Development of a narrative dynamic asessment to evaluate the language learning abilities of multilingual children

Abstract

Introduction: Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) affects 7%-10% of children regardless of the language they speak. Children with DLD have difficulty with a wide range of language skills, including word learning, morphosyntax, and narrative language. Norm-referenced, standardized assessments are the gold standard for diagnosing children with DLD. However, these types of assessments disadvantage children outside the presumed monolingual, white norm. Dynamic assessment is an alternative approach to evaluate a child’s ability to learn language rather than their static language knowledge. Such an approach could better equip speech-language pathologists to reliably diagnose multilingual children with DLD. The purpose of the current study was to examine the initial validity and feasibility of a newly developed narrative dynamic assessment task (NDAT) that uses a Test-Teach-Retest format with graduated prompting. Method: We administered a novel test-teach-retest dynamic assessment to 30, 5- to 6-year old multilingual children (mean age = 5;7). The NDAT included four phases: Pre-test Teaching, Narrative Test Retell, Teach Phase, and Narrative Retest Retell. Trained research assistants transcribed story retells from which we derived macrostructure and microstructure measures for analyses. We also evaluated the feasibility of implementation and examiner acceptability of the NDAT. Results: We conducted descriptive and inferential statistics for two macrostructure and four microstructure variables. Results revealed statistically significant (p < .05) differences between macrostructure measures Test and Retest scores of the Teach Phase targets. Change from Test to Retest on microstructure variables were not found to be statistically significant. Variables that predicted Retest scores are reported. Conclusion: Results of this study provide positive evidence in support of the NDAT and support further evaluation. Findings suggest that children can make small, but meaningful changes in their narrative skills after a short, 10-minute lesson and that the NDAT is feasible to implement and acceptable to administer. Further research is needed to refine the NDAT protocol and to evaluate its use with children who have DLD.