Linguists' Perspectives on the Role of Linguistic Knowledge in Treating Speech and Language Disorders

Abstract

The main purpose of the current research is to find out linguists' opinions regarding the use of linguistic expertise in the treatment of speech and language disorders. The viewpoint of linguists was obtained through a semi-structured interview. 32 linguists were interviewed who were PhDs and PhD candidates from several universities located in the Punjab. Thematic extraction and interview coding were done manually and some NVivo software tools were used to analyze the qualitative data. The results revealed that 25% of linguists believe that the contribution of linguistic knowledge in the treatment of speech and language disorders is very important, whereas 75% believe it to be insignificant. The findings indicate that Pakistani linguists are contributing less to the management of language and speech impairments. Only 3.12% of linguists have stated that they are interested in speech-language difficulties. The study recommends that linguists should learn more about linguistic disabilities and conduct further studies on speech and language disorders.