Using Speech Analysis to Unmask Perceptual Bias: Dialect, Difference, and Tolerance

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (19) ◽  
pp. 9-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer C. Dalton ◽  
Louise C. Keegan
Keyword(s):  
Professional Training ◽  
Cultural Influences ◽  
Communication Disorders ◽  
Perceptual Bias ◽  
Speech Analysis ◽  
Clinical Expertise ◽  
Linguistic Differences ◽  
Acoustic Data ◽  
Accented English ◽  
English Students

Students in pre-professional training in Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) demonstrate a novice ability to identify their own perceptual biases towards linguistic differences among individuals with English dialects that differ from their own. This paper describes the application of speech analysis software (e.g., Praat) to increase students' ability to discriminate and identify distinct dialectal differences between two dialects of English: Southern-American accented English and Irish-accented English. Students utilized both auditory-perceptual as well as acoustic data to reveal their own perceptual biases. They contextualized their findings by identifying potential cultural influences that were predictive of the accent differences. Students reported that this experience increased their awareness of cultural and linguistic differences and served as a precursor to their development of clinical expertise in determining dialectal difference versus disorder in individuals with potential communication disorders.

The Impact of Clinical Review Bias on Child Language Grammaticality

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 214-221
Author(s):  
Anny P. Castilla-Earls ◽  
Brittany Harvey ◽  
Katrina Fulcher-Rood ◽  
Christopher D. Barr
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Review ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Binary Data ◽  
Mixed Model ◽  
Linear Mixed Model ◽  
Child Language ◽  
Communication Disorders ◽  
The Impact ◽  
English Students ◽  
Language Sample

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of clinical review bias on the coding of grammaticality in child language. Seventy-four native-English students studying communication disorders and sciences made judgments about the grammaticality of 250 utterances presented in five language samples. Each language sample included grammatical, ungrammatical, and ambiguous utterances. Participants were randomly assigned to a blind or nonblind group. The nonblind group was presented with diagnostic information, whereas the blind group was not. We employed a generalized linear mixed model to examine the binary data. Our results suggest that both blind and nonblind participants were accurate in judging grammatical and ungrammatical utterances. However, nonblind participants were slightly more likely to judge ambiguous utterances as ungrammatical when the language sample identified the child as having a language impairment, suggesting that there was an effect of clinical review bias in this study. This effect, although statistically significant, was small.

scholarly journals Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Perceptions of Interprofessional Education

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Janine Schmedding-Bartley ◽  
Courtney Karasinski
Keyword(s):  
Interprofessional Education ◽  
Professional Training ◽  
Training Programs ◽  
Faculty Perceptions ◽  
Clinical Care ◽  
Communication Disorders ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
Master's Degrees ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Barriers To Implementation

Engagement in interprofessional collaborative practice is critical for communication disorders professionals to provide quality clinical services. Given limited research on implementation of interprofessional education (IPE) within communication disorders pre-professional training programs and research highlighting potential barriers to implementation of IPE, this investigation assessed communication sciences and disorders (CSD) faculty attitudes toward IPE. One hundred fifty-eight CSD faculty from accredited CSD graduate programs completed the Interprofessional Attitudes Scale (Norris, Carpenter, Eaton, Guo, Lassche, Pett, & Blumenthal, 2016). Collectively, the faculty supported CSD students learning from and with students from different disciplines and endorsed IPE as beneficial. Faculty with master’s degrees were more likely to believe that IPE would increase student’s effectiveness as clinical care team members, whereas more faculty with research doctorates indicated that biases toward other professionals could get in the way of providing intervention. Compared to faculty in colleges other than health sciences, faculty in colleges of health sciences reported experiencing more bias toward and from professionals of other disciplines. Despite group differences, a majority of CSD faculty overwhelmingly favored IPE for students suggesting that the attitudes of CSD faculty toward IPE may not be a barrier to implementation of IPE within pre-professional training programs.

scholarly journals Entailing Professional Training and Thesis Development. An Innovation Experience at Universidad SEK Chile

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tulio Barrios Bulling
Keyword(s):  
Professional Practice ◽  
Professional Training ◽  
Innovation Process ◽  
English Department ◽  
Qualitative Information ◽  
Strong Bond ◽  
English Students ◽  
And Training ◽  
Teaching Professional

Teaching professional practice and thesis development are usually two independent and unrelated processes. However, some concerns arose at Universidad SEK (USEK) Chile Department of English. Students declared to be overloaded and that working on their theses did not contribute to solving real in-class problems. Professors considered that training was not achieving all the expected results and that theses quality of some students were below expectations. To address these concerns, the English department decided to create a direct and strong bond between these two vital processes through Action Research (AR). Studying this innovation process appears to be relevant as it may lead to a better understanding of its impact and the complexities involved. Consequently, the author aims to value the results of this innovation after five years of its implementation. How do involved agents such as students, professors, supervisors, and mentors ponder this experience? Qualitative information gathered through interviews evidenced some contentment regarding thesis and training improvement, a decrease in the students’ overload perception, renewed motivation, and a positive thesis-training connection. Despite this promising perception, there are still some pending challenges, such as enhancing the spreading of the innovation and the quality of the feedback provided to school mentors.

scholarly journals Speech Analysis in Legal Proceedings: Urgent Needs, Problems and Ways to Solve Them

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 6-18
Author(s):  
E. I. Galyashina
Keyword(s):  
Professional Education ◽  
Professional Training ◽  
Speech Analysis ◽  
Development Programs ◽  
Legal Proceedings ◽  
Inadmissible Evidence ◽  
Forensic Institutions ◽  
Special Knowledge ◽  
Effective Use

The article describes the problems in legal proceedings that impede effective use of special knowledge of speech necessary to qualify offenses committed by means of speech actions. Among them the imperfection of the current legislation on forensic expert activity is mentioned, where there are no uniform professional qualifications and requirements for state forensic experts and persons who are not the employees of state forensic institutions and who are quite often involved in the conduct of linguistic expertise, authorship and phonogram examinations. It is stated that due to the lack of professional training in forensic specialties of such non-state experts, the quality of their speech analysis does not meet the need of the legal community and civil society in objective and effective examinations, the results of which could be used in trial. If the incompetence of non-state experts is revealed, their opinions are recognized as an inadmissible evidence, reexaminations are assigned to the state forensic institutions, which significantly delays the proceedings. It is proposed to legislate the mandatory certification for nonstate experts, to unify the procedure of additional professional education in the field of specific expert’s specialties for state and non-state forensic experts. In order to solve the problems mentioned above it is proposed to develop and implement a passport for each forensic specialty, a single nomenclature of forensic specialties corresponding to the types of forensic speech examinations, to unify additional professional retraining and professional development programs.

scholarly journals TRAINING OF TEACHERS IN CLASSICAL UNIVERSITIES: REALITIES OF TODAY

2021 ◽  
pp. 49-53
Author(s):  
Alla Marushkevych
Keyword(s):  
Distance Learning ◽  
Professional Training ◽  
Research Work ◽  
Cultural Influences ◽  
Necessary Condition ◽  
Pedagogical Practice ◽  
Highly Qualified ◽  
Historical Progress ◽  
Innovative Learning ◽  
Scientific Pedagogical

The article focuses on the role of classical universities in the development of education and training of teachers; some issues of their historical progress and economic, socio-cultural influences on the state of functioning are revealed. The importance of classical universities in the training of highly qualified, competitive in the modern labor market specialists with higher education is highlighted. The peculiarity of training scientific and scientific-pedagogical workers at the third (educational-scientific) level of higher pedagogical education in accordance with the international, European requirements for doctors of philosophy is indicated. Emphasis is placed on the importance in today's conditions of taking into account the previous experience of teacher training in classical universities; applying a competency-based approach to working with students preparing to become teachers. It is proved that an important component of professional training of pedagogical and scientific-pedagogical staff in the classical university is the innovative activity of the teacher; assistant pedagogical practice regulated by the curriculum. The importance of distance learning in the training of teachers is substantiated, the advantage of which is internationality: the possibility of receiving education without leaving their country and providing educational services to foreign citizens who are abroad; introduction of e-learning, which is a necessary condition for conducting not only distance learning, but also blended learning, which is a combination of academic and innovative learning, interactive and elearning. The importance of scientific and methodological system, synthesis of formal and non-formal (distance education), implementation of new tools and approaches to improve the quality of teaching is argued; constant updating of the content of educational disciplines and formation of the system of knowledge "soft skills", skills of research work, etc.

scholarly journals Emotion as the amplifier and the primary motive: Some theories of emotion with relevance to language learning

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 371-393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca L. Oxford
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Social Constructionism ◽  
Social Constructivism ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Cultural Influences ◽  
Existential Psychotherapy ◽  
Complex Dynamic ◽  
Linguistic Differences

Emotion is crucial to living and learning. The powerful intertwining of emotion and cognition ignites learning within a complex dynamic system, which, as several sections of this paper show, also includes societal and cultural influences. As “the primary human motive” (MacIntyre, 2002a, p. 61), emotion operates as an amplifier, which provides energetic intensity to all human behavior, including language learning. This chapter explains major theories of emotion drawn from positive psychology, social psychology, social constructivism, social constructionism, and existential psychotherapy. It also offers implications for language learning related to understanding and managing emotions; expressing emotions appropriately despite cultural and linguistic differences; viewing emotions as transitory social roles; enhancing positive emotions and developing resilience; and recognizing, perhaps paradoxically, both the negative and the positive aspects of anxiety. The chapter concludes with the statement that language learners can become more agentic in dealing with their emotions. This form of self-regulation can lead to greater success in language learning.

Tutorial: The Speech-Language Pathologist's Role in Return to Work for Adults With Traumatic Brain Injury

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
◽  
Peter Meulenbroek ◽  
Therese M. O'Neil-Pirozzi ◽  
McKay Moore Sohlberg ◽  
Rik Lemoncello ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Traumatic Brain Injury ◽  
Brain Injury ◽  
Return To Work ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Communication Disorders ◽  
Clinical Expertise ◽  
Major Life ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Work Return ◽  
Assessment And Treatment

Purpose: Return to work (RTW) is a major life participation metric used for persons with a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) have clinical expertise in the cognitive-communication aspects of TBI. This clinical focus article aims to support the clinical practice of SLPs by summarizing key interprofessional vocational rehabilitation (VR) models and illustrating the role of the SLP throughout the RTW process with a case study. Method: This clinical focus article was written by the Academy of Neurologic Communication Disorders and Sciences TBI Research Group along with a VR expert. Authors engaged in deliberative, agenda-based discussions beginning with a literature review based on previous systematic studies. Discussions explored relevant VR and SLP practices. Results: This clinical focus article presents key VR models in parallel with SLP assessment and treatment to illustrate best practice patterns in an RTW field with a dearth of SLP-specific literature. We summarize general VR approaches and four evidence-supported VR models for adults with TBI. We highlight how a model of interprofessional assessment can assist with planning and communication of important work-related concerns. We illustrate how the chronological model of work return can assist with developing goals and planning treatment. Conclusions: SLPs play an important role in identifying, managing, and collaborating with an RTW team following TBI. A working knowledge of VR models can assist with improving the dialogue between SLPs and VR professionals and can inform practice when working with persons with TBI who have work return as a goal.

An Investigation of Sex-Bias in Classroom Teachers' Speech and Language Referrals

1980 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 169-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen Marie Silverman ◽  
Katherine Van Opens
Keyword(s):  
School Districts ◽  
Voice Disorders ◽  
Communication Disorders ◽  
Sixth Grade ◽  
Sex Bias ◽  
Classroom Teachers ◽  
Communication Disorder ◽  
Primary Procedure ◽  
Teacher Referrals ◽  
Grade Classroom

Kindergarten through sixth grade classroom teachers in four school districts completed questionnaires designed to determine whether they would be more likely to refer a boy than a girl with an identical communication disorder. The teachers were found to be equally likely to refer a girl as a boy who presented a disorder of articulation, language, or voice, but they were more likely to refer a boy for speech-language remediation who presented the disorder of stuttering. The tendency for the teachers to allow the sex of a child to influence their likelihood of referral for stuttering remediation, to overlook a sizeable percentage of children with chronic voice disorders, and to be somewhat inaccurate generally in their referrals suggests that teacher referrals are best used as an adjunct to screening rather than as a primary procedure to locate children with communication disorders.

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