title: The use of a standardized language assessment tool to measure the language development of urban Aboriginal preschoolers.
abstract: The use of standardized language assessment tools with Australian Indigenous children has been criticized for language and cultural reasons; however, this has not been tested in an urban context. The aim of the study was to explore the language performance of a small sample of urban Aboriginal preschoolers on a standardized language tool compared with a conversational sample. Fifteen participants (drawn from a birth cohort study of over 150 Aboriginal infants born at a metropolitan hospital) completed the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Preschool Edition, Second Edition (CELF-P2) and generated a 30-minute conversational language sample. Descriptive data are reported, and five case studies are explored in detail to compare results of the CELF-P2 and the language sample analysis. Grammatical features of Aboriginal English are also investigated. There was a diverse range of responses to standardized assessment and language sampling, with some samples reflective of CELF-P2 results. Two or more grammatical features of Aboriginal English were identified in 13 of the language samples. The results suggest the CELF-P2 is an appropriate tool to use to assess the language development of the children in the study when used in conjunction with analysis of language samples obtained using culturally appropriate methods.
authors.affiliation: Sydney Local Health District, NSW Health , Sydney , Australia.
authors.forename: Erin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Vana
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Webster
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Knight
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Comino
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007807:Language Tests / Q000592:standards*; D008297:Male; D014505:Urban Population