16 May 2022
Information about the Study
Language experience and development in monolingual, bilingual and trilingual children
You and your child are being invited to take part in the study on language experience and development of monolingual, bilingual and trilingual children. Before making a decision to participate, it is important for you and your child to understand why the research is being done and what it will involve. Please take time to read the following information with your child carefully and discuss it with others if you wish. The section below called Description of the study to be read to the child is the description of the project adapted for children and we require you to read it to your child. You can ask us if there is anything unclear or if you would like more information about the study (contact details can be found below). You and your child will have at least a week to decide if the child wants to take part in this study.
What is the purpose of the project?
This study aims to validate an online questionnaire for quantifying language experience in children. Specifically, we are interested to see how a parental report about their child’s language experience relates to the child’s performance on a series of language and cognitive tasks. This study will help us understand language development in children and how exposure to English or other languages affects it. For a detailed description of what the study involves, see section What do my child and I have to do? below.
Why has my child been chosen?
Your child has been invited to participate in this study since he/she is monolingual, bilingual or trilingual.
Does my child have to take part?
It is up to you and your child to decide whether or not to take part. If you decide to take part, you will be asked to electronically give consent for your child to participate (see below). Your child can withdraw at any time without it affecting any benefits that he/she is entitled to in any way. Your child does not have to give a reason for withdrawal.
What do my child and I have to do?
If you and your child decide to participate, you need to give electronic consent for your child to participate (see below). Following the completion of the consent form, you will be asked a few questions and then be able to access the questionnaire about your child’s language experience. Depending on how many languages your child speaks, this questionnaire will take you 15 to 40 minutes to complete.
Your child needs to give a verbal consent to you for signing the consent form. After you complete the questionnaire about your child’s language experience, we will contact the school to arrange two 45-minute sessions with your child. These sessions will be held in the school environment between October 2022 and January 2023. In these sessions, your child will do a series of language and cognitive tasks. All of these tasks will be presented either as booklets or as computer cartoons/games to your child. For instance, your child will be asked to repeat some jumbled words, to repeat some sentences in English, to match picture patterns, to listen to short conversations or watch short cartoons and then answer questions about them; he/she will also be asked to point to pictures depicting certain words that she/he hears.
Will my child be recorded, and how will the recorded media be used?
Yes, we will audio record some of the tasks that require your child to repeat words and sentences. The recordings will be stored in a protected folder on OneDrive for a period of 3 years. The recordings will only be accessible to the research team (no one else). Following this period, the recordings will be deleted. No other use will be made of them without your written permission, and no one outside the project will be allowed access to the recordings.
What are the possible disadvantages and risks of taking part?
There are no known disadvantages or risks of taking part. This study has been approved by the University of Leeds ethics committee (reference number: FAHC 21-006).
What are the possible benefits of taking part?
By participating in this project, you and your child will help us validate the free online questionnaire for documenting language experience in children. The questionnaire will be available in several languages and it will be useful to researchers, teachers, and speech and language therapists working with monolingual, bilingual and trilingual children. For more details on our project, please visit our website.
To show our gratitude for your participation, the child will be awarded with a certificate and the school will be awarded a £5 book voucher for each child participating.
Use, dissemination and storage of research data
The audio recordings will be kept in a protected folder on OneDrive, shared between the research team. These recordings will be deleted after three years.
All the data from the questionnaire that you fill in and from the tasks that your child completes will be fully anonymised. You can contact us and request the deletion of your child’s data within two weeks after we collect the data from your child.
After this period, the anonymised data will be kept indefinitely in a protected and secure folder, shared only between the research team. We will also deposit the anonymised data on the university repository or on the open resource databases such as OSF. Therefore, the anonymised data will be available indefinitely to anyone. However, no one will be able to identify your child.
What will happen to my or my child’s personal information?
Your child’s school will have access to a summary of your child’s data. This personalised feedback will allow teachers to target support more efficiently if required. They will be in charge of keeping this information safe and confidential by not sharing them with anyone.
All other data will be fully anonymised. In a separate document, we will keep the ID of each child linked to their name. This document will be stored on a password protected OneDrive university approved folder and no one will have access to it apart from the research team. This document will be deleted three years after the study completion.
What will happen to the results of the research project?
The results of the study will be presented at conferences and in publications, but only in the anonymised form.
You and your child are allowed to withdraw from the study at any point. However, two weeks after the data is collected and once the data are anonymised, deposited and attached in reports/publications, it will not be possible to delete them.
Who is organising/funding the research?
This study is part of a project funded by an ESRC grant awarded to Prof. Cécile De Cat (University of Leeds).
Contact for further information
If you have any questions or issues that you would like to discuss, please contact us via qbex@leeds.ac.uk or by writing directly to the Principal Investigator, Prof. De Cat, at c.decat@leeds.ac.uk, or to Dr Draško Kašćelan at d.kascelan@leeds.ac.uk. Thank you for taking time to read through the project briefing!
You can access the consent form at the bottom of this page. Once you sign the consent form, you will be asked a few questions about yourself, and then be able to access a link to the questionnaire about your child.
Description of the study to be read to the child
Note: Please make sure that your child understands and agrees with each of the points below before you sign the consent form:
- In this study, you will meet twice with a researcher who is interested in languages and how children speak.
- He/She will meet you in your school and you will play some short computer games or look at some pictures. For example, you will be asked to repeat some jumbled words or some sentences and the researcher will record your voice. You will also watch some cartoons and answer questions about them and play a short computer game. You will also point to some pictures showing words that you hear or match pictures.
- You don’t have to answer any questions that you don’t want to, and you can stop whenever you want.
- Both meetings with the researcher will last about 45 minutes. You can have a break whenever you want.
- A summary of your answers will be shared with your school, just so your teachers can keep track of your progress and help you if you’re having difficulties.
- Apart from the information shared with your teachers, all your answers will be safe, and your name will never be used. So no one will know that you were the one giving the answers to any questions or completing any games/tasks. These answers will be stored on the internet and anyone will be able to use them in future. However, no one will know that you participated in this study.
Consent for my child to take part in the study on language experience and development in monolinguals, bilinguals and trilinguals.
By clicking Next (below), I agree with the following:
I confirm that my child and I have read and understood the briefing document dated 16 May 2022 explaining the above research project and my child and I have had the opportunity to ask questions about the project.
My child and I understand that her/his participation is voluntary and that she/he is free to withdraw at any time during the study without giving any reason and without there being any negative consequences. In addition, should she/he not wish to answer any particular question or questions, she/he is free to decline.
My child and I understand that we can ask for the data to be deleted in the first two week after it has been collected. My child and I understand that once the anonymised data are made available in databases, reports or publications, it will not be possible to delete them.
My child and I understand that we can access the Privacy Notice of Research here: https://tinyurl.com/w87cu8tm
My child and I understand that we can contact the lead researcher (Prof. Cécile De Cat) by writing to c.decat@leeds.ac.uk or to qbex@leeds.ac.uk
My child and I understand that members of the research team may have access to my child's anonymised responses. I understand that my name or the name of my child will not be linked with the research materials, and we will not be identified or identifiable in the report or reports that result from the research.
My child and I understand that her/his responses will be kept strictly confidential.
My child and I understand that the data collected from her/him may be stored and used in relevant future research in an anonymised form and that it will be made available through databases, reports and open access publications.
My child and I understand that relevant sections of the data collected during the study may be looked at by individuals from the University of Leeds or from regulatory authorities where it is relevant to my child's taking part in this research.
My child and I understand that my child’s school will have access to a summary of his/her data. We understand that the school will be in charge of keeping this information safe and confidential by not sharing them with anyone.
I agree to my child taking part in the above research project.
I confirm that my child has given a verbal consent to participate in this study.