African Languages / M.A. (African Studies (Linguistics))

Children with dysarthria due to cerebral palsy (CP) often face barriers to accessing speech research participation and clinical speech services. Utilizing at-home online videoconferencing may be a practical solution to these accessibility barriers if the speech signal yielded from online recordings is valid. This study aimed to determine the validity of acoustic and perceptual measures obtained from speech data collected (remotely) online from children with dysarthria due to CP. The speech of 17 children with dysarthria was recorded by means of two data collection methods performed simultaneously: 1) via Zoom video communications and 2) via a professional audio recording device sent to the children's parents. A calibration procedure permitted the children’s original vocal sound pressure level (SPL) to be represented in the speech signal. Acoustic and perceptual measures extracted from the two recordings were compared in order to determine the validity of speech data collected online from the children. The acoustic measures, obtained from 1,690 tokens of words and 605 tokens of sentences, were the second formant (F2) range of diphthongs, F2 slope of diphthongs, fricative-affricate duration difference, word duration/articulation rate, mean fundamental frequency (F0), F0 variation, SPL, shimmer, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and cepstral peak prominence (CPP). Perceptual measures were 187 adult listeners’ orthographic transcription accuracy and visual analog scale (VAS) ratings of the children’s speech, collected via an online crowdsourced platform. Acoustic measures of F2 range of diphthongs, fricative-affricate duration difference, word duration, and mean F0 reached the validity criterion of rrm-value .75 and demonstrated good agreement within the predetermined clinical criterion at both word and sentence levels. Moreover, SPL met the validity criterion and exhibited good agreement at the word level; however, it failed to meet the validity criterion and demonstrated agreement outside the clinical criterion at the sentence level. The F2 slope of diphthongs showed a strong correlation between online and audio-device recordings and reached the validity criterion; however, it did not show agreement within the clinical criterion at either word or sentence level. Perturbation-based, noise-based, and cepstral measures (i.e., F0 variation, shimmer, SNR, CPP) showed a wide range of correlation and agreement outside of clinical criteria between online and audio-device recordings. Both perceptual measures showed strong correlations between the two recording methods, reaching the validity criterion. Findings suggest that measures that reflect physiological aspects of speech production may be valid and appropriate to extract from online recordings. However, measures capturing noise and variability within the signal may not be valid when obtained from online recordings. Additionally, the results suggest that perceptual measures of listeners’ transcription and ratings from online recordings may be valid to use for research and clinical purposes. Therefore, careful consideration of the appropriate measures and their limitations is essential to obtaining accurate results when extracting measures from online recordings. These findings provide a valuable foundation of evidence supporting the use of online videoconferencing platforms for several acoustic and perceptual measures commonly implemented in speech research, clinical assessment, and treatment.

Thesis (M.A. ( Translation and Linguistics)) -- University of Limpopo, 2013 / The aim of this dissertation is to examine the impact of phonetics and phonology on the Xitsonga orthography. It looks at the history of Xitsonga orthography and the developments from the missionaries’ era in the 1800s until 2013. The study also examines the contribution made by the Tsonga Language Board, the Tsonga Language Committee and Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) in the development of Xitsonga orthography. In addition, the study focuses on the Xitsonga speech sound types and the way they are spelled by the speakers. On the other hand, there are speakers who adhere to the standard orthography whereas on the other hand there are speakers who prefer to use speech sounds according to their respective dialects. The challenges which Xitsonga speakers face on a daily basis have been outlined and what can be done to resolve them. It is suggested that more Xitsonga dictionaries should be written and published and PanSALB should ensure that booklets that deal with Xitsonga spelling rules must be distributed as widely as possible

The purpose of this study was to examine first-graders' construction of knowledge of graphophonemic and orthographic relationships. Three levels of treatment were assigned randomly to three groups of first-graders in their first semester of first grade. Treatment varied in student engagement with reading and writing texts based on student interests and in the amount of interaction students had with one another and the researcher as they read, wrote, and examined words, word patterns, and graphophonemic relationships. The study was based on a quasi-experimental nonequivalent control group design (Campbell & Stanley, 1963) with an added within-subjects factor of 12 weekly test occasions. These weekly tests involved students writing a researcher-dictated continuous text selected by students in the full-treatment group from the larger portion of text read each week. Additional elements of qualitative research were included in the design and analyses. Quantitative analyses revealed statistically significant results. Qualitative data analyses confirmed that students who interacted daily with each other and the researcher in reading and writing activities constructed more knowledge about graphophonemic and orthographic relationships than peers from the partial-treatment group and the control group. Results led to conclusions and implications involving a reexamination of current and traditional methods of spelling instruction and assessment for young children.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts

No description available.

This dissertation reports research into the problem of how to teach mastery of the English writing system (MEWS) to students of English as a second language (ESL). The problem involves the relatedness of English orthography and phonology. The research had two purposes. First was development of classroom instructional materials for improving reading proficiency in ESL students by application of generative phonological principles. Second was use of the instructional materials in a pilot study of fifty-three ESL college freshmen. A major finding was that subjects' reading proficiency was far below that of native speakers at the college level. Another was that the subjects had more difficulty with English vowels than with consonants. The subjects' scores on nonsense-word tests correlated significantly with five other criteria, including measures of ability to use ESL. A uniform disparity between ESL-student and native-speaker scores on tests of nonsense words was identified. Native-speakers generally had perfect scores, and ESL students had low scores. A chief implication is the importance of understanding orthography in reading English. Recommendations are that ESL proficiency be determined by nonsense-word tests and that the MEWS program be used by students of English as a second dialect.

A lack of research in adult literacy for both native speakers and speakers of English as a second language led to the development of the Test of Affixes in Syntactic Structures (TASS) for use in a pilot study (Dogger, January 1978) in which knowledge of derivational morphology was tested to determine its possible relationship with reading for English as a second language students. Test construction was followed by a thorough verification procedure which is the purpose of this study. In September 1978 the following measures of test strength were established: construct validity, content validity, item difficulty, item discrimination, internal consistency, rational equivalence, and concurrent validity. The degree of relationship between reading proficiency, as demonstrated by subject performance on the Iowa Silent Reading Test, Level III (ISRT,III), and knowledge of derivational affixes, as demonstrated by subject performance on TASS, was also established. Results show that successful performance on the ISRT, III includes reading strategies beyond those required for successful performance on TASS. In other words, mastery of language structures as represented by English orthography is necessary but not sufficient for college-level reading proficiency.

The purpose of this study is to determine if elementary school children progress faster in academic or tool subjects when taught through interest units in an integrated curriculum or when taught the separate subjects by a traditional method. Reading, spelling, and handwriting are used as illustrative subjects in the sixth grade with reading only in the second grade.