A mainstay in language assessment for more than 25 years!
The Test for Auditory Comprehension of Language-Third Edition (TACL-3) is a popular, individually administered measure of receptive spoken vocabulary, grammar, and syntax. The test consists of 142 items divided into three subtests that assess a child's ability to understand the following categories of English language forms:
Subtest 1 - Vocabulary:
The literal and most common meanings of word classes such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, and of words that represent basic percepts and concepts.
Subtest 2 - Grammatical Morphemes:
The meaning of grammatical morphemes such as prepositions, noun number and case, verb number and tense, noun-verb agreement, derivational suffixes, and the meaning of pronouns, tested within the context of a simple sentence.
Subtest 3 - Elaborated Phrases and Sentences:
The understanding of syntactically based word relations and elaborated phrase and sentence constructions, including the modalities of single and combined constructions (interrogative sentences, negative sentences, active and passive voice, direct and indirect object), embedded sentences, and partially and completely conjoined sentences.
Standardization Sample:
The TACL-3 was normed on a standardization sample of 1,102 children. Percentile ranks, standard scores, and age equivalents are provided.
New Features in the Third Edition
- All-new normative data representing the current population have been obtained.
- Characteristics of the normative sample relative to socioeconomic factors, ethnicity, gender, disability, and other critical variables are the same as those estimated for the year 2000 by the U.S. Bureau of the Census in the Statistical Abstract of the United States (1998).
- The normative information is stratified by age relative to gender, race, ethnicity, and disability.
- Studies to identify gender, racial, disability, or ethnic bias were conducted, and appropriate modifications were made.
- Reliability coefficients are computed for subgroups of the normative sample (e.g., individuals with speech disabilities, African Americans, European Americans, Hispanic Americans, females) as well as for the entire normative group.
- New validity studies were conducted, showing that the test is valid for a wide variety of subgroups as well as for the general population.
- All pictures have been redrawn in color to present a more appealing look to children.
- Each item on the test was re-evaluated using both conventional item analyses to choose "good" items, and the new differential analyses to find and eliminate potentially biased items.
- The TACL-3 is quick to give and easy to score.
Each item is composed of a word or sentence and a corresponding picture plate that has three full-color drawings. One of the three pictures for each item illustrates the meaning of the word, morpheme, or syntactic structure being tested. The other two pictures illustrate either two semantic or grammatical contrasts to the stimulus, or one contrast and one decoy. The examiner reads the stimulus aloud, and the subject is directed to point to the picture that he or she believes best represents the meaning of the word, phrase, or sentence spoken by the examiner. No oral response is required on the part of the subject.
The TACL-3 test items are ordered according to difficulty within each of the three subtests.
The Examiner's Manual:
Ceiling rules for scoring are provided for each section. The Examiner's Manual includes a comprehensive discussion of the test's theoretical and research-based foundation, item development, standardization, administration and scoring procedures, norms tables, and guidelines for using and interpreting the test's results. Reliability studies were carried out with individuals with normal language abilities and individuals who are language delayed, hearing impaired, aphasic, or mentally retarded.