BSc Speech and Language Therapy

This course unit runs during semester one of the second year of study. It will build on understanding of linguistics and language development introduced in year one and apply that knowledge to clinical data from children and adults from monolingual and bilingual backgrounds.  

The content will include the consideration and analysis of the semantic, grammatical and pragmatic aspects of atypical language comprehension and production in children and adults and presentations from experienced professionals on how they use clinical linguistics in their clinical and research work. 

The unit aims to:

• Provide students with opportunities to develop their ability to analyse, describe and evaluate clinical language data.
• Demonstrate to students the relevance of clinical linguistics to their future professional practice. 

The teaching and learning processes for clinical linguistics will include tutor-led interactive lectures, facilitated group-work, expert presentations/discussion and online learning. Online quizzes are provided for students to gauge their own understanding, and students are encouraged to use an online discussion forum for peer and tutor support for linguistic analysis queries. 

• Use appropriate terminology to describe semantic, pragmatic and grammatical aspects of language in people with language and communication disorders.
• Identify the relevant aspects of language to analyse, and will be familiar with currently available analysis techniques.
• Apply their knowledge and understanding of the literature to clinical data and understand the potential contribution of clinical linguistics to their professional role. 

• Interpret and critically appraise original clinical linguistics literature.
• Integrate information from research literature and data analyses to come to principled clinical conclusions.
• Critically evaluate the content of published language assessments and interpret them in relation to clinical practice. 

• Use the library to access original research papers.
• Analyse grammatical aspects of language.
• Familiarise themselves with, understand, and interpret the scoring of published, standardised language assessments. 

• Independently gather, sift, synthesise and organise material from published literature and data analyses.
• Evaluate and integrate evidence from a variety of sources to come to a considered clinical description commensurate with their level of professional experience.
• Report clinical data and the results of their analyses clearly and accurately, adapting as appropriate for their target audience. 

A mark and detailed tutor feedback will be provided following the clinical linguistics assessment. This feedback will provide guidance to students regarding their knowledge and understanding of the subject matter.

Throughout the unit, students will have the opportunity to self-evaluate their work, skills and understanding against online model answers to weekly quizzes, their peers’ work, peer group discussions, online discussion boards, drop-ins and tutor comments. 

• Black, M., & Chiat, S. (2003). Linguistics for clinicians: A practical introduction. Taylor & Francis Group.
• Clark, E. V. (2024). First Language Acquisition (4th ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Diessel, H. (2004). The Acquisition of Complex Sentences. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Eppler, E. D., & Ozón, G. (2012). English Words and Sentences: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.