Abstract
To create effective early childhood development resources and language development intervention programs, we must be informed of linguistic developmental benchmarks. To be informed, we need data - in quality and quantity. In South Africa, there is a project undergoing language data collection in 10 of our 12 official languages, in the form of standardised questionnaires answered by caregivers. For the final phase of data collection, approximately 20000 questionnaire responses are required. To do so, we present the pilot version of a multi-modal mobile app. This app is the product of an extensive user-centered co-design process with stakeholders ranging from lead researchers to young mothers, where their feedback has been the main design influence. It has supplementary audio support, as a mode of presenting the questionnaire and data collection. The pilot app contains a subset of the questionnaire in three languages - South African English, isiXhosa and Afrikaans.
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Notes
- 1.
The lead researchers of the SA-CDI project are Heather Brookes and Frenette Southwood (Stellenbosch University). The full SA-CDI team: Monicca Bhuda (University of Mpumalanga), Nina Brink (North-West University), Nomfundo Buthelezi (University of KwaZulu-Natal), William Jiyana (University of Mpumalanga), Portia Khumalo (Stellenbosch University), Olebeng Mahura (University of Cape Town), Muzi Matfunjwa (North-West University), Lufuno Miriri (University of Venda), Sibusiso Ndlangamandla (University of South Africa), Helena Oosthuizen (Stellenbosch University), Nomsa Skosana (North-West University), Michelle White (Oslo University), and Katie Alcock (Lancaster University). For more information about the project, visit https://sa-cdi.org/.
- 2.
Frome here on collectively referred to as caregivers, for brevity.
- 3.
Children currently do not interact with the app itself.
- 4.
The app itself was a deliverable for a Computer Science Honours thesis project - which meant we had limited time, resources and access to end users.
- 5.
We would like to make a distinction between different data involved in this project. The content of the data produced by completing CDI questionnaires is not relevant to this research. When we refer to data collected, unless specified otherwise, we are talking about feedback on the functionality of the app.
- 6.
We present them as entirely separate cycles, which is a slight abstraction and simplification of how the process took place in reality: with more overlap and “subcycles”.
- 7.
This TTS software exists for 10 of the 12 official languages.
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Acknowledgements
This study was made possible with the support of the South African Centre for Digital Language Resources (SADiLaR). SADiLaR is a research infrastructure established by the Department of Science and Innovation of the South African government as part of the South African Research Infrastructure Roadmap (SARIR).
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Malan, T.E., Tucker, W.D., Yalala, S.L., South African CDI Team. (2024). A Pilot Mobile App to Collect South African Child Language Data. In: Chigona, W., Kabanda, S., Seymour, L.F. (eds) Implications of Information and Digital Technologies for Development. ICT4D 2024. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, vol 708. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-66982-8_22
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