Development and validation of a Communicative Skills Assessment Scale in preschool- and school-age children

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21814/rpe.37758

Keywords:

Assessment, Communication Skills, Validation, Preschool Age, School Age

Abstract

In Portugal, there are several instruments to assess different language domains. Nonetheless, there are few validated instruments specifically to assess the pragmatic domain. The main aim of this study was to develop and validate the Communicative Skills Assessment Scale (EAC) focused on pragmatic skills in children from 4 to 8 years old. This cross-sectional, descriptive-correlational study was divided into three phases: (1) development of the Communicative Skills Assessment Scale; (2) validation of the scale content through a panel of experts and calculation of the Content Validity Index (CVI); (3) data collection from 143 children with typical language development and analysis of internal consistency and test-retest reliability in a subsample of 24 children. The EAC has content validity, demonstrated by the consensus obtained by a panel of experts (CVI = 1.000). The value of internal consistency calculated using Cronbach's alpha was 0.929, indicating high internal consistency. The test-retest reliability analysis showed excellent stability (ICC between 0.943 and 1.000). The main findings show that the EAC has good psychometric characteristics of validity and reliability to be used in the clinical practice of speech and language therapists with children from 4 to 8 years old.

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Published

2026-10-21

How to Cite

Seabra, M., Figueiredo, D., Sá Couto, P., & Lousada, M. (2026). Development and validation of a Communicative Skills Assessment Scale in preschool- and school-age children. Portuguese Journal of Education, 39(2). https://doi.org/10.21814/rpe.37758

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