Work

Indicators for Building a Norm-Referenced Dataset Based on Conversational Language Samples in Typical Mandarin-speaking Children: An Exploratory Study

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: For proper assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of language disorders in Mandarin children, it is important to have measures that closely track the course of normal development. The current study uses a large collection of spontaneous conversational language samples to track the developmental course of five language measures: mean length of utterance (MLU), the MLU of the five longest utterances (MLU5), vocD, number of repetitions, and number of retracings. We used cross-validation-based linear regression to estimate the relationship between age, gender and each of the five variables derived from the conversational language samples in 101 typically developing Mandarin-speaking children aged 3 to 7. Each of the five measures showed significant age-related effects during the period from age 3 to age 7. As norm-referenced measures of language development in children speaking Mandarin, these developmental data could inform clinical therapists regarding assessments and interventions for children with language disorder or impairment.

Source: SAGE Open

DOI: 10.1177/21582440241239466

Authors: Yibin Zhang, Brian MacWhinney, Jing Zhou

Institutions: East China Normal University, Carnegie Mellon University

Language: English

Topic: Language Development and Disorders

Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,600

Funder: National Social Science Fund of China