BACKGROUND Parent and teacher data, from questionnaire surveys, suggest that school-identified disruptive children often have pragmatic language deficits of an autistic type. AIMS This replication study aimed to confirm earlier findings, using individual clinical assessment to investigate traits of autism-spectrum disorder in disruptive children. METHOD Persistently disruptive children (n =...

BACKGROUND For the early detection of children who are at risk of communication problems, we need appropriate assessment instruments. Two Dutch-language standardised screening instruments are available: the Dutch version of the Non Speech Test (NNST) and the Dutch version of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories (N-CDIs). These instruments gauge the precursors of language developm...

In this study, the use of speech-like pragmatic markers in Iranian EFL students’ academic writing was investigated. Speech-like pragmatic markers, such as I think, well, I guess, actually, anyway, anyhow, etc. are linguistic components that are more specific to conversation than writing, and writers may wrongly include them in their academic writing. To examine the students’ use of speech-like ...

In this study, the use of speech-like pragmatic markers in Iranian EFL students’ academic writing was investigated. Speech-like pragmatic markers, such as I think, well, I guess, actually, anyway, anyhow, etc. are linguistic components that are more specific to conversation than writing, and writers may wrongly include them in their academic writing. To examine the students’ use of speech-like ...

Despite the advance of collaborative learning in higher education, there is a tension between its assessment and orientation on students’ individual domain-specific abilities (e.g., knowledge and/or skills) most education curricula. We examined construct consequential validity group assessment, combined learning. Findings showed that these methods can vary widely within across cohorts. In view ...

background: a key challenge for equality evaluation and monitoring, mainly in developing countries, is assessing socioeconomic status of individuals (ses). this difficulty along with low technical competency, have resulted in many health information collected in these countries to be devoid of suitable ses indices. however, simplifying data collection requirements for estimating economic parame...

Primary cicatricial alopecias (PCAs) are a rare, but important, group of disorders that cause irreversible damage to hair follicles resulting in scarring and permanent hair loss. They may also signify an underlying systemic disease. Thus, it is of paramount importance that clinicians who manage patients with hair loss are able to diagnose these disorders accurately. Unfortunately, PCAs are noto...

The Assessment Battery for Communication (ABaCo) was introduced to evaluate pragmatic abilities in patients with cerebral lesions. The battery is organized into five evaluation scales focusing on separate components of pragmatic competence. In the present study, we present normative data for individuals 15-75 years of age (N = 300). The sample was stratified by age, sex, and years of education,...

This  paper  focuses  on  some  pragmatic  expressions  that  are  characteristic  of  informal  spoken English, their possible equivalents in some other languages, and their use by EFL learners from different  backgrounds.  These  expressions,  called  general  extenders  (e.g.  and  stuff,  or something), are shown to be different from discourse markers and to exhibit variation in form, funct...