Annette Fox-Boyer

Development of a test battery for assessing phonological awareness in German-speaking children

The development of phonological awareness (PA), the ability to reflect on the sound structure of words independent of their meaning, has been extensively explored in English‐speaking children. However, this is not the case for other languages. The aim of this study was to develop a comprehensive PA test battery for German‐speaking preschool children, considering psycholinguistic, linguistic, and cognitive aspects and to carry out analyses of its psychometric properties. Cross‐sectional data from a sample of 55 children (CA 4;0–6;11 years) were collected. Preliminary findings confirm validity and reliability of the test battery, and support previous findings that PA develops from larger to smaller linguistic units. Phoneme‐level tasks were consistently associated with letter knowledge. The new instrument is a promising tool for basic research (e.g. cross‐linguistic comparisons of PA development) as well as for clinical and educational practice (e.g. planning speech and language therapy or literacy‐oriented intervention).

The acquisition of initial consonant clusters in German-speaking 2-year-olds.

Abstract Purpose: The aim of this study was to explore cluster acquisition in typically developing German-speaking 2-year-olds. Method: Data from four cross-sectional studies (n = 145, aged 2;00–2;11) and one eight-month longitudinal study were analysed (n = 6, aged 2;01–2;04). Two different percentages of consonant clusters correct were calculated to allow a more detailed analysis. Result: Findings showed that the majority of children produced clusters, although they could not be considered to be fully acquired. Correct production significantly correlated with age. Only /gl/ and /kl/ were shown to be phonetically and phonemically acquired (75% criterion) in the older age group. Three-element clusters were acquired at the same time as 2-element clusters and /∫/-clusters were acquired to the same or larger extent as non-/∫/ clusters when fronting/backing of /∫/ was accepted. Younger children produced more reductions than simplifications but this effect was less strong for the /∫/-clusters. Developmental realisation patterns varied depending on cluster type. Inter- and intra-individual developmental patterns could be observed which changed depending on the time of testing. Conclusion: Findings on cluster acquisition in 2-year-old German-speaking children revealed language-specific differences but also similarities in comparison with results from other languages. All but two children produced clusters. However, individual variation between children was high.

Phonological development of Danish-speaking children: A normative cross-sectional study

ABSTRACT Detailed knowledge about speech development in children acquiring different languages provides important information from a clinical and a theoretical perspective: First, it provides a baseline for the evaluation of whether a child shows typical, delayed or deviant speech development. Further, differences in speech development across languages can help to understand how the phonological systems of ambient languages affects children’s speech acquisition. To date, little is known about Danish. It was suggested, however, that the acquisition process might be slower for Danish-speaking children due to the “blurry” sound structure of Danish. The aim of the current study was, therefore, to investigate typical speech development in 443 Danish-speaking children, i.e. types and age of occurrence of children’s phonological processes as well as on the acquisition of phones and clusters. The results showed that Danish-speaking children, in contrast to the expectations, were not delayed but advanced compared to children acquiring other languages.

Zur Problematik der mangelnden Kompatibilität psychometrischer und theoretischer Bedingungen diagnostischer Materialien am Beispiel von Aussprachestörungen

Unter evidenzbasiertem Handeln im klinischen Alltag wird meist verstanden, die bestmogliche therapeutische Versorgung eines Patienten zu gewahrleisten. Dies setzt allerdings voraus, dass es zunachst moglich ist, ein behandlungsbedurftiges Problem verlasslich zu ermitteln. Dollaghan (2007) beschreibt die Bedeutung der Qualitat von Messverfahren fur die interne Validitat empirischer Evidenz. Es stellt sich die Frage, ob die Qualitat diagnostischer Verfahren in den Therapieberufen in Deutschland ausreichend ist, um evidenzbasierte Praxis anzuwenden. Daher werden Merkmale zur Uberprufung der Validitat und Reliabilitat von Diagnostikinstrumenten vorgestellt und fur ein Teilgebiet der Logopadie (kindliche Aussprachestorungen) praktisch angewandt. Es zeigt sich, dass im deutschsprachigen Raum bislang kaum eine Diskussion dieses Themas zu finden ist und dass die existierenden Verfahren fur den untersuchten Bereich nicht oder nur bedingt den Qualitatsanspruchen genugen.

Patterns in German /ʃC/-cluster acquisition

ABSTRACT This study reports on the developmental patterns of /ʃC/ clusters in 145 normally developing monolingual German-speaking children between 2;00 and 2;11. All children completed a picture naming task to allow a systematic qualitative analysis of the production patterns. Children’s reductions of target /ʃC/clusters are examined and are evaluated with respect to two models, ‘factorial typology’ and ‘headedness’, to account for them. The results reveal expected patterns of C2 retention for ‘/ʃ/+[−continuant]’ (e.g. ‘/ʃ/+stop’ and ‘/ʃ/+nasal’) targets, and a rather indeterminate pattern for /ʃl/ and /ʃʁ/. The results for /ʃv/, a clear-cut preference of C2 retention, were rather unexpected, as the C2 is a [+continuant]. The explanation offered for the retention of /v/ is related to a place constraint. The study also examines the data from children who reached an advanced stage of cluster formation with differential targets. More specifically, in several children, one target, /ʃv/, is found to have stayed behind in the reduction phase while all others have advanced to the ‘cluster stage’. Neither the type nor the token frequencies seem satisfactory in accounting for the specific behaviour of /ʃv/. The explanation offered for the uniqueness of this target may be its non-abidence to the Sonority Sequencing Principle (SSP) because of its flat sonority and the Obligatory Contour Principle (OCP) [continuant], because of the unchanging ‘continuance’ which is demanded by the OCP. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.