Self-ratings of spoken language dominance: A Multilingual Naming Test (MINT) and preliminary norms for young and aging Spanish–English bilinguals
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TAMAR H. GOLLAN [2] ; GALI H. WEISSBERGER [2] ; ELIN RUNNQVIST [1] ; ROSA I. MONTOYA [2] ; CYNTHIA M. CERA [2]
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[1] Universitat de Barcelona
Universitat de Barcelona
Barcelona, España
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[2] University of California San Diego
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- Localización: Bilingualism: Language and cognition, ISSN 1366-7289, Vol. 15, Nº 3, 2012, págs. 594-615
- Idioma: inglés
- Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
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Resumen
This study investigated correspondence between different measures of bilingual language proficiency contrasting self-report, proficiency interview, and picture naming skills. Fifty-two young (Experiment 1) and 20 aging (Experiment 2) Spanish–English bilinguals provided self-ratings of proficiency level, were interviewed for spoken proficiency, and named pictures in a Multilingual Naming Test (MINT); in Experiment 1, the Boston Naming Test (BNT) was also used. Self-ratings, proficiency interview, and the MINT did not differ significantly in classifying bilinguals into language-dominance groups, but naming tests (especially the BNT) classified bilinguals as more English-dominant than other measures. Strong correlations were observed between measures of proficiency in each language and language-dominance, but not degree of balanced bilingualism (index scores). Depending on the measure, up to 60% of bilinguals scored best in their self-reported non-dominant language. The BNT distorted bilingual assessment by underestimating ability in Spanish. These results illustrate what self-ratings can and cannot provide, illustrate the pitfalls of testing bilinguals with measures designed for monolinguals, and invite a multi-measure goal-driven approach to classifying bilinguals into dominance groups.
