Assessments to evaluate bilinguals: The overdue discussion of the deaf and hard of hearing student population in the United States

Abstract

AbstractAssessment is a major part of the United States schooling system. Legal requirements make assessment a large part of practitioner responsibilities. The significance of assessment is, even more, the case for special populations such as bilingual hearing and Deaf and Hard of Hearing students, groups that are often the target of concern for English language development delays, differences, and/or disorders. In this article, we discuss the issues around assessing the language of Deaf and Hard of Hearing bilingual students in the United States. We highlight parallels between Deaf Education and hearing bilingual education in regard to language assessment, as well as discuss important distinctions such as the placement of Deaf Education within Special Education and working with two or more language modalities (e.g., signed, spoken, and written). In addition, alternative language assessment practices are discussed. We close this article by proposing ways for practitioners to satisfy legal and field mandates to assess Deaf and Hard of Hearing students while also applying best practices for assessing language skills in bilingual populations.