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Abstract :
[en] Introductory paper presents the method of the CLT construction and monolingual results obtained for 18 languages (Afrikaans, British English, SA English, Catalan, Finnish, German, Hebrew, isiXhosa, Italian, Luxembourgish, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Polish, Serbian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish).
The CLT was conceived to assess comprehension and production of nouns and verbs in different languages. Picture choice and picture naming tasks were chosen because these procedures least involve other types of linguistic or conceptual skills. Response accuracy
indicates the size of receptive and expressive vocabulary. Error coding (production task) provides additional information about the nature of lexical problems.
We used a unique procedure for designing the CLT in parallel in 34 different languages according to the same criteria.
Phases of the CLT design included:
(1) Defining a set of candidate words (158 nouns and 142 verbs) that are mostly shared across 34 languages (a picture naming and rating study; 85 competent judges)
(2) Determining the formal complexity of candidate words for each language (expert informants)
(3) Determining the age of acquisition (AoA) of candidate words (on-line subjective rating study in each language; over 800 adult participants)
(4) Selecting a list of target words for each language according to key criteria
(5) Designing a set of culturally-neutral colored pictures for the selected words
(6) Preparing uniform instructions for CLT use
All CLT versions were piloted and the lists of target words were verified according to the pilot results.
Cross-linguistic comparison of monolingual baseline CLT results includes data obtained from 449 children (aged 3-6 years). The results show significant effect of age, noun priority in both comprehension and production and interaction of mode and word-class (production of verbs was most prone to errors).
We conclude that the CLT represents an accurate and culture-fair method for assessment of lexical knowledge in preschool children.
