2/11/09
Calculating MLU
I know that to calculate MLU you divide the number of morphemes the child says by the number of utterances they say. One question I have about this is how do you determine the number of utterances a child says? Does an utterance end when there is a pause in their speech? Maybe this is easier to understand when you are actually listening to a child talk. Just wondering if anyone could help.
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Excellent! It is a pause or a full stop in the child's language. It's not just a pause for air - like between words, though.
ReplyDeleteWe will practice this multiple times throughout the semester. You will do have to do this in your language project.
We will start by simply looking at a written transript of what a child said. There is an example in the resources in Blackboard. We will also practice by watching a video of a speech pathologist and a child.
Is it between sentences? Is that when an utterance occurs? I'm just a little bit confused about that subject also.
ReplyDeleteIn running speech it is often difficult to determine when a sentence ends and the next one begins. If a child is speaking they may not speak in complete, grammatically correct sentences. Therefore, you will judge according to pauses or breaks in their speech.
ReplyDeleteSo, yes. It may be between sentences. But, at times you won't be able to wait until there is a clear cut "period" or sentence ending.
Clear as mud?
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ReplyDeleteAn utterance does have to consist of actual words though, right? Otherwise they would not be using morphemes. Does this get difficult when it is hard to determine if a child has actually said a word or not?
ReplyDeleteIf it doesn't have MEANING. . . could it be a morpheme?
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