Home and Community Language Proficiency in Spanish-English Early Bilingual University Students
| Autor: | Jens Schmidtke |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2016 |
| Předmět: |
Male
050103 clinical psychology Linguistics and Language Vocabulary Universities Logical reasoning media_common.quotation_subject Multilingualism 050105 experimental psychology Language and Linguistics Psycholinguistics Thinking Speech and Hearing Young Adult Language assessment Surveys and Questionnaires Pedagogy Humans 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences Language proficiency Students Neuroscience of multilingualism media_common Medical education Language Tests 05 social sciences Hispanic or Latino Logistic Models General English Proficiency Test Multivariate Analysis Linear Models Educational Status Female Psychology |
| Zdroj: | Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR. 60(10) |
| ISSN: | 1558-9102 |
| Popis: | Purpose This study assessed home and community language proficiency in Spanish–English bilingual university students to investigate whether the vocabulary gap reported in studies of bilingual children persists into adulthood. Method Sixty-five early bilinguals (mean age = 21 years) were assessed in English and Spanish vocabulary and verbal reasoning ability using subtests of the Woodcock-Muñoz Language Survey–Revised (Schrank & Woodcock, 2009). Their English scores were compared to 74 monolinguals matched in age and level of education. Participants also completed a background questionnaire. Results Bilinguals scored below the monolingual control group on both subtests, and the difference was larger for vocabulary compared to verbal reasoning. However, bilinguals were close to the population mean for verbal reasoning. Spanish scores were on average lower than English scores, but participants differed widely in their degree of balance. Participants with an earlier age of acquisition of English and more current exposure to English tended to be more dominant in English. Conclusions Vocabulary tests in the home or community language may underestimate bilingual university students' true verbal ability and should be interpreted with caution in high-stakes situations. Verbal reasoning ability may be more indicative of a bilingual's verbal ability. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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