Dynamic assessment of multilingual children's word learning.

BACKGROUND: Teachers and clinicians may struggle to provide early identification to support multilingual children's language development. Dynamic assessments are a promising approach to identify and support children's language development. AIMS: We developed and studied a novel word learning task that is dynamic and language neutral. It makes use of multilingual children's abilities to apply language transfer, fast mapping and socially embedded language to the learning of new words. METHODS & PROCEDURES: A total of 26 children attending kindergarten in French participated in this study. Within this group, 13 different home languages were spoken. Children took part in a dynamic assessment task of their word learning that consisted of a test-teach-retest task. Children's scores on this task were compared with their language abilities reported by their parents, amount of language exposure and scores on standardized tests of vocabulary. All tasks were delivered in French. OUTCOMES & RESULTS: Children had higher accuracy for known words as compared with new words in the task, which may suggest transfer of knowledge from their first language. They also showed increased accuracy in identifying and naming the new words across the three trials, suggesting fast mapping of these new vocabulary items. Finally, the scores on the dynamic task correlated to children's vocabulary scores on the standardized tests, but not parent report of language development, or the amount of exposure to the language of school. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS: This novel dynamic assessment task taps into the process of vocabulary learning, but is less influenced by prior language knowledge. Together, these findings provide insight into early word learning by young multilingual children and proposes a conceptual model for identifying strategies to support second language acquisition. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: What is already known on the subject Many barriers exist with regards to assessing the language abilities of multilingual children when a clinician aims to assess their language abilities in both languages. An alternative approach is to measure children's language processing abilities. What this paper adds to existing knowledge A novel dynamic and multilingual task was developed and implemented in this study. This task builds on children's word learning abilities that include cross-language transfer, fast-mapping, and socially imbedded learning. This multilingual task was found to tap into vocabulary learning but was not influenced by prior language knowledge. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? Applying a task that focuses on language processing abilities is a promising strategy to capture language abilities in multilingual children. In addition, the dynamic nature of this tasks allows a clinician to identify scaffolding strategies that best support children's word learning.

Moving Beyond Single Word Acquisition of Speech Sounds to Connected Speech Development With Dynamic Assessment.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to document speech sound development across early childhood from a dynamic assessment (DA) perspective that captures a breadth of linguistic environments using the Glaspey Dynamic Assessment of Phonology (Glaspey, 2019), as well as to provide normative data for speech-language pathologists to compare speech skills when making clinical decisions and provide historical context. Targets of English were evaluated via DA for the (a) age of acquisition in single words; (b) continued development through connected speech; (c) early, mid, and late sequence; and (d) differences between single word and connected speech productions. METHOD: Data were extracted from the reported results of the norming study for the Glaspey Dynamic Assessment of Phonology, which included a representative sample of 880 children ages 3 years to 10;11 (years;months). Comparisons were made with 49 items including multisyllabic words, clusters, and phonemes of English across word positions. RESULTS: Assessment with DA showed that acquisition in single words is nearly complete by age 6 years with a 90% mastery level, and the sequence suggests an Early-13, Mid-16, and Late-14 for items by word position. In connected speech, a wider range of progression is evident from the emergence of sound production at 50%, 75%, and 90% mastery levels with observed changes between ages 3 and 10 years. CONCLUSIONS: Given a DA approach across connected linguistic environments, children continue to progress in their development of speech sounds from early childhood well into their school-age years and for some sounds beyond the age of 10 years. DA challenges the language system to better reflect children's developmental progression.

A multidimensional view of gradient change in velar acquisition in three-year-olds receiving phonological treatment.

The acquisition of phonemes does not occur in an "all or nothing" manner; instead, children gradually acquire dimensions of phonological knowledge. This gradual acquisition of phonemes is explored in the present study by comparing three types of measures taken from speech samples of three preschool-aged girls with a Speech Sound Disorder. The process of acquisition of velar stops was measured during 16 weeks of Cycles based speech treatment. Three types of measures were used to study the gradual acquisition of velar stops: acoustic analyses using voice onset time (VOT) for initial consonants and vowel duration for final consonants, speech adaptability using the Glaspey Dynamic Assessment of Phonology, and phonetic accuracy based on phonetic transcription. The children were assessed prior-to, after 8, and after 16 sessions of treatment based on a modified Cycles approach. At the onset of the study, the children had begun the process of acquiring velar stops. Differences on acoustic measures and speech adaptability measures were observed for velars that were not reflected in the phonetic transcription. The acoustic analyses and the speech adaptability measures were more sensitive and incremental in showing change over time when compared to phonetic transcription, with fewer ceiling and floor effects across the children. Although the individual profiles of gradient change were not simple, the acoustic and adaptability measures provided additional information regarding gradient change, and support our argument that a necessary approach is one that describes multiple dimensions of a child's phonological knowledge.

A multi-dimensional approach to gradient change in phonological acquisition: a case study of disordered speech development.

The purpose of the current study is to document phonological change from a multidimensional perspective for a 3-year-old boy with phonological disorder by comparing three measures: (1) accuracy of consonant productions, (2) dynamic assessment, and (3) acoustic analysis. The methods included collecting a sample of the targets /s, [symbol: see the text], t[symbol: see the text], and d[symbol: see the text]/ produced in single words and repeated over time. The samples were analysed using phonetic transcription and acoustic measures of duration, spectral mean, and spectral variance. A dynamic assessment was administered that showed change in response to cues and linguistic environments using a 15-point scale. The results from the three measures were compared for gradient change and evidence of covert contrasts. In conclusion, gradient change was illustrated across the three measures and contrasts were evident in the child's phonological system. Acoustic measures were most sensitive, followed by dynamic assessment; however, accuracy scores based on phonetic transcription showed little to no change for some targets.