Tele-Assessment of Oral Personal Narratives in Arabic- and Hebrew-Speaking Children Using the Global TALES Protocol

Abstract

Introduction: Tele-assessment has the potential to enhance access to speech therapy. This preliminary study aimed to investigate the impact of assessment mode [face-to-face (FTF) vs tele-assessment (TA)] on the microstructure level and chosen topics of personal narratives produced by Arabic-speaking and Hebrew-speaking school-age children living in Israel. We also investigated whether performance variations, if evident, could be attributed to the children’s language/culture. Methods: Eighty-nine 10-year-old children, 38 Arabic-speaking and 51 Hebrew-speaking, living in Israel, participated in this study. Forty participants were assigned to a TA group (via zoom) and 49 to a FTF group. All participants were assessed using the Global TALES protocol, generating six personal narratives each. The narratives were analyzed regarding the following microstructural measures: total number of words (TNW), total number of utterances (TNU), number of different words (NDW) and mean length of utterance in words (MLU-W). Additionally, each narrative was categorized into a topic according to the Global TALES protocol. Results: The analysis revealed no significant main effect of assessment mode on any of the microstructure measures. However, a significant interaction effect between language/culture and assessment mode was found for TNU and MLU-W, with a significant main effect for TNU exclusively in the Arabic narratives, with the Arabic-speaking children producing more utterances through FTF compared to TA. Across language/culture groups, there was a significant effect of assessment mode on the chosen topic. Additionally, there were significantly higher scores in the Hebrew compared the Arabic narratives in all microstructure measures, and language/culture also influenced the chosen topics. Conclusions: The results support the feasibility of TA mode for assessing personal narratives in school-aged children, using the Global TALES protocol. However, the results also suggest that TA results may be affected by the language/culture of the narrator. Finally, the findings highlight the potential influence of TA on the chosen topics of personal narratives, perhaps due to a decrease in the quality of communication in TA.

Topic and Content of Personal Narratives of Children from Three East Asian Cultures and Three English-Speaking Cultures: A Collaborative Qualitative Analysis

“…It is possible that the manner of narrative elicitation may have influenced story topics and content. In this issue of Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica, Ferman and Kawar [58] report a study of Israeli and Arabic children that indicated that the mode of the protocol elicitation (face-to-face or tele-/internet) affected the topics of the children's narratives. Although the types of their narrative topics were not affected, the frequency of the different topics was affected.…”

Evaluating Children’s Personal Narrative Skills Using the Global TALES Protocol: Implications for Practice

“…The initial Global TALES feasibility study [4] found that the topics of children's personal narratives were remarkably similar across the 11 groups examined, regardless of the child's cultural or linguistic background. To further investigate the potential influence of culture on children's responses to the Global TALES protocol prompts, three studies analysed children's topical responses in more detail [10][11][12]. Westby et al [10] used an inductive content analysis approach to identify the topic and content of children's personal narratives.…”

“…These researchers found some novel topics as well, such as "welcoming guests," which could reflect the Indian culture. Ferman and Kawar [12] similarly investigated potential cultural differences by eliciting personal narratives from Hebrew-speaking (Jewish) children and Arabic-speaking children in Israel. Here too, they found that language/ culture influenced the chosen topics, with, for example, Hebrew-speaking children producing more personal narratives around personal growth or contribution.…”

“…The Global TALES protocol has been successfully administered face to face [4,8,9,11] or via Zoom [6,7,10,12]. However, some subtle differences in performance were found between the assessment conditions, particularly for the Arabic-speaking children [12], and further research is needed to better understand why the assessment condition may influence some children's performance more than others.…”

“…Most of the studies included in this special issue reported on children's structural language skills by counting the number of different words (vocabulary), the total number of words (verbal productivity), and/or the mean length of utterances (syntax) in morphemes or words [6-9, 12, 13]. One study reported on the global coherence of the children's personal narratives [9], using the Narrative Coherence Scoring Scheme [15], whereas four studies reported on the topics and themes of children's responses [5,[10][11][12]. One study investigated children's use of language to convey meaning by coding the use of evaluative devices [14].…”