Suitability of vocabulary assessments: Comparing child scores and parent perspectives on communicative inventories for Aboriginal families in Western Sydney

Khamchuang, Chantelle; Jones, Caroline; Gilbert, Emilee; Mattock, Karen; Lam-Cassettari, Christa

doi:10.1080/17549507.2022.2045357

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Anecdotal reports suggest that some organisations have at times used word lists created for other populations, reportedly with a sense of frustration. There is therefore an urgent need for a locallyverified language assessment tool that fairly reflects the physical, language and sociocognitive environments of the children (Angelo, 2013;Cole & Zieky, 2001, p. 40;Khamchuang et al, 2022). This paper reports on the development of a local, empirically-based early childhood vocabulary evaluation tool, a multilingual MacArthur Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI) (Fenson et al, 2007;Fenson et al, 2000)…”

Section: Why Assess Vocabulary?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Even though varieties of English are spoken by children that two of the CDIs aim to accommodate, the concepts expressed in the two varieties show some differences. Similarly,Khamchuang et al (2022) found that Aboriginal speakers of English living in Sydney had higher scores based on ERLI than on OZI-SF, for reasons connected to culture and language -caregivers and children use Aboriginal ways of speaking English with some features that differ from General Australian English. The third notable point is that the Little Kids' Word List and ERLI both accommodate multilingualism, unlike OZI-SF.…”

mentioning

confidence: 93%

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Developing the Little Kids’ Word List app, a fair assessment tool of communicative development for young Aboriginal children in multilingual families in Central Australia

O’Shannessy,

Davis,

Bartlett

et al. 2023

SiLA

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Assessment of the language development of Aboriginal children in Central Australia is a major challenge, because little is known about the children’s language repertoires and paths of development. The Central Australian language context presents a specific challenge for describing what young children are learning and for developing an appropriate vocabulary assessment tool. National Indigenous policies now have a focus on young children’s development, and existing monolingual English language assessment tools are bound to be inaccurate and unfair, either under-reporting knowledge that is present, or under-reporting difficulties children may have. In response, a multilingual ‘spoken’ MacArthur Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI) app, the Little Kids' Word List, has been developed for four of the languages spoken by young children in Central Australia: Eastern & Central Arrernte, Western Arrarnta, Warlpiri and English, and another two languages are being added. The Little Kids’ Word List app has been intentionally designed for fairer language assessments of the speech production and comprehension of young Indigenous children in Central Australia. The development processes explored the complex linguistic contexts, multilingual repertoires and cultural practices of the children’s families. This is reflected in the content and design of the app, making it appropriate for these young Aboriginal children developing their languages knowledge. In contrast to a monolingual English-based tool developed in different cultural settings, the Little Kids’ Word List app can make visible the Central Australian cohort's languages strengths and knowledge base.

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