Second Language Testing: A Psycholinguistic Approach

Abstract

Cut-off analysis is very important in the Second Language testing domain considering the type of tools administered at schools and beyond. Verbal reasoning and lexical decision are crucial to be examined along with additional linguistic tasks in immigrant school population. 108 Portuguese immigrants, with ages between 7-17, from 20 countries and speakers of 21 mother tongues completed a laterality task (dichotic listening test) in order to understand if this type of task should integrate a full diagnostic test for non-native students. Participants answered the test in a single session lasting approximately 60 minutes (along with more tasks in a battery), in the same space that had been previously stipulated by the schools and on appropriately determined schedules. Dichotic Listening test assesses both cognitive and linguistic skills mainly focusing lexicon retrieval and semantic comprehension. Phonological dimension is also evaluated by the binaural detection test. Portuguese immigrants with an age of onset (age of acquisition of Portuguese as Second Language) under eight years were considered for this sample. The Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis was carried out to define the cut-off points of different tasks. In the present study we will present the specificity, sensitivity and AUC for the dichotic listening. The score calculation took into account the laterality (right or left-handed) and also controlling for gender and age variables. The results pointed out to the predictive value of the dichotic listening task for right-handed, meaning that is able to distinguish proficiency levels and immigrants at risk (right-handed) concerning the evaluation and the learning process. These data highlight the discriminatory power of specific tests with specific sensitivity and specificity properties that could inform which areas are fragile attending the inter-individual variation.