CD 655: Language Sample and Narrative Analysis
Edith Arias
San Francisco State University

Mean Length Utterance (MLU)
In the language sample analysis obtained from a 10.9 years old girl, Stephanie, the total number of morphemes was 1,348. The formula for determining the MLU is
1,348 (total number of morphemes)  100 (total number of utterances). Therefore, the mean length utterance calculated for this sample was MLU=13.48.
According to the MLU, Stephanie’s stage of development is post Stage V.
Morphological Development
Stephanie’s morphological development is post Stage V, mostly because of her age (10.9 years old) and appropriate acquisition of general morphologic rule. She shows mastery of Brown’s Fourteen Morphemes as one analyzes her language production.
Examples of these fourteen morphemes are: 1) Use of present progressive in utterance
#2, “Well, my fifth grade year has been very exciting.” 2) The use of prepositions in, for example in utterance #5, “I would always want to wake up early in the morning.” 3) The use of on, like in utterance #26, “…we do our problem of the day on the board.” 4) Use of regular plural by adding –s at the end, like in utterance #71, “…since my friend Kayla rides home with me everyday…” 5) Use of irregular past tense, like in utterances #94,
“…I chose the flute…” 6) The use of possessive marker (‘s) is mastered at 26 to 40 months old. Therefore, even though there is not one example in the present sample it is assumed that she has mastered it. 7) The use of to be as the main verb called copula, for example in utterance #30, “…we are always doing work…” 8) Use of articles (a/the) in

utterances #19, “…we actually watch a video before it.” 9) The use of regular past tense
–ed, like in utterance #15, “…we haven’t exactly watched a movie…” 10) The use of regular third person –s, as in forms /s/,/z/,/lz/ as in regular verbs. For example, in utterance #90, “… he like asks my mom for questions all the time.” 11) Use of irregular third person (have, do), like in utterance #79, “… when she goes with her dad…” 12) Use of uncontractible auxiliary (to be as main verb), like in utterance #31, “It is called reteaching…” 13) Use of contractible copula (to be as main verb), like in utterance #86,
“…I’m a sixth grader.”14) Use of contractible auxiliary (to be as main verb), like in utterance #46, “…there’s going to be four groups of three...” Also, there are other morphemes produce like auxiliary verb in utterance #33, “…if we all don’t get it…”; adjective suffix in utterance #91, “So, I feel is gonna be harder.”; noun suffixes in utterance #96, “…he is a middle school band teacher.”
Sentence-Form Development
The different types of noun phrases produce are simple phrases, as in utterance #45,
“They spread out in groups.” Then, more elaborated phrases, like in utterance #94, “…I chose the flute ‘cause it’s really peaceful…” Also, phrases with relative clauses like in utterance #60, “..sometimes I don’t get a good breakfast because I am rushing.”
Verb Phrase Development
The types of verbs produce in Stephanie’s sample are several. There are copula verbs in utterance #22, “…we’re gonna do a lesson” and utterance #63, “…I hafta be ready at
7:10…” The auxiliary verbs, like in utterance #26, “…we do the problem of the day on the board.” The modal auxiliary verb, for example in utterance #5, “I would always want

to see my friends…” Also, the regular past tense verb like in utterance #15, “…we haven’t exactly watched a movie…” and the irregular past tense verb like in utterance
#14, “…what people did in that time.”
Sentence Types
The types of sentences produce in the sample are declarative, for example in utterance
#5, “I would always want to wake up early in the morning.” And negative sentence, like in utterance #61, “…I don’t exactly enjoy it.” Also, embedding like in utterance #88, “I definitely know that it’s gonna be harder.”
Conclusion
Stephanie is in the highest development stage because she has mastered the rank order of language language acquisition for her age level. Even though, she is still not at an adult level, compared with stage V children she is well above the mastering of language.
However, it is important to note that she still often uses the copula verbs and start sentence with and. These also show how she is still developing towards the adult level.
Type of Narrative
Stephanie’s type of narrative is Recount because she was asked to tell her experience about taking a test at school. It is not a self-generated narrative (account) because it was not a spontaneous narrative, she was asked to retell her experience as it is in recount.
Organizational Pattern of Narrative

The narrative was topic centered on the experience she had taking her STAR test at school. She begins with the experience early, stating that “…in the morning I got to school...”, then, she gives details of what she did. She moves to her thoughts before taking the test and then how the test was taken, “…she handed out our test booklets and our answer sheets and gave us number two pencils, two of them…” At the end she explains that she went with her friends to recess. Her narrative follows a relationship between events and the sequence in how they happened all center in the test taking topic.
Narrative Level
The narrative level was appropriate with her age and had a time-based event chains.
Stephanie’s narrative stated in the morning and she explained with detail her experience about talking with her friend about taking the test, “we were all worried and talking about…STAR testing.” Then, she explains the time that her bell rings at school,
“..our school starts at 8:30 and our bell rings at 8:25…” She says that they got a snack before the test and explains how the test was taken. She then, gives the amount of minutes “we waited 25 minutes” that they had as a break. And she ends with them going out to recess.
Event Structure
The structure of the narrative was focused and had a causal chain. Her complete narrative was about the test taking experience and the details that accompanied it. She explained the actions taken in order to take the test and even expressed the mental state, “…we were all very worried…” She also explained the intentions by saying “…it’s

going to be harder because we’re at the top and we learn more things than other students.” At the same time she explained the causal chain of event in order to take the test in a given day.
Story Grammar Components
Her story grammar starts by introducing her topic and setting, “today was our first day of STAR testing…” and “today at my school…” She explains how the initiation of the test was. She also tells the internal response, “we were very worried…” She goes and explains the internal plan, ““…she handed out our test booklets and our answer sheets and gave us number two pencils, two of them…” She explains their attempts, “she gave us instructions…” and “…when we finished…” Then, she gives direct consequence, “we would color …or we would read…” And lastly the direct consequence, “And then, we waited 25 minutes until recess.” And “during recess…we play.”
Structural Properties
The narrative has a the structural property of a complex episode because it contains a goal-oriented behavioral sequence that consists of a consequence statement, “today was our first day of STAR testing…” and “we are all very worried about the science part…” Then, it has the initiation of the event, “she handed out our test booklets…” and internal response, “we had 85 minutes to do the test…” and “…after, we finished, we would read…” Also, it has expansion of the complete episode, like “we waited 25 minutes until recess. And then, during recess…we went to play.”
Conclusions

Stephanie’s narrative development level is considered mature and appropriate for her age level because she is able to use the story grammar in her narrative. She is also able to produce a complex episode with details and add expansion to her episode. Her narrative follows a chain of events which complement each other and also events that include causal chain with a beginning, a problem, a plan to overcome the problem and a resolution.