1. Development of a Bilingual (Armenian-English) Vocabulary Test Alice Hovsepian, Ph.D. Candidate Department of Speech-Language Pathology Carla J. Johnson, Ph.D. University of Toronto a. Finding picturable English vocabulary items: For 2- to 12-year-old children based on AoA values With translation equivalents in Armenian b. Finding pictures for these items Selecting items with consistent labels Excluding items with different labels in the two Armenian dialects Arranging items on ascending order of mean AoA Assigning items randomly to four lists Translating items into Armenian Three foil pictures were randomly assigned to each target item picture AoA of the foils were within ± 1-year of the target Armenian-English Receptive and Expressive Vocabulary Test 1. Identifying Potential Vocabulary Items with Pictures 2. Obtaining Common Labels and Age of Acquisition (AoA) Ratings in Armenian and English 3. Selecting Target Items 4. Developing Four Parallel Lists 5. Finding Foil Pictures for Identification Tasks 6. Programming and Pilot Study Procedure Acknowledgement This study was conducted as part of the first author’s dissertation project. Acknowledgement This study was conducted as part of the first author’s dissertation project. Introduction There are a growing number of bilingual children who learn English in addition to their home language, namely a minority language. One of the minority languages spoken in North America is Armenian. To compare receptive and expressive vocabulary development in both languages of bilingual children, objective parallel measures are required for: Receptive and expressive modalities of English and home (minority) language This is the first study to develop parallel measures for receptive and expressive vocabulary of a minority language (Armenian) and English (see e.g., Kan & Kohnert, 2005; Winsler, Diaz, Espinosa, & Rodriguez, 1999 for their vocabulary measures). Introduction There are a growing number of bilingual children who learn English in addition to their home language, namely a minority language. One of the minority languages spoken in North America is Armenian. To compare receptive and expressive vocabulary development in both languages of bilingual children, objective parallel measures are required for: Receptive and expressive modalities of English and home (minority) language This is the first study to develop parallel measures for receptive and expressive vocabulary of a minority language (Armenian) and English (see e.g., Kan & Kohnert, 2005; Winsler, Diaz, Espinosa, & Rodriguez, 1999 for their vocabulary measures). Objective To develop a parallel bilingual test for receptive and expressive vocabulary in Armenian and English, which is comprised of four tasks: Armenian Picture Identification (Arm PI) Armenian Picture Naming (Arm PN) English Picture Identification (Eng PI) English Picture Naming (Eng PN) The identification tasks measure receptive, and the naming tasks measure expressive vocabulary. Objective To develop a parallel bilingual test for receptive and expressive vocabulary in Armenian and English, which is comprised of four tasks: Armenian Picture Identification (Arm PI) Armenian Picture Naming (Arm PN) English Picture Identification (Eng PI) English Picture Naming (Eng PN) The identification tasks measure receptive, and the naming tasks measure expressive vocabulary. Method Developing four comparable vocabulary lists: Using mean age of acquisition (AoA) values Appropriate for 4- and 5-year-old children Appropriate for speakers of one of the two Western and Eastern Armenian dialects and English Method Developing four comparable vocabulary lists: Using mean age of acquisition (AoA) values Appropriate for 4- and 5-year-old children Appropriate for speakers of one of the two Western and Eastern Armenian dialects and English Results Developing four vocabulary lists (A, B, C, D) Each list contained 55 items None of the items were repeated in the four lists All items had Armenian translation equivalents The four lists had comparable mean AoA values Results Developing four vocabulary lists (A, B, C, D) Each list contained 55 items None of the items were repeated in the four lists All items had Armenian translation equivalents The four lists had comparable mean AoA values Conclusion The four lists have comparable mean AoA values The four lists can be counterbalanced across the four tasks Order Arm PI Arm PN Eng PI Eng PN 1 List A List B List D List C 2 List B List C List A List D 3 List C List D List B List A 4 List D List A List C List B The procedure used in developing this test can be replicated in other Minority-English language pairs Conclusion The four lists have comparable mean AoA values The four lists can be counterbalanced across the four tasks Order Arm PI Arm PN Eng PI Eng PN 1 List A List B List D List C 2 List B List C List A List D 3 List C List D List B List A 4 List D List A List C List B The procedure used in developing this test can be replicated in other Minority-English language pairs Test Trial Samples Picture Identification Task Picture Naming Task Test Trial Samples Picture Identification Task Picture Naming Task Adults familiar with child language development and speakers of Western Armenian ( n = 5), Eastern Armenian ( n = 5), and English ( n = 5) labelled the pictures and rated them for AoA Programming the Identification and Naming tasks in SuperLab Pilot testing the tasks ( n = 6)