ACQ Vol 13 no 3 2011

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ACQ Volume 13, Number 3 2011 159
Cultural diversity
same words included in the standardised assessment). The
results from this rating were compared to the child’s results
on a standardised assessment of vocabulary knowledge.
The study found that both adult groups reported
children’s performance with satisfactory accuracy when
compared with the performance on the standardised
assessment of vocabulary knowledge. The study also
looked to see if there were any factors that would influence
the accuracy of reports. They found that the mother’s
education level, occupation, and socioeconomic status
and the teacher’s teaching experience were not significant
factors in the accuracy of the ratings provided.
The study raised issues regarding the lack of validated
language tests available in the Chinese community and
the lack of evidence in relation to using parent reporting
as a tool for assessing the language skills of the Chinese
speaking population. The MacArthur-Bates Communicative
Development Inventories (CDI; Fenson et al., 1996) was
used as an example of a parent reporting tool in measuring
word knowledge.
The authors emphasised that given the particular
population they examined (children with profound hearing
impairment from Cantonese speaking backgrounds), it is
essential to be cautious about generalising these results
to other populations. However, the study showed that
adult reporting can be a valuable tool that can assist in
determining individual therapy goals and therapy progress
and provide information about the vocabulary knowledge
of an individual. Use of parental and teacher reporting
can assist in assessing the vocabulary knowledge in the
Cantonese speaking population and can be added to the
tools we can use when working with children from CALD
backgrounds.
Monolingual versus multilingual acquisition of
English morphology
Nicholls, R.J., Eadie, P.A., & Reilly, S. (2011). Monolingual
versus multilingual acquisition of English morphology: What
can we expect at age 3? International Journal of Language
and Communication Disorders, 46(4), 449–463.
Anneliese Hastings
I consider that the authors should be praised for their
ground-breaking study. Nicholls, Eadie, and Reilly have
provided us with a study that is beautifully structured and
truly significant in its sampling of English plus one of 31
different languages. The sample size was also large – 74
bilingual children matched with 74 monolingual children.
The clinical implications to be drawn from this were of
course more complicated than the nutshell that the bilingual
children’s morphological skill levels were generally at a
lower level of development in English compared to their
monolingual peers. The study also showed a great diversity
in mastery rates of English morphemes for both groups –
the bilingual children and the monolingual children.
Further, Nicholls et al.’s work suggests that the
morphemes of progressive, locative, third person singular,
Speech perception in noise by mono-, bi-, and
trilingual listeners
Tabri, D., Chacra, K. M. S. A., & Pring, T. (2011). Speech
perception in noise by monolingual, bilingual and trilingual
listeners. International Journal of Language and
Communication Disorders, 46(4), 411–422.
Carren Mitchell
Previous research has revealed that bilingual speakers
perform differently to monolingual speakers in perceiving
speech in noisy environments. However, monolingual and
bilingual speakers perceive speech similarly in quiet
conditions. The authors of this article investigated speech
perception in noise of monolingual, bilingual, and trilingual
adults. All participants had normal hearing on audiological
evaluation and were required to be highly proficient in
reading and writing English. All bilingual participants’ native
language was Arabic and second language was English. All
trilingual participants spoke Arabic, French, and English
fluently. Participants were administered the Speech
Perception in Noise (SPIN) test at five different noise levels.
The results obtained confirmed the results of other
studies, that is, monolingual listeners performed better
in noise than bilingual listeners, and they both performed
similarly in quiet conditions. The trilingual speakers had
more difficulty in noise than bilingual speakers, although
these results were not significant.
These results indicate that noise levels of learning
and working environments should be considered when
they include children or adults who speak two or more
languages, regardless of levels of language proficiency.
Parent and teacher reports of the vocabulary of
Chinese children with hearing impairment
Lee, K., Nok Chiu, S., van Hasselt, C.A., & Tong, M. (2009).
The accuracy of parent and teacher reports in assessing
the vocabulary knowledge of Chinese children with hearing
impairment. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in
Schools, 40, 31–45.
Joanna Chalkley
Accurate assessment of a child’s language skills is an
ongoing issue when working with children from culturally
and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds. The use of
parental reporting usually forms a part of any speech and
language assessment. In this article evidence is provided
on the efficacy of using parental report as part of an
assessment with children from a Cantonese speaking
background. This study aimed to investigate the accuracy
of parent and teacher report of the vocabulary knowledge
of Cantonese speaking children with profound hearing
impairment.
There were two groups of 47 children in the study; one
group provided reports from the children’s mothers and
the other group provided reports from 21 teachers. The
adults were given a background questionnaire and were
asked to rate their child’s knowledge of a list of words (the
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