Characteristics of the spoken expository discourse of 3-4 grade school-aged children with language learning disabilities

Abstract

Objectives: In the school-age, it is very important to acquire the expository discourse that delivers it after restructuring various information as well as the conversation or narratives. The purpose of this study was to identify the characteristics of spoken language ability by examining expository discourse in children with learning disabilities. Methods: The participants of this study were 14 students with language learning disability (LLD) in elementary school (3-4th grade) and 14 grades matched normal children. The language samples were collected through descriptive and problem-solving tasks, and analyzed for total C-unit, number of different words, mean length of C-unit in words and maze rate. Results: There were significant differences between the students with LLD and normal children in mean length of T-units in words (MLC-w). The students with LLD had lower performance than normal children. There were also significant differences in the total C-unit number, number of different word (NDW) and mean length of C-units in words (MLC-w). Conclusion: The results showed that the grammatical complexity of expository discourse can be mapped to a rating scale to evaluate children with LLD. Also, it is necessary to identify the speaking ability of children with LLD through various types of expository discourse.