Tests over time: Evaluating the currency of normative data in a complex multilingual environment

Area of Science:

• Linguistics
• Speech-Language Pathology
• Psycholinguistics

Background:

• Assessing oral language skills presents challenges in multilingual contexts.
• Language policies promoting English and reducing dialectal varieties complicate assessments.
• Rapid language changes further confound accurate language evaluation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the validity of current normative data for an English expressive language screening tool.
• To assess English-Mandarin bilingual Singaporean children using updated language data.
• To explore changes in expressive language skills over time in a multilingual population.

Main Methods:

• Compared spoken English language samples from 101 preschool children with data from 481 children collected in 2002.
• Analyzed expressive vocabulary and morphosyntax scores.
• Examined two primary language groups: English-dominant and Mandarin-dominant.

Main Results:

• Normative data for English-dominant children were found to be current.
• Younger Mandarin-dominant children demonstrated improved test scores in expressive morphosyntax.
• Evidence suggests a shift in English language proficiency among Mandarin-dominant children.

Conclusions:

• English language competency has evolved for Mandarin-dominant children in Singapore, influenced by language policies.
• Standardized language assessments require population-specific and group-specific development for validity and reliability.
• Monitoring normative data and language characteristics over time is crucial for updating language assessments.