A new language screening and progress monitoring tool for Cantonese-speaking school-aged children: Initial reliability and validity evidence for the Cantonese Narrative Language Measures – Listening (NLM-Listening) Subtest
Tracks
7
Assessment
Narrative
School age
| Sunday, June 15, 2025 |
| 11:45 AM - 11:55 AM |
| Knowledge Hub | Halls MNO, Ground Level |
Overview
Lok Yi (Flora) Lee
Details
⏫ Rapid impact
⏲️ 11.45am - 11.55am
⌛10-minutes
📚 Assumed knowledge of attendees: Foundational (new/casual familiarity with the topic e.g. treated a single case)
⏲️ 11.45am - 11.55am
⌛10-minutes
📚 Assumed knowledge of attendees: Foundational (new/casual familiarity with the topic e.g. treated a single case)
Presenter
Miss Lok Yi Lee
Skh Yautong Kei Hin Primary School
A new language screening and progress monitoring tool for Cantonese-speaking school-aged children: Initial reliability and validity evidence for the Cantonese Narrative Language Measures – Listening (NLM-Listening) Subtest
11:45 AM - 11:55 AMPresentation summary
Effective language screening and progress monitoring tools are vital in supporting children with language disorders. Cantonese, spoken by over 85.5 million people worldwide (Eberhard et al., 2022) and the fourth most common language other than English in Australia (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2022), requires attention in this context. Despite its global significance, resources for assessing oral language abilities of Cantonese-speaking school-aged children are limited. The only standardized norm-referenced assessment tool, the Hong Kong Cantonese Oral Language Assessment Scale (HKCOLAS; T'sou et al., 2006), was published 18 years ago and is time-consuming, making it impractical for large-scale screening. Currently, no progress monitoring tools exist for Cantonese.
The Narrative Language Measure – Listening (NLM-Listening; Petersen & Spencer, 2016; Spencer et al., 2023), available in English and Spanish, is a validated tool for language screening and progress monitoring. This study aims to adapt and validate the NLM-Listening into Cantonese. NLM-Listening assesses, within 30 minutes, language abilities including narrative discourse, expository discourse, episode complexity, sentence complexity, vocabulary complexity, factual knowledge, inferential word learning, and inferential reasoning. Its parallel forms allow frequent assessment without practice effects, making it ideal for monitoring language progress over time.
Sixteen forms were adapted from the English NLM-Listening into Cantonese to assess L1 Cantonese school-aged children. Children retold each of these stories after listening to them, while examiners followed the standardised procedures and scored using story-specific rubrics as in Spencer et al (2023). Data from 30 second-graders provided initial evidence of validity and reliability for the Cantonese NLM-Listening. Findings show moderate-to-strong concurrent validity based on correlations with HKCOLAS, and moderate-to-strong alternate-form reliability across the 16 forms. Results suggest the Cantonese NLM-Listening is a promising tool for language screening and progress monitoring. Future research may examine its discriminative validity on a larger sample to differentiate children with and without language disorders.
The Narrative Language Measure – Listening (NLM-Listening; Petersen & Spencer, 2016; Spencer et al., 2023), available in English and Spanish, is a validated tool for language screening and progress monitoring. This study aims to adapt and validate the NLM-Listening into Cantonese. NLM-Listening assesses, within 30 minutes, language abilities including narrative discourse, expository discourse, episode complexity, sentence complexity, vocabulary complexity, factual knowledge, inferential word learning, and inferential reasoning. Its parallel forms allow frequent assessment without practice effects, making it ideal for monitoring language progress over time.
Sixteen forms were adapted from the English NLM-Listening into Cantonese to assess L1 Cantonese school-aged children. Children retold each of these stories after listening to them, while examiners followed the standardised procedures and scored using story-specific rubrics as in Spencer et al (2023). Data from 30 second-graders provided initial evidence of validity and reliability for the Cantonese NLM-Listening. Findings show moderate-to-strong concurrent validity based on correlations with HKCOLAS, and moderate-to-strong alternate-form reliability across the 16 forms. Results suggest the Cantonese NLM-Listening is a promising tool for language screening and progress monitoring. Future research may examine its discriminative validity on a larger sample to differentiate children with and without language disorders.
Refrences
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2022, December 1). Cultural diversity: Census, 2021. Retrieved October 5, 2024, from https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/people-and-communities/cultural-diversity-census/2021
Eberhard, D. M., Gary F. S., & Charles D. F. (Eds.). (2024). Ethnologue: Languages of the world. Twenty-seventh edition. Dallas, Texas: SIL International. Online version. Retrieved July 1, 2024, from https://www.ethnologue.com/guides/ethnologue200
Petersen, D. B. & Spencer, T. D. (2016). The CUBED Assessment. Language Dynamics Group, LLC. Www.languagedynamicsgroup.com.
Spencer, T. D., Thompson, M. S., Petersen, D. B., Liu, Y., & Restrepo, M. A. (2023). Reliability and validity evidence for the English and Spanish preschool narrative language measures-listening. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 64, 148–161. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2023.02.005
T’sou, B., Lee, T., Tung, P., Man, Y., Chan, A., To, C. K. S., & Chan, Y. (2006). Hong Kong Cantonese oral language assessment scale. Hong Kong: City University of Hong Kong.
Eberhard, D. M., Gary F. S., & Charles D. F. (Eds.). (2024). Ethnologue: Languages of the world. Twenty-seventh edition. Dallas, Texas: SIL International. Online version. Retrieved July 1, 2024, from https://www.ethnologue.com/guides/ethnologue200
Petersen, D. B. & Spencer, T. D. (2016). The CUBED Assessment. Language Dynamics Group, LLC. Www.languagedynamicsgroup.com.
Spencer, T. D., Thompson, M. S., Petersen, D. B., Liu, Y., & Restrepo, M. A. (2023). Reliability and validity evidence for the English and Spanish preschool narrative language measures-listening. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 64, 148–161. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2023.02.005
T’sou, B., Lee, T., Tung, P., Man, Y., Chan, A., To, C. K. S., & Chan, Y. (2006). Hong Kong Cantonese oral language assessment scale. Hong Kong: City University of Hong Kong.
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Flora is a PhD student in the Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies in Hong Kong Polytechnic University, whose research interest is clinical linguistics, bilingualism and language assessment and interventions. Flora is also a practicing speech therapist in Hong Kong, working with students in local mainstream primary and secondary schools.
Session chair
Dai Pu
Monash University & Little Birds Allied Health
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