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Development of an Auditory Passage Comprehension Task for Swedish Primary School Children of Cultural and Linguistic Diversity

Carlie, Johanna LU ; Sahlén, Birgitta LU ; Nirme, Jens LU ; Andersson, Ketty LU orcid ; Rudner, Mary LU ; Johansson, Roger LU orcid ; Gulz, Agneta LU and Brännström, Jonas LU (2021) In Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 64(10).
Abstract

Purpose This study reports on the development of an auditory passage comprehension task for Swedish primary school children of cultural and linguistic diversity. It also reports on their performance on the task in quiet and in noise. Method Eighty-eight children aged 7-9 years and showing normal hearing participated. The children were divided into three groups based on presumed language exposure: 13 children were categorized as Swedish-speaking monolinguals, 19 children were categorized as simultaneous bilinguals, and 56 children were categorized as sequential bilinguals. No significant difference in working memory capacity was seen between the three language groups. Two passages and associated multiple-choice questions were developed.... (More)

Purpose This study reports on the development of an auditory passage comprehension task for Swedish primary school children of cultural and linguistic diversity. It also reports on their performance on the task in quiet and in noise. Method Eighty-eight children aged 7-9 years and showing normal hearing participated. The children were divided into three groups based on presumed language exposure: 13 children were categorized as Swedish-speaking monolinguals, 19 children were categorized as simultaneous bilinguals, and 56 children were categorized as sequential bilinguals. No significant difference in working memory capacity was seen between the three language groups. Two passages and associated multiple-choice questions were developed. During development of the passage comprehension task, steps were taken to reduce the impact of culture-specific prior experience and knowledge on performance. This was achieved by using the story grammar principles, universal topics and plots, and simple language that avoided complex or unusual grammatical structures and words. Results The findings indicate no significant difference between the two passages and similar response distributions. Passage comprehension performance was significantly better in quiet than in noise, regardless of language exposure group. The monolinguals outperformed both simultaneous and sequential bilinguals in both listening conditions. Conclusions Because the task was designed to minimize the effect of cultural knowledge on auditory passage comprehension, this suggests that compared with monolinguals, both simultaneous and sequential bilinguals have a disadvantage in auditory passage comprehension. As expected, the findings demonstrate that noise has a negative effect on auditory passage comprehension. The magnitude of this effect does not relate to language exposure. The developed auditory passage comprehension task seems suitable for assessing auditory passage comprehension in primary school children of linguistic and cultural diversity.

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author
; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research
volume
64
issue
10
pages
3883 pages
publisher
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
external identifiers
  • pmid:34491816
  • scopus:85116817655
ISSN
1558-9102
DOI
10.1044/2021_JSLHR-20-00611
project
Håll koll på ögonen - lyssningsansträngning och svenska som andraspråk i klassrummet
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
d7d49597-0afe-4068-9d8d-d87c206b7e73
date added to LUP
2021-09-21 11:54:47
date last changed
2025-01-12 14:17:34
@article{d7d49597-0afe-4068-9d8d-d87c206b7e73,
  abstract     = {{<p>Purpose This study reports on the development of an auditory passage comprehension task for Swedish primary school children of cultural and linguistic diversity. It also reports on their performance on the task in quiet and in noise. Method Eighty-eight children aged 7-9 years and showing normal hearing participated. The children were divided into three groups based on presumed language exposure: 13 children were categorized as Swedish-speaking monolinguals, 19 children were categorized as simultaneous bilinguals, and 56 children were categorized as sequential bilinguals. No significant difference in working memory capacity was seen between the three language groups. Two passages and associated multiple-choice questions were developed. During development of the passage comprehension task, steps were taken to reduce the impact of culture-specific prior experience and knowledge on performance. This was achieved by using the story grammar principles, universal topics and plots, and simple language that avoided complex or unusual grammatical structures and words. Results The findings indicate no significant difference between the two passages and similar response distributions. Passage comprehension performance was significantly better in quiet than in noise, regardless of language exposure group. The monolinguals outperformed both simultaneous and sequential bilinguals in both listening conditions. Conclusions Because the task was designed to minimize the effect of cultural knowledge on auditory passage comprehension, this suggests that compared with monolinguals, both simultaneous and sequential bilinguals have a disadvantage in auditory passage comprehension. As expected, the findings demonstrate that noise has a negative effect on auditory passage comprehension. The magnitude of this effect does not relate to language exposure. The developed auditory passage comprehension task seems suitable for assessing auditory passage comprehension in primary school children of linguistic and cultural diversity.</p>}},
  author       = {{Carlie, Johanna and Sahlén, Birgitta and Nirme, Jens and Andersson, Ketty and Rudner, Mary and Johansson, Roger and Gulz, Agneta and Brännström, Jonas}},
  issn         = {{1558-9102}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{10}},
  publisher    = {{American Speech-Language-Hearing Association}},
  series       = {{Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research}},
  title        = {{Development of an Auditory Passage Comprehension Task for Swedish Primary School Children of Cultural and Linguistic Diversity}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1044/2021_JSLHR-20-00611}},
  doi          = {{10.1044/2021_JSLHR-20-00611}},
  volume       = {{64}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}