The understanding of complex syntax in children from 5 to 9 years, using a novel assessment approach – The Test of Complex Syntax‐ Electronic (TECS‐E)

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dc.contributor.authorFrizelle, Paulineen
dc.contributor.authorOliveira‐Buckley, Anaen
dc.contributor.authorBiancone, Triciaen
dc.contributor.authorOliveira, Jorgeen
dc.contributor.authorFletcher, Paulen
dc.contributor.authorBishop, Dorothy V. M.en
dc.contributor.authorMcKean, Cristinaen
dc.contributor.funderHealth Research Boarden
dc.date.accessioned2025-08-12T13:31:42Z
dc.date.available2025-08-12T13:31:42Z
dc.date.issued2025-07-10en
dc.description.abstractIntroduction: The present study investigated English-speaking 5–9 year olds’ (n = 600, normative sample) comprehension of relative, adverbial and complement clauses using the Test of Complex Syntax-Electronic (TECS-E), an online interactive assessment. with strong test-retest reliability, concurrent validity and internal consistency. Method: Using an opt out protocol three groups of children were recruited from schools—a sample for whom we could ascertain test-retest reliability (n = 122), a sample to explore concurrent validity, using the Test for the Reception of Grammar (TROG-2) (n = 131) and a main normative sample (n = 906). The main sample was reduced to 600, to ensure that the final sample accurately represented the population of the Republic of Ireland, with respect to sex, socio-economic status and locale. Children completed the TECS-E independently in groups within their pre/school classroom. The TROG-2 was administered individually. Results: Scores increased with age from 5–9 years with considerable growth in development between 5;06 and 7 years, suggesting that 7 years is an important milestone in children's understanding of complex syntax. Girls performed significantly better than boys, particularly between 6 and 7 years. Those from disadvantaged backgrounds scored significantly lower than those who were more affluent, until 7 years, and this was more marked in boys than in girls. Children performed highest on relative clauses, followed by complement clauses, and last on adverbial clauses. Conclusion: This study provides a developmental hierarchy as well as important information regarding growth in English-speaking children's understanding of complex syntactic structures in the early school years and how this interacts with sex as well as social disadvantage.en
dc.description.sponsorshipHealth Research Board (ILP-POR – 2019-003)en
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden
dc.description.versionPublished Versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.articleide70079en
dc.identifier.citationFrizelle, P., Oliveira-Buckley, A., Biancone, T., Oliveira, J., Fletcher, P., Bishop, D. V. M. and McKean, C. (2025) 'The understanding of complex syntax in children from 5 to 9 years, using a novel assessment approach – The Test of Complex Syntax‐ Electronic (TECS‐E)', International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 60(4), e70079 (19pp). https://doi.org/10.1111/1460-6984.70079en
dc.identifier.doi10.1111/1460-6984.70079en
dc.identifier.eissn1460-6984en
dc.identifier.endpage19en
dc.identifier.issn1368-2822en
dc.identifier.issued4en
dc.identifier.journaltitleInternational Journal of Language and Communication Disordersen
dc.identifier.startpage1en
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/17775
dc.identifier.volume60en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherJohn Wiley & Sons, Inc.en
dc.relation.ispartofInternational Journal of Language and Communication Disordersen
dc.rights© 2025, the Authors. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the originalwork is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.en
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/en
dc.subjectAssessmenten
dc.subjectComprehensionen
dc.subjectLanguageen
dc.subjectSyntaxen
dc.subjectSchool-aged childrenen
dc.titleThe understanding of complex syntax in children from 5 to 9 years, using a novel assessment approach – The Test of Complex Syntax‐ Electronic (TECS‐E)en
dc.typeArticle (peer-reviewed)en
dc.typejournal-articleen
oaire.citation.issue4en
oaire.citation.volume60en
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