Lorette Porter

Children with receptive language difficulties are at particular risk of persistent impairments and poor outcomes. One component of receptive language is the ability to monitor one's own comprehension and to request clarification if necessary. This skill emerges in the pre-school period in typically developing children, but can be problematic for children with receptive language difficulties. The study described below is the first of three studies which constitute the first author's doctoral studies in this area. The study aims to investigate when and how young children make clarification requests, and how these behaviours influence the ongoing conversation. Following ethical approval, eight child participants are recruited from local schools and nurseries to span the age range 2;6-5;6. Four children have a research diagnosis of Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) with receptive language impairment, four are typically developing. Approximately 40 minutes of video data are collected in each of two naturalistic play conditions: with a parent and with an unfamiliar adult. Preliminary results are presented from conversation analysis of the video data. This focuses on instances where adults repair their previous turn and identifies the antecedents of this in child verbal and non-verbal behaviours. The strategies used by children at different ages, in the different conditions (familiar or unfamiliar adult) and by participant (with or without DLD) are compared for qualitative differences. Adult language in utterances before and after clarification requests are compared. Clinicians can benefit from conceptualising comprehension as a shared entity which is jointly negotiated by the participants in a conversation. Consideration of the emergent ways in which children with and without DLD signal breakdowns in comprehension, and the ways in which adults respond, can add to our understanding of functional communication deficits. Suggestions for how clinicians can incorporate this into assessment practices are considered.

The aim of this paper is to describe the implementation and evaluation of a ‘whole course’ approach to embedding an e-Portfolio across 3 years of a pre-registration speech and language therapy course and to discuss the implications for pre-and post-registration professional development. The e-portfolio tool used is PebblePad which consists of a private personal learning space and an ‘institutional’ space that allows individuals to submit elements of their portfolio for assessment. Use of the e-portfolio builds through the course culminating in a final assessment of overall ‘readiness for practice’, which encourages the students to consider their development holistically as well as to present evidence for individual HCPC Standards of Proficiency. This mediates the potential difficulties associated with constructing and assessing competencies. Use of the eportfilio was evaluated through an online questionnaire, gathering both quantitative and qualitative data on attitudes to using PebblePad, impact on the course, training and support, and recommendations, and with open response questions to probe reasons for responses given. 94% of students who responded agreed or strongly agreed that they found PebblePad useful, 82% agreed that they had received useful feedback and 68% agreed that PebblePad had helped them to become an independent learner. Fifty-six percent agreed that the intended to continue using PebblePad beyond registration. However, only 29% agreed that they had found the experience enjoyable. Thematic analysis of responses to open questions indicated that the practical aspects of using the technology and the time involved in learning how to use it were a barrier to enjoyment for some students. Positive themes included accessibility and convenience of use and the structure and feedback the tool provides for assessment, self-reflection and learning. Future research will investigate whether and how graduates go on to use their e-portfolio to support their ongoing development as they embark on their professional careers.