TESTING LANGUAGE, LANGUAGE DOMINANCE AND MATH SCORES OF BILINGUAL HISPANIC STUDENTS

When the purpose for testing bilingual children is to assess their specific academic strengths and weaknesses it is essential that test scores represent their performance of the skill being tested and not language proficiency. The extent to which test administration language confounds the measurement of non-language skills has profound implications for assessment procedures and the classification, placement, and individual education programs of bilingual children. Bilingual students can be tested in their native language (the procedure mandated in Public Law 94-142); their national language, English (the predominant practice of the past); or, their dominant language (the language in which they are relatively more proficient). The major purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between testing language and test scores of bilingual Hispanic primary grade students.;These findings support the conclusions that when the purpose of testing is to determine students' specific academic abilities and learning needs, bilingual Hispanic students should be tested in their dominant language. Students equally proficient in English and Spanish can be tested in either language. Additional, exploratory data support the use of standardized language proficiency instruments for determining language dominance rather than student or teacher report.;Subjects classified as Spanish dominant, English dominant, or balanced bilingual based on their Language Assessment Scales scores were randomly assigned to either an English or Spanish testing language group. English or Spanish versions of the Woodcock Johnson Math Calculation and Applied Problems subtests, and the Math Assessment Videotape were administered to the subjects. The resulting test scores were analyzed with analyses of variance, correlation ratios, mean difference effect sizes and squared point biserial correlations. The analyses revealed that subjects tested in their dominant language obtained higher mean scores than those tested in their non-dominant language, and balanced bilingual subjects obtained approximately equivalent mean scores regardless of the language in which they were tested.