Tell me a fairy tale: an automated approach to analyze expressive language development in adolescents

Autor: Breno Pedroni, Fabio Theoto Rocha, Marina Leite Puglisi, Sandra Maria Aluisio, Sabine Pompeia
Rok vydání: 2022
DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/jc93y
Popis: Expressive oral language development (EOLD) in adolescence is understudied and usuallyinvolves a small set of language parameters. To explore this development in more detail, weused automated language analyses of transcripts of narrative speech (fairy-tale retellings) of257 Portuguese-speaking 9-15-year-olds. We grouped multiple linguistic parameters intoword/lexical, sentence/grammar and inter-sentence/cohesion category levels entered asmultivariate factors in general linear models considering the effects of development, sex andparental schooling. We found substantial EOLD at all levels, with negligible effects (exceptin one level) of sex, and parental schooling (a measure of participants’ socioeconomic status).Age (months), pubertal status and school grade generally showed comparable EOLD effects,suggesting sexual maturation and participants’ grade are not more determinant factors thanage. In summary, automated scoring of linguistic features of transcribed fairy-tale retellings isa sensitive, inexpensive, and ecological way of identifying EOLD in adolescence whichminimizes socioeconomic effects on oral language.
Databáze: OpenAIRE