Validation and norming of the Intelligibility in Context Scale in Northern Viet Nam

ABSTRACT

Vietnamese is one of the 20 most commonly spoken languages in the world; however, there are no standardised tools to assess Vietnamese children’s speech. This study aimed to validate and norm the Vietnamese version of the Intelligibility in Context Scale (ICS-VN). Data were collected from parents of 181 children (aged 2;0-5;11) living in Ha Noi, Northern Viet Nam. The mean ICS-VN score was 4.43 (out of a maximum of 5), indicating that children were ‘usually’ to ‘always’ intelligible; however, item-level scores demonstrated significant differences between communication partners. Children with parental concerns about speech and language had significantly lower mean scores than children without parental concerns. Scores also differed by children’s age, parents’ occupation and mothers’ education level but not by sex of child or fathers’ education level. The ICS-VN had good psychometric properties indicating it to be a valid tool for use with Vietnamese-speaking children in Northern Viet Nam.

KEYWORDS:

• Assessment
• intelligibility
• Intelligibility in Context Scale
• speech
• Vietnamese

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Lê Thị Thanh Xuân, Giang Pham, and the participating educators, parents, and children.

Declaration of interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Funding

The first author acknowledges support from an Australia Awards Scholarship and funding from the Trinh Foundation Australia.

Additional information

Funding

The first author acknowledges support from an Australia Awards Scholarship and funding from the Trinh Foundation Australia.