Cultural adaptation of the Test of Narrative Language (TNL) into Brazilian Portuguese

Rossi, Natalia Freitas; Lindau, Tâmara de Andrade; Gillam, Ronald Bradley; Giacheti, Célia Maria

doi:10.1590/2317-1782/20162016018

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Original Articles • CoDAS 28 (05) • Sep-Oct 2016 • https://doi.org/10.1590/2317-1782/20162016018 copy

Cultural adaptation of the Test of Narrative Language (TNL) into Brazilian Portuguese

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

ABSTRACT

Purpose

To accomplish the translation and cultural adaptation of the Test of Narrative Language (TNL) into Brazilian Portuguese.

Methods

The TNL is a formal instrument which assesses narrative comprehension and oral narration of children between the ages of 5-0 and 11-11 (years-months). The TNL translation and adaptation process had the following steps: (1) translation into the target language; (2) summary of the translated versions; (3) back-translation; (4) checking of the conceptual, semantics and cultural equivalence process and (5) pilot study (56 children within the test age range and from both genders).

Results

The adapted version maintained the same structure as the original version: number of tasks (both, three comprehension and oral narration), narrative formats (no picture, sequenced pictures and single picture) and scoring system. There were no adjustments to the pictures. The “McDonald's Story” was replaced by the “Snack Bar History” to meet the semantic and experiential equivalence of the target population. The other stories had semantic and grammatical adjustments. Statistically significant difference was found when comparing the raw score (comprehension, narration and total) of age groups from the adapted version.

Conclusion

Adjustments were required to meet the equivalence between the original and the translated versions. The adapted version showed it has the potential to identify differences in oral narratives of children in the age range provided by the test. Measurement equivalence for validation and test standardization are in progress and will be able to supplement the study outcomes.

Keywords:
Language Tests; Translation; Adaptation; Narration; Child Language

Age-group	Age-range	Gender	Grade	Socio-economic classification
5 years (n=8)	5 to 5-11 years-months	5F:3M	1 (n=8)	C1 (n=3) C2 (n=3) D-E (n=2)
6 years (n=8)	6 to 6-11 years-months	4F:4M	2 (n=8)	B2 (n=1) C1 (n=4) C2 (n=3)
7 years (n=8)	7 to 7-11 years-months	4F:4M	2 (n=3) 3 (n=5)	B2 (n=2) C1 (n=3) C2 (n=2) D-E (n=1)
8 years (n=8)	8 to 8-11 years-months	4F:4M	3 (n=8)	B2 (n=1) C1 (n=3) C2 (n=3) D-E (n=1)
9 years (n=8)	9 to 9-11 years-months	4F:4M	4 (n=8)	C1 (n=4) C2 (n=3) D-E (n=1)
10 years (n=8)	10 to 10-11 years-months	4F:4M	4 (n=2) 5 (n=6)	B2 (n=2) C1 (n=5) C2 (n=1)
11 years (n=8)	11 to 11-11 years-months	4F:4M	5 (n=4) 6 (n=4)	B2 (n=1) C1 (n=5) C2 (n=2)

Tasks	Original	Adapted TNL-BP	Observations
Tasks 1 and 2	McDonald’s Story	A história da Lanchonete	Replacement of the title of the story by another one in order to adapt the local culture equivalence.
	“What do you like to order?”	“O que você gosta de pedir quando vai numa Lanchonete?”	The repetition of the word “Lanchonete” (Snack Bar) at the question promoted the younger children’s understanding at the pilot study.
	Lisa and Raymond	Sofia e Pedro	Common first names in Brazil and of easy pronunciation.
	“They jumped into the car …”	“Eles correram para o carro...”	It is an idiomatic expression with a figurative meaning in English. We made a replacement by an expression of similar meaning.
	“…and their mother drove them to…”	“… e a mãe levou eles para…”	“...e a mãe os levou para...” is a translation that meets the standard language. We chose to use “...levou eles para...” that meets the coloquial language.
	“She couldn’t decide whether to get a Big Mac or a Happy Meal…”	“Ela não sabia se queria um X-salada ou um Hambúrguer...”	It was checked at the pilot study that the children used more the structure “...não sabia se queria...” than “...não conseguia escolher...”.
	“…Cheeseburger…” “…French fries…” “…Vanilla milkshake…” “…Happy Meal…”	“…Cachorro quente…” “…Batatas fritas…” “…Suco de laranja…” “…X-salada…”	Name of typical sandwiches in different social contexts and regions in Brazil.
	“…salad…”	“…torta…”	Salad is not a common food to be found in the menu at Snack Bars in Brazil. We chose “pie” which is easily found in the street Snack Bars in the country.
	“She had left it...”	“Ela tinha esquecido a bolsa...”	“Ela havia esquecido-a...” or “Ela havia esquecido a bolsa...” meet the standard language. We chose to use the verb “to have” plus the irregular participle of the verb “to forget” (forgotten) because it is more used in the colloquial language.
	“…Dollars…”	“…Reais…”	Brazil currency.
Task 3	The Shipwreck Story	A História do Naufrágio	We kept the original title and story.
	“...an art Project...”	“...uma escultura...”	“Um projeto de arte” é uma tradução correta. We chose the term “escultura” since it refers to the creation of artistic objects – shown in picture 3 by the construction of the ship.
	“Her ship was ruined...”	“O navio dela quebrou...”	“O navio dela ficou arruinado” is also an accepted translation, however we chose the term “quebrado” because it is more common in diferente age-groups and social contexts.
	“...she felt terrible”	“...ela ficou triste”	“Ela se sentiu terrível” or “Ela se sentiu mal” are accepted translations. The option “...ficou triste...” considered two aspects: (1) The feeling of “tristeza” is an emotional state easily recognized and named by children of different age-groups and social contexts and (2) the copula “ficar” to express the sadness state which is more used at colloquial language, and which also benefits its use by the children, since the verb “to feel” requires a pronominal placement “sentiu-se” in order to meet the standard language.
Task 4	Late for School Story	A história do menino atrasado para a escola	The word “boy” was added to the title in order to better adjust the sentence structure to Brazilian Portuguese and to make possible to keep the word “history” in the title like the original version.
Task 4	A/A+	10/10+	The school grade can vary among schools. At the pilot study, prior the application, we asked the child which grade was used at school. The scale zero to ten was the classification the children were more familiar with.
Task 5	The dragon story	A história do Dragão	We kept the original title and story.
	Daniel and Michelle	Daniel e Luiza	“Michelle” was replaced by “Luiza” because it a more common first name in Brazil and of easy pronunciation.
	“...eyes wide in terror...”	“...olhos arregalados de medo...”	“Fear” unlike “terror” is a feeling that is very well-known by children of different age-groups and social contexts. “Fear” along with “eyes wide” form a very common and widely used expression in our linguistic culture.
Task 6	Aliens Story	A história dos Alienígenas	At the pilot study, the children used more often the word “Alienígenas” instead of “Aliens”
Instructions Tasks 1, 3 e 5	“ I want you to listen to a story ... Listen carefully”	“Eu vou te contar uma história ... Escute com muita atenção”	The instruction “Eu quero que você escute” was adapted to “Eu vou te contar”: (a) this instruction often preludes story listening activities and (b) and also to avoid repetitions of the verb “to hear” in very close sentence structures.
Instructions Tasks 1, 3 e 5	“...I’ll ask you some questions...”	...eu vou fazer algumas perguntas...”	“...Eu farei algumas perguntas...” meets the standard language. However, the use of simple future is often replaced by the compost form “Eu vou fazer” at colloquial language.
Instructions Tasks 3 and 5	“... I’m going to tell you a story that goes with the pictures...”	“...Eu vou te contar uma história com essas figuras...”	“...Eu vou te contar uma história que acompanha essas figuras...” is an accepted translation. However, we chose to use “…com essas figuras…” assuming that the pictures act as a resource with which the story is narrated orally.

Age-group	Raw Score
	Comprehension				Narration				Total
	M	Md	SD	p	M	Md	SD	p	M	Md	SD	p
5	22.5	22.5	1.4	0.000	28.0	28.0	0.9	0.000	50.5	51.0	1.9	0.000
6	26.8	27.0	1.0		38.0	39.0	4.3		64.8	66.0	3.9
7	32.2	32.5	3.0		42.6	40.0	7.7		74.8	72.5	10.0
8	32.0	33.5	1.5		50.2	49.0	6.3		82.2	82.5	6.7
9	34.7	34.0	1.7		51.2	51.0	2.8		85.9	85.0	3.3
10	34.5	35.0	1.9		55.4	54.5	3.9		89.9	89.5	4.9
11	35.6	35.5	1.6		61.2	59.5	6.1		96.8	95.0	6.5

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[1] Conflict of interests: nothing to declare.