The development of Mandarin consonant discrimination test : preliminary analysis on test time reduction

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to provide a preliminary evaluation on how to shorten the Mandarin Consonant Discrimination Test. Ultimately it was aimed at test time reduction. Since the participating kindergarten in Shenzhen school district withdrew during the data collection period, only four Mandarin-speaking kindergarten students (three females, one male), aged from 5;05 to 6;05 and with normal hearing, were recruited to participate in the present study. The 33 consonant minimal contrastive pairs generated from the previous stages of Mandarin Consonant Discrimination Test development were arranged hierarchically. All of them were asked to judge if the consonant pairs they heard are same or different in both quiet and noise (- 5 dB signal-to-noise ratio) conditions. Basal and ceiling establishment was adopted for scoring. With the small sample size, no statistical analysis was performed, yet the preliminary data analysis revealed that score obtained using 100% correct as a criterion under five consecutive pairs is faster for basal and ceiling establishment in quiet condition whereas no conclusive results were obtained in noise condition. In conclusion, the order created in the present study and the criterion of five consecutive pairs with 100% correct for basal and ceiling establishment were deemed to be appropriate in general. Follow up studies with a larger sample size covering a wide range of ages (4 -7 years old) were recommended. Lastly test development considerations were briefly explored as well.