Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 14, 2025
Measuring Statistical Learning Across Modalities and Domains in School-Aged Children Via an Online Platform and Neuroimaging Techniques
Published on: June 30, 2020
Measurement Issues: Assessing language skills in young children
Julie E Dockrell1, Chloë R Marshall1
1Psychology and Human Development, Institute of Education, London, UK.
Background:
Language and communication skills are central to children's ability to engage in social relationships and access learning experiences. This paper identifies issues which practitioners and researchers should consider when assessing language skills. A range of current language assessments is reviewed.
Key Findings:
Current screening measures do not meet psychometric prerequisites to identify language problems. There are significant challenges in the interpretation of language assessments, where socioeconomic status, language status and dialect, hearing impairment and test characteristics impact results.
Conclusions:
Psychometrically sound assessments of language are an essential component of developing effective and efficient interventions. The language trajectories of preschool children vary substantially; current screening measures have significant limitations. Composite measures of language performance are better indicators of language problems and disorders than single measures of component skills.
Related Concept Videos
01:22Language Development
The critical period for language acquisition suggests that the ability to acquire language is at its peak early in life. As people age, this proficiency decreases. Language development begins very...
01:27Language and Cognition
01:23Binet's Contribution to Measures of Intelligence