The development of Urdu speech assessment test (USAT): Conceptualization & pilot study

Abstract

Background. Urdu is the 11th most spoken language in the world. Yet, its acquisition has not been widely studied. This may be because there are limited standardized assessment tools for the Urdu-speaking population. Objective. This paper discusses the development of a standardized Urdu Speech Assessment Tool (USAT). Method. The test development follows the guidelines outlined by McLeod (2012) and provides information about the conceptualization (test’s purpose, target population, target skill, & scope) and the pilot study. Results. USAT is developed for the assessment of articulation and phonological skills of Urdu-speaking children aged up to 8 years. It has carefully considered the language-specific phonotactic constraints of Urdu during item selection. Moreover, the test words are selected by rigorously following the recommendations made by Eisenberg and Hitchcock (2010). USAT is designed to elicit all Urdu consonants and vowels at all possible word positions and provides at least two production opportunities in a phonetically controlled context. It elicits 175 words by using the corresponding pictures. The words and the pictures included in the test are culturally appropriate. The selected words are frequently used by Urdu speakers and are judged to be present in the vocabulary of young children. The speech sample can be transcribed and analysed by using the predesigned scoring sheet. It assists in analysing the phoneme acquisition as well as the production accuracy. The analysis of phonological processes is also facilitated. This paper also discusses the content validity of the test and the findings of the pilot study. Conclusion. The study presented the conceptualization of USAT. The framework serves as the basis for collecting empirical data which would provide normative information regarding speech sound acquisition in Urdu.