mean sentence point score.PGU was significantly correlated (r = .53) with the Structured Photographic Expressive Language TestPreschool 2 (SPELT-P2; Dawson et al, 2005), a standardized test of morphology and syntax (Eisenberg & Guo, 2010). Following Sackett (1991), a cutoff score for PGU was determined by first using a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve to generate pairs of sensitivity and specificity rates for a range of cutoff scores and then choosing the cutoff that maximized diagnostic accuracy.…”

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Sample Size for Measuring Grammaticality in Preschool Children From Picture-Elicited Language Samples

Eisenberg

Guo

2015

LSHSS

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Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether a shorter language sample elicited with fewer pictures (i.e., 7) would yield a percent grammatical utterances (PGU) score similar to that computed from a longer language sample elicited with 15 pictures for 3-year-old children. Method: Language samples were elicited by asking forty 3-year-old children with varying language skills to talk about pictures in response to prompts. PGU scores were computed for each of two 7-picture sets and for the full set of 15 pictures.Results: PGU scores for the two 7-picture sets did not differ significantly from, and were highly correlated with, PGU scores for the full set and with each other. Agreement for making pass-fail decisions between each 7-picture set and the full set and between the two 7-picture sets ranged from 80% to 100%. Conclusion: The current study suggests that the PGU measure is robust enough that it can be computed on the basis of 7, at least in 3-year-old children whose language samples were elicited using similar procedures. L anguage sample analysis (LSA) is an important part of assessing a child's language. Some LSA provides a fine-grained analysis of a particular aspect of language, such as use of verb tense markers or noun phrase elaboration, for the purpose of determining strengths and weaknesses and selecting treatment goals (e.g., Eisenberg et al., 2008;Leonard, Camarata, Brown, & Camarata, 2004). Other LSA measures, such as mean length of utterance and number of different words, broadly characterize a child's linguistic performance for the purpose of identifying a language impairment (LI) or measuring change over time (e.g., Rice et al., 2010;Scott & Windsor, 2000). These are referred to as general language performance measures. The current article looks at one general language performance measure -percent grammatical utterances-that measures grammaticality (i.e., the extent to which a child's language production conforms to the conventions of English grammar and usage) using picture-elicited language samples.One frequently given reason for not using language sample analysis in clinical work is the amount of time it takes for eliciting, transcribing, and analyzing the sample (Hux, Morris-Friehe, & Sanger, 1993;Kemp & Klee, 1997). This time could be reduced by using shorter samples. However, it needs to be established whether those shorter samples will yield the same results as longer samples. In the current article, we focused on evaluating whether percent grammatical utterances in 3-year-old children varies with the number of pictures that are used to elicit language samples. Why Grammaticality Is ImportantOne aim of the common core educational standard for language is for students to demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when speaking or writing (e.g., State of New Jersey Department of Education, 2010). This standard is particularly relevant for children with LI because the presence of grammatical deficits is a key characteristic of these children ...

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Section: Percent Grammatical Utterances (Pgu) As a Measure Of Grammatmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Percent Grammatical Utterances (Pgu) As a Measure Of Grammatmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Types Of Language Samples For Measuring Grammaticalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sample Size for Measuring Grammaticality in Preschool Children From Picture-Elicited Language Samples

Eisenberg

Guo

2015

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Relationship between parental report of language skills and children's performance among 3-year-olds: Implications for screening language among preschoolers

Garibaldi

Venkatesh

Bhat

et al. 2021

International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology

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Diversity matters: parent input predicts toddler verb production

2015

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The contribution of parent input to children's subsequent expressive verb diversity was explored in twenty typically developing toddlers with small verb lexicons. Child developmental factors and parent input measures (i.e. verb quantity, verb diversity, and verb-related structural cues) at age 1;9 were examined as potential predictors of children's verb production in spontaneous language samples at age 2;3. Parent verb input diversity, rather than input quantity, was the primary input factor contributing to children's subsequent verb diversity. Regression analysis showed that verb diversity in parent input at age 1;9 accounted for 30% of the variance in children's verb production six months later, with children's total vocabulary size at age 1;9 accounting for an additional 16% of the variance. These findings demonstrate the relative contributions of developmental and input factors to individual differences in toddlers' language development and establish the importance of input diversity to verb acquisition.

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How Grammatical Are 3-Year-Olds?

Cited by 35 publications

References 37 publications

Sample Size for Measuring Grammaticality in Preschool Children From Picture-Elicited Language Samples

Sample Size for Measuring Grammaticality in Preschool Children From Picture-Elicited Language Samples

Relationship between parental report of language skills and children's performance among 3-year-olds: Implications for screening language among preschoolers

Diversity matters: parent input predicts toddler verb production

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