English Norms Research Articles

Evaluating rate and accuracy of real word vs. non-word diadochokinetic productions from childhood to early adulthood in Hebrew speakers

BackgroundOral-Diadochokinesis (oral-DDK) tasks measure how quickly and accurately one can repeat a series of target sounds. Thus, they are a popular tool for evaluating oral-motor skills for individuals with various speech disorders. Typically, oral-DDK tasks involve rapid repetition of non-words. For several populations (e.g., young children, older adults), it has been suggested that repetitions of real words may be more suitable, commonly resulting in faster rates. Yet, the literature is either silent or inconsistent regarding this real-word repetition advantage for other age groups, from preschoolers to young adults. It is not clear whether performance accuracy is affected as well. Specifically, for Hebrew speakers, this data is missing. AimsThe goal of this study was to compare rate and accuracy for non-word and real-word repetition, in four groups of Hebrew-speaking individuals; preschoolers (5 years old), younger elementary school children (7 years old), adolescents (15 years old) and young adults (25 years old). Secondary goals were to provide a developmental pattern for oral-DDK rates for Hebrew speakers, and to compare it to the English norms. Methods & ProceduresAll participants (n=150) had typical speech and language development. They were asked to repeat “pataka” (non-word) and “bodeket” (Hebrew real word) as quickly and accurately as possible for 10 sec. Production rates (syllables per second) and accuracy (on a 5-point scale) were measured. Outcomes & ResultsAs expected, oral-DDK rates gradually increased with age, with similar rates for both real- and non-words. Accuracy scores were higher for real- than non-word repetition, across all age groups. For the group of school-age children, the Hebrew rates differed from the English ones. Conclusions & ImplicationsA real-word repetition advantage was documented only for repetition accuracy, but not for rate. These findings can be explained as each stimulus involves different demands on an individual's neuro-motor and linguistic processing abilities. Further research using real- and non-word tasks should be conducted with clinical populations to assess whether both procedures could assist in differential diagnosis between various speech disorders. Finally, the large differences between children of different ages, as well as the apparent rate differences between Hebrew and English, highlight the need to create age- and language-sensitive norms.

ИСПОЛЬЗОВАНИЕ ЛИНГВИСТИЧЕСКИХ ОНЛАЙН РЕСУРСОВ ДЛЯ РАССМОТРЕНИЯ ЛОКАЛЬНЫХ И ГЛОБАЛЬНЫХ СЛУЧАЕВ ВАРИАТИВНОСТИ НОРМЫ В АНГЛИЙСКОМ ЯЗЫКЕ

The paper addresses useful linguistic resources that are freely accessible online and should be paid attention to when considering norm variants in local and global Englishes. A number of popular dictionaries and corpora of contemporary English and Englishes are reviewed. The inclusion of Englishes and information about English norm and standards in the resources is analyzed. The words and phrases handphone, data and big data are given as examples. The paper concludes that comprehensive use of online resources is needed when considering norm variants.

Rhetoric Construction of Chinese Expository Essays: Implications for EFL Composition Instruction

Recent scholarship on Chinese students’ English expository essays tends to blur or mitigate the differences between English and Chinese writings. This alleged convergence of English and Chinese rhetorical norms gives rise to a view that rhetorical aspects in second language writing instruction and research in China should be de-emphasized. Drawing on data from full-score Chinese compositions of College Entrance Examination, this study examines how Chinese expository paragraphs are developed. Results show great disparities between English and Chinese expository writing at paragraph level such as non-English rhetorical mode, reliance on authorities, rhetorical paragraph, and figurative language in topic sentence. We argue that Chinese rhetorical strategies are likely to be transferred to English writing if English rhetoric is not taught and reinforced in college.

Double Literacy Effects on Language and Reading Skills in Italian–English Primary School Children

Major concerns still surround literacy education in a foreign language during primary school. In this study, we aim to establish (1) whether bilinguals perform worse in Italian literacy tests than monolinguals; (2) whether literacy skills transfer from Italian to English. We tested 97 Italian–English bilingual first, third and fifth graders (attending two bilingual primary schools in Italy, with a simultaneous 50:50 immersion programme) and a control group of 40 monolingual Italian pupils in grades 1 and 3. All participants were tested in Italian, measuring the following skills: vocabulary, phonological awareness, reading proficiency and verbal short-term memory. Bilingual participants – who had been exposed to Italian since birth and to English within the first three years of their lives – were also tested on the same measures in English. The results showed that bilingual first graders outperformed their monolingual peers in verbal short-term memory, thus revealing a possible cognitive advantage in the early stage of literacy acquisition. Monolingual and bilingual firstand third graders did not differ in reading speed. The two groups made an almost similar number of errors, but the small difference turned out to be statistically significant. Bilingual subjects’ reading attainment was found to be within monolingual normal limits in both languages on all measures except for English reading comprehension, which, together with English vocabulary, was found to be below the English norm. Aside from reading comprehension, on all other measures bilingual children’s performance in Italian correlated with their performance in English, suggesting the presence of cross-linguistic transfer of language and reading skills.

Globalization influence on linguistic and cultural state due to the language contacts’ interaction

The article deals with the peculiarities of linguistic and cultural changes of language structure influenced by globalization process within the language contacts’ interaction. The analysis of various aspects in the modern society proves the dominance of the English language in the formation of the world collaboration. According to the research, English hybrid languages or new Englishes, based on the Standard English norms, are forced to adapt to the local linguistic and cultural needs. These hybrid languages perform the mixture of indigenous languages’ structure and Standard English rules, thought in many cases English dominates and replaces phonetic, lexical, syntactic elements of indigenous languages. Much attention in the work is paid to the peculiarities of such hybrid language as Nigerian English, which presents the local language variant, functioning in Nigeria. Owing to language contacts’ cooperation, Nigerian English combines the language features of Standard English rules and Nigerian local languages’ peculiarities.

‘An English Monstrosity’? Evolution and Reception of Manx Orthography

Abstract This article evaluates perceptions of Manx orthography within Celtic scholarship. The predominant view is well summarized by Jackson (1955: 108): ‘Manx orthography is an English monstrosity which obscures both pronunciation and etymology’. Similarly, O’Rahilly dismisses Manx spelling as ‘an abominable system, neither historic nor phonetic, and based mainly on English’ (O’Rahilly 1932: 20). The article sets these perceptions in the sociohistorical context in which the system was developed by the Manx clergy in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It is argued that the system is neither so directly dependent on English conventions, nor so unsystematic and inconsistent, as has been often claimed. Such weaknesses as do exist from the perspective of contemporary scholars and students of the language should not necessarily be viewed as such in the light of the needs, priorities and assumptions of those who practised Manx writing in its original context. It is shown that there was in fact an increase in the phonological transparency of certain elements of the system during the standardization of the mid-eighteenth century represented by the publication of translations of the Book of Common Prayer (1765) and the Bible (1771-72). On the other hand, countervailing pressures towards phonological ambiguity, iconicity and idiosyncrasy are discussed, including the utility of distinguishing homophones; real or presumed etymologies; the influence of non-standard or regional English spelling conventions; tensions between Manx and English norms; and an apparent preference in certain cases for more ambiguous spellings as a compromise between variant forms. Negative outcomes of the received view for scholarship on Manx are also examined, with a case study of the neglect of orthographic evidence for the historical phonology of the language. The wider context of English-based orthographies for Gaelic is also briefly considered.

Adolescent language outcomes in a complex trilingual context: When typical does not mean unproblematic

This study examined the long-term language outcomes of adolescents in the complex multilingual context of Iceland, where children learn Icelandic as a first (L1) or second language (L2), in a background of incidental English from internet and media sources. Method50 adolescents enrolled in grades 8, 9 and 10 in Reykjavik (Iceland) public schools (27 L1 speakers and 23 L2 speakers) participated. Standardized language tests and language samples were collected in Icelandic and English. Self-ratings and parent ratings of language proficiency were obtained in Icelandic, English and, for L2 speakers, in the home language as well. ResultsAs in previous studies, L2 speakers scored far below L1 speakers on formal tests of Icelandic, and also in conversation. The groups were similar in their English skills, with both groups scoring far below L1 English norms. Self-rated performance agreed well with measured performance. For the L2 speakers, self-rated performance in the home language was similar to performance in Icelandic and English. L1 speakers demonstrated much higher performance in Icelandic than English; L2 speakers’ performance was more evenly distributed over their three languages. DiscussionThe considerable English exposure available in Iceland leads to similar English skills for both L1 and L2 groups, but affects their overall language development in different ways. L1 adolescents maintain a clear dominance in Icelandic, whereas the proficiency of the L2 group is more equally distributed across their three languages, leading to unpredictable patterns of language dominance and at the group level, low performance compared to native speaker expectations in all three languages. These language outcomes in adolescence are of great concern as they do not equip the L2 speakers with the functional communication skills they require for further schooling and jobs. The study calls for a reconsideration of typical multilingual outcomes as necessarily implying unproblematic language skills and suggest that language policy changes are required in Iceland to ensure that children graduate compulsory education with solid language skills that allow them to pursue their goals.

A Corpus-based Study on Question Tags in ELF. An Attempt to Determine an Emergent Construction

Recent research on English as a Lingua Franca (henceforth ELF) has indicated that ELF can be analyzed in accordance with the main principles of the Construction Grammar approach (Pirc 2013). Admittedly, while the majority of studies have been devoted to its creative and unpredictable character, little attention has been paid to how ELF can be conceptualized if its emergent elements are treated as constructions. Thus, the present paper conducts a corpus- based study on the Question Tag Construction (henceforth the QTxC) in ELF with a view to indicating in what way the QTxC can be determined. With the support of the VOICE and BNC corpora, the performed analysis has shown that the analyzed realizations of the QTxC in ELF, while having formal properties that deviate from the norms of English, can also be characterized as exhibiting various sub-types of the prototypical function of the QTxC.

The Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms: multidimensional measures of perceptual and action strength for 40,000 English words

Sensorimotor information plays a fundamental role in cognition. However, the existing materials that measure the sensorimotor basis of word meanings and concepts have been restricted in terms of their sample size and breadth of sensorimotor experience. Here we present norms of sensorimotor strength for 39,707 concepts across six perceptual modalities (touch, hearing, smell, taste, vision, and interoception) and five action effectors (mouth/throat, hand/arm, foot/leg, head excluding mouth/throat, and torso), gathered from a total of 3,500 individual participants using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk platform. The Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms are unique and innovative in a number of respects: They represent the largest-ever set of semantic norms for English, at 40,000 words × 11 dimensions (plus several informative cross-dimensional variables), they extend perceptual strength norming to the new modality of interoception, and they include the first norming of action strength across separate bodily effectors. In the first study, we describe the data collection procedures, provide summary descriptives of the dataset, and interpret the relations observed between sensorimotor dimensions. We then report two further studies, in which we (1) extracted an optimal single-variable composite of the 11-dimension sensorimotor profile (Minkowski 3 strength) and (2) demonstrated the utility of both perceptual and action strength in facilitating lexical decision times and accuracy in two separate datasets. These norms provide a valuable resource to researchers in diverse areas, including psycholinguistics, grounded cognition, cognitive semantics, knowledge representation, machine learning, and big-data approaches to the analysis of language and conceptual representations. The data are accessible via the Open Science Framework (http://osf.io/7emr6/) and an interactive web application (https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/psychology/lsnorms/).

Third-language learning affects bilinguals’ production in both their native languages: A longitudinal study of dynamic changes in L1, L2 and L3 vowel production

This study examined the impact of a study abroad (SA) English program on English and native vowel production. Basque-Spanish bilingual adolescents were assessed on their vowel production in English, Basque and Spanish before the SA program, the day after the program was completed, and four months later. The results revealed that after the SA program, participants’ English vowels were acoustically closer to English norms, revealing the effectiveness of SA programs in improving English vowel pronunciation. Yet, four months later, these benefits had faded, showing that regular input and active language use are required to maintain accurate pronunciation. SA also had effects on native production: bilingual participants showed assimilatory acoustic drift in both their languages towards the English vowel system; the extent of this drift was negatively correlated with improvements in English pronunciation. However, four months later, participants showed a ‘return’ drift towards their native norms. The results also revealed that usage frequency and switching habits played a ‘protective’ role: Frequent switching in bilinguals made the dominant native language less vulnerable to foreign-language influence. Our results suggest that factors related to the frequency and circumstances of native language use are key to authenticity in native language production.

The Cohesiveness of Personal Reference in Translation: A Case Study of French and English

Personal reference is a co-hyponym of textual cohesion; it deals with the first, second and third persons singular or plural; it can occur exophorically, or endophorically as anaphora or cataphora. The present paper is a descriptive study on the cohesiveness and translatability of personal reference; it describes its occurrence and cohesiveness in translating from French into English. In doing so, the analyses are done on literary texts, Madame Bovary and Strait is the Gate. The data related to personal reference are identified and collected throughout reading the whole texts under study; then the data are analyzed. The findings indicate that English language uses more cohesive personal reference than French language due to language peculiarities like abstractness, prolixity in French language; concreteness and conciseness in English language. The research reveals that some shifts which occur in translating personal reference from French into English are obligatory in that they are required by language peculiarities, whereas some shifts which are required by language norms are found to be under the translator’s latitude. The cohesiveness of personal reference, therefore, depends on language peculiarities and language norms of both French and English, which are the determinants of the translation methods of personal reference in translating from French into English.

Cruzar fronteras em espaços acadêmicos: Transgressing “the limits of translanguaging”

Abstract Scholarship on translanguaging and related concepts has challenged traditional assumptions about how people use their multiple languages, urging us to move beyond the boundaries of named linguistic codes and toward conceptualizations of multilingual language use as flexible use of a speaker’s whole linguistic repertoire. Critiques of this theoretical shift have included assertions of translanguaging’s conceptual and practical limits—limits to its transformative potential as well as limits to its practical use. This paper takes up, in particular, the question of why we academics may assert the value of translanguaging in schools and communities while still largely failing to move beyond monoglossic English norms in our own academic spaces of professional practice (Jaspers, 2018), especially in the dissemination of research. Acknowledging this hegemony as well as its potential disruption, we present a counterexample of an academic research conference that developed as a trilingual, translingual space unlike most other spaces of research dissemination. In this polyvocal, translingual reflection, we describe and analyze the event from the perspectives of conference organizers, keynote speakers, and attendees. We explore the factors that constituted the transformative nature of the conference’s translanguaging space and offer some preliminary principles of language planning for translingual academic spaces.

What’s Beyond the Language of Apology? A Case Study

This study investigates the realization of the speech act of apology. It seeks to analyze the linguistic patterns used to represent apology from a pragmalinguistic point of view. It aims at presenting an actual insight on the impact of gender and social practices on performing different apology strategies through providing empirical evidence on the impact of the mother tongue on acquiring apology competence by EFL learners. The study made use of the written Discourse Completion Test (DCT) including 20 scenarios administrated to three groups of respondents of both genders: 100 native speakers of Jordanian Arabic, 100 Jordanian EFL learners, and 50 native speakers of American English. The findings revealed that gender has influenced the use of different apology strategies between the males and females of each group. It was also indicated that the sociocultural practices have played a big role in the socio-linguistic realization of apology. This impact was more pronounced throughout the different preference to the use of apology strategies among the three groups. In addition, it was found that there are interlingual hypotheses concerning the foreign language pragmatics prompting the EFL learners to deviate from the native language and English norms of apology. Thus, it was concluded that the mother tongue influence is not the sole source of pragmatic deviations from the second language norms; this influence cannot be described as negative transfer but a creative process done by EFL Learners to master English.

Emotionality of Turkish language and primary adaptation of affective English norms for Turkish

Emotional load assessment of the written words has gained considerable interest in psycholinguistics, semantics, and analysis of psychophysiological and electrophysiological correlates of emotional processing. Considering the lack of a publicly available database with affective ratings of contemporary verbal stimuli obtained from native Turkish speakers, we present the affective norms for two datasets of Turkish words carefully adapted from the Affective Norms for English Words (ANEW) database. The valence and arousal ratings are obtained from 61 college-aged participants for 127 highly arousing, emotionally-loaded words in the Adapted Turkish Affective List (ATAL). The ATAL ratings show a tendency of classifying fewer words as positive compared to the original list of stimuli, significantly higher arousal levels for positively rated Turkish stimuli compared to the negative and neutral words, and more congruence in arousal levels of positively exciting words. For the medium to high arousing 508 words in the Expanded Turkish Affective List (ETAL) that cover the whole 9-point spectrum of the valence dimension, 136 Turkish respondents from a wider age, education, and occupation background show higher excitability towards highly unpleasant words. Strong cross-linguistic correlations of + 0.968 between the valence ratings of ANEW and ATAL and + 0.878 for ANEW and ETAL demonstrate the ease of transferring and perceiving the valence levels across English and Turkish. The medium correlation of roughly + 0.450 between the English and Turkish arousal ratings account for lower excitation levels perceived by the native Turkish speakers and indicate the arousal dimension is similar to familiarity and originality in exhibiting more variations between different cultures. These findings demonstrate that this expanded database of partial affective normative ratings can be used as the ground truth for emotional and neurocognitive assessments, and that the presented methodology can be utilized for developing a comprehensive Turkish affective lexicon. The utilized word selection criteria also enable a cross-cultural analysis of adapted words in Turkish and other languages. Detailed normative ratings of this Turkish adaptation are included in the supplementary materials.

Local Thoughts on Global Ideas: Pre- and In-service TESOL Practitioners’ Attitudes to the Pedagogical Implications of the Globalization of English

With the globalization of the English language, Global Englishes (GE) is a growing research paradigm with numerous pedagogical implications for those learning and teaching English. The study reported here provides insights on pre- and in-service Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) practitioners’ perceptions of Global Englishes Language Teaching (GELT) (Galloway & Rose, 2015; Rose & Galloway, 2019), which aims to make TESOL classrooms more reflective of learners’ needs in today’s globalized world, where multilingualism is the norm and English functions as a lingua franca. Interviews (n=5) with those taking a GE course on an MSc TESOL programme at a Russell Group university in the UK were triangulated with a survey among the wider programme (n=66). The study reveals that curriculum innovation is complex, particularly when it requires a conceptual transition, and practitioners need time and support to implement change. Furthermore, it was clarified that GE has made little headway into ‘traditional’ TESOL classrooms, which remains biased towards ‘native’ English norms.

A Comparative analysis of rhythmic patterns in settler-heritage English and Blackfoot English in Southern Alberta

AbstractIn this paper we explore differences in prosodic rhythm between two English speech communities in rural Southern Alberta, Canada: speakers of Blackfoot First Nation descent and those of settler descent. Using the Variability Index (VI), we show that there are statistically significant differences between English speakers of settler descent and those of Blackfoot descent, where those of Blackfoot descent have a higher VI, that is, they are further along the stress-timing continuum than those of settler descent. We hypothesize that these differences are due to language transfer effects stemming from the community's original Blackfoot phonology which were present in their L2 English when the community norm shifted primarily to English, and that the historical, social, and geographical isolation of Blackfoot people in Southern Alberta has contributed to the development of a new local Blackfoot English norm.

Obstetric brachial plexus injuries (OBPIs): health-related quality of life in affected adults and parents

BackgroundObstetric brachial plexus injuries (OBPIs) are rare but can have significant implications for those affected, their caregivers and the health system. Symptoms can range from restricted movement to complete paralysis of the arm. We investigated health-related quality of life in adults with OBPIs and parents of children with permanent OBPIs, compared these with population norms, and investigated whether certain socio-demographic or clinical factors were associated with the quality of life in these cohorts.MethodsA cross-sectional study examined 50 affected adults and 78 parents. Participants completed EQ-5D-5 L and characteristics questionnaires. EQ-5D-5 L responses were mapped onto an EQ-5D-3 L value set to generate utility scores. Mean utility scores were compared with English population norms. Univariable and multivariable linear regression models were conducted to assess for associations between participant characteristics and the utility scores.ResultsThe overall mean utility scores for affected adults and parents were 0.56 (SD 0.28) and 0.80 (SD 0.19) respectively. Affected adults (95% CI (− 0.38, − 0.22), p < 0.001) and parents of children with permanent OBPIs (95% CI (− 0.10, − 0.02), p = 0.007) had lower mean utility scores, and therefore quality of life, compared to English population norms. For affected adults, previous OBPI surgery (95% CI (0.01, 0.25), p = 0.040), employment in non-manual work (95% CI (0.06, 0.30), p = 0.005) and having a partner (95% CI (0.04, 0.25), p = 0.009) appeared to be positively associated with the utility score. Affected adults receiving disability benefits related to OBPIs appeared to have worse utility scores than those not receiving any disability benefits (95% CI (− 0.31, − 0.06), p = 0.005). For parents, employment was associated with better utility scores (95% CI (0.02, 0.20), p = 0.024) but the presence of one or more medical condition appeared to be associated with worse utility scores (95% CI (− 0.16, − 0.04), p = 0.001).ConclusionsAdults with OBPIs and parents of children with permanent OBPIs reported worse utility scores, and therefore quality of life, compared to the English general population. We also identified certain characteristics as possible factors to consider when dealing with utility scores in these cohorts. The utility scores in this study can be used in future economic evaluations related to OBPIs.

Exploring the Reasons for the Fossilization of Phonological Errors: A case study of the substitution of/o/for/ɔ/by English as Second Language Learners in Sri Lanka

Over the past decades, various teaching methods adopted from time to time have placed pronunciation teaching in the forefront or in the backend. This has resulted in second language facilitators to completely disregard or relentlessly correct pronunciation depending on their intuition due to the lack of research on pronunciation teaching or proper guidance. In Sri Lanka, since there has been no general agreement on pronunciation teaching, it is being considered merely a supplementary task which is often overlooked. As a result of this, certain phonological features have got fossilized in the code repertoire of English as second language learners in Sri Lanka. Past studies on phonology in Sri Lanka bear evidence that phonological deviations can lead to a class distinction in Sri Lankan society which can even have an adverse outcome at a job interview or any social gathering (Parakrama, 1995; Gunesekera, 2005). The aim of this study is to record literature on pronunciation teaching in Sri Lanka and to investigate reasons for fossilization of phonological features. A questionnaire was administered among 25 high proficiency learners who have been pursuing higher studies in English medium to find out reasons for English as Second Language learners in Sri Lanka to substitute the mid back vowel/o/for the low back vowel/ɔ/. According to literature, L1 dominance on L2 attributes for learners to deviate from the codified norms of the Standard Sri Lankan English (SSLE). In line with the Noticing Hypothesis, the Output Hypothesis, and the Interactional model, the findings showcase that the lack of sufficient guidance and the lack of awareness on the part of facilitators and learners respectively are the most salient factors that prevent the formation of new phonological categories which do not exist in the L1. It is recommended for facilitators to make learners aware of their phonological errors to avoid fossilization of erroneous forms.

L’impact de l’exposition bilingue sur l’acquisition du vocabulaire dans un contexte francophone minoritaire

L’objet de cette étude était d’examiner la relation entre le montant d’exposition à deux langues et l’acquisition du vocabulaire dans ces langues chez des enfants bilingues en situation linguistique minoritaire francophone.&#x0D; Les données utilisées proviennent d’une étude longitudinale par Auteur (en préparation). Soixante enfants à développement typique âgés de cinq et six ans ont participé à l’étude. Ces participants ont été divisés en deux groupes : enfants franco-dominants (FD) et enfants anglo-dominants (AD). Tous les participants ont été soumis à des tests mesurant le vocabulaire réceptif et expressif, et ce, en français et en anglais. Les scores obtenus ont été comparés à des normes monolingues régionales obtenues auprès d’enfants ayant le même statut linguistique(Auteur, 2014), le cas échéant, ou aux normes monolingues publiées.&#x0D; D’une part, les résultats ont montré que lesenfants FD réussissent moins bien que les enfants franco-ontariens monolingues sur les tests de vocabulaire réceptif en français. Pour le test de vocabulaire expressif en français, les enfants FD ont réussi moins bien que la norme publiée. D’autre part, il n’y avait pas de différence significative entre les enfants AD et les monolingues anglophones sur les tests de vocabulaire réceptif et expressif en anglais.Alors, il semble que lorsque la langue dominante de l’enfant est une langue minoritaire, l’acquisition du vocabulaire dans cette langue est moindre. Au contraire, lorsque la langue dominante de l’enfant est une langue majoritaire, il semble que le vocabulaire dans cette langue soit plus grand parce qu’il y est plus exposé.

Boston Naming Test performance in French-speaking Acadians

ABSTRACTBackground: Standardized tools for the assessment of language and cognition for French Canadians are limited, especially for those living outside of Quebec, making it difficult for clinicians to diagnose and treat language and cognitive impairments. Acadians are an understudied, linguistically diverse group with varying levels of bilingualism in French and English that affords the opportunity to study naming performance in individuals with varying degrees of bilingualism.Aims: The goals of this investigation were threefold: a) to describe the naming performance of Acadians in French, including name agreement on individual Boston Naming Test (BNT) items and naming performance as a function of age and education; b) to investigate the effect of using different published datasets (Kaplan’s norms for English speakers and the Quebec naming dataset for French speakers) when calculating the naming ability level (i.e., high average, average, low average, borderline, and extremely low) on the BNT in French; and c) to examine the effects of bilingualism on BNT performance in French and English.Methods & Procedures: French-speaking Acadians (N = 119) aged 20–81 years (M = 44.3, SD = 14.49) completed a questionnaire self-reporting their language proficiency and use, followed by the administration of the BNT (Kaplan et al., 2001) in French.Outcomes & Results: Name agreement analyses revealed a high percentage of correct responses for many items, while other items were frequently described using regionalisms. Naming performance improved as a function of education, but there was no effect of age. The study also highlighted the effects of using different naming datasets to calculate each participant’s naming ability. Overall, the Acadian sample’s naming ability was lower than expected when calculating naming ability using either the Kaplan English norms (Kaplan et al, 2001) or the Quebec naming dataset for French speakers (Roberts & Doucet, 2011). Moreover, agreement in the naming ability level (from extremely low to high average) was poor. Consistent with previous studies, total BNT scores in French were significantly lower for French-speaking bilinguals (FS-BIs) compared to French-speaking unilinguals (FS-UNIs) after controlling for educational levels. It was also noted that French-English bilinguals performed better on the English compared to the French administration of the BNT.Conclusion: The results of this study support the need for a separate naming dataset for bilingual and French-speaking Acadians. Implications for the assessment of naming ability and deficits in clinical practice with French and French/English bilingual speakers are discussed.