Using the Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives for Evaluating Language Skills in Mandarin-Speaking Children at Early School Ages: Initial Validity
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| Title: | Using the Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives for Evaluating Language Skills in Mandarin-Speaking Children at Early School Ages: Initial Validity |
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| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Huei-Mei Liu, Chia-Yun Hsu, Chung-Lun Tsai, Linda Spencer, Brian Weiler, Ling-Yu Guo (ORCID |
| Source: | Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools. 2025 56(4):1011-1028. |
| Availability: | American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. 2200 Research Blvd #250, Rockville, MD 20850. Tel: 301-296-5700; Fax: 301-296-8580; e-mail: lshss@asha.org; Web site: http://lshss.pubs.asha.org |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 18 |
| Publication Date: | 2025 |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles Reports - Research |
| Education Level: | Elementary Education Early Childhood Education Kindergarten Primary Education Grade 1 Grade 2 |
| Descriptors: | Elementary School Students, Mandarin Chinese, Language Skills, Story Telling, Test Validity, Language Tests, Kindergarten, Grade 1, Grade 2, Language Impairments, Developmental Disabilities, Foreign Countries |
| Geographic Terms: | Taiwan |
| Assessment and Survey Identifiers: | Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children |
| DOI: | 10.1044/2025_LSHSS-24-00150 |
| ISSN: | 0161-1461 1558-9129 |
| Abstract: | Purpose: Using a longitudinal design, the present study evaluated the utility of the picture sequences in the Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives (MAIN) for assessing Mandarin-speaking children's narrative skills from kindergarten through Grade 2 in Taiwan. Method: Participants were 27 children with typical language (TL) and 22 with developmental language disorder (DLD) from Taiwan. They were followed up from kindergarten through Grade 2 in approximately 12-month intervals. At each time point, children were administered a norm-referenced, standardized language test and completed both story retell and story generation tasks based on two picture sequences from MAIN. Performance on the narrative tasks was assessed using measures of macrostructure (i.e., story structure complexity) and microstructure (i.e., number of different words, mean length of communication units [C-units], percent grammatical C-units). Results: All target measures showed significant developmental changes and differences between the TL and DLD groups. Correlations between the story retell and generation tasks on each measure were significant across grade levels. In addition, correlations between the target narrative measures and language scores from the tests were mostly significant in both elicitation methods at kindergarten and Grade 1, although the correlations were less robust at Grade 2. Conclusions: Narrative measures derived from the MAIN picture sequences, using story retell and generation tasks, may effectively reflect language skills of Mandarin-speaking children in Taiwan from kindergarten to Grade 2. However, caution is warranted when interpreting results at Grade 2 due to reduced correlations between narrative measures and standardized test language scores. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Entry Date: | 2025 |
| Accession Number: | EJ1486619 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| Abstract: | Purpose: Using a longitudinal design, the present study evaluated the utility of the picture sequences in the Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives (MAIN) for assessing Mandarin-speaking children's narrative skills from kindergarten through Grade 2 in Taiwan. Method: Participants were 27 children with typical language (TL) and 22 with developmental language disorder (DLD) from Taiwan. They were followed up from kindergarten through Grade 2 in approximately 12-month intervals. At each time point, children were administered a norm-referenced, standardized language test and completed both story retell and story generation tasks based on two picture sequences from MAIN. Performance on the narrative tasks was assessed using measures of macrostructure (i.e., story structure complexity) and microstructure (i.e., number of different words, mean length of communication units [C-units], percent grammatical C-units). Results: All target measures showed significant developmental changes and differences between the TL and DLD groups. Correlations between the story retell and generation tasks on each measure were significant across grade levels. In addition, correlations between the target narrative measures and language scores from the tests were mostly significant in both elicitation methods at kindergarten and Grade 1, although the correlations were less robust at Grade 2. Conclusions: Narrative measures derived from the MAIN picture sequences, using story retell and generation tasks, may effectively reflect language skills of Mandarin-speaking children in Taiwan from kindergarten to Grade 2. However, caution is warranted when interpreting results at Grade 2 due to reduced correlations between narrative measures and standardized test language scores. |
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| ISSN: | 0161-1461 1558-9129 |
| DOI: | 10.1044/2025_LSHSS-24-00150 |
