Comd 2500 Chapter 8

Front 1

Each of these consists of an independent
clause and any of its modifiers, such as a
dependent clause. Can include incomplete
sentences and sentence fragments. They
are coded in transcripts of language samples
to assess a student’s language form.

Back 1

Communication Units (C Units)

Front 2

A form of sentential ambiguity in which a
noun serves as an agent in one
interpretation and as an object in another.
Example: The duck is ready to eat can
mean “The duck is ready to be eaten” or
The duck is hungry.”

Back 2

Deep-structure
ambiguity

Front 3

Evaluations performed anytime during the
school year to obtain an in-depth look at a
specific child’s instructional needs.

Back 3

Diagnostic
assessments

Front 4

When the components of story grammar
are combined in an expressive or artful
manner of storytelling

Back 4

Expressive Elaboration

Front 5

Language used in nonliteral and often
abstract ways. Used to evoke mental
images and sense impressions in other
people.

Back 5

Figurative Language

Front 6

Assessment of the language process (rather
than the products) of language learning and
development. Practitioners use these
assessments to determine the types of
language-learning activities to implement.

Back 6

Formative Evaluations

Front 7

The ability to use language for various
communicative purposes (e.g. requesting,
stating, persuading).

Back 7

Functional
flexibility

Front 8

Words that are spelled the same and may
sound alike (e.g., row a boat vs. row of
homes) or may sound different from each
other (e.g., record player vs. record a
movie). A type of lexical ambiguity at the
level of the word.

Back 8

Homographs

Front 9

Words that are alike in spelling and
pronunciation but differ in meaning (e.g.,
brown bear vs. bear weight). A specific
type of homophone.

Back 9

Homonyms

Front 10

A type of figurative language that uses
exaggeration for emphasis or effect.
Example: I nearly died laughing.

Back 10

Hyperbole

Front 11

Expressions that contain both literal and
figurative language. Two types of idioms
are opaque and transparent. Example: He
got out of the wrong side of bed.

Back 11

Idioms

Front 12

When words or phrases have multiple
meanings. Provides the humor in jokes,
riddles, comics, and so forth. Example:
That was a real bear (bear has several
meanings).

Back 12

Lexical
ambiguity

Front 13

Language used without the aid of context
cues to support meaning: highly
decontextualized language.

Back 13

Literate language

Front 14

The ability to think about and analyze
language as an object of attention.
Acquired mainly in the school-age years.

Back 14

Metalinguistic
competence

Front 15

A type of figurative language that conveys
similarity through an expression that refers
to something it does not denote literally.
Components of these are the topic
and the vehicle. Two types of of these
are predictive and proportional.

Back 15

Metaphor

Front 16

When an individual attains the ability to
make sound modifications by joining
certain morphemes (/
z/ in matches), to use
vowel shifting (/a/ to // in decidedecision),
and to use stress and emphasis to
distinguish phrases from compound words
(green house vs. greenhouse).

Back 16

Morphophonemic
development

Front 17

Evaluations conducted to help determine
the discrepancy between expected and
observed outcomes in a particular area.

Back 17

Outcome
assessments

Front 18

A type of sentential ambiguity in which
varying pronunciations of a word change
the meaning of a sentence. Example: She
needs to visit her psychotherapist vs. She
needs to visit her psycho therapist.

Back 18

Phonological
ambiguity

Front 19

Having more than one meaning.

Back 19

Polysemous

Front 20

Period from birth till the beginning of
formal education. Some of children’s most
critical developments – oral language, print
awareness, and phonological awareness –
occur during this period

Back 20

Prereading stage

Front 21

Evaluations conducted routinely (at least
three times a year) to document a child’s
rate of improvement in an area and to
compare the efficacy of curricula and
interventions.

Back 21

Progress-monitoring
assessments

Front 22

Statements that express the conventional
values, beliefs, and wisdom of a society. A
type of figurative language.

Back 22

Proverbs

Front 23

Brief assessments used to identify possible
areas of difficulty that may signal a need for
more in-depth evaluation.

Back 23

Screenings

Front 24

A type of figurative language, similar to
predictive metaphors, in which the
comparison between the topic and the
vehicle is made explicit by the word like or
as. Examples: sitting like a bump on a log;
flat as a pancake.

Back 24

Similes

Front 25

Assessments focused on the products (rather
than the process) and final outcomes of
language learning and development.

Back 25

Summative evaluations

Front 26

A type of sentential ambiguity in which
varying stress and intonation in a sentence
changes its meaning. Example: I fed her
bird seed vs. I fed her bird seed.

Back 26

Surface-structure
ambiguity

Front 27

Each T unit consists of an independent
clause and any of its modifiers, such as a
dependent clause. T units are coded in
transcripts of language samples to assess a
student’s language form.

Back 27

Terminable units
(T units)