Noboru Takahashi

This paper reports the characteristics of a grammar-discourse test which was developed as a subscale of the ATLAN (Adaptive Tests for Language Abilities). ATLAN, which can be used via the Internet, is a collection of sub-scales used to assess different language abilities, mainly in middle childhood. In Study 1, we prepared 67 items from 8 grammar categories for elementary school children and 67 items from 12 grammar categories for preschool children. Participants were 309 children from the first to third grades and 258 preschoolers from 3-6 years of age. One hundred and twenty eight items were chosen based on the results of study 1, as an item pool for a grammar-discourse subscale of the ATLAN. In Study 2, 59 preschool children responded to the two subscales of the ATLAN, grammar-discourse and vocabulary, in addition to the LC Scale (Language Communication Developmental Scale; Otomo et al., 2008). The results of multiple regression analysis, in which the child's score of LC Scale was a dependent variable and the two ATLAN scores were independent variables, showed that 48% of the variance on the LC Scale was explained by the two ATLAN subscales. A discussion focused on the possibility of expanding the ATLAN tests.

This paper reports 3 experiments about how Japanese preschool children play one of their favorite word games, "shiritori" (cap verses). It also concerned the relationship of shiritori to phonological awareness and reading kana syllabary scripts. Experiment 1 and 2 indicated that two kinds of phonological processing ability are needed to play shiritori without adults' help : (1) isolating the last syllable of a word and (2) retrieving words that begin with a specific syllable. The results do not mean that children have good vocabulary, but rather that they need to recompile their mental lexicon that has a sound index. Experiment 3 showed that there are close interrelationships among shiritori, reading of kana script, and phonological awareness. It also indicated that children who have insufficient phonological processing abilities can participate in shiritori activity with adults' help. It was concluded that children begin to participate in word play activity peripherally, and that helps them to refine their phonological awareness which benefits them to learn to read kana script.