10 results on '"Villiers, Jill de"'
Search Results
2. The Development of a Parent Report Instrument of Early Communication and Language Skills of Infants and Toddlers in Mainland China
- Author
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Liu, Xueman Lucy, Lee, Wendy, Rolfhus, Eric, Hutchings, Teresa, Yao, Liqun, Xie, Jingqiu, Xu, Yaqing, Peng, Yongmei, and Villiers, Jill de
- Abstract
Objective: This study was designed to produce a new parent-report measure, the Diagnostic Receptive Expressive Assessment of Mandarin-Infant Toddler Assessment of Communication and Language (DREAM-IT) in order to provide norms for the developmental skills of children aged 0-36 months in four areas: expressive language, receptive language, cognitive play and social skills. Methodology: The scale was designed to be both broader and deeper than existing instruments that neglect one or more of these significant domains involved in early language. Items were chosen by a group of specialists with clinical experience working with the age group and with attention to the developmental literature. Caregivers were tested individually by a trained person who asked the questions and provided examples. In addition to an extensive health questionnaire, caregivers answered questions in Mandarin about their child's behaviour using a scale of 'not yet', 'sometimes' or 'always' or listing out words and/or sounds understood or said by the child. The 476 participating caregivers were recruited at maternal and child healthcare clinics centred in Chengdu, China, 191 of whom were tested a second time seven months later. The children were sampled in three-month age-bands from 0 to 36 months. The sample was balanced for child gender by age band, and parental education was balanced. Caregivers of 0-24-month-old children and caregivers of 12-36 months were each asked a different set of questions, to determine the appropriate age range and cutoff points for each question, requiring the sample size to be doubled for children aged 12-24 months. Results: The results were subject to item-response theory analysis to remove outlying items, and the resulting internal reliability was high for each domain (average Cronbach's alpha=0.87). The final instrument (between 67 and 113 questions in total) was refined to include the least redundant questions that had the highest intercorrelations, with attention paid to coverage of all domains across the age range. Two scales were developed: one for children 0-18 months, the second for children aged 18-36 months. The longitudinal design permitted the creation of growth curves and norms for each domain for six-month intervals from 0 to 36 months. A small sample of 32 parents of children with Down syndrome aged 18-36 months provided validation that the scales are highly sensitive to developmental delay. Conclusion: The instrument shows considerable promise for detecting early communication problems in children in China.
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
3. Why Roma Children Need Language Asessments in Romani
- Author
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Kyuchukov Hristo, Villiers Jill de, and Tabori Andrea Takahesu
- Subjects
roma children ,assessment ,romani ,bilinguals ,Oral communication. Speech ,P95-95.6 ,Psychology ,BF1-990 - Abstract
In this paper we make one major point: that Roma children in Europe need to be tested in their mother tongue before school placement. Roma children are in a particularly perilous position with respect to their education. We describe the problematic linguistic situation of Roma children, who are bilingual and often bidialectal, but are frequently evaluated in the language of the state for educational placement, a process that has been shown to significantly compromise their chance of success. We then review the considerable empirical evidence that bilingual children must be evaluated in both languages to give a fair assessment of their knowledge and skills. Furthermore, strength in the mother tongue has demonstrable transfer to skills in the second language. We provide a brief summary of a new assessment for Romani that has been used successfully to evaluate children aged 3 to 6 years, and present the results of a new study using it in Slovakia on 29 children aged 3 to 6 years.
- Published
- 2017
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
4. The development of a parent report instrument of early communication and language skills of infants and toddlers in mainland China.
- Author
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Liu, Xueman Lucy, Lee, Wendy, Rolfhus, Eric, Hutchings, Teresa, Yao, Liqun, Xie, Jingqiu, Xu, Yaqing, Peng, Yongmei, and Villiers, Jill de
- Subjects
EXPERIMENTAL design ,CAREGIVERS ,RESEARCH evaluation ,RESEARCH methodology ,RESEARCH methodology evaluation ,COGNITION ,LANGUAGE acquisition ,CRONBACH'S alpha ,COMMUNICATION ,PLAY ,BODY language ,SOCIAL skills ,CHILDREN - Abstract
Objective: This study was designed to produce a new parent‐report measure, the Diagnostic Receptive Expressive Assessment of Mandarin‐Infant Toddler Assessment of Communication and Language (DREAM‐IT) in order to provide norms for the developmental skills of children aged 0–36 months in four areas: expressive language, receptive language, cognitive play and social skills. Methodology: The scale was designed to be both broader and deeper than existing instruments that neglect one or more of these significant domains involved in early language. Items were chosen by a group of specialists with clinical experience working with the age group and with attention to the developmental literature. Caregivers were tested individually by a trained person who asked the questions and provided examples. In addition to an extensive health questionnaire, caregivers answered questions in Mandarin about their child's behaviour using a scale of 'not yet', 'sometimes' or 'always' or listing out words and/or sounds understood or said by the child. The 476 participating caregivers were recruited at maternal and child healthcare clinics centred in Chengdu, China, 191 of whom were tested a second time seven months later. The children were sampled in three‐month age‐bands from 0 to 36 months. The sample was balanced for child gender by age band, and parental education was balanced. Caregivers of 0–24‐month‐old children and caregivers of 12–36 months were each asked a different set of questions, to determine the appropriate age range and cutoff points for each question, requiring the sample size to be doubled for children aged 12–24 months. Results: The results were subject to item‐response theory analysis to remove outlying items, and the resulting internal reliability was high for each domain (average Cronbach's alpha=0.87). The final instrument (between 67 and 113 questions in total) was refined to include the least redundant questions that had the highest intercorrelations, with attention paid to coverage of all domains across the age range. Two scales were developed: one for children 0–18 months, the second for children aged 18–36 months. The longitudinal design permitted the creation of growth curves and norms for each domain for six‐month intervals from 0 to 36 months. A small sample of 32 parents of children with Down syndrome aged 18–36 months provided validation that the scales are highly sensitive to developmental delay. Conclusion: The instrument shows considerable promise for detecting early communication problems in children in China. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: What is already known on the subject: In China, efforts were made in recent years to develop language assessments for infants and toddlers, but limitations existed with the domains included and number of items included per age group. Many clinical practitioners also continued to rely on language subtests of general developmental scales, which were limited in depth and breadth of language skills tested and were never intended for diagnosis of language delay. What this paper adds to existing knowledge: This paper discusses the development of a valid caregiver report instrument for early communication and language skills of infants and toddlers in mainland China. The Diagnostic Receptive Expressive Assessment of Mandarin‐Infant Toddler (DREAM‐IT) includes foundational domains necessary for language and communication development in young children (receptive language, expressive language, cognitive play and social communication domains). The results show strong internal reliability (Cronbach's alpha) for each domain on a sample of 716 children sampled in three‐month age bands from 0 to 36 months. The external validity proved strong when tested on a group of 32 young children with Down syndrome. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work?: Besides helping to inform the diagnosis of language delays in infants and toddlers in China, the caregiver report instrument has special features to support clinical practitioners in a field that is just emerging in China. The unique support features include the automatic generation of a profile of relative strengths and weaknesses of the child on the report and the recommendation of child‐specific caregiver coaching videos on a companion app. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
5. The characteristics of spontaneous language in young children identified as language delayed in Mandarin.
- Author
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Liu, Xueman Lucy, Ning, Chunyan, Villiers, Jill de, Lee, Wendy, Rolfhus, Eric, Hutchings, Teresa, Jiang, Fan, and Zhang, Yiwen
- Subjects
SEMANTICS ,PHYSIOLOGICAL aspects of speech ,LINGUISTICS ,GAMES ,SPEECH evaluation ,LANGUAGE acquisition ,COMPARATIVE studies ,DESCRIPTIVE statistics ,PLAY ,VOCABULARY ,RESEARCH funding ,URBAN health ,LANGUAGE disorders ,MEDICAL coding ,CHILDREN - Abstract
Background: Little is known about the spontaneous speech characteristics of young children with language delay in Mandarin, relative to their peers. Until the recent development of standardized language assessments normed in China on Mandarin‐speaking children, it was difficult to independently identify atypically developing children to study their spontaneous speech, and only case studies have been available. Aim: To investigate which aspects of spontaneous speech might be distinctive for atypical development in a short play session. Methods & Procedures: A total of 86 Mandarin‐speaking children, boys and girls aged 2;6–4;6, were tested using the new standardized assessment for Mandarin, Diagnostic Receptive Expressive Assessment of Mandarin—Comprehensive (DREAM‐C), at a major urban hospital in China. Of the children, 39 were identified by DREAM‐C as atypically developing in language development (Total Standard score M = 72, SD = 8.9), and 47 scored in the typical range (Total Standard score M = 103, SD = 10.8), using the four scales of Receptive, Expressive Semantics and Syntax. All children then took part in a 15‐min semi‐structured play session during which their spontaneous speech was recorded by professionals. A variety of games and pictures were used in an attempt to elicit spontaneous questions, negatives and descriptions. Their recorded speech samples were then coded by linguists directly into a database in FilemakerPro for different aspects of vocabulary, sentence variety and grammatical morphemes/structures heard. Outcomes & Results: The results describe the characteristics of the speech samples for the typical and atypical groups for age groups 2;6–3.5 (N = 52) and 3;6–4.6 (N = 34). Vocabulary diversity was indicated on an ordinal scale ranging from simple communicative signals including headshakes and words such as 'hi' to 'a rich variety of different content words'. Grammatical diversity similarly ranged from 'only yes/no answers', through to the appearance of multi‐clause sentences. Morphosyntax was coded in terms of which morphemes were observed at all in the session, such as aspect markers (LE, ZAI, GUO), and nominal morphemes (DE, GE), and also whether function words such as pronouns, Wh‐questions and classifiers were singular or varied in the session. There is considerable optionality in morpheme expression in Mandarin, so measurements such as the percentage supplied in obligatory contexts, though useful for languages such as English, are harder to compute. Nevertheless, the data show change over age in all these aspects of language, and reveal what a typically developing child might be expected to produce in a 15‐min sample in such a session. For example, it was rare for the typically developing children by age 3.5 not to have at least simple sentences with some function words, and to use adjectives, nouns and verbs, unlike the children with atypical scores. The morphemes DE, LE and GUO showed significant differences in likelihood across groups for both ages, but BA and ZAI were significantly different only for the older age group. In contrast, GE was common in all groups. The atypical group has markedly lower frequency in several grammatical aspects such as the use of diverse questions, classifiers and pronouns, with much less change across age groups, implying slower growth. The results provide useful information on the relative likelihood of observing different varieties of words, sentence types and morphemes in a short speech sample, which are substantially different in the typical versus atypical groups in both age bands, and change over age. Conclusions & Implications: These data validate the DREAM‐C classifications, but the details can also be used to inform the choice of targets for intervention for young children who experience delays in Mandarin language acquisition. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: What is already known on the subject: Spontaneous language samples have been used as a means of studying language in China. However, because of the amount of training and time required to transcribe and analyse spontaneous language samples, there is not yet a sufficient basis for identifying language differences between children with and without language disorder in mainland China. What does this paper add to existing knowledge: After using DREAM‐C to provide an objective measurement of children with and without language disorders, an easy‐to‐administer spontaneous language assessment protocol and scoring record form allowed the comparison of the spontaneous language of 39 children with atypically developing language with 47 children who scored in the typical range to observe language differences between those with and without typical language development. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work?: The study documents differences in vocabulary and sentence variety, and use of different morphemes such as classifiers, passives and aspect markers to aid in choosing targets for intervention by demonstrating the path of development. In addition, the spontaneous language assessment protocol and scoring record form holds promise for allowing clinicians and researchers to more easily study the language of individual children to personalize intervention, but also of groups of children to understand the emergence of basic Mandarin linguistic features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
6. ‘We don’t talk Gypsy here’: Minority language policies in Europe
- Author
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New William S., Kyuchukov Hristo, and Villiers Jill de
- Subjects
education policy ,human rights in education ,romani language ,dialect ,educatrional injustice ,disadvantages in education ,croatia ,the czech republic ,bulgaria ,Language and Literature - Abstract
The Roma constitute an ideal case of educational injustice meeting linguistic difference, racism, social marginalization, and poverty. This paper asks whether human-rights or capabilities approaches are best suited to address issues related to the language education of Roma students in Europe. These children are disadvantaged by not growing up with the standard dialect of whatever language is preferred by the mainstream population, and by the low status of the Romani language, and non-standard dialect of the standard language they usually speak. We examine language education for Roma students in Croatia, the Czech Republic, and Bulgaria, describing similarities and differences across contexts. We explain weak and strong version of language rights arguments, and the ways these principles are expressed, and not expressed in education policies. Sen’s capabilities approach can be employed to generate contextualized visions of education reform that speak directly to disadvantages suffered by Roma children.
- Published
- 2017
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
7. The characteristics of spontaneous language in young children identified as language delayed in Mandarin
- Author
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Liu, Xueman Lucy, primary, Ning, Chunyan, additional, Villiers, Jill de, additional, Lee, Wendy, additional, Rolfhus, Eric, additional, Hutchings, Teresa, additional, Jiang, Fan, additional, and Zhang, Yiwen, additional
- Published
- 2022
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
8. Are conservative quantifiers easier to learn ?: Evidence from novel quantifier experiments
- Author
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Spenader, Jennifer, Villiers, Jill De, Schlöder, Julian J., McHugh, Dean, Roelofsen, Floris, and Artificial Intelligence
- Subjects
quantifiers ,Quantification ,education ,acquisition ,conservativity - Abstract
Natural language quantificational determiners seem to always be conservative. Some researchers suggest that one explanation for this link between syntactic form and semantic interpretation may be due to conservative quantifiers being easier to learn. Previous experimental research showed that children learned a conservative novel quantifier (i.e. not all more easily than a novel non-conservative quantifier (i.e. not only) [Hunter and Lidz, 2013]. In a series of four experiments we further investigated this learnability claim. Experiment 1 replicated the original study, but with adult participants. We found no evidence that the conservative novel quantifier was easier to learn. Experiment 2 replicated and extended the original study, testing children. Again, we found no difference between the quantifiers. Experiments 3 and 4 introduce a new training and testing method, situation verification with correction. In Experiment 3, we tested this new method with known quantifier meanings, conservative all and non-conservative only, using a novel quantifier expression. Children were highly successful, and there was no difference between the two quantifier meanings. In Experiment 4, we used the same method to teach children the novel conservative and non-conservative meanings not all and not only. Most children were unable to learn either quantifier, and we again found no difference between the conservative and non-conservative quantifier in terms of learnability. In conclusion, in four experiments, we failed to replicate findings that conservative quantifiers are easier to learn. These results suggest that a learnability advantage is not a plausible explanation for con-servativity's universality.
- Published
- 2019
9. Мовна складність, наративи й «теорія розуму» ромських дітей
- Author
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Kyuchukov, Hristo and Villiers, Jill De
- Subjects
Theory of Mind, language complexity ,Romani ,Theory of Mind ,language complexity ,«теорія розуму» ,мовна складність ,language assessment - Abstract
The paper presents research findings with 56 Roma children from Macedonia and Serbia between the ages of 3-6 years. The children’s knowledge of Romani as their mother tongue was assessed with a specially designed test. The test measures the children’s comprehension and production of different types of grammatical knowledge such as wh–questions, wh-complements, passive verbs, possessives, tense, aspect, the ability of the children to learn new nouns and new adjectives, and repetition of sentences. In addition, two pictured narratives about Theory of Mind were given to the children. The hypothesis of the authors was that knowledge of the complex grammatical categories by children will help them to understand better the Theory of Mind stories. The results show that Roma children by the age of 5 know most of the grammatical categories in their mother tongue and most of them understand Theory of Mind.У статті представлено результати досліджень, проведених за участі 56 ром-ських дітей з Македонії та Сербії у віці від 3 до 6 років. За допомогою спеціально розробленого тесту було оцінено знання дітьми ромської мови як рідної. Завданням тесту було визначенння рівня розуміння мови у дітей, а також їхнє володіння різними видами граматичних знань, таких як: wh – питання, wh – доповнення, пасивні дієслова, присвійний відмінок, час, граматичний аспект, здатність опановувати нові іменники та прикметники, а також повторення речень. Крім цього, діти отримали два ілюстрованих наративи про «теорію розуму». Гіпотеза авторів полягала в тому, що знання дітьми складних граматичних категорій допоможе їм краще зрозуміти розповіді про «теорію розуму». Результати довели, що ромські діти у віці до 5 років знають більшість граматичних категорій рідної мови, і більшість з них розуміють сутність «теорії розуму».
- Published
- 2018
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
10. Why Roma children need language assessments in Romani
- Author
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Kyuchukov, Hristo, Villiers, Jill de, and Takahesu Tabori, Andrea
- Subjects
assessment ,Romani ,bilinguals ,Roma children - Abstract
In this paper we make one major point: that Roma children in Europe need to be tested in their mother tongue before school placement. Roma children are in a particularly perilous position with respect to their education. We describe the problematic linguistic situation of Roma children, who are bilingual and often bidialectal, but are frequently evaluated in the language of the state for educational placement, a process that has been shown to significantly compromise their chance of success. We then review the considerable empirical evidence that bilingual children must be evaluated in both languages to give a fair assessment of their knowledge and skills. Furthermore, strength in the mother tongue has demonstrable transfer to skills in the second language. We provide a brief summary of a new assessment for Romani that has been used successfully to evaluate children aged 3 to 6 years, and present the results of a new study using it in Slovakia on 29 children aged 3 to 6 years.
- Published
- 2017
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