Abstract
Seven independent studies of young children's performances were reviewed. Rather consistently, children's scores on a wide range of popular language tests and measures revealed large numbers of moderately high to high interrelationships which were unexpected, since the authors frequently claimed that their tests measured specific rather than general language skills. Data from two new investigations of different batteries of language tests given to 122 young handicapped children in the first investigation and 44 in the second were subjected to multivariate analyses, including regression analysis and factor analysis. Results from the first study showed that a few general rather than many specific linguistic abilities characterized the performances of the children; results from the second showed that only one general linguistic factor accounted for the subjects' performances. The construct and content validity of many of the tests studied appears untenable. Implications for use of the tests (accounting for most of the variance in each of the two batteries studied) are presented, along with recommendations concerning the development of more valid language tests.
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