Intentional communicative behaviours of Turkish-speaking children with normal and delayed language development

Language profiles may predict whether children with slower language development will catch up to their peers by overcoming this transient phenomenon or will be at risk for persistent language disorders. The research of the last decade has focused on this topic. Some researchers have emphasized the significance of developing communicative intentions, which provide a potential predictor of later language competence. In Turkey, children with slower language development may not be diagnosed partly because of the lack of sufficient standardized assessment/evaluation tools, educational and therapeutic media, and qualified speech-language therapists. In devising appropriate evaluation instruments, it is necessary to examine cross-linguistic variation in early language acquisition. The purpose of this study therefore is to observe, describe and assess early communicative behaviours of 15-36 months old Turkish-speaking children by using a functional communicative approach.

The research was designed within a qualitative-descriptive paradigm, involving qualitative data collection, observation and data analysis procedures. A total of 16 children, eight typically developing and eight language delayed, served as subjects. The classification system used in this study for coding children's communicative intentions was mostly based upon a system used by Dore (1977). Each variable was referred to as one of three intentional categories: regulating behaviours (request for object, request for action and protest), social interaction (direct attention, greeting and acknowledgement) and joint attention (comment/statement, asking for information and responding). A non-parametric Mann-Whitney U-test was carried out to verify the descriptive measures in comparing the delayed and normal group performance.

As expected, the mode of expressing communicative intentions varied as a function of age for both groups. Children with normal language development were observed to express intentions within the category of joint attention more frequently whereas the children with delayed language expressed intentions related to the variables of regulating behaviours and social interaction.