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. 2022 May;57(3):497-511.
doi: 10.1111/1460-6984.12693. Epub 2022 Jan 4.

Reliability, validity and developmental sensitivity of the Language Use Inventory (LUI) in the Chinese context

Lu Qian  1   2 , Huan Shao  1 , Hui Fang  1 , Ting Xiao  1 , Ning Ding  1 , Bei Sun  1 , HuiYun Gao  1 , Min Tang  3 , Mei Ye  3 , XiaoYan Ke  1 , Daniela K O'Neill  4
Affiliations

Reliability, validity and developmental sensitivity of the Language Use Inventory (LUI) in the Chinese context

Lu Qian et al. Int J Lang Commun Disord. 2022 May.

Abstract

Background: Pragmatics has generally been defined as the ability to use language in social situations, it is commonly regarded as the third major component of language ability. To date, there is no tool for assessing early pragmatic development of Chinese-speaking children.

Aims: To describe the translation of the Language Use Inventory (LUI) from English to Mandarin Chinese and to report findings on the Chinese version's reliability, validity and developmental sensitivity.

Methods & procedures: The original English version of the LUI was translated into Mandarin Chinese. Parents of 177 typically developing (TD) toddlers and preschool children completed the inventory to examine its internal reliability and construct validity and how scores differed across ages and sexes. A total of 31 parents out of the 177 completed the LUI-Mandarin, again within 4 weeks, to assess test-retest reliability. To examine discriminative validity, 43 parents of age- and sex-matched TD children and children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) recruited from Nanjing Brain Hospital affiliated with Nanjing Medical University completed the LUI-Mandarin.

Outcomes & results: Cronbach's alpha values for the LUI-Mandarin's three parts and for 11 of 12 LUI-Mandarin subscales were 0.707-0.992, with most values in the 0.825-0.992 range. Test-retest reliability ranged from 0.66 to 0.95, indicating good to excellent reliability. Factor analysis of the LUI-Mandarin revealed two different factors, and the total variance explained was 74.38%. The LUI-Mandarin total scores and subscale scores increased with age for both boys and girls, providing evidence of the inventory's developmental sensitivity. Girls, however, had higher total scores than boys at earlier ages (18-23 months). The results of the discriminant validity study revealed that performance was significantly lower in the ASD group than in the TD group with respect to LUI total scores and subscale scores (except for subscale A).

Conclusions & implications: The LUI-Mandarin is the first and only questionnaire available in China that evaluates the pragmatic language skills of children aged between 18 and 47 months. The results of the study show that the LUI-Mandarin is a valid and reliable tool for Chinese toddlers and preschool children.

What this paper adds: What is already known on this subject The LUI is a parent-report questionnaire that can provide comprehensive information about very young children's communicative competence. It is widely used both for assessment and to guide intervention. Additionally, it has been translated into French, Italian, Polish, Arabic, Portuguese and Norwegian and it shows good reliability and validity. What this paper adds to existing knowledge In the present study we describe the translation of the LUI from English to Mandarin Chinese and report findings on the Chinese version's reliability, validity and developmental sensitivity. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? The LUI-Mandarin is the first and only questionnaire available in China that can evaluate pragmatic language skills of children aged between 18 and 47 months. The results show that the LUI-Mandarin is a valid and reliable tool for use with Chinese toddlers and preschool children.

Keywords: Language Use Inventory (LUI); autism spectrum disorder (ASD); parent report; pragmatics; toddlers and preschool children; validity and reliability.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors (Lu Qian, Huan Shao, Hui Fang, Ting Xiao, Ning Ding, Bei Sun, HuiYun Gao, Min Tang, Mei Ye, XiaoYan Ke) declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The last author, Daniela O'Neill, is founder and president of Knowledge in Development, Inc., the company that holds the copyright to and publishes the original English version of the Language Use Inventory (LUI) commercially (https://languageuseinventory.com/). The company receives all proceeds from the LUI, and thus, Daniela K. O'Neill is a beneficiary of proceeds from the LUI. This is a continuing relationship.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Language Use Inventory (LUI)‐Mandarin total score by age group
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
LUI‐Mandarin subscale scores (%) by age group (months) Note: Full names of the subscales are provided in Table 2. Error bars are 95% CI.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
LUI‐Mandarin total score by age group and gender Note: Error bars are 95% CI. *p < 0.05.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Total scores on the LUI‐Mandarin plotted against age (months) for the 43 age‐ and sex‐matched children in the ASD and TD groups
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
Mean performance of the 43 children in ASD and age‐ and sex‐matched TD group on all 12 scored subscales of the LUI‐Mandarin
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