Urdu Receptive Language Scale (URLS): Modification & development of protocol for administration in Urdu

Area of Science:

• Speech-language pathology
• Developmental psychology
• Psychometrics

Background:

• Assessing receptive language in young children is crucial for early identification of developmental delays.
• Standardized language assessment tools are needed for diverse linguistic and cultural contexts, such as Pakistan.
• The Urdu Receptive Language Scale (URLS) required pretesting for modification and protocol development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To pretest the Urdu Receptive Language Scale (URLS) for modification and to develop a standardized administration protocol.
• To ensure the scale's linguistic appropriateness and cultural relevance for children in Pakistan.
• To establish the psychometric properties of the revised URLS.

Main Methods:

• Exploratory research conducted in Lahore, Pakistan (December 2021-June 2022).
• Pretesting involved literature review, expert review (5 speech-language pathologists), and pilot testing (48 typically developing children aged 0-6 years).
• Analysis utilized Content Validity Ratio (CVR), Content Validity Index (CVI), and Cronbach's alpha.

Main Results:

• 57 out of 59 items were retained, with CVR = 0.99 for most items.
• Content Validity Index (CVI) was 1.0 for retained items, indicating acceptable validity.
• Cronbach's alpha was 0.95, demonstrating high internal consistency. A protocol for administration was finalized.

Conclusions:

• The modified 57-item URLS possesses high validity and internal consistency.
• A suitable protocol for administering the URLS has been developed.
• The revised scale is linguistically appropriate and suitable for broader application across diverse cultural backgrounds in Pakistan.