Issues in developing grammatical assessment tools in Chinese and Malay for speech and language therapy

Introduction: In conservative estimates, 5 per cent of Malaysia’s citizens are affected by communication disorders. Early identification of children with communication problems is crucial. It will help speech舑language therapists (SLTs) to manage their clients’ difficulties effectively, improve their life quality and support their cognitive development, for which language assessment is crucial. For this purpose, appropriate standardized tools are needed for Malay and Mandarin among other languages. Between 2008 and 2010, a research project sponsored by the British Prime Minister Initiative (PMI2) fund enabled researchers from De Montfort University, UK and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Malaysia to jointly investigate language development of Malay- and Mandarin-speaking children in Malaysia in order to produce grammar assessment packs for use in speech and language therapy (SLT) settings. This project looks at four aspects: educational, methodological, linguistic and cultural/intercultural issues, which are important to the success of the research. In this chapter the first three issues are considered separately whilst cultural issues are embedded within the respective discussions. The population studied is multicultural and multilingual and the team is a multinational research team working together across continents.