The Loleva Oral and Written Language Test: Psychometric Properties

Abstract

LolEva, a computerized test for ages 3 to 8 years old, identifies issues in the development of skills that can lead to reading acquisition difficulties. Its structure captures two distinct areas: Phonological Awareness (PA, seven subtests: rhyme, identification-addition-omission of syllable and phoneme at the beginning and end of a word), and Initial Reading Competence (IRC, six subtests: reading uppercase and lowercase letters, simple words, complex words, and pseudowords, and word segmentation). With results collected in a sample of 341 children with the target ages and attending public or private schools, the alpha coefficient was .94 for PA, and .92 for IRC. Factor analysis indicated three factors are present (performance on PA and IRC, and word reading times), together explaining 75% of variance, providing evidence to support the construct validity of the test. On the other hand, analysis of variance showed significant differences for year-in-school variable for PA subscale, F(4, 336) = 191.385, p < .001, η2 p = .695, 1-β = 1.0, as well as for IRC subscale, both in number of correct answers, which increased as schooling progressed: F(4, 336) = 197.897, p < .001, η2 p = .702, 1-β = 1.0, and task completion time, which decreased as education progressed: F(4, 335) = 47.048, p < .001, η2 p = .360, 1-β = 1.0. Also, PA repeated measures analysis revealed that was easier Identification than Addition and Omission , F(2, 672) = 31.639, p < .001, η2 p = .086, 1-β = 1.0, syllable-related tasks than phoneme-related task, F(1, 336) = 229.000, p < .001, η2 p = .405, 1-β = 1.0, and syllable or phoneme at the end of the word than at the beginning, F(1, 336) = 59.201, p < .001, η2 p = .150, 1-β = 1.0. Moreover, all items were examined and indexes of difficulty and discrimination were obtained.

Un análisis de las relaciones entre funciones ejecutivas, lenguaje y habilidades matemáticas

“…,3,6,7,9,12,14,17,19,20,21, 23 1. LolEva (Peralbo et al, 2015): Es una prueba informatizada para la evaluación de la conciencia fonológica y la competencia lectora inicial en niños de preescolar y primeros niveles de primaria. Consta de dos subescalas, ambas con buena fiabilidad (α = .94 para la de conciencia fonológica, y α = .92 para la de competencia lectora inicial).…”

Effects of a voice recognition system on phonological awareness and reading skills in Spanish preschool children

“…The experimental group received seven training sessions on the use of VRS. The pre/post-test evaluation of phonological awareness and reading skills was carried out by LolEva, a test in a software format (Peralbo et al, 2015). Our results show a significant improvement in the experimental group in connection with phonemic and syllabic awareness.…”

“…With the purpose that both groups were comparable, it was established as an exclusion criterion not to get a total score less or greater than 1.5 standard deviations in LolEva (a computer application designed to evaluate phonological awareness and reading skills; (Peralbo et al, 2015)). This allows to homogenize the sample in phonological awareness and early reading competence.…”

“…In the study published by Fernández-Amado, Peralbo and Mayor (2005) a detailed description of each task and the selection criteria used for the different items can be seen. The internal consistency of the test is 0.94 for the phonological awareness subscale and 0.92 for early reading skills subscale (Peralbo et al, 2015).…”

“…A computer application called LolEva (Peralbo et al, 2015) was used to evaluate phonological awareness and reading skills. This test consists of two protocols aimed at evaluating -(1) phonological awareness (PA) and (2) early reading competence (RC).…”