# Test of English Language Learning (TELL)

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE · 2021 · $765,670

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
 The major aim of this project is to develop and validate a norm referenced test of grammatical
development that can be used in English. This tool will target 4-8;11 year old Spanish-, and Vietnamese -
speaking ELLs with and without developmental language disorder (DLD). This will be directly useful for two
of the largest groups of ELLs in the US. It will be also useful for children who speak languages related to
Spanish or Vietnamese. We will achieve this aim by 1) evaluating current item-level data to guide
development; 2) piloting an item set to include in item tryout; 3) conducting an item tryout study to establish an
item set for testing morphosyntactic performance in ELLs; and 4) field testing and validating a set of
morphosyntactic items for to differentiate among ELLs with DLD at different levels of language exposure/use.
We will recruit 1,050 ELLs (525 per language pair) in the target age range from representative U.S. bilingual
populations both in regard to language and SES. Children will complete a battery of index measures in their
home language and English to identify DLD. They will complete testing in English on the proposed index
measure targeting grammatical knowledge. This work furthers our research in DLD, especially with bilingual
children. We will document a broad profile of language skills in two groups of ELLs whose first languages have
distinct linguistic features (Vietnamese & Spanish) with and without DLD. The tool developed will
transformative for the majority of SLPs who speak only English and will allow for timely identification and
remediation of DLD in ELLs. It will also be useful for researchers who need to benchmark children's expected
performance relative to English exposure in developmental and intervention studies. The proposed work builds
on recent significant gains we have made in the correct classification of Spanish-English bilinguals with DLD
through the identification of clinical markers of DLD. Yet, there continues to be significant health disparities
associated with identification and treatment of DLD in bilingual populations. There is a critical need to develop
tools that can be used with ELLs from other language backgrounds. We know that experiential factors (age of
acquisition and language use) interact with bilingual language outcomes. We also know from the published
literature that there are some differences in English language acquisition associated with the typology of the
learner's first language, but we do not have normative data to inform diagnostic decisions about children from
language backgrounds other than Spanish. Currently, the most accurate clinical decisions need to be made on
the basis of 2 languages. The proposed project will extend the knowledge base regarding clinical markers of
DLD from Spanish-speaking ELLs to examine markers of DLD in Vietnamese-speaking ELLs in the US
context.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10072047
- **Project number:** 5R01DC018329-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE
- **Principal Investigator:** ELIZABETH D PEÑA
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $765,670
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-01-01 → 2024-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10072047

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10072047, Test of English Language Learning (TELL) (5R01DC018329-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10072047. Licensed CC0.

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