Translanguaging in conversations for people with aphasia living in Greater Johannesburg, South Africa.
Mellissa Bortz, Mira Goral
PMID 39935170WHAT IT FOUND
Eliciting conversation without restricting language was possible with seven people with aphasia in Johannesburg, and participants mostly used isiZulu and English.
It is an assessment approach, not proof of better diagnosis or therapy.
Key findings
01Eliciting conversation without restricting language was possible with people with aphasia.
02Participants used isiZulu and English in connected speech, with no other languages noted.
03Topic did not appear to systematically affect language use.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
Seven participants were recruited by convenience, so the findings cannot be generalised beyond this small group. The study was descriptive and did not compare translanguaging assessment with usual assessment or measure patient outcomes. Some participants did not complete all tasks and could not reliably report their complete language history. Language samples were short, which is typical of people with aphasia, especially with non-fluent aphasia. Only one multilingual person transcribed the language samples. Generalisability beyond the greater Johannesburg area is limited because language use varies greatly across South Africa.
Declared interests
Funding came from the Professional Staff Congress-City University of New York under grant no. 66488-00-54. No other conflicts of interest are stated in the supplied text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that translanguaging assessment is proven to improve diagnosis or therapy. The study describes seven people with aphasia and does not compare this method with usual assessment or report patient outcomes.