The Understanding of Complex Syntax in Children From 5 to 9 Years, Using a Novel Assessment Approach - The Test of...

Area of Science:

• Developmental Psychology
• Linguistics
• Child Language Acquisition

Background:

• Complex sentences are vital for academic and social development.
• Understanding of complex syntax is crucial for literacy.
• Limited data exists on children's comprehension of complex sentences.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate English-speaking children's (5-9 years) comprehension of complex syntactic structures.
• To establish a developmental hierarchy for complex syntax understanding.
• To examine the influence of sex and socioeconomic status on syntax development.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the Test of Complex Syntax-Electronic (TECS-E) with a large normative sample (n=600).
• Ensured sample representation across sex, socioeconomic status, and locale in the Republic of Ireland.
• Assessed test-retest reliability, concurrent validity (with TROG-2), and internal consistency of the TECS-E.

Main Results:

• Complex syntax comprehension significantly increases with age between 5 and 9 years, with a key milestone around 7 years.
• Girls outperformed boys, especially between 6 and 7 years.
• Children from disadvantaged backgrounds scored lower, particularly boys, until age 7.
• Performance order was relative clauses > complement clauses > adverbial clauses.

Conclusions:

• The study provides a developmental hierarchy for complex syntax in early school years.
• Identifies interactions between syntactic development, sex, and social disadvantage.
• Offers a reference dataset for identifying and addressing syntactic comprehension gaps in children.