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Teacher and Parent Reports of Concern about Language Ability among School-Age Children from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Backgrounds

Alison Eisel Hendricks, Ph.D.

Department of Communicative Disorders and Sciences

University at Buffalo

Introduction

Participants

References and More information

Results

Acknowledgments

We thank the participants of this study and members of the UB Language Learning Lab. Funding from NIH/NIDCD R21DC018355; American Speech Language Hearing Foundation New Investigator Research Grant

Symposium on Research in Child Language Disorders

June 2-4, 2022

Madison, WI

Methods

This study explores the relationship between teacher and parent reports of students’ language ability in school-age children from CLD backgrounds.

Results

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Jillian Jerard, B.A.

Department  of Communicative Disorders and Sciences

University at Buffalo 

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Discussion and Future Research

1= Not Good 7 = Very Good

Note: Teachers did not report responses to item 3 for 1 student and item 4 for 2 students.

Teacher Ratings on Student Language Scale

Student Language Ability Scores

Parent Reports of Concern

Students completed the Diagnostic Evaluation of Language Variation, Screening Test and Norm Referenced

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Typical Language, DELV-NR > 85

Developmental Language Disorder DELV <85

Parents were asked about concerns about their child’s speech, language and literacy skills in 10 areas (e.g., difficulty understanding what they are told, saying words correctly, and spelling)

Teachers report students’ skills in language, literacy and other skills compared to other students of the same age.

Comparison of Teacher and Parent Reports with Individual Assessments

Developmental language disorder is not well identified among school age children. Accurate dentification is particularly important for students from culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) backgrounds

Both linguistic biases on assessments and biases within society generally affect the accuracy of assessments and can make referrals for language evaluation less reliable5–7.

Teachers and parents can be an important source of information about the students’ language abilities8–11.

However, parents may not be aware of their children’s difficulty with language4,12, and teachers may not understand how linguistic variation affects student’s language use13.

27 Teachers (all women)

Range of experience teaching

Avg 8 years

Range 1-19 years

Most grew up (59%) and currently reside (55%) in suburban areas

93% Monolingual; 92% speak GAE

92% White;

93% Non-Hispanic

66 Students in K (44%), 1st (18%) and 2nd grade (38%)

60% of parents report only English; 40% reported another language: Spanish, n = 17; Bengali, n = 7; Tigrigna n = 1

  • Similar to previous research, few parents expressed concern with their child’s language development.
  • Parent and teacher reports of concern were not significantly correlated.
  • Although effects were less robust than expected, teachers reported lower scores for students in the DLD group and the differences between TL and DLD was smaller for students in the strong variation group.
  • Continued education for parents and teachers may be needed to increase awareness of DLD.
  • Direct assessments screening for DLD are important for accurate identification of DLD.

N =

11

7

3

9

13

22