Language Proficiency Levels for Units
P-Level Information
The units developed and taught through this project typically describe the ability levels of the students each unit was designed for. Teaching goals and activities are very dependent upon deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) students’ performance level. This is to be helpful to other teachers in planning for modifications to meet the needs of one’s own students.
One of the descriptors used in these units is “P-Levels”. Native language proficiency is often delayed and remains a challenging area for most DHH students. Most state standards assume that all children arrive at school with fully-developed and fluent language skills. Therefore, standards do not address the frequent language fluency needs of DHH students, in either English or ASL..
Many language assessment instruments are quite complex. Listings of competencies across syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic categories are often extremely lengthy and detailed (see Easterbrooks & Baker, 2002; Schirmer, 2000). This project has chosen to use a compilation of language development information, in a “teacher-friendly” instrument developed specifically for DHH students, regardless of communication method or modality. This instrument summarizes information across syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic development into a series of checklists, and was developed through work at the Gallaudet University’s (now renamed) Clerc Center (French, 1999).
These language development checklists are presented below, starting with P-level (Proficiency level) 2; this is the point at which children are using 1-word/1-sign communication. The lists being with P-O+ and continue through the last level, P-7 at which point children are demonstrating full language competency. The checklists are based on categories with criterial questions for each category, and for each Proficiency, or P-Level:
Reference—the type and variety of things and ideas the child communicates about
Content—the semantic categories
Cohesion—how effectively the child links (pragmatically and syntactically) with topics & others
Use—the pragmatic functions the child attempts
Form—the syntactic characteristics of the child’s communication
When using these checklists, it is important for teachers to know the key syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic skills of language development. The teacher needs to make decisions regarding the presence or absence of each of these skills for each particular child. The P-Level checklists recommend that teachers talk with parents and with other professionals who work with the child in order to be sure to represent the full range of skills that may be used in other situations and circumstances.
References
Easterbrooks, S. R., & Baker, S. K. (2002). Language learning in children who are deaf and hard of hearing : multiple pathways.Boston, Ma. Allyn & Bacon
French, M. M. (1999). Starting with assessment: A developmental approach to deaf children’s literacy. Washington, DC: Pre-College National Mission Programs, Gallaudet University.
Schirmer, B. R. (2000). Language and literacy development in children who are deaf (2nd ed.). New York: Macmillan.
Criteria Questions: Level 2
Kendall Conversational Proficiency Levels (P-Levels)
CriteriaNumber / Criteria Questions / Yes / No / Evidence
2.1 / Does the child often use conventional signs or words to refer to the immediate physical context? (amplifies one-word utterances/ signs with nonverbal means or reference: holding, touching, pointing, looking: refers to things in the here and now) / Date:
Utterance:
2.2 / Does the child identify objects upon request? (content of communication consists of the things and actions that are a part of the immediate physical context shared with partner, i.e. is likely to label shared toys, other objects of interest) / Date:
Utterance:
2.3 / Does the child sometimes repeat what was just said? (will repeat, without instrumental intent but with apparent comprehension, segments of preceding utterances of others) / Date:
Utterance:
2.4 a / Does the child often use the language to request a few objects and simple services? (“Eat?” “Ball?”) / Date:
Utterance:
2.4.b / Does the child use the language to get the attention of others or to call them to his location? / Date:
Utterance:
2.4. c / Does the child use the language to greet others? (“Hi” “Goodbye”) / Date:
Utterance:
2.4. d / Does the child often use the language to protest other people’s actions he wishes to avert? (“No”, “Stop!”) / Date:
Utterance:
2.4. e / Does the child use the language to label objects? / Date:
Utterance:
2.4.f / Does the child use the language to note the presence of objects? / Date:
Utterance:
2.4.g / Does the child often use the language to note or call for the disappearance (or removal) of objects? (signs/says “all gone”, shakes head “no” more) / Date:
Utterance:
2.5 / Does the child usually use single word utterances/ signs, facial expressions, gestures, and pointing to convey meaning (e.g. points to a car, signs/says, “car”) / Date:
Utterance:
Criteria Questions: Level 3
Kendall Conversational Proficiency Levels (P-Levels)
CriteriaNumber / Criteria Questions / Yes / No / Evidence
3.1 / Does the child refer primarily to things that are of interest to her? (reference still tied to the immediate environment) / Date:
Utterance:
3.2a / Does the child communicate about a substantial number of objects and actions affecting her? (that is, too many to keep track of readily) / Date:
Utterance:
3.2b / Does the child communicate about the location of objects? / Date:
Utterance:
3.2c / Does the child communicate about both temporary and more or less permanent characteristics of people and objects?
( e.g., dirty, wet, hot, cold, sad, big, etc.) / Date:
Utterance:
3.3 / Does the child link what she says to what others say in any way? (may comment on same topic at the preceding adult comment, but this is primarily because they are sharing the same context or focus of interest; the comment creates text more through the immediate environment than through an actual reference back to the adult’s text) / Date:
Utterance:
3.4a / Does the child use language to repeat a broad range of her actions? / Date:
Utterance:
3.4b / Does the child use language to affirm the presence of a substantial number of objects, note (or call for) their absence, disappearance, or removal, and note (or try to bring about) their return? ( e.g, uses language to comment on such things as when she hides an object, someone leaves, she finishes eating something, she uses something, she uses up some material; often asks for a return of or more of these things) / Date:
Utterance:
3.4c / Does the child use language to request a broad range of objects and services? (asks for foods, toys, clothing, help getting dressed, turning on the television, and going on an excursion, etc.) / Date:
Utterance:
3.4.d / Does the child use language to identify objects and actions in pictures? / Date:
Utterance:
3.5a / Does the child usually use utterances consisting of at least two syntactically related components? ( e.g. “Iron hot”, “More cracker”, “No Bug”, “Doggie Come,” etc.”) / Date:
Utterance:
3.5 b / Does the child provide enough information for others to figure out what she has left unsaid? / Date:
Utterance:
Criteria Questions: Level 4
Kendall Conversational Proficiency Levels (P-Levels)
CriteriaNumber / Criteria Questions / Yes / No / Evidence
4.1a / Does the child refer to action he is about to take, and does he express the intention to take action? (still refers largely to the present, but is beginning to refer to the past and the future) / Date:
Utterance:
4.1b / Does the child refer to actions (taken by others) that do not affect him? / Date:
Utterance:
4.2a / Does the child use a broad variety of combinations of semantic categories of meaning in a single utterance? There is an ability to code a lot more information in a single utterance by combining things; (e.g. “Draw a red bicycle,” “Eric reading my book,” etc.) / Date:
Utterance:
4.2b / Does the child talk about several coordinated but independent events and states at the same time? (E.g. “I go the library and get a book and come back,” “We read book” “ Go night-night”) / Date:
Utterance:
4.3 / Does the child achieve cohesion in conversation by using elements (words and phrases) from the prior utterances of his conversation partners? (e.g. adult: “Do you want a cookie? Child: “Yes, I want a cookie” Cohesion usually occurs as the child responds to an adult initiative.) / Date:
Utterance:
4.4a / Does the chills us the language to establish the identity of things and people? (asks: who and what questions) / Date:
Utterance:
4.4b / Does the child create and maintain worlds of make-believe? (as opposed to simply participating in make believe worlds created by others; initiates play; assigns and regulates roles; acts out his own part) / Date:
Utterance:
4.5a / Does the child usually express most of what he means to say, and rarely leaves unsaid things that should be expressed? / Date:
Utterance:
4.5b / Does the child usually understand friends and familiar adults, and do they understand him? / Date:
Utterance:
Criteria Questions: Level 5
Kendall Conversational Proficiency Levels (P-Levels)
CriteriaNumber / Criteria Questions / Yes / No / Evidence
5.1 / Does the child communicate confidently and intelligibly on topics that go entirely beyond the immediate physical context and that require her to inter-relate objects, states, and events locate outside present time and space? (communicates very comfortably about past and future events and can locate events temporally, with respect to other events / Date:
Utterance:
5.2 / Does the child express explicitly a variety of relationships between events (or states): relationships involving time, causality, contradiction, states of knowledge? (expresses the notion that one event is related to a second but some reason or purpose using “and, “so”, “then”, “because”, or the ASL equivalent; that one event occurs in spite of the occurrence of another event using “but” or some equivalent; that one event is related to another with respect to time using “so,” before,: “when”, “until”, etc. or equivalents. E.g. “Recess canceled because it’s raining outside.” If it’s not raining, then we can go outside.” “We can’t go outside, but we can have recess inside.” “We have lunch before recess.” “We have lunch until time to go outside.”) / Date:
Utterance:
5.3 / Does the child carry on a conversation contributing details or comments relevant to her partner’s theme without changing the subject? (initiates comments that are responsive to the preceding topic; asks questions to elicit information about events, purposes, states, and intentions) / Date:
Utterance:
5.4a / Does the child use language to find out what is happening? / Date:
Utterance:
5.4b / Does the child use the language to fine out who is taking action? / Date:
Utterance:
5.4c / Does the child use the language to find out what state things are in? / Date:
Utterance:
5.4d / Does the child use the language to find out why people are doing what they are doing? / Date:
Utterance:
5.5a / Does the child usually tell stories or provide descriptions with clear overall meaning and structure? (hazy details are readily clarified by questioning the child.) / Date:
Utterance:
5.5b / Does the child communicate with ready intelligibility on a one-to-one basis with strangers accustomed to deaf children? / Date:
Utterance:
Criteria Questions: Level 6
Kendall Conversational Proficiency Levels (P-Levels)
CriteriaNumber / Criteria Questions / Yes / No / Evidence
6.1a / Does the child refer to objects, actions, events, and states in a hypothetical mode (i.e. without regard to their reality or truth) and consider the implications? (e.g. “If you were as young as I, …”) / Date:
Utterance:
6.1b / Does the child refer expressly to non-routine and complex actions and feelings of a more or less perceptible sort? (provides enough content) / Date:
Utterance:
6.2 / Does the child communicate successfully on any topic within his experience? (or within his intellectual reach) / Date:
Utterance:
6.3a / Does the child engage in sustained dialogue and narrative with strangers with a high degree of intelligibility and comprehension? (in one-on-one conversation) / Date:
Utterance:
6.3b / Does the child follow with accuracy (but not necessarily full detail) the general meaning of multi-cornered conversations even though they do not bear closely on familiar topics? (multi-cornered conversations are those that involve more than two people) / Date:
Utterance:
6.4 / Does the child use the language explicitly to influence opinions and attitudes as well as actions? (successfully argues his point; uses language to pose personal and academic problems) / Date:
Utterance:
6.5a / Does the child maintain a steady flow of accurate and fully intelligible expression only occasionally having to circle around it or use non-idiomatic language? / Date:
Utterance:
6.5b / Does the child provide sufficient contextual background to enable conversational partners to interpret messages that contain a considerable amount of new information? / Date:
Utterance:
6.5c / Does the child communicate with sufficient clarity so that only occasional clarifying questioning by his conversational partner is required? / Date:
Utterance:
Criteria Questions: Level 7
Kendall Conversational Proficiency Levels (P-Levels)
CriteriaNumber / Criteria Questions / Yes / No / Evidence
7.1 / Does the child build referential contexts that are sufficiently rich to allow her to explain the details of moderately elaborate systems, such as the rules of a game or how something works, to others who are unfamiliar with what is being explained? (descriptions must be more abstract than concrete-above the level of what can be observed or sensed; e.g. can explain the complex rules of such games as baseball, bridge, chess; rules of language; operations of mechanisms such as the speeds of a 10 speed bicycle or a manual can opener, the overall structure, roles, responsibilities, and procedures of an institutional organization) / Date:
Utterance:
7.2 / Does the child communicate with strangers in one-to one situations and multi-cornered conversational with high degree of intelligibility? (i.e. communications one-on-one and in groups with full comprehension of general meaning and details) / Date:
Utterance:
7.3a / Does the child paraphrase or amplify her own comments to accommodate the needs of her conversational partner? / Date:
Utterance:
7.3b / Does the child pinpoint the information she needs to clarify and ambiguous message? (can explain exactly the problem of a confusing message and what additional or corrected information is needed for clarification) / Date:
Utterance:
7.4 / Does the child use the language to express general principles for the purpose if influencing opinions, attitudes, and actions of others? (can formulate arguments that appeal to principles or general considerations; uses verbs that go beyond describing actions or states) / Date:
Utterance:
7.5 / Does the child usually maintain a steady flow of fully idiomatic expression that is free of circumlocution? / Date:
Utterance: