Mean length of utterance of Jordanian Arabic-speaking children with language impairment

Abstract

This study serves as an explanatory investigation of the validity of mean length of utterance (MLU) to distinguish children with typical development from those with language impairment. Data were taken from 15 typically developing children and 11 children with language impairment, all aged 4–9 years old. A minimum of 100 utterances were taken from each participant which were then analyzed using Brown's rules of counting MLU-w with some adaptations. The results of this study showed statistically significant differences between the two groups, in favor of the unaffected group (children with typical development): the MLU-w was 2.59 (SD = 0.76)for the group with language impairments and 5.37 (SD =1.67)for the TD group. The results of this study can serve as a good index to reflect language development and point to any delayed production of language.

Keywords

• Mean length of utterance
• Language impairments
• Typically developing children
• Jordanian Arabic
• Speech disorders