Dockrell Julie E, Forrest Claire L, Law James, Mathers Sandra, Charlton Jenna
Department of Psychology and Human Development, Institute of Education, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.
Front Pediatr. 2022 Apr 25;10:833603. doi: 10.3389/fped.2022.833603. eCollection 2022.
Children aged 3-4 years ( = 876) were recruited from deprived areas in England, and a significant minority of the sample were second language learners. Oral language ability was assessed using child administered standardized measures, and parents reported on children's language. We adapted the Language Use Inventory [LUI; (1)] to capture carer's reports of the children's structural language in the language of instruction and their home language (where appropriate). The final measure included six subscales from the original: use of simple words, requests for help, gaining attention, talking about activities/actions, interactions with others, and building sentences. Children's language abilities and non-verbal abilities were below norms on all standardized tests administered except non-word repetition. Factor analysis indicated that all the six scales of the adapted parent completed measure loaded on one language factor. The revised total scale score correlated significantly ( < 0.0005) with child assessed language measures, specifically expressive vocabulary and grammar. Different patterns across gender, language status and parental education were examined. Sensitivity and specificity of the scale to identify children with the greatest delays were evaluated. These preliminary data indicated that parent-reported information on children's language skills at 3 years of age has the potential to provide a reliable indicator to inform pedagogy and practice at the start of nursery school. Study limitations are examined and avenues for future development explored.
3至4岁的儿童（n = 876）从英国贫困地区招募，样本中有相当一部分是第二语言学习者。使用儿童自主完成的标准化测评工具评估口语能力，并由家长汇报孩子的语言情况。我们对语言使用量表[LUI；(1)]进行了改编，以获取照料者对孩子在教学语言和母语（如适用）中结构语言的汇报。最终测评工具包含了原量表中的六个分量表：简单词汇的使用、寻求帮助、引起注意、谈论活动/行为、与他人互动以及造句。在所有进行的标准化测试中，除了非词重复测试外，儿童的语言能力和非语言能力均低于常模。因素分析表明，经改编后由家长完成的测评工具的所有六个分量表都负载于一个语言因素上。修订后的总量表分数与儿童测评语言指标，特别是表达性词汇和语法，显著相关（p < 0.0005）。研究了性别、语言状况和父母教育程度方面的不同模式。评估了该量表识别延迟最严重儿童的敏感性和特异性。这些初步数据表明，家长汇报的3岁儿童语言技能信息有可能为幼儿园入学之初的教学方法和实践提供可靠指标。研究了本研究的局限性，并探索了未来发展的方向。
