# Bilingual Assessment  
**What can we learn from testing English?**  
**Elizabeth D. Peña, Ph.D. CCC**  
University of California, Irvine

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## Challenges in BILINGUAL Assessment  
- Second language learning looks like DLD  
- First language loss looks like DLD  
- Language Dominance  
- Age of first English exposure  
- Percent of current exposure  
- Test domain (by language experience)  
- Not enough bilingual clinicians (about 4-6% of SLPs are bilingual)

## Best Results when we test in BOTH

## Experience in English  
- Child’s level of experience in English  
- Age of first exposure  
- Current exposure  
- What we test

### Experience in the L2  
- 1 year experience  
- 30% or more exposure

|  | Example | English Dominant |  | Balanced Bilingual |  | Spanish Dominant |  |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| TD | DLD | TD | DLD | TD | DLD |  |  |
| Passive | The boy was hugged by the girl | .92 | .53 | .50 | .32 | .70 | .25 |
| 3rd Person Singular | Runs | .89 | .55 | .72 | .27 | .54 | .23 |
| Possessive | teacher's | .88 | .50 | .60 | .19 | .44 | .09 |
| Question Inversion | Is the bus at the school? | .75 | .35 | .63 | .18 | .57 | .14 |
| Plural Noun | Boxes | .91 | .43 | .69 | .38 | .57 | .34 |
| Regular Past | Dropped | .79 | .63 | .54 | .17 | .43 | .17 |
| Negative | don't burn the toast | .94 | .90 | .78 | .31 | .59 | .22 |
| Copula | He is tall. | .92 | .80 | .88 | .40 | .85 | .53 |
| Relative Clause | ...that was on the stove | .78 | .53 | .66 | .19 | .59 | .10 |
| Irregular Past | Broke | .60 | .10 | .31 | .10 | .21 | .04 |
| Prepositional Phrase | between the houses | .42 | .55 | .45 | .25 | .41 | .18 |

Bedore, L.M., Peña, E.D., Anaya, J., Nieto, R., Lugo-Neris, M. & Baron, A. (2018). Patterns of Language Impairment in the Context of English as a Second Language. Language, Speech, & Hearing Services in Schools. 49 (2), 277-291.

| Task type | HSE |  | BESE |  | HEE |  |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| TD | DLD | TD | DLD |  |  |  |
| Associations | .38 | .03 | .42 | .16 | .41 | .14 |
| Analogies | .40 | .03 | .40 | .36 | .34 | .29 |
| Definitions | .51 | .21 | .57 | .40 | .66 | .49 |
| Associations | .03 | .15 | .03 | .36 | .55 | .71 |
| Associations | .64 | .30 | .61 | .36 | .73 | .57 |
| Definitions | .69 | .36 | .73 | .64 | .73 | .87 |
| Functionals | .69 | .21 | .79 | .60 | .85 | .57 |
| Characteristics | .83 | .52 | .88 | .76 | .98 | .86 |
| Similarities and differences | .44 | .06 | .46 | .12 | .59 | .43 |
| Functionals | .68 | .27 | .71 | .38 | .80 | .86 |
| Characteristics | .70 | .36 | .69 | .16 | .57 | .43 |
| Associations | .70 | .36 | .74 | .38 | .84 | .57 |
| Characteristics | .81 | .27 | .78 | .36 | .85 | .71 |
| Similarities and differences | .44 | .03 | .43 | .20 | .59 | .14 |
| Definitions | .60 | .27 | .68 | .48 | .89 | .43 |
| Functions | .55 | .39 | .93 | .69 | .69 | .43 |
| Similarities and differences | .85 | .65 | .83 | .60 | 1 | .43 |
| Similarities and differences | .59 | .15 | .93 | .16 | 7 | .29 |
| Characteristics | .61 | .21 | .67 | .32 | .73 | .42 |
| Characteristics | .03 | .24 | .65 | .28 | .73 | .29 |
| Similarities and differences | .83 | .39 | .87 | .40 | .89 | .29 |
| Definitions | .69 | .52 | .74 | .44 | .75 | 0 |
| Functionals | .52 | .03 | .41 | .04 | .66 | .57 |
| Associations | .65 | .42 | .81 | .44 | .89 | .57 |
| Functions | .82 | .56 | .91 | .60 | 1 | .57 |
| Analogies | 24 | 0 | .22 | .04 | .32 | .04 |
| Associations | 0 | 0 | .32 | .12 | .50 | .14 |
| Similarities and differences | 33 | .06 | .32 | .20 | .50 | .14 |
| Functionals | 40 | .21 | .32 | .32 | .50 | 0 |
| Associations | 56 | .38 | .52 | .24 | .84 | .29 |
| Similarities and differences | 67 | .48 | .68 | .56 | .68 | .14 |
| Associations | 97 | .76 | .92 | .72 | .91 | .57 |

## Participants  
**Classification Accuracy for SR & Cloze Composites by Item Set & Exposure Group**

| Participants |  |  | Items for English dominant | Items for balanced bilinguals | Items for Spanish dominant |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| English dominant (n = 80) | Sensitivity | 80.0 | 50.0 | 20.0 |  |
| Specificity | 94.3 | 100.0 | 100.0 |  |  |
| Balanced bilinguals (n = 154) | Sensitivity | 91.7 | 83.3 | 66.7 |  |
| Specificity | 60.8 | 86.9 | 92.3 |  |  |
| Spanish dominant (n = 145) | Sensitivity | 100.0 | 90.3 | 80.6 |  |
| Specificity | 44.7 | 67.5 | 82.5 |  |  |

**Pratt, Peña, & Bedore (in preparation)**

**Contact Information:**  
**Elizabeth D. Peña**  
University of California, Irvine  
edpena@uci.edu  
@HABLAlab  
2languages2worlds.wordpress.com