Formal Language Tests. The Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language - Essay Example

?The Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language is seen as an idyllic measurement of “spoken language disorders, dyslexia, delayed language as well as aphasia” (Carrow-Woolfolk, 1999). The administration of this measurement is done individually and it is primarily a research based measurement of oral language assessment battery. The CASL can be used on children as old as 3 and adults up to the ages of 21. It is mostly through the use of CASL that you get a clear picture of an individual’s language processing skills and his structural understanding thereby proving to be a useful tool for documenting development of an individual from a very early age all the way to his post secondary years. It also applies to a person with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) set up guidelines used for recognizing language impairment mostly because the CASL functions solely on age-based norms. The CASL consists of 15 tests all of which aim to effectively measure one’s language processing skills; these focusing primarily on comprehension, expression and retrieval. The structure is measured by division into four language categories; these being”Semantic or Lexical, Syntactic, Superliguistic and Pragmatic” (Carrow-Woolfolk, 1999). The CASL is not only flexible but it is also sufficiently simple to administer as it can be done in approximately 40 minutes. Furthermore the test can be shaped to fulfill a certain requirement. For example, if the test is being administered on a child there are always the options of giving those tests only that apply to a child. Its ease of use is further highlighted in the way that it requires no reading or writing. In fact children can give the test quiet comfortably as the requirements can be fulfilled simply by speaking out loud, pointing towards items, or marking the relevant options with a X. The administration of the CASL can be done in different ways. One can either give the test individually or as part of a group. The manual contains all the information that is relevant in drawing conclusions and analyze the results. The tests can be labeled as either core or supplementary; it all depends on the age of the individual it is administered on. The difference between core test measures and supplementary tests is such that the most representative aspects of the language categories fall into the core measures whereas the supplementary aspect concentrates on providing additional information that aids in quantitative and qualitative evaluation. Also it is imperative to mention that for most CASL tests there are Descriptive Analysis Worksheets provided which enable an individual to focus on specific skill aspects for intervention. The Test Books that are provided are not only easy to use but aid the administration by serving as a fast and simple reference. The initial part of the book focuses on providing administration guidelines whereas the rest of it focuses on convenient record forms, which are for a range of ages (3-6 and 7–21). The sole purpose of the book is to provide ample room for an analysis for profiling, responses towards items, different scores and behavioral observations. The Oral and Written Language Scales (OWLS; Carrow-Woolfolk, 1996) is different from a CASL in the way it is a theoretically based measure which is applied individually and aims to measure receptive and expressive language for little children as well as adults. It is a test that is administered using oral as well as written components for ages 3 to 21 years, however the written expression is mainly for ages 5 to 21. The test takes about 20 minutes to administer, and along with its overall score, the OWLS Written Expression gives percentages for nine special skills areas that are divided into three main planes; ‘Listening Comprehension ( LC), Oral Expression (OE), and Written Expression (WE)” (Carrow-Woolfolk, 1996, p. 33). While these scales are developed and form a part of the same evaluation, the oral language component, that is LC and OE, are put together in the same manual while the Written Expression Scale is in a separate one. As far as the Oral Language scale is concerned the Listening Comprehension (LC) is made to measure the basic understanding of spoken language whereas the Oral Expression (OE) focuses on gaining an understanding as well as the use of spoken language. The LC and OE are different in the way the LC looks at the skills which are focused on “lexical (vocabulary), syntactic (grammar), and supralinguistic (higher order thinking)” whereas the OE addresses the “lexical, syntactic, supralinguistic, and pragmatic, or functional language skills” (OWLS; Carrow-Woolfolk, 1996). The test results on the other hand aim to recognize the various levels of language skills along with the individual’s performance in the aspects of listening and speaking. The Written Expression Scale is mainly used to assess an individual’s ability to communicate effectively using a written linguistic form. There are three categories in which writing skills are evaluated; Conventions, Linguistics and Content. The Conventions basically refer to an individuals ability to effectively use the rules of spelling, punctuation etc and Linguistics refers to how well language forms, such as word phrases, forms of verbs, complicated sentences, are used. Content refers to a person’s degree of effectiveness through which an individual is able to communicate using the appropriate word choice, subject matter and coherence. These items to achieve greater accuracy and achieve a wide sample of written performance are administered using the item sets that are appropriate to the age to which they are being applied to. Lastly the OWLS purpose intersects with that of the CASL in the way it is used to provide psychologists in schools, education diagnosticians and language pathologists a measure to assess the language understanding and processing ability of children and young adults. OWLS’ age based categories aid in understanding disabilities and knowing to what extent the scores of an individual have been affected by delays or disorders pertaining to their ability to communicate. Furthermore OWLS can also be helpful in providing a long term progress of the development of language skills across time. References Carrow-Woolfolk, E. (1996). Oral and Written Language Scales: Written Expression Scale Manual. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service. Carrow-Woolfolk, E. (1999). Theory, assessment and intervention in language disorders: An integrative approach. Philadelphia: Grune & Stratton. Carrow-Woolfolk, E. (1995). OWLS; Oral and Written Language Scales. Pearson Assessments, Bloomington, MN. Retrieved from: http://www.pearsonassessments.com/pai/ca/RelatedInfo/OWLSTechnicalInformation.htm Read More