Models of phonology in the education of speech-language pathologists

We discuss developments in theoretical phonology and, in particular, at the divide between theories aiming to be adequate accounts of the data, as opposed to those claiming psycholinguistic validity. It would seem that the latter might have greater utility for thye speech-language pathologist. However, we need to know the dominant models of clinical phonology, in both clinical education and practise, before we can promote other theoretical approaches. This article describes preliminary results from a questionnaire designed to discover what models of phonology are taught in institutions training speech-language pathologists in the United States. Results support anecdotal evidence that only a limited number of approaches (phonemic, distinctive features, and processes) are taught in many instances. They also demonstrate that some correspondents were unable to distinguish aspects of theoretical phonology from similar sounding (but radically different) models of intervention. This ties in with the results showing that some instructors of phonology courses have little or no background in the subject.