Comparison of Language Skills and Nonadjucated Adolescent Males and Females

¶ … Language Skills

Blanton, D.J., & Dagenais, P.A. (2007). Comparison of language skills of adjudicated and nonadjudicated adolescent males and females. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools. (38). 309-314.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there were differences or similarities in cognitive and language skills of four groups of adolescent people. Specifically, the intention was to find whether there was a difference in these skills between males and females who were adjudicated and those who were nonadjudicated. Adjudicated adolescents in this experiment refer to youth who have been found responsible for negative actions by a judge in an official court of law.

Participants:

The four groups of adolescents were divided by gender and by whether or not they had been adjudicated. Involved in the experiment were 18 adjudicated females, 18 adjudicated males, 14 nonadjudicated females, and 14 nonadjudicated males. All of the participants had an IQ of at least 80 and were between the ages of 13 and 17 years old. Adjudicated participants were obtained through the Mobile County Girls and Boys Club while nonadjudicated adolescents were found through local Boys and Girls Clubs. All of the participants were considered troubled or "at-risk" youths.

Procedures:

The 64 participants of the research experiment were evaluated using the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test or K-BIT. This test allows researchers to evaluate the intelligence of those taking the test. The K-BIT is comprised of two subsets, the vocabulary section and matrices. The adolescents were then given the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals or CELF examination. This determines and evaluates the language skills of the person being tested. The CELF-3 was comprised of six subtests, including three receptive language tests and three expressive language subtests. Receptive language tests include: Concepts and Directions, Word Classes, and Semantic Relationships. Expressive language tests include: Formulated Sentences, Sentence Assembly, and Recalling Sentences. The adjudicated males and females were tested in a quiet conference room while the nonadjudicated ones were tested at a local school, Boys and Girls Club, recreation areas, homes, and the University of South Alabama Speech and Hearing Center. The tests were all audio recorded to ensure viability and to protect researchers from accusations of altering or in some way cheating on the various examinations. Audio recordings were made as videotaping of events was not allowed with the nonadjudicated participants of the study.

Results:

In the experiment, the two tests exhibited no marked alteration between the two genders. Both the K-BIT and the CELF showed similar results for male and female participants. Also, all four groups scored within the normal range on the K-BIT subtests, save for the vocabulary portion wherein all four groups of adolescents scored lower than normal. On the CELF exam, however, a marked difference was found in the results between the four groups of adolescents. In that case, the adjudicated groups, both male and female, scored significantly lower in terms of their language skills.

Author's Conclusions:

In their findings, the authors of the experiment found that these assessments showed a definitive difference in language abilities between adjudicated and nonadjudicated adolescents. They therefore conclude that early assessment of adjudicated females and males could prevent them from lagging behind their nonadjudicated peers in terms of language skills. By finding out this discrepancy early, educators and those in positions of authority can prevent these youths from falling further behind. There are even more pressing implications of this research, according to Blanton and Dagenais. They postulate that many students who are later found to be having behavioral problems actually have a speech or language delay which had gone undiagnosed. If these delays can be found out sooner in a child's life, then it is possible that they will not become involved in behavioral issues and therefore will not have to deal with the added difficulty of legal trouble.