Forfattere
Angeliki Mouzaki, Elli Spyropoulou, Asimina Ralli, Faye Antoniou, Vassiliki Diamanti & Sophia Papaioannou.
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigated component skills in oral language development utilizing and validating a new assessment battery in a large (N = 800) and representative sample of Greek students 4–7 years of age.
Method
All participants enrolled in public schools from four geographical regions (Attica, Thessaly, Macedonia, and Crete) that varied demographically (urban, semiurban, and rural). For the individualized language assessments, we utilized mobile devices (tablet PC) to ensure children's interest and joyful participation as well as reliable administration procedures across sites. Results by confirmatory factor analyses specified and validated five different models in each grade to identify the best conceptualization of language dimensionality in the respective age groups.
Results
Four-dimensional model provided a slightly better discriminant validity in language data of the preschool group. However, in kindergarten and first grades, the five-dimensional model had the best fit to the data to the four-dimensional.
Conclusion
These findings support the multidimensionality of oral language ability at this phase of development and increase of factor distinctiveness as children grow.