A method to develop vocabulary checklists in new languages and their validity to assess early language development

• Published in: Journal of health, population and nutrition Vol. 37; no. 1; p. 13
• Main Authors: Prado, Elizabeth L, Phuka, John, Ocansey, Eugenia, Maleta, Kenneth, Ashorn, Per, Ashorn, Ulla, Adu-Afarwuah, Seth, Oaks, Brietta M, Lartey, Anna, Dewey, Kathryn G
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bangladesh icddr,b 11-05-2018; BioMed Central Ltd; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Children; Concurrent validity; Cross-cultural assessment; Developmental assessment; Health aspects; Language acquisition; Language and languages; Low- and middle-income countries; Pediatric research; Predictive validity; Tests, problems and exercises; Malawi; Ghana; Cross-cultural assessment; Low- and middle-income countries; Developmental assessment; Predictive validity; Concurrent validity
• ISSN: 1606-0997; 2072-1315; 2072-1315
• DOI: 10.1186/s41043-018-0145-1

Background: Since the adoption of United Nations' Sustainable
Goal 4.2 to ensure that all children have access to quality early child
development (ECD) so that they are ready for primary education, the
demand for valid ECD assessments has increased in contexts where they
do not yet exist. The development of early language ability is
important for school readiness. Our objective was to evaluate the
validity of a method to develop vocabulary checklists in new languages
to assess early language development, based on the MacArthur-Bates
Communicative Development Inventories. Methods: Through asking mothers
of young children what words their children say and through pilot
testing, we developed 100-word vocabulary checklists in multilingual
contexts in Malawi and Ghana. In Malawi, we evaluated the validity of
the vocabulary checklist among 29 children age 17-25 months
compared to three language measures assessed concurrently:
Developmental Milestones Checklist-II (DMC-II) language scale, Malawi
Developmental Assessment Tool (MDAT) language scale, and the number of
different words (NDW) in 30-min recordings of spontaneous speech. In
Ghana, we assessed the predictive validity of the vocabulary checklist
at age 18 months to forecast language, pre-academic, and other skills
at age 4-6 years among 869 children. We also compared the
predictive validity of the vocabulary checklist scores to that of other
developmental assessments administered at age 18 months. Results: In
Malawi, the Spearman's correlation of the vocabulary checklist
score with DMC-II language was 0.46 (p = 0.049), with MDAT language was
0.66 (p = 0.016) and with NDW was 0.50 (p = 0.033). In Ghana, the
18-month vocabulary checklist score showed the strongest (rho =
0.12-0.26) and most consistent (8/12) associations with preschool
scores, compared to the other 18-month assessments. The largest
coefficients were the correlations of the 18-month vocabulary score
with the preschool cognitive factor score (rho = 0.26), language score
(0.25), and pre-academic score (0.24). Conclusions: We have
demonstrated the validity of a method to develop vocabulary checklists
in new languages, which can be used in multilingual contexts, using a
feasible adaptation process requiring about 2 weeks. This is a
promising method to assess early language development, which is
associated with later preschool language, cognitive, and pre-academic
skills.