Evaluating Bilingual Children's Native Language Abilities in Cote D'Ivoire: Introducing the Ivorian Children's Language Assessment Toolkit for Attié, Abidji, and Baoulé

Few standardized language assessments are adapted to different cultural and linguistic contexts to assess children's first language (L1) abilities. We introduce the Ivorian Children's Language Assessment Toolkit for measuring phonological awareness, vocabulary, oral comprehension, and tone...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied linguistics 2022-12, Vol.43 (6), p.1116-1142
Main Authors: Jasinska, Kaja, Akpe, Yapo Hermann, Seri, Blahoua Axel Debaye, Zinszer, Benjamin, Agui-Kouadio, Rodrigue Yoffo, Mulford, Kelsey, Curran, Erin, Ball, Mary-Claire, Tanoh, Fabrice
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
African Languages
At Risk Students
Benchmarking
Bilingualism
Cultural Differences
Educational Policy
Elementary School Students
Foreign Countries
Intonation
Language Impairments
Language of Instruction
Language Skills
Language Tests
Narration
Native Language
Oral Language
Phonological Awareness
Reading Difficulties
Scores
Standardized Tests
Suprasegmentals
Vocabulary Skills
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Few standardized language assessments are adapted to different cultural and linguistic contexts to assess children's first language (L1) abilities. We introduce the Ivorian Children's Language Assessment Toolkit for measuring phonological awareness, vocabulary, oral comprehension, and tone awareness in the Abidji, Attié, and Baoulé languages of Côte d'Ivoire. Six hundred and three primary-school children (age 4-14) completed language assessments in their L1 and French. The toolkit provided a reliable and comprehensive assessment of children's language abilities. We observed age- and grade-related increases in all subtest scores. Still, children scored higher in their L1 compared to French, highlighting the need for language assessments in a bilingual's two languages to achieve an accurate measure of children's language abilities. The ability to benchmark children's scores relative to age- and grade-norms are discussed in the context of language of instruction education policies as well as the potential use of age- and grade-norms in identifying children with language impairment and/or children who are at risk for reading difficulties due to poor language skills.
ISSN:0142-6001
1477-450X
DOI:10.1093/applin/amac025