All My Children

We shall be passing a critical eye over some of the language assessment procedures which have been devised, together with a sample of the remedial packages which are available Commercially Up to this point we have discussed language acquisition within a framework of the normal developmental process. Similarly, the approach we have taken to children with language difficulties uses the parameters for describing communication skills which have emerged from the study of normal ;development. No apology is made for this. The present state of the art is such that the most complete models which have been constructed to help us understand the sequence of language development, have centred upon typical children. These provide the best guidelines we have, at the moment, for describing the skills which are appropriate at a given age, the relative order in which skills are achieved, and what appear to be the natural learning steps to aim for in the teaching context. The teacher who has a clear understanding of the normal unfolding of language behaviour will be in a good position to organise a learning programme to meet a child’s needs.

This is not to say that formal tests of language have no place. Used sensibly, and with an awareness of the particular possibilities or limitations inherent in test materials, they can be a source of helpful supportive information. There is a very wide range of assessment procedures available. Some tests help the teacher to describe more clearly a child’s level of competence in a discrete area of language skill, such as comprehension of spoken vocabulary. Other tests provide descriptions of wider areas of development, for example, in summarising a child’s expressive verbal abilities. Several batteries of language tests have been designed which tap contrasting areas of language skill within the same child, so that a profile of strengths and weaknesses is derived. Two broad approaches, norm-referenced and criterion-referenced, are used for assessing performance. In norm-referenced testing, the information yielded is in the form of a comparison: how well the test child has performed in relation to the average performance of children of the same chronological age. In criterion-referenced testing, the aim is to determine whether a child has attained a target behaviour within a sequence of skilled behaviours.

The selection of appropriate test materials will depend on the nature of the information required and the purposes for which it will be used. At a macro level, a psychologist might prefer to use a test which gives a general description of a child, for example, receptive language age. That measure might be more useful at an administrative stage, in arguing a case for further resources within a particular school. On the other hand, a teacher planning an educational programme would require observations at a micro level, using a form of assessment which reveals the fine grain of a child’s language skill. In some contexts, both levels of assessment are useful, such as when a child’s progress is evaluated over time and a general summary is required, leading to future teaching plans, when more specific objectives are set.

As a general consideration it should be noted that test materials, in themselves, cannot be expected to provide insights into a child’s behaviour. They may help a teacher to confirm or reject a particular hypothesis. But if a teacher does not know what to look out for, or which questions to ask, then tests will not reveal useful data or workable solutions. Test procedures sample only a small part of a child’s current functioning. There are great temptations to believe that tests somehow describe the whole child (IQ is a good example), and can predict how well a child will progress: neither, in fact, is the case. It is also tempting to consider assessment as a separate process from the business of teaching. However, when we come to consider commercially produced intervention kits, it is apparent that the most successful ‘ready made’ methods link observation and teaching closely together, so that the assessment process both informs, and arises out of, the teaching context.

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