Building the World Language Library
We are announcing an end to the repeated, effort-filled research that students and SLPs have to do each year to get the information they need to correctly diagnose and work with children from diverse backgrounds. Your contribution here will be accessible to all SLPs for your entire carreer. And! You can add it to your resume.
5 Steps to Success
After gathering research on languages and working with teams of SLPs, the process requires 5 steps. Each of the steps below are accompanied by instructions and videos.
If you are participating as a university, these steps also exactly match the grading rubric at the bottom. We will be happy to Zoom into your class to explain and answer questions.
Step 1: Familiarize Yourself
Visit the World Language Library to get an idea of what you will be creating. Click around a few languages. Notice the pieces in each of the languages. This is a resource for all SLPs to get information on languages they work with.
Step 2: Find Your Language
Find out which language you have been assigned: Student Language Assignments This is exactly how it works in the real world. A child lands on your caseload speaking an unfamiliar language. You research it to test the child.
Step 3: Make Your Template
Make a copy of the Language Chapter Template. Rename it using the name of the language you are working on , and save it in your language folder: Folders of World Languages. This will be what you will be turning in and what you will be graded on!
Step 4: Research
We began the process for you and uploaded everything that we have found into the Folders of World Languages. But that is just a starting point. Do a brand new search for research articles on YOUR LANGUAGE and grammar, phonology, sounds, comparisons to English… Here a video to help you out.
In Wikipedia, you often find information about phonotactic constraints below the tables of phonemes.
In Google Scholar, Google Phonotactic Constraints AND (Name of Language).
There are two other specific sites that contain a lot of language information. If they covered things relevant for your project, be sure to cite any information you use and include a link to their site. The links are below.
Portland State University Multicultural Project: Click on Global Languages at the top
ASHA Phonemic Inventories and Cultural and Linguistic Information Across Languages
Visit My Languages, it has a ton of information on individual languages including all of their sounds and grammar.
Step 5: Create
Follow these instructions to complete your project. Looking at any of the languages in the World Language Library, you will see that each page is just an assembly of pieces: title, flag, map, number of speakers, interesting facts about the language, sounds that are shared with English… We will walk you through each step and your project is complete when you have integrated all of the research into all of the steps.
Helpful Tips:
Most students have reported having a lot of fun with this and I can tell you that you will be doing this A LOT in your career. BUT, you are contributing to a library of knowledge that the whole field will benefit from. Secondly, you can add your social medial account (preferably Linked In) and link to it from your resume so this is also valuable to you now and in the future. Here are just 3 things that caused problems:
- Not keeping up with the citations and references: You’ll notice that the last item is References. Every time you take info from any source, make a note and add it to the bottom. Having to remember in the end is a huge pain.
- Cut-N-Paste Meathod: A couple students waited until the end and just cut and pasted from all over the internet. This is very obvious and won’t be accepted. That’s why we broke the project into a bunch of fun steps. Many are super quick so don’t be afraid!
- Leaning on or entirely using AI: Use AI for gathering ideas (maybe) but Chat GPT and the like are not currently sophisticated enough to generate very field-specific information like what is needed here. AI generated content is inaccurate and typically uncited which makes it wrong and unacceptable for a project like this. Here’s a bigger problem: Using Chat GPT in this instance will just give you a bad grade. :(. Using it as an SLP will have you misdiagnose a child and potentially put them into special education when they don’t need it BOOO!!!
We’re here for you. We’ve been students. We know you’re busy. Take the time now to learn how to do this with the support of experienced SLPs. It will pay off for the rest of your careers.
Grading Rubric for World Language Library Project
Professors can grade this project however they like. Some are giving points for discussion. Some are giving points for completion. The project lays out really nicely to fit into an easy grading rubric also.
30% – Creativity, writing, timeliness, and ability to follow directions
Objective: Completed the first six out of eleven steps in an informative, creative, and original way. Their project included (5% each):
- Step 1: A title
- Step 2: A map image
- Step 3: A flag image
- Step 4: A YouTube Video
- Step 5: An About the Language Section (2 or more short paragraphs)
- Step 6: Interesting facts about the language section (3 or more facts)
20% – Contrast the Consonants and Vowels of Target Language and English (Step 7)
Objective: Produced Venn Diagrams illustrating the comparison between the Consonants and Vowels of Target Language and English
20% – Phonotactic Constraints (Step 8)
Objective: Research and document the sound-use differences between the two languages. This can be in bullet, narrative, or chart format.
20% Contrastive Analysis of Language Section (Step 9)
Objective: Research and document the linguistic differences between the two languages. This can be in bullet, narrative, or chart format.
Bonus: Normative Language and/or Age of Acquisition Section (Step 10)
Milestones or Age of Acquisition are often hard to find. Consider awarding 2% if this was included.
10% Resources and Citations (Step 11)
Objective: Produce MLA Citation list of all resources.
If you have any questions, reach out to us at any time!
