Language Assessment Research Articles

Prenatal to Adulthood: The Responsibility of the Speech-Language Pathologist on the Comprehensive Cleft Palate and Craniofacial Team.

Comprehensive cleft care is an important component when caring for a child with cleft palate with or without cleft lip (CP ± L). Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) serve different capacities on comprehensive cleft palate and craniofacial teams. This tutorial highlights the role of the SLP on the cleft palate and craniofacial team from the prenatal consultation to adulthood. This tutorial emphasizes the importance of collaboration between the cleft team SLP and other professionals on a comprehensive cleft team. Additionally, the tutorial provides education for feeding infants with CP ± L and focuses on assessment and treatment of children with CP ± L before and after the palate repair. Finally, this tutorial underscores the importance of working as part of and collaborating with interdisciplinary team members. SLPs are an essential member of comprehensive cleft teams in addition to other medical providers. SLPs play a critical role on these multidisciplinary teams and are fundamental to the assessment and treatment of feeding, speech, language, and resonance disorders in children with CP ± L. It is critical that SLPs are involved in comprehensive cleft team care from the prenatal consultation through adulthood to monitor resonance, speech, and language development and outcomes.

The interpretation-use argument- the essential ingredient for high quality assessment design and validation.

There is increasing interest in health professions education (HPE) in applying argument-based validity approaches, such as Kane's, to assessment design. The critical first step in employing Kane's approach is to specify the interpretation-use argument (IUA). However, in the HPE literature, this step is often poorly articulated. This article provides guidance on developing the IUA using a worked example involving a workplace performance assessment tool. In developing the IUA, we have drawn inspiration from approaches used in the discipline of language assessment to situate the inferences, warrants and assumptions in the context of the assessment tool. The worked example makes use of Toulmin's model of informal logic/argumentation as a framework to structure the IUA and presents Toulmin diagrams for each inference such that the reader can connect the argument chain together. We also present several lessons learned so the reader can understand the issues we grappled with in developing the IUA. A well laid out IUA allows the argument to be critiqued by others and provides a framework to guide collection of validity evidence, and therefore is an essential ingredient in the work of assessment design and validation.

PISA-Based Assessment Instrument In Javanese Language Learning Grade VIII

This study aims to develop and evaluate PISA based assessment tools for Javanese language learning grade VIII. This research used the research and development (RD) method with the ADDIE model including the stages of analysis, design, development, validation and testing, and media evaluation. PISA-based standard media for evaluating Javanese language learning were developed using the WordPress application and evaluated by a material expert, a media expert, and teachers of Javanese language. The data were collected using questionnaires and analyzed descriptively. The results of the study show that the quality of the assessment media was highly rated by material experts (87.90%), media experts (100%) and Javanese language teachers (100%). Students' opinions on the Javanese language assessment tool were also very positive (85.76%). Overall, the average rating of media quality was 93.42% categorized as Very Good. This research makes a significant contribution to the development of PISA-based evaluation media for Javanese language learning.

The Impact of Face Mask Use on Research Evaluations of 5-7 Year-Old Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder.

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the nature of clinical research assessments. Little is known about the impact of face mask use on research assessments for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study reports on tolerability of face mask use, child characteristics associated with tolerability, and the impact of face mask use on researcher ASD diagnostic certainty ratings. This paper describes results from a larger study of children who were clinically diagnosed with ASD in early childhood and were re-evaluated at age 5-7years. Research diagnostic evaluations were conducted from 2018 to 2022 and included cognitive, language, and social-communication assessment. A research psychologist completed a rating scale on the potential impact of face mask use on research assessment diagnostic certainty for a subset of participants (n = 60) who were evaluated during the COVID-19 pandemic. The mean age of study participants was 6.2years. Face masks were tolerated throughout the assessment for 40 children (66.7%); part-time for 13 (21.6%); and not tolerated for 7 (11.6%). Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) suggested that children who did not tolerate a face mask had significantly lower cognitive [F(2, 59) = 13.241, p < 0.001] and communication [F(2, 59) = 13.639, p < 0.001] scores compared to children who wore their mask for all or part of the visit. For 88% of research assessments, research staff indicated that face mask use had "no impact" on overall assessment results. Face mask use during clinical research assessment was not reported by research staff to significantly impact their ability to complete ASD evaluations.

Accurately Identifying Language Disorder in School-Age Children Using Dynamic Assessment of Narrative Language.

Several studies have demonstrated that dynamic assessment can be a less biased, valid approach for the identification of language disorder among diverse school-age children. However, all prior studies have included a relatively small number of participants, which is generally not adequate for psychometric research. This is the first large-scale study to (a) examine whether a dynamic assessment of narrative language yields indifferent outcomes regardless of several demographic variables including age, race/ethnicity, multilingualism, or gender; (b) examine the sensitivity and specificity of the dynamic assessment of language among a large sample of students with and without language disorder; and (c) identify specific cut-points by grade to provide clinically useful data. Participants included 634 diverse first- through fifth-grade students with and without language learning disorder. Students were confirmed as having a language disorder using a triangulation technique involving several sources of data. A dynamic assessment of narrative language, which took approximately 10 min, was administered to all students. Results indicated that the dynamic assessment had excellent (> 90%) sensitivity and specificity and that modifiability scores were not meaningfully different across any of the demographic variables. The dynamic assessment of narrative language accurately identified language disorder across all student demographic groups. These findings suggest that dynamic assessment may provide less biased classification than traditional, static forms of assessment.

Increasing frequency of therapy by software-based treatment of naming ability in people with aphasia: a preliminary study

This study aimed to explore the effect of new software targeting naming deficits in Turkish-speaking people with aphasia. The study included seven Turkish people with aphasia. These participants took the Aphasia Language Assessment Test (ADD), Turkish Picture-Naming Test (T-RAT), and Technology Familiarity Assessment, and the words for therapy were determined. The selection of categories and words for inclusion in the application was based on the frequency and typicality features. The 12-week speech-language treatment sessions were divided into two sections. During the first six weeks, a speech-language pathologist (SLP) used the software to train people. After the first part, the SLP applied the T-RAT. Participants utilized the software at home in the second part. All participants took the ADD, T-RAT, and Software Evaluation Questionnaire following the second part. Participants’ naming abilities improved in all tests. Both therapy sessions with the SLP and those in which participants used the program independently demonstrated this improvement. Participants also reported high levels of treatment satisfaction. Cueing hierarchy approaches used in the software helped to improve naming skills in people with aphasia (PWA), independent of type, stage, or severity of aphasia. The findings of this study indicate that both sessions directed by an SLP and independent use of the software by participants can positively impact the therapy process with the developed software.

Decolonization of English language assessment for equitable learning: Teachers’ agency perspective

This paper examines the agency of English language teachers in decolonizing assessment practices within their respective school contexts. Employing a phenomenological approach, this study draws on data collected through in-depth interviews with six secondary-level English language teachers from six purposively selected public schools in the Kathmandu Valley. The findings reveal that divergent forms of classroom instruction, normative assessment practices perpetuate epistemic injustice. English language teachers find themselves caught between top-down policies and bottom-up practices, despite their awareness and willingness to transition language assessment from conventional monolingual to plurilingual processes. This constraint hinders their ability to contextualize assessment according to learners' diversities and needs. The situation underscores the persistence of colonial-sounding practices, such as normative standards in assessment, necessitating teachers' full autonomy in assessment design and implementation to advance decolonization efforts in assessment and pedagogy. These findings significantly affect future policy initiatives in English language teaching in Nepal, particularly concerning the assessment integrated with pedagogical practices.

Availability and use of child language assessment tools in Bangladesh

Availability and use of child language assessment tools in Bangladesh

Comprehensive Approach to Speech and Language Assessment in Recurrent Meningioma: A Case Study

Meningioma is a tumor that arises from the meninges - the membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord. It compresses the adjacent brain tissues, nerves and vessels, leading to changes in vision, loss of smell, headaches, hearing loss or ringing in the ears, memory loss, seizure and most importantly communication difficulty. It affects mainly the elderly above the age of 60, at a female: male ratio of 3:2. Recurrence and progression are well known and are frequent characteristics of meningiomas. The present study aimed to perform a comprehensive approach to speech and language assessment in a case with recurrent meningioma. A case reported following postsurgical recurrent meningioma in the left parietal temporal area, exhibiting symptoms of language, speech and swallowing difficulty associated with a weakness in the left upper and lower limb. The evaluation process from a speech and language perspective involved perceptual and instrumental assessment of cognition, communication and swallowing using tests and tools. The case was found to have comorbid disorders of nonfluent aphasia associated with neuro cognitive deficit, mild dysphagia, mild dementia and dysarthria of speech. Though the presence of language and speech disorders in case of recurrent meningioma is not common, the severity of the disorder may lead to severe communication deficit. Assessing and interpreting an individual's communication ability involves the integration of a variety of information collected in the evaluation process. Keywords: Recurrent meningioma, dysphagia, aphasia, dysarthria

Eye-Gaze Training Does Not Impact Performance on a Nonverbal Test of Reading Abilities for Children with Special Educational Needs

AbstractMany individuals in special education have difficulty with language, and little is known about their reading abilities due to challenges presented for assessment. A nonverbal word recognition test based was developed by Measuring the word recognition abilities of children who are (2019), which proved more sensitive than traditional reading tests. The current Experiment 1 replicated that result for children in special education, and noted that the modified reading test was especially sensitive for those who do not score well in traditional versions of reading and language assessments. However, removing the motor response required by the digitised response, in favour of using eye-tracking responses, did not aid assessment of reading performance. Experiment 2 tested the notion that it could be that participants unfamiliar with use of eye gaze tracking facilities may not respond well to such a test. Reading scores for two groups of pupils in special education were compared: a group who took part in ‘primer activities’ designed to encourage familiarity with eye gaze tracking, and a group who received no such intervention. There was no impact of eye gaze training on the results of the eye-gaze modulated modified nonverbal reading test, suggesting that manual responses are the most effective way of assessing word recognition.

Cerebello-Cerebral Resting-State Functional Connectivity in Poststroke Aphasia.

Introduction: The influence of the cerebellum in poststroke aphasia recovery is poorly understood. Despite the right cerebellum being identified as a critical region involved in both language and cognitive functions, little is known about functional connections between the cerebellum and bilateral cortical hemispheres following stroke. This study investigated the relationship between chronic poststroke naming deficits and cerebello-cerebral resting-state functional connectivity (FC). Methods: Twenty-five cognitively normal participants and 42 participants with chronic poststroke aphasia underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. Participants with aphasia also underwent language assessment. We conducted regions of interest (ROI)-to-ROI analyses to investigate the FC between the right cerebellar Crus I/II (seed ROI; Cereb1r/Cereb2r) and bilateral cortical language regions and compared these results to cognitively normal controls. Single-subject connectivity parameters were extracted and used as independent variables in a stepwise multiple linear regression model associating Boston Naming Test (BNT) score with FC measures. Results: FC analyses demonstrated correlations between the right cerebellar Crus I/II and both left and right cortical regions for both cognitively normal controls and stroke participants. Additionally, aphasia severity and lesion load had an effect on the cerebello-cerebral network connectivity in participants with aphasia. In a stepwise multiple linear regression, controlling for aphasia severity, time poststroke and lesion load, FC between the right Cereb2-left Cereb1 (standardized beta [std B]= -0.255, p < 0.004), right Cereb2-right anterior MTG (std B = 0.259, p < 0.004), and the right Cereb2-left anterior STG (std B = -0.208, p < 0.018) were significant predictors of BNT score. The overall model fit was R2 = 0.786 (p = 0.001). Conclusion: Functional connections between the right cerebellum and residual bilateral cerebral hemisphere regions may play a role in predicting naming ability in poststroke aphasia.

NCOG-22. ELDER AGE INSTEAD OF LOW EDUCATION PREDICTS POOR LANGUAGE FUNCTION IN RECURRENT LEFT HEMISPHERIC DIFFUSE GLIOMA PATIENTS

Abstract PURPOSE Language processing is multifactorial, requiring interactions between cognitive functions and connections of cerebral cortexes and subcortical fibers in dominant hemisphere. Previously, we identified distinct patient factors and tumor characters influencing language performance in treatment-naïve diffuse glioma. In this study, we aimed to investigate predictive factors between treatment-naïve and recurrent patients with diffuse glioma. MATERIALS AND METHODS Grade 2 to 4 diffuse glioma patients who underwent awake surgery with completed preoperative language assessment were included. The Chinese version of the short-form Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination (sfBDAE) was used for language testing. Patient age, sex, education level, tumor grade, language pathway involvement, T1 contrast enhanced (C+), and FLAIR (T2) volume were selected as variables. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis were used on language function impairment. The statistical significance was defined as a p-value less than 0.05 by SPSS20.0. RESULTS 50.7% of all awake surgeries (112 of 221) in 171 patients had repeated operations in the retrospective cohort. Comparing to treatment-naïve patients, patients with recurrent tumor had higher academic year (p=0.016), more subventricular zone invasion (p=0.03), and more subcortical language pathway involvement (p=0.035), whereas showed no difference on language performance. In language function analysis, low education was the sole predictive factor for poor language function in treatment-naïve patients. In sharp contrast with low education, elder age factor was exclusively correlated with poor language function in recurrent patients. Furthermore, times of craniotomy was also an independent predictive factor in recurrent group. CONCLUSIONS Neurocognitive reserve is considered a protective factor against brain damage. Both age and education level are critical factors for cognitive reserve. Whether the phenomenon of a distinct and mutually exclusive patient factor affecting language function between treatment-naïve and recurrent diffuse glioma patients could be explained by the model of cognitive reserve necessitate more study.

Persistence of the developmental language disorder diagnosis, neurodevelopmental trajectories and attendance at offered interventions.

To study the diagnostic stability of developmental language disorders, other neurodevelopmental disorders and interventions received until age 6 years in children who screened positive for language delay, but not for autism, at age 2.5 years. In 2016, in Gothenburg, Sweden, 100 monolingual or multilingual children underwent language assessment at a mean age of 2.9 years. At age 6 years, 85 of these children underwent language assessment. A review of paediatric records was performed after the clinical assessment to obtain information about other neurodevelopmental disorders and interventions received. At age 6 years, 74/85 (87%) of the children had persistent language disorders, and 20/85 (24%) had been diagnosed with at least one additional neurodevelopmental disorder. Five of them had autism. In general, families only attended half of the offered intervention sessions irrespective of intervention type and no difference between monolingual and multilingual families was found. The persistence of language disorder and the presence of later additional neurodevelopmental disorders highlight the importance of longitudinal and multidisciplinary monitoring of children with delayed language development. Further studies and analyses are warranted to investigate the reasons behind the poor attendance rate for interventions offered.

“It's Just a Hot Mess”: Supporting Teacher Praxis to Challenge Barriers for Multilingual Learners

ABSTRACTThis paper examines a professional learning (PL) program for upper elementary teachers focused on developing instructional practices to support multilingual learners (MLLs) in science. The PL sought to support teachers' praxis, which we describe as their sense of agency to critically analyze and take action against barriers to MLLs’ opportunities to learn. We analyzed pre‐PL interviews with teachers to identify the ways that they framed MLLs from asset‐ and deficit‐based perspectives and the barriers that they identified that undermine MLLs' science learning. Then, we analyzed the extent to which the teachers' participation in the PL shifted their framing of MLLs and fostered their sense of agency to challenge the barriers faced by MLLs. We found that teachers shifted toward more asset‐based views of students' existing language resources and deepened their sense of agency to employ scaffolds that engage these resources in their own instructional practice. However, teachers continued to surface barriers in their organizational contexts, including the emphasis placed on standardized language assessments and the misalignment between English language instruction and science learning. Our analysis shows that the PL did not adequately support teachers in navigating these particular institutional barriers. Based on our analysis, we argue that teachers and science education researchers should expand their focus beyond teachers’ instructional practices and work together to remove barriers for MLLs in the larger organizational systems of schooling.

Automatic Screening for Children with Speech Disorder Using Automatic Speech Recognition: Opportunities and Challenges

Speech is a fundamental aspect of human life, crucial not only for communication but also for cognitive, social, and academic development. Children with speech disorders (SD) face significant challenges that, if unaddressed, can result in lasting negative impacts. Traditionally, speech and language assessments (SLA) have been conducted by skilled speech-language pathologists (SLPs), but there is a growing need for efficient and scalable SLA methods powered by artificial intelligence. This position paper presents a survey of existing techniques suitable for automating SLA pipelines, with an emphasis on adapting automatic speech recognition (ASR) models for children’s speech, an overview of current SLAs and their automated counterparts to demonstrate the feasibility of AI-enhanced SLA pipelines, and a discussion of practical considerations, including accessibility and privacy concerns, associated with the deployment of AI-powered SLAs.

“I could learn more words”: Involving stakeholders in defining L2 English reading constructs in diagnostic and dynamic assessment

There has been a growing effort to combine two L2 (second/foreign language) assessment frameworks that aim to promote student learning but have different theoretical roots – diagnostic and dynamic assessment. This paper focuses on identifying and operationalising L2 English reading constructs in such a novel assessment framework. We will argue that constructs in this assessment framework should include a view of how they develop and, ultimately, actions that should be taken to guide this development. Focusing on the data from teachers (n=43) and learners (n=725) but also Matriculation Examination item writers and raters (censors; n=22), we propose a procedure for defining and operationalising assessed constructs that combines their theoretical understanding and conceptions, understandings, and actions by these stakeholders. We discuss these data with reference to how constructs and their development are understood in the two assessment frameworks.

A generative AI-driven interactive listening assessment task.

Assessments of interactional competence have traditionally been limited in large-scale language assessments. The listening portion suffers from construct underrepresentation, whereas the speaking portion suffers from limited task formats such as in-person interviews or role plays. Human-delivered tasks are challenging to administer at large scales, while automated assessments are typically very narrow in their assessment of the construct because they have carried over the limitations of traditional paper-based tasks to digital formats. However, computer-based assessments do allow for more interactive, automatically administered tasks, but come with increased complexity in task creation. Large language models present new opportunities for enhanced automated item generation (AIG) processes that can create complex content types and tasks at scale that support richer assessments. This paper describes the use of such methods to generate content at scale for an interactive listening measure of interactional competence for the Duolingo English Test (DET), a large-scale, high-stakes test of English proficiency. The Interactive Listening task assesses test takers' ability to participate in a full conversation, resulting in a more authentic assessment of interactive listening ability than prior automated assessments by positing comprehension and interaction as purposes of listening. The results of a pilot of 713 tasks with hundreds of responses per task, along with the results of human review, demonstrate the feasibility of a human-in-the-loop, generative AI-driven approach for automatic creation of complex educational assessments at scale.

Fundamental Considerations in Technology Mediated Language Assessment (Book Review)

Computer-based testing has been widely used across many testing environments, serving both high-stakes and low-stakes contexts. Its global use calls for the language assessment community’s attention to reevaluate some fundamental issues, in particular the extent to which these test scores are reliable, consistent, and meaningful. In light of these needs, Sadeghi and Douglas’s recently published edited volume Fundamental Considerations in Technology-Mediated Language Assessment provides a timely treatment on this topic, exploring not only critical issues in computer-based testing but also topics related to the implementation of technology in other aspects of language assessment. This book will appeal to a broader audience beyond just professionals in the field of language assessment because it offers research-based and theoretical-based knowledge for professionals, teachers, and policymakers interested in exploring and developing computer-based tests. [First Paragraph of Review]

Comparative accuracy of Mini-Linguistic State Examination, Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination, and Depistage Cognitif de Quebec for the diagnosis of primary progressive aphasia.

Clinical diagnosis in primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is challenging. Recently, emphasis has been placed on the importance of screening evaluation. Three different screening tests that use different strategies based on the assessment of language (Mini-Linguistic State Examination, MLSE) or different cognitive domains (Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination, ACE-III and Dépistage Cognitif de Québec, DCQ) have been proposed and independently validated. These tests aim to detect PPA and classify into the three main variants (non-fluent (nfvPPA), semantic (svPPA) and logopenic (lvPPA)). This study aims to evaluate and compare the diagnostic capacity of these three instruments in PPA. A cross-sectional study including 43 patients with PPA (nfvPPA (n = 19), svPPA (n = 8), and lvPPA (n = 16)) and 21 cognitively unimpaired controls was conducted. Clinical diagnoses were established based on an extensive multidisciplinary assessment including neuropsychological assessment, fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography, MRI, and cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers. Both PPA patients and controls completed the three tests (MLSE, ACE-III, and DCQ). Internal consistency was excellent for the three tests. The area under the curve for the diagnosis of PPA was 0.950 for MLSE, 0.953 for ACE-III, and 0.933 for DCQ. Correlations between the three tests were high. The MLSE, ACE-III, and DCQ tests obtained adequate levels of discrimination between the variants of PPA, with accuracies between 76-79%. This study confirms the validity of ACE-III, MLSE, and DCQ for the diagnosis of PPA and its variants. This suggests that detailed assessment of linguistic characteristics (MLSE) and non-linguistic features (DCQ, ACE-III) are relevant for the diagnosis and classification of PPA.

Dissociation of White Matter Bundles in Different Recovery Measures in Poststroke Aphasia.

Poststroke aphasia (PSA) recovery shows high variability across individuals and at different time points. Although diffusion biomarkers from the ventral and dorsal streams have demonstrated strong predictive power for language outcomes, it is still unclear how these biomarkers relate to the various stages of PSA recovery. In this study, we aim to compare diffusion metrics and language measures as predictors of language recovery in a longitudinal cohort of participants with PSA. Participants were recruited at a stroke unit at the emergency room, and underwent diffusion magnetic resonance imaging scanning and language assessment within 3 days (acute phase) after stroke, with behavioral follow-ups at subacute (10±3 days) and chronic phases (>6 months). We conducted regression analyses on language performance (cross-sectional), Δscores between all time points (acute-subacute, subacute-chronic, acute-chronic), and relative Δscores between all time points (Δscore/language baseline score), with acute diffusion metrics from language-related white matter tracts, lesion size, language baseline scores, and demographic data as predictors. Thirty-nine participants presenting PSA were recruited, and 24 participants (mean age, 73 years; 8 women) completed the 3-time point assessment in total. The best prediction model of performance scores used axial diffusivity from the left arcuate fasciculus in both the subacute (R2=0.785) and chronic stages (R2=0.626). Moreover, the prediction of ∆scores depended on axial diffusivity from the left inferior frontal-occipital fasciculus in the subacute stage (R2=0.5) and depended additionally on axial diffusivity from the right inferior frontal-occipital fasciculus in the chronic stage (R2=0.68). The prediction of mediation analyses showed that the lesion load of the left arcuate fasciculus mediated the relationship between axial diffusivity from the left arcuate fasciculus and chronic language performance. Language performance at subacute and chronic time points could be predicted by the integrity of the left arcuate fasciculus, whereas Δscores in the subacute and chronic phases depended on the left inferior frontal-occipital fasciculus, showing a dissociation of the white matter pathways about language outcomes. These results suggest a functional differentiation of the dual-stream components in PSA recovery.