Instrument adaptation for measuring early child language development across multilingual and sociocultural diverse...

Area of Science:

• Psycholinguistics
• Developmental Psychology
• Sociolinguistics

Background:

• The MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI) is a crucial tool for assessing early language development.
• Adaptations are needed to capture linguistic diversity in understudied populations.
• South Africa presents a unique context with 11 official languages from diverse families.

Purpose of the Study:

• To adapt the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI) for 11 official South African languages.
• To create cross-linguistically comparable instruments for early language development research.
• To address the need for culturally and linguistically appropriate assessment tools in diverse settings.

Main Methods:

• A common protocol was used to develop cross-linguistically comparable CDIs.
• Item construction and harmonization across languages were key methodological aspects.
• Sociodemographic data collection considered different cultural contexts.

Main Results:

• Successfully adapted the CDI for 11 South African languages, spanning West Germanic and southern Bantu families.
• Established methods for item harmonization and cross-linguistic comparability.
• Detailed discussion of challenges and solutions in adapting instruments in understudied contexts.

Conclusions:

• The adapted CDIs provide valuable tools for research on early child language development in South Africa.
• Highlights critical considerations for instrument development in diverse linguistic and cultural settings.
• Enhances the capacity for cross-linguistic research on language acquisition in a broader range of languages.