Exploring Dual-Language Testing and Verbal Ability Performance in Non-Native English Speakers

Exploring Dual-Language Testing and Verbal Ability Performance in Non-Native English Speakers

Alvin Sherman Library

Research suggests that Spanish/English bilinguals do not perform as well as English-speaking monolinguals on tests of verbal ability. Even when born, raised, and educated in the US, Spanish/English bilinguals do not perform as well as monolinguals. The current study was designed to investigate whether: (1) Spanish/English bilingual college students improve their performance on verbal ability tests when given the opportunity to respond in either of their two languages relative to responding only in English; and (2) do they perform similar to monolinguals under dual language testing. A previous study from our laboratory used the Bilingual Verbal Ability Test (BVAT) which includes subtests of Picture Vocabulary, Oral Vocabulary and Verbal Analogies to test the verbal ability of English/Spanish Bilinguals. Results showed that allowing bilinguals to respond in both languages notably improved their performance across all three subtests. Moreover, their performance was statistically equivalent to monolinguals on the Oral Vocabulary and Verbal Analogies. However, on the Picture Vocabulary subtest bilinguals underperformed compared to monolinguals. The current study was designed to build upon the results of our previous research and to incorporate a neuropsychological instrument used to assess picture naming ability, the Boston Naming Test (BNT). The goal of this study is to reveal whether, unlike other tests of verbal ability, picture naming poses a challenge to bilingual speakers. Based on our previous results we hypothesize that bilinguals will match monolinguals scores on vocabulary tests except for tests that require picture naming.