Research to Establish the Validity, Reliability, and Clinical Utility of a Comprehensive Language Assessment of Mandarin

Authors

Xueman Lucy Liu, University of Texas at Dallas
Jill de Villiers, Smith CollegeFollow
Chunyan Ning, Tianjin Normal University
Eric Rolfhus, Bethel Hearing and Speaking Training Center
Teresa Hutchings, Bethel Hearing and Speaking Training Center
Wendy Lee, University of Texas at Dallas
Fan Jiang, Shanghai Children's Medical Center Affiliated to Medical School of Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Yi Wen Zhang, Shanghai Children's Medical Center Affiliated to Medical School of Shanghai Jiao tong University

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-2017

Publication Title

Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research

Abstract

Purpose

With no existing gold standard for comparison, challenges arise for establishing the validity of a new standardized Mandarin language assessment normed in mainland China.

Method

A new assessment, Diagnostic Receptive and Expressive Assessment of Mandarin (DREAM), was normed with a stratified sample of 969 children ages 2;6 (years;months) to 7;11 in multiple urban and nonurban regions in northern and southern China. In this study of 230 children, the sensitivity and specificity of DREAM were examined against an a priori judgment of disorders. External validity was assessed using 2 indices of language production for different age groups.

Results

External validity was assessed against spontaneous language indices (correlation range: r = .6–.7; all ps < .01) and narrative indices (overall: r = .45, p < .01). Sensitivity (.73) and specificity (.82) of DREAM are moderate to good using a priori judgment as the standard. The values improved to .95 and .82 when spontaneous language and narratives were added to a priori judgment to define typicality. Divergent validity was moderate with nonlinguistic indices.

Conclusion

DREAM holds promise as a diagnostic test of Mandarin language impairment for children aged 2;6 to 7;11.

Volume

60

Issue

3

First Page

592

Last Page

606

DOI

doi.org/10.1044/2016_JSLHR-L-15-0334

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Rights

Licensed to Smith College and distributed CC-BY under the Smith College Faculty Open Access Policy.

Comments

Peer reviewed accepted manuscript.

Recommended Citation

Liu, Xueman Lucy; de Villiers, Jill; Ning, Chunyan; Rolfhus, Eric; Hutchings, Teresa; Lee, Wendy; Jiang, Fan; and Zhang, Yi Wen, "Research to Establish the Validity, Reliability, and Clinical Utility of a Comprehensive Language Assessment of Mandarin" (2017). Philosophy: Faculty Publications, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/phi_facpubs/42