Investigation of the Development of Pragmatic-Communicative Skills as a Prerequisite for Classroom Participation

Submitted by: Laura Hüser
Abstract: To facilitate the active participation of children with special language needs, it is crucial to focus on both language-systematic abilities as well as pragmatic-communicative skills, defined as a context and situation-appropriate use of language. The significance of these pragmatic-communicative skills and possible disorders is shown by the inclusion of Social (pragmatic) communication disorder (SPCD) as a new diagnosis by DSM-5 (William et al., 2017). Conducting longitudinal research on the development of pragmatic-communicative skills in children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) is essential.

Studies indicate a negative relationship between impairments in structural language abilities and pragmatic-communicative skills. Affected children are less cooperative in responding to communicative requests (Andrés-Roqueta et al., 2021; Bishop et al., 2000). Furthermore, language impairments can impact communicative participation and social interactions, particularly within the peer group (Janik Blaskova & Gibson, 2021).

This study addresses the following research questions:
a) How do the pragmatic-communicative skills of children with DLD develop within the first two years of school?

b) Which correlations exist between the children's language profile (pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar) and their pragmatic-communicative skills?

The project involved a longitudinal study with four data collection points over a two-year period. We conducted language assessments covering various language areas, as well as assessments of the children's non-verbal intelligence and standardized tests in the field of pragmatics (questionnaires, paper-pencil tests). The assessment took place at four primary schools in Germany, involving children with DLD (N=~80). The classroom provides an ideal research setting, as both teachers and parents can be consulted on the progress of the child.

We expect a delayed development of different components of pragmatic-communicative skills and evidence of limitations in communicative participation among children with DLD. It is thus essential to focus on concepts related to classroom communication and conversational competence in both practical implementation and research. Likewise, it would be beneficial to incorporate the aforementioned concepts into educational and teacher training programs. The aim is to enable children with DLD to participate in and enjoy the learning process.


References

Andrés-Roqueta, C., Garcia-Molina, I., & Flores-Buils, R. (2021). Association between CCC-2 and Structural Language, Pragmatics, Social Cognition, and Executive Functions in Children with Developmental Language Disorder. Children, 8(2), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.3390/children8020123

Bishop, D. V. M., Chan, J., Adams, C., Hartley, J., & Weir, F. (2000). Conversational responsiveness in specific language impairment: Evidence of disproportionate pragmatic difficulties in a subset of children. Development and Psychopathology, 12(2), 177–199. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579400002042

Janik Blaskova, L., & Gibson, J. L. (2021). Reviewing the link between language abilities and peer relations in children with developmental language disorder: The importance of children’s own perspectives. Autism & Developmental Language Impairments, 6(1–18). https://doi.org/10.1177/23969415211021515

William, M., Wang, A., Lee, I., & Skuse, D. (2017). Evaluating social (pragmatic) communication disorder. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 58(10), 1166–1175. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.12785