Author: Dr. Harold Johnson Kent State University

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Author Dr. Harold Johnson Kent State University

• Date submitted to deafed.net February 7, 2006
• To contact the author for permission to use this
  PowerPoint, please e-mail hjohnson_at_kent.edu
• To use this PowerPoint presentation in its
  entirety, please give credit to the author.

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Language Assessment Conversational Model

• SPED 4/53310 Language Assessment Intervention
  with Students who are d/hh
• Harold Johnson/Kent State University
• Fall 05
• Undergraduate/Graduate course
• For more information, please call me at 330
  672-0735

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The Johnson Conversational Model

• Occurrence
• Segments
• Tasks
• Behaviors
• Channels
• Reference Easterbrooks S., Baker S. (2002).
  Language learning in children who are deaf and
  hard of hearing Multiple pathways. Boston, MA
  Allyn and Bacon.
• Multimedia segments added by Courtney Sajben,
  with assistance from David Sajben, Leslie Baird,
  Laurie Suthern, Britt Andrews, John Kruger and
  Christina Todd.

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...Conversational Occurrence
Conversations
day
During the course of a day, an individual will
have numerous conversations.
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...Conversational Segments
middle
beginning
end
Each conversational exchange, can be divided into
three basic parts....
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...Conversational Tasks
middle
3
9
5
4
8
beginning
end
6
10
2
7
1
1
1. Prior to the conversation
4. Exchange pleasantries
2. Gain the individuals attention
5. Establish the topic
3. Note the onset of the conversation
6. Exchange information
During each segment of the conversation specific
tasks must be accomplished
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...Conversational Tasks (cont.)
middle
3
9
5
4
8
beginning
end
6
10
2
7
1
1
7. Recognize repair communication breakdowns
8. Bring the conversation to a close
9. Mark the end of the conversation
10. Leave the conversation
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• Prior to the Conversation

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Prior to the Conversation
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Gaining the Individuals Attention
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Gaining the Individuals Attention
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Onset of the Conversation
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Onset of the Conversation
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Exchange Pleasantries
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Exchange Pleasantries
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Establish The Topic
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Establish Topic
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Exchange Information
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Exchange Information
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Recognize and Repair Communication Breakdowns
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Recognize and Repair Communication Breakdowns
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Bring Conversation to a Close
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Bring Conversation to a Close
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End of Conversation
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End of Conversation
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Leave the Conversation
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Leave Conversation
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...Conversational Behaviors
3
9
5
4
8
6
10
2
7
1
1
Reflexive Behaviors
Signal Behaviors
Symbolic Behaviors
Conversational tasks are accomplished via the use
of three types of behaviors
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...Conversational Behaviors (cont.)

• Reflexive Behaviors
• Occur all the time
• Represent external manifestations of internal
  states, e.g., an itch causes you to scratch or a
  bit of grit in your eye causes you to blink
• Not intended to convey communicative intent
  (Note cultural differences can cause miss
  communications)

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...Conversational Behaviors (cont.)

• Signal Behaviors
• Occur from conversational tasks 2 through 10
• Represent a purposeful pattern of behavior that
  is designed to convey communicative intent, e.g.,
  a wave of the hand, a shrug of the shoulder,
  or a head nod.
• Require a supportive physical context to be
  correctly interpreted, i.e., the intended meaning
  of the behavior can not be correctly interpreted
  outside a narrow range of settings.

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...Conversational Behaviors (cont.)

• Symbolic Behaviors
• occur from conversational tasks 4 through 8
• Represent a purposeful pattern of either spoken
  or signed behavior that is designed to convey
  communicative intent, e.g., a word, phrase or
  sentence.
• Represent symbolic vs. concrete communicative
  behaviors, as such, the intended meaning can be
  correctly interpreted in a wide range of
  settings.

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...Conversational Channels
Visual
Motorical
Verbal
Conversational behaviors are carried out through
use of three channels of behaviors
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So...how will YOU use all of this information?

• 1st you will use the information to carry out an
  informal analysis of your own language use and
  problems.
• as you carry out this analysis, you will learn
  how to observe, record and chart data, analyze
  problems, hypothesize solutions and then, through
  a trial-and-error process, you will see if your
  hypothesis were correct, finally ending with a
  summary written synthesis of what you found and
  what you learned.

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...how will you (cont.)

• Once you have learned the information as it
  applies to you, then you apply the same process
  in your study of a student who is d/hh within
  your practicum placement
• Basic concept....first understand something as it
  relates to you, then to others...ergo, if you
  cant figure out how the information fits for
  you, you will not be able to figure out how it
  fits for others

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What are the steps you will use to implement this
conversational model of language assessment and
intervention?

• In essence, the steps are as follows
• identify the best context (i.e., person, place
  time) to observe
• What makes for a good context?

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...What are the steps... (cont.)

• ...context identification
• Topic identification
• What do you talk about How often do you talk
  about x vs. y
• Identification of communication breakdowns
• What does a breakdown look like?
• Which Topics have the most breakdowns?
• What happens following a breakdown?

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...What are the steps... (cont.)

• ...context iden.
• ...topic iden.
• ...com. breakdown iden.
• Intervention Effort
• Target the topic with the most com. breakdowns.
• Analyze what occurs just before the breakdown and
  why the breakdown occurs.
• Refine description of the com. breakdown
  indicators
• Hypothesize why breakdowns occur on that topic
  (e.g., topic establishment patterns or
  conflicting conversational tasks)
• Identify an alternative behavior, i.e., one that
  might reduce the frequency or severity of topical
  com. breakdowns.
• Try out...several times...the alternative
  behavior...use data to decide if you are
  successful or not.

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...What are the steps... (cont.)

• ...context iden.
• ...topic iden.
• ...com. breakdown iden.
• ...intervention effort
• Resulting Insights re.
• Language use
• Occurrence and Causes of Communication Breakdowns
• Assessment of Communication Problems
• Intervention of Communication Problems
• Gathering and Tracking Assessment and
  Intervention Data
• Note this is where YOU reflect about what you
  have learned via the obs. study this is where
  an A is earned