Abstract:
Research on the various aspects of child language development in South Africa has
generally been an area neglected by specialists in the study of language. In South
Africa‟s multilingual urban settings, English is the language of mutual understanding
in most classrooms. The assessment of language (including speech sound
production) in English additional language (EAL) pre-schoolers is hampered by the
fact that insufficient standardized resources are available for use with young
multilingual South African children. Research indicates that the Goldman-Fristoe
Test of Articulation – Second Edition (GFTA-2) is a popular formal assessment
instrument used for assessing children‟s articulation abilities by many speechlanguage
therapists in South Africa. The study described the performance of English
second language learners, aged between four and nine years, on the GFTA-2 in an
urban region in the Gauteng province of South Africa. A descriptive, dominant-lessdominant
model research design was used. No significant difference in performance
between the second language learners and the normative indicators was noted. The
results illustrate the need to adapt the GFTA-2 for the South African context.
