Collecting language samples

[Elizabeth Bates]

At our research center here, where we study both children and adults with
language disorders, we used a biographical interview from 5 years of age
onwards that is comparable instruction though of course not in content
for children and adults, as one of several techniques for collecting
free speech (complemented by various elicitation techniques of the
standard variety -- Cookie Theft picture description, Frog Stories,
and so on).  We would be happy to send you a copy of the biographical
interview protocol, and of course we also (eventually....not all our
transcriptions are up to date!) be happy to share the data base that
we have collected so far with these procedures if it should prove
useful.  -liz bates


>Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1999 14:47:36 -0500
>From: Helen Tager-Flusberg <HTagerF at Shriver.org>
>Subject: Collecting language samples
>To: info-childes at childes.psy.cmu.edu
>Mime-Version: 1.0
>Precedence: Bulk
>Sender: "info-childes" <info-childes at childes.psy.cmu.edu>
>
>Dear Colleagues:
>I am looking for some advice about collecting language samples and language
>narratives from children and adults.  This is a study on defining the
>language phenotypes for different developmental disorders in which we plan
>to test both children with the disorders, and their first degree relatives,
>including parents.  We would like the language samples to be fairly
>comparable, even though the age range will go from 7 to adult.  Furthermore,
>we expect that many of the study participants will not be very talkative
>(since they may have the phenotype for a language disorder), yet we need a
>long enough  sample of utterances to be able to conduct a range of analyses.
>Any advice and suggestions would be most welcome!
>
>Thanks,
>Helen Tager-Flusberg
>_____________________________________________________________________
>
>Helen Tager-Flusberg, Ph.D.
>
>Senior Scientist			Research University Professor
>Psychological Sciences Division		Department of Psychology
>Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center		University of Massachusetts
>200 Trapelo Road			100 Morrissey Blvd
>Waltham, MA 02154			Boston, MA 02125
>
>http://www.shriver.org
>
>email:	htagerf at shriver.org
>
>Tel:	781-642-0181			617-287-6342
>Fax:	781-642-0185			617-287-6336
>
>_______________________________________________________________________