REVISED RECEPTIVE

EXPRESSIVE EMERGENT
LANGUAGE SCALE FOR
KANNADA SPEAKING CHILDREN

AUTHORS: MADHU K.
DEEPA M. S.
SUHAS K.
HARSHAN KUMAR H. S.
 INTRODUCTION
 Language is a code where by the ideas about the world are
represented through a conventional system of auditory
signals for communication.
Bloom, 1988.
 Speech is the oral expression of language.
Hulit and Howard, 2002.

 Language may be expressed through writing, singing, or

even gestures.
  Language development is a process that starts early in
human life. A person begins to acquire language by
listening to spoken language and by mimicry.

 Children’s language development moves from simple to

complex.
 Language development
Age Developmental milestones

 0 –6  Frequently coos, gargles, and makes pleasure

months sounds.
 Uses phonemes /b/ /p/ and /m/ in babbling.

 6-12  Understands no and hot.

months  Uses characteristic gestures or vocalization to
express wants.
  Imitates individual words.
 13-18  Makes requests for more desired
months items.
 Use adult like intonation.

 19-24  Uses words more frequently than

months jargon.
 Starts combine nouns with verbs
and nouns with adjectives.
 Accurately names a few familiar
objects.
 2-3 years
 Request item by name.
 Ask one to two word questions.
 Maintains topic over several
conversational turns.
 Follows two step commands.

 Understands opposites.
 3-4 years
 Uses nouns and verbs most frequently.
 Sentence grammar improves although
some errors still present.
 TESTS WHICH ASSESS LANGUAGE
DEVELOPMENT IN CHILDREN.
 RECEPTIVE EXPRESSIVE EMERGENT
LANGUAGE SCALE (REELS)
Bzoch and League (1971)

 SCALES OF EARLY COMMUNICATION SKILLS

(SECS) Moog and Geers (1975)

 3-DIMENTIONAL LANGUAGE ACQUISITION TEST

(3DLAT) Geetha Harleker (1987)
 The Study Aimed at

Standardizing and Revising REELS

(Receptive Expressive Emergent Language Scale)
for

Kannada speaking children.

 METHOD
A total of 720 children in the age range of 0 to 3
years from all over Karnataka were considered
for the study
(The study consisted of both male and female
children)
 Subject selection criteria

 Children without any prenatal, perinatal or

postnatal complications.

 Children not having any behavioral,

psychological or sensory problems.

 Children having Kannada (a Dravidian language)

as their mother tongue.
 Informal Assessment

All children underwent informal screening for

Hearing and Vision problems.

“Hearing, informal screening was done using non

verbal sounds like ‘clap’, ‘bell’, ‘knock’ Verbal
sounds like ‘name call’ were used. These sounds
were presented at 3 feet and at 5 feet distances.
 Material Used

Questionnaire including developmental

milestones similar to Receptive Expressive
Emergent Language Scales
(Bzoch and League, 1971)
 Milestones were divided into 3 months
interval

 From 0-3 months to 33-36 months

 PROCEDURE

Sample size

Karnataka
720

North South Costal

240 240 240

Urban Rural Urban Rural Urban Rural 120

120 120 120 120 120
Subjects were taken from

Hospitals

Anganavadis

Play homes
• The questionnaire consisted a total of 172
questions.

• Receptive and Expressive language skills had

separate set of questions (86 each).

• Questions were asked in the progressive order

of the developmental milestones. When child
couldn’t do a particular task, no further
questions were asked.
 Statistical analysis
 Mean,

 Standard deviation and

 t-value were calculated.

Results were compared with the Normative

developed in the previous version of REELS
(1971).
 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:

 The data was arranged according to the

specific age group

from 0-3months to 33-36 months

Graph 1: Mean difference in Receptive skills
between older and present data.
80
70
60
50
40
30 old data
20
new data
10
0
 From 6 - 36months there was a significant
difference in the receptive skills.

 No statistically significant difference was found

from 0 –6 months.

 A significant difference between previous and

present data was seen in 1-2 years of age.
 The difference was comparatively less in the
first year as compared to the second year and
third year.

 This shows that the present generation acquire

skills earlier between 1-2 years of age and it
increases as the age progresses from 2-3years.
Graph 2: Mean difference in Expressive skills
between older and present data.

80
70
60
50
40
30 old data
20 new data
10
0
 The differences for expressive skills was
negligible in the first year of life, but as age
progresses, the difference in the skills increased.

 There is a highly significant difference between

the skills acquired at 18-21months to 33-
36months.
 From 6-9 months to 12-15months there is no
significant difference between the acquisition
of skills.

 This shows present generation children

acquire expressive skills faster in 2-3 years of
age.
 According to this study
 A significant difference in the acquisition of
skills is seen across decades.

 Language is a form of learnt behavior, which is

acquired as a response to the stimuli in the
environment.
 Children’s creativity with language and level
of linguistic exposure help them in learning
language.

 Learning is a voluntary response which is

strengthened /weakened depending upon
positive and negative consequences.
 The study revealed that children achieved both
expressive and receptive skills in equal amount
early in life with reference of REELS I edition
developed in 1971.

 we standardized and revised it for present

generation.
 Standardization
 To standardize the test we used 80% criteria.

 That is if 80% of the children able to pass

particular milestone that mile stone moved to
lower age groups.
 Which not satisfied 80% criteria they kept in
same age group.
 According to graphs I, and II it can be seen that
as age progressed there was highly significant
difference between previous and present data.

 This difference was minimal during first year of

life but highly significant in second and third
year of life.

 The revised version needs to be checked for its

validity.