Martin Fujiki and Jenifer D. Miskin & Alyssa Stanger, Speech Language Pathology
Our research was conducted within a larger project designed to facilitate language and social skills in children with SLI. Fifty-six subjects between the ages of 6 and 11 participated in this project. Eight of these subjects were children with SLI, and the remaining forty-eight were typically developing. Each of the children with SLI was paired with two typically developing peers of the same gender to form a triad of children. Each triad worked on four different cooperative tasks.
The tasks were building a small-scale periscope, making a seasonal collage, constructing a make-believe animal, and designing a tinker toy vehicle. One of the following roles was assigned to each child during three of the four activities: materials manager, checker, and leader. No roles were assigned for the fourth activity. The cooperative learning activities were video taped and the interactions were transcribed.
The samples were then analyzed to determine whether role assignment in a cooperative learning setting influenced the social interactions of the children with SLI with their peers. In order to determine the effectiveness of role assignments we analyzed the verbal collaboration of each child with SLI. Specifically, we compared the role of leader as opposed to not having a role assigned.
The verbal collaboration was scored according to the conventions stated in the appendix. The cooperative learning activities (each lasting about twenty minutes) were divided into fifteen second intervals. For each interval, each child was scored as one of the following: collaborative on task, individual on task, collaborative off task, or individual off task. Percentages were calculated by dividing the number of collaborative on task intervals, individual on task intervals, collaborative off task intervals, and individual off task intervals by the number of total intervals. We compared the percentages of the no role assignment to the leader assignment and found that there was no statistical difference. Our hypothesis that the role assignment would not make a significant difference for children with SLI is supported by these results. However, these results are not conclusive; a more detailed analysis is warranted in order to determine the effect of the other roles on verbal collaboration.
APPENDIX ANALYSIS SYSTEM
Collaborative On Task:
The child was scored as collaborative on task if the child talks about the activity, the materials, the plan of action, or the result and at least one other child talks about the task during a 15 second interval.
Individual On Task:
The child was scored as individual on task if the child talks about the activity, the materials, the plan of action, or the result and no other child talks about the task during a 15 second interval.
Collaborative Off Task:
The child was scored as collaborative off task if the child talks about something unrelated to the task and at least one other child talks with him about this topic during a 15 second interval.
Individual Off Task:
The child was scored as individual off task if the child talks about something unrelated to the task and no other child talks about a topic unrelated to the task during a 15 second interval.
*NOTE: If the child was silent during a 15 second interval, they were scored with a zero (Ø) for that interval.
References
- Brinton, B., Fujiki, M., and Higbee, L. M. (1997). Participation in Cooperative Learning Activities by Children with Specific Language Impairment. Submitted for publication to the Journal of Speech- Language, and Hearing Research.