Testing Strategies Involving Least Biased Language Assessment of Bilingual Children

Abstract

Increased attention is being given to strategies for the least biased language assessment of culturally and linguistically diverse children for whom English is a second language. One main reason is the concern that the administration of language tests in English using current norms is inappropriate for students whose dominant language is other than English. This article discusses a variety of alternative assessment approaches, including renorming a test for the specific population being tested, using dynamic assessment techniques to assess a child's modifiability, using other nonstandardized measures, and modifying standardized tests. Each of these alternatives has advantages and disadvantages. In addition, results from a preliminary investigation using modifications of four subtests of the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Third Edition (CELF-3) are presented to further the dialogue about language assessment issues. Twenty-eight bilingual Latino children, ages 8 and 9 years, were administered the CELF-3 and the modified version of the test in counterbalanced order. Clinical implications for creating least biased language assessment strategies are included as the authors provide a tutorial on the broad topic of language assessment of culturally and linguistically diverse children for whom English is a second language.Considerable attention has been given in recent years to the least biased language assessment of culturally and linguistically diverse children for whom English is a second language

Academic Achievement and Depressive Symptoms in Low-Income Latino Youth

“…Research indicates that teacher perceptions can be influenced by factors such as sex, parental education, and behavioral problems (Beswick et al 2005). On the other hand, standardized measures may be biased (Saenz and Huer 2003) and provide only a limited demonstration of students' actual skills; however, the standardized nature of these assessments allows the scores to reflect students' performance compared with others in the state. In light of the different types of information gained from each, it is preferable to evaluate more than one measure of achievement, such as grades and standardized tests (Beswick et al 2005;Ong et al 2006).…”

A multilingual approach to analysing standardized test results: immigrant primary school children and the role of languages spoken in a bi-/multilingual community

“…This poses substantial challenges for immigrant students and for first-generation immigrants in particular. For example, the use of standardized tests with bi-/multilingual students has been frequently argued to be a biased and unfair practice because students are required to perform in a second or subsequent language and stand little chance of performing as well as their monolingual peers (Kachru and Sridhar 1994;May 2011;Saenz and Huer 2003). In second-language acquisition research, the term 'monolingual bias' commonly refers to the practice of evaluating students' performance in a second language according to ideal monolingual norms (Baker and Jones 1998;Bley-Vroman 1983;Brown 2013;Cenoz 2009;Cook 1995Cook , 1997De Angelis 2007;Grosjean 1992).…”

“…Research on language testing and language acquisition has put forward strong arguments against the use of monolingual norms with bilinguals and second-language learners (Cook 1997;Kachru and Sridhar 1994;May 2011;Saenz and Huer 2003). It is clear that a second-language learner may not be able to perform as well as a monolingual child on a standardized test, but devising different tests on the basis of student-language background is impracticable and unfeasible in most locations (Saenz and Huer 2003), particularly where multiple languages are used in the school context and in the community.…”

“…It is clear that a second-language learner may not be able to perform as well as a monolingual child on a standardized test, but devising different tests on the basis of student-language background is impracticable and unfeasible in most locations (Saenz and Huer 2003), particularly where multiple languages are used in the school context and in the community. This raises the question of what else we can do to evaluate how immigrant children are performing in schools located in bi-/multilingual areas, and how we can help them succeed in education.…”

Cultural Bias in Testing

“…Despite DIF and arguable cultural bias against Hispanic children found with some test items, Qi and Marley did not find strong evidence of cultural bias overall in the Preschool Language Scale-4 test. Saenz and Huer (2003) argued for the consideration of least biased language assessment of students for whom English is not their primary language. According to Saenz and Huer, least biased language assessment would consist of renorming (i.e., comparing like groups of students), dynamic assessments (i.e., sequences of instruction, testing, and retesting), the use of nonstandardized measures, and test modification.…”