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LBeekman Dissertation- FINAL.pdf (1008.72 KB)

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CLEARLY MISUNDERSTOOD: THE AMBIGUOUS LANGUAGE TEST FOR STUDENTS WITH AND WITHOUT LANGUAGE DISORDER

Beekman, Leah Michele
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1563362510636297

Abstract Details

2019, Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, Communication Sciences.
The purpose of this study was to identify and assess a group of ambiguous language stimuli suitable for use in assessments and therapeutic interventions for students who with Language Disorder (LD). Existing standardized tests allow practitioners to assess whether students can identify when certain kinds of ambiguous language are being used. The current study seeks to create a new test, the Ambiguous Language Test (ALT), which will dive deeper into the study of ambiguous language, to investigate the degree to which students can interpret and understand ambiguity. In order to develop these materials, first a baseline understanding of how students who are typically developing (TD) can perform on the task of defining ambiguous words and phrases must be established. The study was therefore conducted in three phases. Phase One tested a large number of stimuli across the areas of multiple meaning words, metaphors, oxymorons, and paradoxes with students who are TD between the ages of 12 and 14 years. Stimuli were analyzed using the difficulty index, discrimination index, and Cronbach’s alpha in order to develop a fuller understanding of words and phrases that would be suitable for more in-depth testing. In Phase Two, a narrower list of words and phrases, selected on the basis of results from Phase One, were presented to a different group of students who are TD, with a wider age range (9-15 years). These stimuli were analyzed using the difficulty index and discrimination index to verify results from Phase One and in order for the ALT to progress to the third and final development phase. Finally, Phase Three draws on the results of both earlier phases to present the test with a full range of difficulty levels, according to the difficulty index, to a group of students with LD, ages 9-15 and a group of students who are TD, ages 9-15. These test results were analyzed again using the difficulty index and discrimination index to verify previous test results. Finally, the Mann Whitney U was used to compare the test scores of the LD group to the scores of the TD group.
Angela Ciccia, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Barbara Lewis, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Elizabeth Short, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Vera Tobin, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
138 p.
Speech Therapy
ambiguous language, multiple-meaning words, metaphors, paradoxes, oxymorons, language disorder, typical development, speech language pathology

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Beekman, L. M. (2019). CLEARLY MISUNDERSTOOD: THE AMBIGUOUS LANGUAGE TEST FOR STUDENTS WITH AND WITHOUT LANGUAGE DISORDER [Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1563362510636297

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Beekman, Leah. CLEARLY MISUNDERSTOOD: THE AMBIGUOUS LANGUAGE TEST FOR STUDENTS WITH AND WITHOUT LANGUAGE DISORDER . 2019. Case Western Reserve University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1563362510636297.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Beekman, Leah. "CLEARLY MISUNDERSTOOD: THE AMBIGUOUS LANGUAGE TEST FOR STUDENTS WITH AND WITHOUT LANGUAGE DISORDER ." Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1563362510636297

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

case1563362510636297
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This open access ETD is published by Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies and OhioLINK.