Development and Feasibility of a Narrative Dynamic Assessment Task for Multilingual Children

Few feasible, accessible, and valid tools exist to assess the language abilities of multilingual children. Dynamic assessment is an approach that could better equip speech-language pathologists to assess multilingual children and reliably identify developmental language disorder (DLD). The purpose of the current study was to develop a valid narrative dynamic assessment and evaluate the feasibility of its implementation and acceptability.

We developed a novel narrative dynamic assessment (Narrative Dynamic Assessment Task [NDAT]), which we administered to thirty 5- to 6-year-old multilingual children (M_age = 5.58 years). The NDAT included three phases: Test, Teach, and Retest. Examiners scored macrostructural narrative elements based on the Test and Retest phases and rated modifiability based on the Teach phase. We also evaluated the success or failure of implementation, efficiency of implementation, ease of implementation, and examiners' satisfaction in delivering the NDAT.

We developed a complete NDAT protocol with attention to cultural appropriateness, academic relevance, and feasibility for examiners. Examiners administered the NDAT with 100% fidelity in an average of less than 17 min. Participants made significant changes following the Teach phase on targeted story elements but not on nontargeted story elements. Interscorer reliability on the NDAT varied across elements.

Findings suggest that children can make small but meaningful changes in their narrative skills after a short, 10-min lesson and that the NDAT is feasible to implement and acceptable to administer. Further research is needed to refine the NDAT protocol, improve interscorer reliability, and evaluate its use with multilingual children who have DLD.

https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.34735101.