The
aim of this study was to present a protocol for the validation of the
Language ENvironment Analysis (LENA) System’s conversational turn count (CTC)
for Vietnamese speakers. Ten families of children aged between 22 and 42
months, recruited near Ho Chi Minh City, participated in this project. Each
child wore the LENA audio recorder for a full day. Two native speakers
listened to 10-min extracts of the recordings from each family and labeled
conversational turns according to the coding protocol. Their results were
compared with the findings from the LENA software. A Spearman rank
correlation test indicated a strong level of correlation between the LENA
software and the human coders, rs(18) = .70, p < .001. The LENA System’s
CTC provides a reasonably accurate estimate of conversational turns in
Vietnamese recordings, showing that this protocol can yield significant
results. Discrepancies between the coders and the software are discussed, and
the strengths and weaknesses of the proposed protocol are highlighted.
