Norming a Dynamic Assessment of Narrative Language for Diverse School-Age Children With and Without Language Disorder: A Preliminary Psychometric Study

• Main Author: Frahm, Ashley Elizabeth
• Format: Others
• Published: BYU ScholarsArchive 2021
• Subjects: dynamic assessment; narrative language; norm-referenced; language disorder; culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) populations; Education
• Online Access: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/8935; https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=9944&context=etd

The purpose of this study was to investigate preliminary psychometric normative data of an English dynamic assessment of narrative language for a group of diverse school-age students with and without language disorder. This study included 364 diverse students with and without language disorder ranging from kindergarten through 6th grade. Students were confirmed as having a language disorder if they had an existing active IEP for language, and scores below a certain cutoff point on a nonword repetition (NWR) task and the narrative language measure (NLM). English language proficiency was investigated, and students were classified as being a dual language learner (DLL) based on student, teacher, or parent report of diverse home language, and poor performance on an English narrative language assessment. Participants were administered a nonword repetition task (NWR), the Narrative Language Measure (NLM), and the Dynamic Assessment of Oral Narrative Discourse (the DYMOND). Data were analyzed within groups of typically developing students and students with a language disorder to identify statistically different mean modifiability and posttest scores given various demographic factors. Results of this study indicate that modifiability and posttest scores for typically developing students were not found to be statistically different given gender or school location, however, significant differences were noted given grade and level of English proficiency or DLL status. The group of students with a disorder demonstrated no statistically different mean modifiability scores given any demographic factor. Students with a language disorder demonstrated significantly different mean posttest scores given school location and English proficiency and DLL status. Results from this study are consistent with previous dynamic assessment research in demonstrating excellent classification accuracy in culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) populations. Students may benefit from a norm-referenced dynamic assessment of narrative language in order to provide less-biased standardized forms of assessment for CLD populations.