The Hong Kong Cantonese Oral Language Assessment Scale (HKCOLAS)
The HKCAS-P research team
The Hong Kong Cantonese Oral Language Assessment Scale (HKCOLAS) was published in 2006 by the Child Assessment Service (CAS), Department of Health. The research project was initiated to address the unmet needs in assessing and supporting Cantonese speaking school-age children with language problems in Hong Kong. The scale was developed over a period of three and a half years through collaboration between the professional team of CAS and linguistic and research academics of the Language Information Sciences Research Centre of the City University of Hong Kong. It is the first standardized assessment tool with norm reference that examines the Cantonese oral language abilities of school-age children in Hong Kong.
The design of HKCOLAS was made with reference to the understanding of Cantonese linguistics, language acquisition in Cantonese, clinical knowledge of language development and its disorders, and the available linguistic database at that time. There are six subtests in the scale, namely Test of Hong Kong Cantonese Grammar, Textual Comprehension Test, Word Definition Test, Lexical-Semantic Relations Test, Narrative Test and Expressive Nominal Vocabulary Test. Two additional tests of Non-word Repetition are included to assess phonological working memory. The test was standardized and normed on 1,120 children aged between 5 to 12 years.
HKCOLAS is intended for application on children aged 5 to 12 years. The administration time is around 60 to 90 minutes. It is designed for use by qualified speech therapists.
HKCOLAS is sold to registered users at HK$935 per set.
Interested speech therapists should submit the duly completed registration form, together with relevant supporting documents including credentials and certificates, to Executive Officer (Child Assessment Service) at:
Central Kowloon Child Assessment Centre,
2/F, 147L Argyle Street, Kowloon City, Kowloon
Registration Form of HKCOLAS Eligible User (Local)
Registration Form of HKCOLAS Eligible User (Non-Local)
For further enquiries, please contact us at 2246 6659.