10  Elision-Receptive

10.1 Task Description

Children are shown three pictures, each of which is named for them. They then hear a word and are prompted to take away part of it. Children are asked to select the picture that represents the resulting word.

10.2 Construct

The Elision-Receptive task measures phonological awareness and auditory manipulation skills. Students hear a word and are asked to delete a specific linguistic unit (compound word, syllable, or phoneme), then select a picture representing the portion of the word that remains. This task emphasizes auditory discrimination, phonological processing, and receptive language abilities, providing insight into students’ ability to manipulate language units without requiring verbal production.

10.3 Item Development

An original list of words was developed from English and Dual Language Program curricula commonly used in California. Researchers later extended the list to increase the item pool for the Elision-Receptive task.

Words were chosen such that, when a specified linguistic unit (word, syllable, or phoneme) was removed, the remainder formed a new, valid word that was also imageable. The removable element could appear at the beginning, the end, or in the middle of the word.

To ensure a diverse range of sounds, items were screened to minimize repetition of syllables and phonemes (e.g., blends with /ɹ/ or /l/).

The Elision Receptive target words were selected for easy imaginability and concreteness, with pictures designed to be universally recognizable to reduce cultural bias.

10.4 Scoring

Dichotomous fixed response format of 0 points for incorrect responses or non-responses and 1 point for correct ones.

10.5 Calibration Samples

Table 10.1: Demographic Characteristics of Calibration Samples for the English and Spanish Elision-Receptive Tasks
Characteristic
English
Spanish
K
N = 2,306		 G1
N = 668		 K
N = 1,140		 G1
N = 650
Timepoint



    Spring 2023 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 606 (53%) 644 (99%)
    Fall 2023 605 (26%) 660 (99%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)
    Fall 2024 1,701 (74%) 8 (1.2%) 534 (47%) 6 (0.9%)
Administration Format



    CAT 1,701 (74%) 8 (1.2%) 534 (47%) 6 (0.9%)
    Forms 605 (26%) 660 (99%) 606 (53%) 644 (99%)
Race



    American/Alaskan Native 88 (4.1%) 12 (1.8%) 38 (3.4%) 8 (1.3%)
    Asian 154 (7.1%) 86 (13%) 21 (1.9%) 7 (1.1%)
    Black/African American 203 (9.4%) 78 (12%) 11 (1.0%) 4 (0.6%)
    Not reported 259 (12%) 127 (19%) 462 (42%) 385 (62%)
    Other 521 (24%) 76 (11%) 226 (20%) 52 (8.4%)
    White 944 (44%) 288 (43%) 347 (31%) 164 (26%)
    Unknown 137 1 35 30
Ethnicity



    Hispanic/Latin(o/a) 1,388 (70%) 347 (52%) 954 (97%) 559 (96%)
    Intentional nonreport 19 (1.0%) 3 (0.4%) 3 (0.3%) 1 (0.2%)
    Not Hispanic/Latin(o/a) 563 (29%) 317 (48%) 23 (2.3%) 20 (3.4%)
    Unknown 336 1 160 70
Gender



    Female 997 (50%) 315 (47%) 520 (53%) 346 (60%)
    Male 997 (50%) 352 (53%) 459 (47%) 234 (40%)
    Unknown 312 1 161 70
Home Language



    English 1,277 (63%) 490 (74%) 113 (10%) 72 (12%)
    Spanish 671 (33%) 105 (16%) 975 (88%) 539 (87%)
    Other 82 (4.0%) 70 (11%) 16 (1.4%) 7 (1.1%)
    Unknown 276 3 36 32
English Proficiency Label



    (Re-)Classified Proficient 76 (4.1%) 62 (9.5%) 72 (7.6%) 49 (8.8%)
    English Learner 606 (33%) 123 (19%) 789 (84%) 451 (81%)
    English-only 1,161 (63%) 471 (72%) 83 (8.8%) 59 (11%)
    Unknown 463 12 196 91
Ever IEP/504 123 (7.8%) 64 (11%) 71 (10.0%) 25 (13%)
    Unknown 725 106 427 452

10.6 Psychometric Analysis

10.6.1 Basic Item Statistics

We excluded 0 items from the English task and 0 items from the Spanish task based on low response counts (n < 90). 0 items were excluded because they had no variance in the Spanish task, and 0 items in the English task. Additionally, we excluded 0 items from the English task and 0 items from the Spanish task based on low point-biserial correlations (r < 0.2). Table 10.2 summarizes the basic item characteristics, Figure 10.1 shows the relationship between point-biserial correlations and the proportion of correct responses for each item.

Table 10.2: Basic Item Statistics Before and After Application of Exclusion Criteria, for the English and Spanish Elision-Receptive Tasks
English
Spanish
Characteristic
Before Excl.
After Excl.
Before Excl.
After Excl.
N = 59 N = 59 N = 62 N = 62
No. of Responses 636 (768) 636 (768) 274 (158) 274 (158)
Proportion Correct 0.75 (0.12) 0.75 (0.12) 0.57 (0.09) 0.57 (0.09)
Point-biserial Correlation 0.50 (0.10) 0.50 (0.10) 0.54 (0.11) 0.54 (0.11)
Excluded (n < 90) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)
Excluded (pbis < .2) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)
Excluded (no variation) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)
Figure 10.1: Scatterplot Showing Point-biserial (Item-total) Correlations and Proportion of Correct Responses for the English (Panel A) and Spanish (Panel B) Elision-Receptive Tasks

10.6.2 Rasch Analysis

10.6.2.1 Item Location Estimates

Figure 10.2: Scatterplot Showing Item Location and Proportion of Correct Response for the English (Panel A) and Spanish (Panel B) Elision-Receptive Tasks

10.6.2.2 Item Fit Statistics

Table 10.3: Frequencies of Item Misfit Categories Based on Infit/Outfit MSE Values for the English and Spanish Elision-Receptive Tasks
English
Spanish
Infit MSE
A B C D Total A B C D Total
Outfit MSE
A 57 0 0 0 57 62 0 0 0 62
B 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
C 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
D 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 59 0 0 0 59 62 0 0 0 62

10.6.2.3 Person Location Estimates

Figure 10.3: Scatterplot Showing Person Location Estimates (Obtained using the MLE method) and the Proportion of Correct Responses for English and Spanish Elision-Receptive Tasks

10.6.2.4 Person Fit Statistics

Table 10.4: Frequencies of Person Misfit Categories Based on Infit/Outfit MSE Values for the English and Spanish Elision-Receptive Tasks
English
Spanish
Infit MSE
A B C D Total A B C D Total
Outfit MSE
A 2,220 0 0 0 2,220 1,387 0 0 0 1,387
B 88 566 0 0 654 45 231 0 0 276
C 39 0 5 0 44 48 0 7 0 55
D 5 0 6 1 12 4 0 4 0 8
Total 2,352 566 11 1 2,930 1,484 231 11 0 1,726

10.6.2.5 Distribution of Theta Estimates

Figure 10.4: Distribution of Theta Estimates for the English and Spanish Elision-Receptive Tasks

10.6.2.6 Wright Maps

Figure 10.5: Wright Maps Showing the Relationship Between Item and Person Location Estimates for the English Elision-Receptive Task
Figure 10.6: Wright Maps Showing the Relationship Between Item and Person Location Estimates for the Spanish Elision-Receptive Task

10.6.2.7 Model Summary

Table 10.5: Summary of Rasch Model Statistics for the English and Spanish Elision-Receptive Tasks
English
Spanish
Item
Person
Item
Person
Characteristic N = 59 N = 2,930 N = 62 N = 1,726
Logit Scale Location -1.51 (0.78) -0.09 (-0.80, 0.98) -0.48 (0.69) 0.18 (-1.05, 0.97)
Outfit 0.94 (0.18) 0.88 (0.56, 1.03) 0.99 (0.17) 0.86 (0.66, 1.01)
Infit 0.98 (0.08) 0.90 (0.73, 1.01) 0.99 (0.11) 0.88 (0.74, 0.99)
Reliability of Separation 0.6754 0.4677 0.7243 0.6226
10.6.2.7.1 Final Number of Items

Following the exclusion of items with point-biserial correlations < .20 and items with poor fit statistics, the final versions of the task contain 59 and 62 for the English and Spanish task, respectively.

10.7 Criterion Validity Evidence

10.7.1 Sample

Table 10.6: Demographic Characteristics of the Concurrent Criterion Validity Evidence Samples for the English and Spanish Elision-Receptive Tasks
Characteristic
English
Spanish
K
N = 260		 G1
N = 228		 K
N = 52		 G1
N = 166
Timepoint



    Winter 2024 260 (100%) 228 (100%) 52 (100%) 166 (100%)
Race



    American/Alaskan Native 5 (1.9%) 3 (1.3%) 0 (0%) 4 (2.4%)
    Asian 35 (14%) 37 (16%) 2 (3.8%) 2 (1.2%)
    Black/African American 29 (11%) 28 (12%)

    Not reported 29 (11%) 32 (14%) 28 (54%) 116 (71%)
    Other 73 (28%) 44 (19%) 11 (21%) 5 (3.0%)
    White 86 (33%) 84 (37%) 11 (21%) 37 (23%)
    Unknown 3 0 0 2
Ethnicity



    Hispanic/Latin(o/a) 106 (41%) 96 (42%) 47 (90%) 155 (93%)
    Intentional nonreport 7 (2.7%) 2 (0.9%)

    Not Hispanic/Latin(o/a) 147 (57%) 130 (57%) 5 (9.6%) 11 (6.6%)
Gender



    Female 130 (50%) 105 (46%) 33 (63%) 82 (49%)
    Male 130 (50%) 123 (54%) 19 (37%) 84 (51%)
Home Language



    English 191 (75%) 170 (75%) 6 (12%) 17 (10%)
    Spanish 33 (13%) 25 (11%) 45 (87%) 146 (89%)
    Other 31 (12%) 32 (14%) 1 (1.9%) 1 (0.6%)
    Unknown 5 1 0 2
English Proficiency Label



    (Re-)Classified Proficient 11 (5.1%) 18 (8.1%) 6 (12%) 19 (12%)
    English Learner 48 (22%) 40 (18%) 41 (84%) 129 (79%)
    English-only 156 (73%) 165 (74%) 2 (4.1%) 16 (9.8%)
    Unknown 45 5 3 2
Ever IEP/504 20 (10.0%) 22 (12%) 1 (2.3%) 11 (7.1%)
    Unknown 59 48 9 11

English Elision-Receptive was correlated with the Elision subtest from the Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing, 2nd Edition (Wagner et al. 2013). Spanish Elision-Receptive was correlated with the Deletion subtest from the Test of Phonological Awareness in Spanish (TPAS) (Riccio et al. 2004).

Table 10.7: Concurrent Criterion Validity Correlations for the English and Spanish Elision-Receptive Tasks
English
Spanish
All
EL
All
Grade n r [CI] n r [CI] n r [CI]
K 260 0.50 [0.40, 0.58] 48 0.54 [0.31, 0.72] 52 0.57 [0.35, 0.73]
G1 228 0.49 [0.38, 0.58] 40 0.31 [-0.01, 0.56] 166 0.40 [0.27, 0.52]