Tamer Abou-Elsaad1, Hemmat Baz, Manal El-Banna. 1. Phoniatric Unit, ORL Department, Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt. taboelsaad@hotmail.com
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to develop an Arabic articulation test using familiar and visually transparent words in order to be used as a criterion for comparing phonemes of both normal and phonologically disordered Arabic-speaking children. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A picture-naming test was designed for the Mansoura Arabic Articulation Test (MAAT) to elicit spontaneous single-word responses representing all possible consonant positions and vowels of Colloquial Egyptian Arabic. Three expert phoniatricians were asked to review MAAT and complete a questionnaire. The MAAT was presented to 100 normal Arabic-speaking Egyptian children randomly selected from the first- and second-grade kindergarten. They were 52 males and 48 females with ages ranging between 42 and 70 months. Children's responses were converted to a percent correct score for sound utterances and picture identification. RESULTS: Statistically non-significant differences were found among experts' opinions reflecting approval for the MAAT items. A statistically highly significant adequate correlation was found between correct word utterances and picture identification which proved the content validity of MAAT. Test-retest reliability proved the consistency of MAAT. CONCLUSION: MAAT is a valid and reliable test that can be applied to collect the phonetic inventory of Arabic-speaking young children.
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to develop an Arabic articulation test using familiar and visually transparent words in order to be used as a criterion for comparing phonemes of both normal and phonologically disordered Arabic-speaking children. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A picture-naming test was designed for the Mansoura Arabic Articulation Test (MAAT) to elicit spontaneous single-word responses representing all possible consonant positions and vowels of Colloquial Egyptian Arabic. Three expert phoniatricians were asked to review MAAT and complete a questionnaire. The MAAT was presented to 100 normal Arabic-speaking Egyptian children randomly selected from the first- and second-grade kindergarten. They were 52 males and 48 females with ages ranging between 42 and 70 months. Children's responses were converted to a percent correct score for sound utterances and picture identification. RESULTS: Statistically non-significant differences were found among experts' opinions reflecting approval for the MAAT items. A statistically highly significant adequate correlation was found between correct word utterances and picture identification which proved the content validity of MAAT. Test-retest reliability proved the consistency of MAAT. CONCLUSION: MAAT is a valid and reliable test that can be applied to collect the phonetic inventory of Arabic-speaking young children.