Overview
The Oral and Written Language Scales – Second Edition (OWLS-II; Carrow-Woolfolk, 2011) is an individually-administered, norm-referenced instrument that offers an integrated, global approach to language assessment. The four OWLS-II scales—Listening Comprehension (LO), Oral Expression (OE), Reading Comprehension (RC), and Written Expression (WE)—provide a complete, accurate, and useful picture of language skills. Each of the four scales assesses four linguistic structures: Lexical/Semantic, Syntactic, Pragmatic, and Supralinguistic. In addition, an Overall Language composite is yielded. Together, the LC and OC Scales assess receptive and expressive language, and neither scale requires reading. Written language is assessed using the RC and WE scales. The RC Scale measures aspects of written language and is uniquely effective in identifying language factors that may impair or facilitate reading comprehension. The WE Scale measures expressive aspects of written language. The OWLS-II can be scored manually or with software. This test can be used to identify students with learning disabilities, language disorders, and related difficulties; design targeted interventions; monitor progress; or gather longitudinal data for research.
Summary
Age: 3 years 0 months 21 years 11 months
Time to Administer: LC: 10-20 minutes; OE: 13-30 minutes; RC: 10-30 minutes; WE: 15-30 minutes
Method of Administration: Individually-administered measure of language skills.
Standard scores (M = 100, SD = 15), percentile ranks, test-age equivalents, descriptive categories.
Language Comprehension (LC)/ Oral Expression (OE) ages 3:0 - 21:11
Reading Comprehension (RC)/Written Expression (WE) ages 5:0 - 21:11
Subscales: Composite Scores: Overall Language; Listening Comprehension (LC); Oral Expression (OE); Reading Comprehension (RC), Written Expression (WE).
Autism Related Research
None found. However, Hartley et al (2008) found that scores from its predecessor, the OWLS (Carrow-Woolfolk, 1995), were useful in differentiating children with ASD from their typically-developing peers and non-ASD children matched on nonverbal cognitive functioning; this suggests that the OWLS is a feasible measure for use with many older children with ASD and useful in identifying a variety of language impairments in this population.