{"title":"The Stability of Linguistic Skills of Arabic-Speaking Children Between Kindergarten and First Grade.","authors":"Jasmeen Mansour-Adwan, Asaid Khateb","doi":"10.1044/2024_JSLHR-23-00533","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>This study aimed to evaluate the stability of phonological awareness (PA) and language achievements between kindergarten and first grade among Arabic-speaking children.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>A total of 1,158 children were assessed in PA and language skills in both grades and were classified based on distinct and integrated achievements on PA and language following percentiles' cutoff criteria. The classification of distinct achievements constituted high, intermediate, low, and very low achievement-based groups for each domain. The classification of the integrated achievements on both domains constituted four groups: intermediate-high PA and language, very low PA, very low language, and doubly low (very low PA and language). Descriptive statistics and McNemar's tests were used to examine the stability of these groups.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The analyses showed a significant improvement in achievements on most tasks. The distinct classification for PA and language indicated that many more kindergarteners in the extreme distribution with high and very low achievement levels maintained this profile in first grade compared to those with intermediate achievements. For PA, 55.7% of kindergarteners with high, 30% with intermediate, 30.4% with low, and 45.5% with very low achievements maintained their achievements in first grade. For language, 52.5% of kindergarteners with high, 34.5% with intermediate, 38.8% with low, and 59.8% with very low achievements maintained their language achievements. The integrated classification indicated a higher achievement stability rate for kindergarteners with intermediate-high PA and language (91.3%) and for doubly low achievers (84.7%) compared to very low PA (24.1%) or very low language (31.8%) achievers.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The study indicated a higher variability in the distribution of the intermediate achievements compared to the high and very low achievements, which were more stable across grade. The results emphasize the need for dynamic linguistic assessments and early intervention for children with very low achievements in PA and language who show a poor prognosis.</p>","PeriodicalId":51254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research","volume":" ","pages":"1-16"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-11-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1044/2024_JSLHR-23-00533","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"AUDIOLOGY & SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the stability of phonological awareness (PA) and language achievements between kindergarten and first grade among Arabic-speaking children.
Method: A total of 1,158 children were assessed in PA and language skills in both grades and were classified based on distinct and integrated achievements on PA and language following percentiles' cutoff criteria. The classification of distinct achievements constituted high, intermediate, low, and very low achievement-based groups for each domain. The classification of the integrated achievements on both domains constituted four groups: intermediate-high PA and language, very low PA, very low language, and doubly low (very low PA and language). Descriptive statistics and McNemar's tests were used to examine the stability of these groups.
Results: The analyses showed a significant improvement in achievements on most tasks. The distinct classification for PA and language indicated that many more kindergarteners in the extreme distribution with high and very low achievement levels maintained this profile in first grade compared to those with intermediate achievements. For PA, 55.7% of kindergarteners with high, 30% with intermediate, 30.4% with low, and 45.5% with very low achievements maintained their achievements in first grade. For language, 52.5% of kindergarteners with high, 34.5% with intermediate, 38.8% with low, and 59.8% with very low achievements maintained their language achievements. The integrated classification indicated a higher achievement stability rate for kindergarteners with intermediate-high PA and language (91.3%) and for doubly low achievers (84.7%) compared to very low PA (24.1%) or very low language (31.8%) achievers.
Conclusions: The study indicated a higher variability in the distribution of the intermediate achievements compared to the high and very low achievements, which were more stable across grade. The results emphasize the need for dynamic linguistic assessments and early intervention for children with very low achievements in PA and language who show a poor prognosis.
目的:本研究旨在评估阿拉伯语儿童在幼儿园和一年级之间语音意识(PA)和语言成绩的稳定性:共有 1,158 名儿童接受了两个年级的语音意识(PA)和语言技能评估,并按照百分位数截断标准,根据语音意识(PA)和语言技能的显著成就和综合成就进行了分类。对每个领域的不同成绩划分为高、中、低和极低成绩组。两个领域的综合成绩分为四组:中等偏上的 PA 和语言成绩、极低的 PA、极低的语言成绩和双低成绩(极低的 PA 和语言成绩)。我们使用了描述性统计和 McNemar 检验来考察这些组别的稳定性:分析表明,大多数任务的成绩都有明显提高。对表演能力和语言能力的不同分类表明,与成绩中等的学生相比,成绩高和成绩极低的极端分布中更多的幼儿园学生在一年级时保持了这种状况。在学习能力方面,55.7%的成绩优秀的幼儿园学生、30%的成绩中等的幼儿园学生、30.4%的成绩较差的幼儿园学生和 45.5%的成绩很差的幼儿园学生在一年级时保持了他们的成绩。在语言方面,52.5%的成绩优秀的幼儿园学生、34.5%的成绩中等的学生、38.8%的成绩较差的学生和 59.8%的成绩很差的学生都保持了语言成绩。综合分类结果表明,与学习能力极低(24.1%)或语言能力极低(31.8%)的学生相比,学习能力和语言能力中等偏上(91.3%)和学习能力双低(84.7%)的幼儿园学生的成绩稳定率更高:研究表明,与成绩优秀和成绩极差的学生相比,中等成绩学生的分布差异较大,而成绩极差的学生在不同年级的分布较为稳定。研究结果表明,有必要对 PA 和语言成绩极差且预后不良的儿童进行动态语言评估和早期干预。
期刊介绍:
Mission: JSLHR publishes peer-reviewed research and other scholarly articles on the normal and disordered processes in speech, language, hearing, and related areas such as cognition, oral-motor function, and swallowing. The journal is an international outlet for both basic research on communication processes and clinical research pertaining to screening, diagnosis, and management of communication disorders as well as the etiologies and characteristics of these disorders. JSLHR seeks to advance evidence-based practice by disseminating the results of new studies as well as providing a forum for critical reviews and meta-analyses of previously published work.
Scope: The broad field of communication sciences and disorders, including speech production and perception; anatomy and physiology of speech and voice; genetics, biomechanics, and other basic sciences pertaining to human communication; mastication and swallowing; speech disorders; voice disorders; development of speech, language, or hearing in children; normal language processes; language disorders; disorders of hearing and balance; psychoacoustics; and anatomy and physiology of hearing.