Instrument Adaptation for Measuring Early Child Language Development Across Multilingual and Sociocultural Diverse Settings

Heather Brookes; Frenette Southwood; Martin Mössmer; Patricia Makaure; Michelle J. White; Carmen Coetsee; Sefela L. Yalala; Helena Kruger; Mikateko Ndhambi; Sibusiso Ndlangamandla; Monicca T. Bhuda; Nina Brink; Nomfundo Buthelezi; William Jiyana; F. Portia Khumalo; Babalwa Ludidi; Muzi Matfunjwa; Lufuno Miriri; Nomsa Skosana

doi:10.1037/dev0001935

Instrument Adaptation for Measuring Early Child Language Development Across Multilingual and Sociocultural Diverse Settings

Heather Brookes^*, Frenette Southwood, Martin Mössmer, Patricia Makaure, Michelle J. White, Carmen Coetsee, Sefela L. Yalala, Helena Kruger, Mikateko Ndhambi, Sibusiso Ndlangamandla, Monicca T. Bhuda, Nina Brink, Nomfundo Buthelezi, William Jiyana, F. Portia Khumalo, Babalwa Ludidi, Muzi Matfunjwa, Lufuno Miriri, Nomsa Skosana

^*Corresponding author for this work

Speech Language Pathology & Audiology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

This article describes the adaptation of the MacArthur–Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI) for South Africa’s 11 official spoken languages. The CDI is a parent-report tool that measures early language development from 8 to 30 months. We developed cross-linguistically comparable CDIs, representing two distinct language families, West Germanic and southern Bantu, using a common protocol. We describe our approach to item construction and harmonization across languages and to obtaining sociodemographic information in different cultural settings. Issues such as language contact and variation, sampling, data collection, and quality control are discussed as well as item selection and instrument reliability and validity. This study highlights key issues for CDI adaptations and other instrument development in understudied contexts and discusses the theoretical implications of adding this diverse set of cross-linguistically comparable languages for early child language research.

Original language	English
Journal	Developmental Psychology
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001935
Publication status	Published - 2025

Keywords

MacArthur–Bates Communicative Development Inventory
South Africa
adaptation
cross-linguistic
language acquisition

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10.1037/dev0001935

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Brookes, H., Southwood, F., Mössmer, M., Makaure, P., White, M. J., Coetsee, C., Yalala, S. L., Kruger, H., Ndhambi, M., Ndlangamandla, S., Bhuda, M. T., Brink, N., Buthelezi, N., Jiyana, W., Khumalo, F. P., Ludidi, B., Matfunjwa, M., Miriri, L., & Skosana, N. (2025). Instrument Adaptation for Measuring Early Child Language Development Across Multilingual and Sociocultural Diverse Settings. Developmental Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001935

@article{9df29bc5d9d74a70a57a149dcdf95f42,

title = "Instrument Adaptation for Measuring Early Child Language Development Across Multilingual and Sociocultural Diverse Settings",

abstract = "This article describes the adaptation of the MacArthur–Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI) for South Africa{\textquoteright}s 11 official spoken languages. The CDI is a parent-report tool that measures early language development from 8 to 30 months. We developed cross-linguistically comparable CDIs, representing two distinct language families, West Germanic and southern Bantu, using a common protocol. We describe our approach to item construction and harmonization across languages and to obtaining sociodemographic information in different cultural settings. Issues such as language contact and variation, sampling, data collection, and quality control are discussed as well as item selection and instrument reliability and validity. This study highlights key issues for CDI adaptations and other instrument development in understudied contexts and discusses the theoretical implications of adding this diverse set of cross-linguistically comparable languages for early child language research.",

keywords = "MacArthur–Bates Communicative Development Inventory, South Africa, adaptation, cross-linguistic, language acquisition",

author = "Heather Brookes and Frenette Southwood and Martin M{\"o}ssmer and Patricia Makaure and White, {Michelle J.} and Carmen Coetsee and Yalala, {Sefela L.} and Helena Kruger and Mikateko Ndhambi and Sibusiso Ndlangamandla and Bhuda, {Monicca T.} and Nina Brink and Nomfundo Buthelezi and William Jiyana and Khumalo, {F. Portia} and Babalwa Ludidi and Muzi Matfunjwa and Lufuno Miriri and Nomsa Skosana",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2025 American Psychological Association",

year = "2025",

doi = "10.1037/dev0001935",

language = "English",

journal = "Developmental Psychology",

issn = "0012-1649",

publisher = "American Psychological Association",

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Brookes, H, Southwood, F, Mössmer, M, Makaure, P, White, MJ, Coetsee, C, Yalala, SL, Kruger, H, Ndhambi, M, Ndlangamandla, S, Bhuda, MT, Brink, N, Buthelezi, N, Jiyana, W, Khumalo, FP, Ludidi, B, Matfunjwa, M, Miriri, L & Skosana, N 2025, 'Instrument Adaptation for Measuring Early Child Language Development Across Multilingual and Sociocultural Diverse Settings', Developmental Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001935

TY - JOUR

T1 - Instrument Adaptation for Measuring Early Child Language Development Across Multilingual and Sociocultural Diverse Settings

AU - Brookes, Heather

AU - Southwood, Frenette

AU - Mössmer, Martin

AU - Makaure, Patricia

AU - White, Michelle J.

AU - Coetsee, Carmen

AU - Yalala, Sefela L.

AU - Kruger, Helena

AU - Ndhambi, Mikateko

AU - Ndlangamandla, Sibusiso

AU - Bhuda, Monicca T.

AU - Brink, Nina

AU - Buthelezi, Nomfundo

AU - Jiyana, William

AU - Khumalo, F. Portia

AU - Ludidi, Babalwa

AU - Matfunjwa, Muzi

AU - Miriri, Lufuno

AU - Skosana, Nomsa

PY - 2025

Y1 - 2025

N2 - This article describes the adaptation of the MacArthur–Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI) for South Africa’s 11 official spoken languages. The CDI is a parent-report tool that measures early language development from 8 to 30 months. We developed cross-linguistically comparable CDIs, representing two distinct language families, West Germanic and southern Bantu, using a common protocol. We describe our approach to item construction and harmonization across languages and to obtaining sociodemographic information in different cultural settings. Issues such as language contact and variation, sampling, data collection, and quality control are discussed as well as item selection and instrument reliability and validity. This study highlights key issues for CDI adaptations and other instrument development in understudied contexts and discusses the theoretical implications of adding this diverse set of cross-linguistically comparable languages for early child language research.

AB - This article describes the adaptation of the MacArthur–Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI) for South Africa’s 11 official spoken languages. The CDI is a parent-report tool that measures early language development from 8 to 30 months. We developed cross-linguistically comparable CDIs, representing two distinct language families, West Germanic and southern Bantu, using a common protocol. We describe our approach to item construction and harmonization across languages and to obtaining sociodemographic information in different cultural settings. Issues such as language contact and variation, sampling, data collection, and quality control are discussed as well as item selection and instrument reliability and validity. This study highlights key issues for CDI adaptations and other instrument development in understudied contexts and discusses the theoretical implications of adding this diverse set of cross-linguistically comparable languages for early child language research.

KW - MacArthur–Bates Communicative Development Inventory

KW - South Africa

KW - adaptation

KW - cross-linguistic

KW - language acquisition

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U2 - 10.1037/dev0001935

DO - 10.1037/dev0001935

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AN - SCOPUS:86000184230

SN - 0012-1649

JO - Developmental Psychology

JF - Developmental Psychology

ER -

Instrument Adaptation for Measuring Early Child Language Development Across Multilingual and Sociocultural Diverse Settings

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