The Tenability of Comparing the Receptive Lexical Proficiency of Dual Language Children with Standardised Monoglot Norms

Abstract

Summary As part of a doctoral investigation, the receptive lexical proficiency of 392 Dual Language primary schoolchildren in Gibraltar, was compared with English monoglot norms based on a currently used test of receptive vocabulary, i.e. the British Picture Vocabulary Scales (BPVS), which was standardised on monoglot English speaking children in Great Britain. The subjects’ lexical proficiency was measured in their first language (Gibraltarian Yanito Spanish) and in their second language (English). Their receptive conceptual vocabulary was also calculated. Their lexical proficiency in each of these linguistic variables was then compared with the published BPVS ‘norms’. The results indicated that only a small number of children's lexical proficiency in Spanish and in English was within the BPVS ‘normal’ limits. When, however, their conceptual vocabulary was compared to the BPVS norms, a larger number of children fell within the ‘normal’ limits i.e. standard score of 85 or more. It was concluded that the practice of assessing the lexical proficiency of Dual Language (Gibraltarian) schoolchildren by the use of tests standardised for monoglots is invalid and unreliable, even when their conceptual vocabulary is used as the measure of their receptive lexical proficiency.