Assessing the Reliability and Use of the Expository Scoring Scheme as a Measure of Developmental Change in Monolingual English and Bilingual French/English Children

Purpose: The Expository Scoring Scheme (ESS) is designed to analyze the macrostructure of descriptions of a favorite game or sport. This pilot study examined inter-and intrarater reliability of the ESS and use of the scale to capture developmental change in elementary school children. Method: Twenty-four children in 2 language groups (monolingual English and bilingual French/English) and 2 age groups (7-8 years, 11-12 years) participated (6 in each subgroup). Participants orally explained how to play their favorite game or sport in English. Expository discourse samples were rated for 10 macrostructure components using the ESS. Ratings were summed for a total score. Results: Inter-and intrarater reliability was high for the total ESS score and for some but not all ESS components. In addition, the total score and ratings for many ESS components increased with age. Few differences were found in use of macrostructure components across language groups. Conclusions: The ESS captures developmental change in the use of expository macrostructure in spoken discourse samples. It may be beneficial to take into account the lower reliability found for ratings of some ESS components in clinical practice. Due to the small sample size, these results should be considered preliminary and interpreted with caution.