LINGUIST List 25.1295
Mon
Mar 17 2014
Confs: Applied
Linguistics, Language
Acquisition/Netherlands
Editor for this issue:
Xiyan Wang <xiyanlinguistlist.org>
Date: 17-Mar-2014
From: Robert Grimm
<r.m.g.grimm
uu.nl>
Subject: Workshop on Measuring
Bilingual Proficiency
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Workshop on Measuring Bilingual Proficiency
Date: 17-Apr-2014 - 17-Apr-2014
Location: Utrecht, Netherlands
Contact: Robert Grimm
Contact Email:
< click here to access email >
Meeting URL:
http://www.let.uu.nl/emlar/
Linguistic Field(s): Applied Linguistics;
Language Acquisition
Meeting Description:
The goal of the workshop is to discuss issues
relating to the construct bilingual proficiency
and how best to measure it in a range of
different bilingual/L2 populations
(simultaneous and sequential bilinguals,
heritage language learners, bilingual learners
with language impairments).
This workshop is a satellite anniversary event
to EMLAR X organised by Elma Blom (Utrecht
University) and Sharon Unsworth (Radboud
University Nijmegen), with financial support
from UiL OTS.
Date and time: Thursday, April 17 2014, 9.15 AM
– 5 PM
Location: Drift 21, room 0.03, Utrecht
University
Pre-registration: Participation is free, but
space is limited and hence we kindly ask
participants to register beforehand by sending
an email to Robert Grimm at
r.m.g.grimm
uu.nl.
Detailed programme:
9.30-10:00
Introduction + issues (organizers)
10:00-10:45
Norbert Francis (Northern Arizona
University):
Proposal for a better understanding of
subtractive bilingualism in language
assessment
10.45-11:15 Break
11.15-12:00
Elin Thordardottir (McGill University):
How informative is monolingual assessment of
bilingual children?
12:00-12:30 Discussion I
12.30-14.00 Lunch
14.00-14.45
Silvina Montrul (University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign):
Dominance and proficiency in early and late
adult bilingualism
14.45-15.30
Tanja Kupisch (University of Hamburg and Lund
University):
Comparing adult bilinguals' proficiency in a
minority and a majority language setting
15.30-16.00 Break
16.00-17.00 Discussion II
Proposal for a better understanding of
subtractive bilingualism in language
assessment
Norbert Francis (Northern Arizona
University)
First language (L1) attrition is the subject of
new research in the field of bilingualism
studies. Also known as 'subtractive
bilingualism' (contrasted to the so-called
'additive' type), an important confirmation of
work in this area has been to recognize loss of
L1 competence as a normal outcome of child
second language learning. Worldwide, as
schooling expands to include greater numbers of
previously marginalized and excluded
language-minority school-age children, the
subtractive variant may even become, with time,
more common. In language assessment, this
circumstance presents challenges for
practitioners, foremost among which is
developing a clear framework for avoiding
misinterpretation of testing results based on
imprecise conceptions of deficient language
ability, often categorized impressionistically
as 'semilingualism.'
How informative is monolingual assessment of
bilingual children?
Elin Thordardottir (McGill University)
A full evaluation of the language skills of a
bilingual child needs to include assessment of
both languages. However, in clinical (and
research) work, such assessments are fairly
rare. Difficulties are related to the lack of
clinicians with the required language skills,
lack of test materials and normative data
across languages, and time restrictions. In
light of these constraints, it is important to
make maximal use of the assessment results that
can be obtained. This talk will address how
monolingual assessment data can be put to
maximal use, in the identification of language
impairment in bilingual children, in treatment
decisions and assessment of the child's
functioning in various situations.
Dominance and proficiency in early and late
adult bilingualism
Silvina Montrul (University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign)
In bilingualism, language dominance typically
refers to the relative fluency, proficiency and
degree of language use of each language.
Although the concept of equal linguistic
proficiency in the two languages is a
possibility, the reality is that in most
bilinguals one language is more dominant or
stronger than the other either in terms of
proficiency, degree of language use, or both.
In this talk I make a distinction between
dominance and proficiency, illustrating how
these have been estimated and measured in
representative research. I then turn to
consider how proficiency and dominance have
been assumed in most studies of unbalanced
bilinguals whose family language is the weaker
language (also known as heritage speakers in
the United States), and actually measured in a
few others. I will discuss why these measures,
although not ideal, are important and necessary
for research investigating the linguistic
abilities of heritage speakers in their weaker
language on the one hand, and for comparing the
linguistic abilities of heritage speakers and
second language learners, on the other. I will
also show how these measures correlate with
degree of language transfer from the stronger
language and with other measures in these
populations. Although measuring one or the two
languages of bilinguals may contribute to the
monolingual view of bilinguals (Grosjean 2008,
Treffers-Daller 2010), I argue that measuring
proficiency, and assessing language dominance
more generally, is not only a crucial component
of rigorous experimental research, but it also
has uses and implications for educational and
clinical practices.
Comparing adult bilinguals' proficiency in a
minority and a majority language setting
Tanja Kupisch (Lunds Universitet/ Universität
Hamburg)
This presentation is concerned with the
measurement of relative language proficiency in
20 adult bilinguals all of whom have been
exposed to two languages simultaneously from
birth. Half of these grew up in France with
German as a minority language, and half grew up
in Germany with French as a minority language.
Both groups comprise very fluent speakers of
both languages only. The major research
questions are (i) what single measure is the
most faithful with respect to speakers' actual
proficiency- differences between both
languages; (ii) among several measures that are
applied to the same data, which point in the
same direction, and which give prima facie
contradictory results (e.g., a relatively
higher or lower proficiency rating in language
B than in language A on measure Mn, but vice
versa on measure Mn+1). Measures discussed
include: gender marking, cloze tests, global
accent, speech rate, and self-reported language
preference. Here, the terms dominant and more
proficient are used synonymously; both are
defined generally with respect to the
resemblance of the data to monolingual norms.
We also briefly discuss problems arising for
such definitions.
Page Updated: 17-Mar-2014