Kim, Y. S. G. (2016). Do live versus audio-recorded narrative stimuli influence young children’s narrative comprehension and retell quality ? Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools , 47 (1), 77–86. https://doi.org/10.1044/2015_LSHSS-15-0027

The oral delivery of the assessment, comparing audio-recorded items and live in-person delivery by test administrators, was examined.

Students in kindergarten, grade 2, and grade 4, from two elementary schools in Florida participated, totaling 193 students. The participant group included both children with and without disabilities, as well as students learning English; however, students with significant emotional and intellectual disabilities were not included. Therefore, the number of students with disabilities (n=9) was reported -- but their performance was not compared with that of students without disabilities. The score comparisons between oral delivery conditions were completed by matching students based on performance on a language comprehension task. Other participant demographic data, such as gender and race/ethnicity, were also reported.

Performance on a general comprehension task was used as a screening process for matching students for each of the accommodation conditions. The reading skills measured included comprehension for kindergartners per the Oral and Written Language Scales-Second Edition (OWLS-II)'s listening subscale, and for grade 2 and grade 4 students per the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement (WJ-III)'s oral comprehension subtest; and retelling per the Test of Narrative Language (TNL), for all three grade levels of participants. Students responded to both types of measures verbally.

Participants in kindergarten and grade 2 in the live oral delivery condition scored significantly better in comprehension than matched students in the audio-recorded condition; no differences were found for grade 4 students. Student participation groups did not perform significantly differently in retell quality between audio recording and in-person oral delivery accommodation conditions. Limitations of the study were reported, and future research directions were suggested.