The Diagnostic Significance of Sentence Repetition for Language-Impaired Children

Abstract

The procedure of sentence repetition, described in this study, would seem to provide a valuable, simple tool to assess the linguistic performance of a language-impaired subject. It enables the performance of each individual subject to be compared with his own previous production. It provides a means for observing and analyzing any shift in production under the other two conditions which the subject may make. As such, the procedure enables the interviewer to examine and assess the grammatical performance and to infer or hypothesize about each subject’s linguistic competence. Further recommendations might involve the comparison of children who are culturally disadvantaged with those diagnosed as language-impaired. A possible difference might be the former’s ability to shift production when a correct model is presented for repetition. Another implication might involve the possible correlation of a subject’s ability to produce structures in the sentence repetition task with test scores on various standardized language tests.

Repetition of Time-Altered Sentences by Normal and Learning Disabled Children

“…Sentence repetition tasks may be especially sensitive indicators of learning disabilities, at least in those children with auditory processing deficits. In addition the significant decrease in the performance of the learning disabled children in repeating sentences presented at 60% compression may aid in differentiating these children from other populations, including perhaps learning disabled children without auditory processing deficits and others who also perform poorly on sentence repetition tasks (Berry-Luterman & Bar 1971). These diagnostic possibilities need additional investigation.…”

Repetition in Mandarin Interaction: A Case Study on TV Shopping Channels in Taiwan

“…This study researching a wide range of repetition, which varies in type and function, may help better understand the research on second language learning children's verbal and discourse participation [6] [7]. Moreover, such a study is of diagnostic significance for the research on sentence repetition of the language impaired children [8]. Ultimately, it may contribute to research on natural language processing and information processing by providing a detailed analysis of the patterns and functions of repetition in social interactions.…”

“…A greeting scheme is therefore composed of two parts: an initiating part and a responding part. Excerpt (8) In (8), in Line 3 H utters the first nihao 你好 'how are you', and then C utters the second and the third nihao 你好 'how are you' in Line 4; following the third nihao 你好, H again utters the fourth nihao 你好 in Line 5. The two nihaos 你好'how are you' in Line 3 cannot be analyzed as a self-repeat by C. C's first nihao in Line 3 should be understood as a responding part to H's greeting in L2, while the second nihao should be analyzed as an initiating greeting, which is in turn responded by the fourth nihao in Line 4.…”

A Study of the Comparative Effectiveness of Different Language Tests with Two Groups of Children

“…Menyuk (1 969) and Menyuk and Looney (1972a) take the discussion a little further by putting forward the tentative hypothesis that the basis of difference lies in the short term memory capacity of the children, or in the perceptual devices the children use. Although no evidence has so far been obtained about possible anatomical and physiological reasons for this difference, Luterman and Bar (1971) hypothesize that as a result of these differences the syntactic structure of a sentence facilitates the repetition ability of the normal child but it does not help the child who is language impaired.…”