scholarly journals The Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives (MAIN): Adding Urdu to MAIN

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 ◽  
pp. 257-261
Author(s):  
Saboor Hamdani ◽  
Rachel Kan ◽  
Angel Chan ◽  
Natalia Gagarina
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Language Assessment ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Assessment Instrument ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
New Instrument ◽  
Narrative Abilities

The Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives (MAIN), an assessment tool in the Language Impairment Testing in Multilingual Settings (LITMUS) battery, aims to improve the assessment of bilingual children. This paper describes the process of adapting MAIN to Urdu. Given the lack of language assessment tools for Urdu-speaking children, the Urdu MAIN is an important new instrument that is made widely and freely accessible to researchers and practitioners, allowing them to examine the narrative abilities of children acquiring Urdu as a first, heritage, second, or additional language.

Towards AI-powered Language Assessment Tools

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mah Parsa ◽  
Muhammad Raisul Alam ◽  
Alex Mihailidis
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Reliability And Validity ◽  
High Sensitivity ◽  
Language Assessment ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Acoustic Features ◽  
Linguistic Markers ◽  
Binary Classifiers ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Objectives: The main objective of this paper is to propose an approach for developing an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered Language Assessment (LA) tool. Such tools can be used to assess language impairments associated with dementia in older adults. The Machine Learning (ML) classifiers are the main parts of our proposed approach, therefore to develop an accurate tool with high sensitivity and specificity, we consider different binary classifiers and evaluate their performances. We also assess the reliability and validity of our approach by comparing the impact of different types of language tasks, features, and recording media on the performance of ML classifiers. Approach: Our approach includes the following steps: 1) Collecting language datasets or getting access to available language datasets; 2) Extracting linguistic and acoustic features from subjects' speeches which have been collected from subjects with dementia (N=9) and subjects without dementia (N=13); 3) Selecting most informative features and using them to train ML classifiers; and 4) Evaluating the performance of classifiers on distinguishing subjects with dementia from subjects without dementia and select the most accurate classier to be the basis of the AI tool. Results: Our results indicate that 1) we can nd more predictive linguistic markers to distinguish language impairment associated with dementia from participants' speech produced during the Picture Description (PD) language task than the Story Recall (SR) task; and 2) phone-based recording interfaces provide more high-quality language datasets than the web-based recording systems Conclusion: Our results verify that the tree-based classifiers, which have been trained using the linguistic and acoustic features extracted from interviews' transcript and audio, can be used to develop an AI-powered language assessment tool for detecting language impairment associated with dementia.

Nonword Repetition in Bilingual Assessment: A Guide to Clinical Application

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
José A. Ortiz
Keyword(s):  
Diagnostic Accuracy ◽  
Clinical Application ◽  
Diagnostic Tool ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Alternative Assessment ◽  
Language Assessment ◽  
Nonword Repetition ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Bilingual Assessment ◽  
Method Of Assessment

Purpose: Nonword repetition (NWR) is a useful tool in the identification of language impairment in bilingual children. As a method of alternative assessment, the task is less biased than many traditional forms of assessment. Despite its potential utility, the use of NWR in language assessment is limited. The goal of this tutorial is to provide speech-language pathologists with the information needed to use NWR as a diagnostic tool in bilingual assessment by describing research into its diagnostic accuracy and considerations for clinical application. Conclusions: NWR is a useful diagnostic tool in bilingual language assessment when used as part of an assessment battery. Although its diagnostic accuracy limits its ability to be used in the absence of other tools, it can provide valuable information that can be used to strengthen clinical impressions. When using NWR measures, clinicians should take several important aspects in account, including the language and age for which it was intended, the type of stimuli included, and the scoring procedures. Clinicians who work with bilingual children should consider including NWR in their diagnostic toolkits, as a less biased method of assessment.

scholarly journals Creating a culture for radical innovation in a small mature business

2016 ◽  
Vol 232 (8) ◽  
pp. 1471-1483
Author(s):  
Patrick McLaughlin
Keyword(s):  
Product Development ◽  
New Product Development ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Radical Innovation ◽  
Organization Culture ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Assessment Instrument ◽  
Radical Product ◽  
Development Team ◽  
Innovation Culture

This article describes an approach in organizational development to develop an innovation culture for radical product development in a small mature engineering company. The research took place in a business based in the United Kingdom that designed and manufactured instrumentation and specialized packing machines. An initial study within the company’s new product development team identified key aspects that influenced a radical innovation culture. Nine key themes were found to be pertinent, following an iterative process with the development team. These themes were triangulated using the established Organization Culture Assessment Instrument and the Creative Climate Assessment Tool. A third assessment was developed that gauged the development team culture proximity to an ideal position. Seven interventions were developed in conjunction with the company development team, senior managers, the analysis of previous empirical case research and dialogue with UK companies that promote discontinuous innovation. The results of the interventions were evaluated 4 years after implementation. The culture was re-assessed using the same assessment tools and the changes were identified. The outcomes are described and they indicate the success of the company’s attempt to embed a sustainable radical innovation culture into the product development area.

scholarly journals Using MAIN in South Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 ◽  
pp. 207-210
Author(s):  
Daleen Klop ◽  
Monique Visser
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Assessment Instrument ◽  
Learning Problems ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Formal Schooling ◽  
Cultural And Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Official Languages

South Africa is a country marked by cultural and linguistic diversity with 11 official languages. The majority of school children do not receive their formal schooling in their home language. There is a need for language assessment tools in education and rehabilitation contexts to distinguish between children with language learning problems and/or SLI, and language delay as a result of limited exposure to the language of learning. The Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives (LITMUS-MAIN) provides clinicians and researchers with an appropriate and culturally relevant tool to assess bilingual children in both languages. So far MAIN has been widely used in Afrikaans- English bilingual children. However, translating and adapting MAIN to our other nine official languages to achieve functional and cultural equivalence is more challenging.

scholarly journals Russian Child Language Assessment Battery (RuCLAB) and its Application in Primary School Children with ASD

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 24-31
Author(s):  
M.A. Gomozova ◽  
V.G. Arutiunian ◽  
A.A. Lopukhina ◽  
O.V. Dragoy
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Child Language ◽  
Language Assessment ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Russian Language ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Primary School Children ◽  
Assessment Battery ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Language Assessment Battery

In speech-language pathology practice, standardized language assessment tools are used to evaluate the level of language development and to specify the details of language impairment. For Russian language, a novel Russian Child Language Assessment Battery (RuCLAB) was developed. The RuCLAB provides the assessment of phonology, vocabulary, morphosyntax, and discourse in production and comprehension. Present study aims to describe RuCLAB in detail and to report its application in 7—11 years-old children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The results revealed between-group differences in children with and without ASD as well as highlighted some individual features in the group of children with ASD: for example, expressive and receptive patterns differed depending on the linguistic level and non-verbal IQ; also children with ASD (as children with complex language disorders) better acquired nouns in comparison to verbs, and the words’ frequency influenced the accuracy in sentence repetition. The results indicate sensitivity and diagnostic importance of RuCLAB as a tool for language assessment in children with ASD.

scholarly journals Investigating Children’s Narrative Abilities in a Chinese and Multilingual Context: Cantonese, Mandarin, Kam and Urdu Adaptations of the Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives (MAIN)

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel T. Y. Kan ◽  
Angel Chan ◽  
Natalia Gagarina
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Language Disorder ◽  
Assessment Instrument ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Story Grammar ◽  
Minority Children ◽  
New Methods ◽  
Narrative Skills ◽  
Ethnic Minority Children ◽  
Main Language

This article introduces the LITMUS-MAIN (Language Impairment Testing in Multilingual Settings-MAIN) and motivates the adaptation of this instrument into Chinese languages and language pairs involving a Chinese language, namely Cantonese, Mandarin, Kam, Urdu. We propose that these new adapted protocols not only contribute to the theoretical discussion on story grammar and widen the evidential base of MAIN to include more languages in studying bilinguals, they also offer new methods of assessing language development in young children that have the potential to tease apart the effects of language impairment and bilingualism and improve the identification of Developmental Language Disorder. These new protocols are the first tools to be designed for the dual assessment of language skills in these particular languages, in particular narrative skills in bilingual children speaking these languages. By catering to under-researched languages and over-looked groups of bilingual children, these new tools could improve the clinical management for certain bilingual ethnic minority children such as Urdu-Cantonese and Kam-Mandarin bilinguals, as well as promote the study of these groups and their acquisition issues. Advances in understanding the theoretical and acquisition issues in childhood bilingualism can also be made possible using these new tools.

scholarly journals Perspectives on bilingual children's narratives elicited with the Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives

2015 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
DIANE PESCO ◽  
ELIZABETH KAY-RAINING BIRD
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Assessment Instrument ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
School Age ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Narrative Assessment ◽  
Children's Narratives

This Special Issue is all about the stories of children: preschool- and school-age children; bilingual and monolingual children; children developing typically or identified as having a specific language impairment (SLI); and children speaking and experiencing one or more of the following languages: English, Finnish, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Russian, Slovak, Swedish, and Turkish in minority or majority language contexts. The stories are fictional ones, about baby birds and baby goats, a cat and a dog: a cast of characters the reader will come to know well as they read the Introduction (Gagarina, Klop, Tsimpli, & Walters, 2016) and individual articles. They were collected using a new narrative assessment tool that is common to all the articles within the issue: the Language Impairment Testing in Multilingual Settings—Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives (LITMUS-MAIN; Gagarina et al., 2012, 2015), described at some length by its developers in the Introduction to the Special Issue.

scholarly journals WEB-BASED 5-DIMENSIONAL ELECTRONIC PORTFOLIO (5DEP) AS A COMPETENCY-BASED ASSESSMENT TOOL IN POST-GRADUATE MEDICAL TRAINING

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-87
Author(s):  
Z. Bokhua ◽  
K. Chelidze ◽  
K. Ebralidze
Keyword(s):  
Internal Medicine ◽  
Professional Development ◽  
Medical Education ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Electronic Portfolio ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Assessment Instrument ◽  
First Year ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Competency Based

Background. New challenges of permanently changing context of healthcare system requires new methods of medical education and new assessment tools, as well. Competency-based Medical Education (CBME), framework which has been adopted as a new approach in medical education, needs appropriate assessment tool such as portfolio. Portfolio is learner-centered assessment instrument which evaluates learner’s progression towards outcomes and enables both residents and teachers to engage in a process of learning through assessment. Objective. In this paper we aim to share our successful experience of an effective use of web-based 5-Dimensional Electronic Portfolio (5DeP) as an assessment tool in the Pilot Group. Methods. Pilot Group of sixteen residents (six first year residents of Obstetrics/Gynecology and ten first year residents of Internal Medicine. Tbilisi State Medical University Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Continuous Professional Development) and twelve mentors (four Obstetrics/Gynecology mentor and eight Internal Medicine mentors) reported some feedback about 5-Dimensional Electronic Portfolio (5DeP) as a new assessment tool. Results. Feedback about 5-Dimensional Electronic Portfolio (5DeP) as a new assessment tool from mentors and students demonstrated efficiency of the program. It enables assessment within a framework of transparent and declared criteria and learning objectives; provides a model for lifelong learning and continuing professional development; increases competence in a wider context with benefits to both professional and personal roles; improves organizing skills. Conclusions. 5DeP have been recognized as an extremely effective assessment tool.

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