An initial reliability and validity study of the Interaction, Communication, and Literacy Skills Audit

Abstract

Early childhood educators (ECEs) have an important role in promoting positive outcomes for children's language and literacy development. This paper reports the development of a new tool, The Interaction Communication and Literacy (ICL) Skills Audit, and pilots its reliability and validity. Intra- and inter-rater reliability was examined by three speech-language pathologists (SLPs). Five skill areas relating to ECE language and literacy practice were rated. The face and content validity of the ICL Skills Audit was examined by expert SLPs (n = 8) and expert ECEs (n = 4) via questionnaire. The overall intra-rater reliability for the ICL Skills Audit was excellent with percentage close agreement (PCA) of 91-94. Inter-rater agreement was PCA 68-80. Expert SLPs and ECEs agreed that the content was comprehensive and practical. Based on this preliminary study, the ICL Skills Audit appears to be a promising tool that can be used by SLPs and ECEs in collaboration to measure the skills of ECEs in the areas of language and literacy support. Future psychometric and outcome research on the revised ICL Skills Audit is warranted.

Perceptions of a culturally responsive school-based oral language and early literacy programme

“…The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education facilitate development of shared understandings between SLPs who may focus on individual children with spoken language concerns and educators who focus on classroom cohorts and broader learning concerns (El-Choueifati et al, 2012). However, educators report limited training opportunities to access specialist knowledge in oral language and early literacy (El-Choueifati et al, 2012;El-Choueifati et al, 2014;Scarinci et al, 2015). Evidence suggests educators are highly satisfied with SLP training, and the positive impact it has on their skills and consequently on student oral language and early literacy outcomes (Mroz, 2006;Girolametto et al, 2012;McDonald et al, 2015;Milburn et al, 2015;Namasivayam et al, 2014;Rezzonico et al, 2015;Scarinci et al, 2015).…”