Testing in the Second Language in Minorities

Introduction

Standardized tests have become an indispensable tool in the assessment process and the results they produce frequently form the basis of decisions regarding competence, promotion, selection, or detection of pathologies that may greatly affect the personal and/or employment situation of the subjects tested. Due to the widespread use of tests for making important decisions, the possible influence of testing in the second language in minorities has become a constant research topic in recent years. Many hypotheses have been formulated regarding the influence of language when individuals are tested in a language other than their dominant one. However, although this influence is widely assumed to be present the way in which it affects test results remains unclear (López, 2000).

The term ‘minority’ has generally been used in a linguistic sense to refer to those persons whose native language is different from that of the majority, regardless of their level of fluency in this second language (Figueroa, 1990; Geisinger & Carlson, 1992), although the cultural differences associated with this are increasingly being taken into consideration as well. The problem of testing in the second language in minorities is not only an issue which is attracting growing interest, but is one which is being reformulated and approached from new angles due to the rapid social change being brought about at present: a direct consequence of migration and the globalization of the economy is that researchers are being led toward a multicultural and multiethnic map.

Historical Perspective

The current situation can be better understood by analysing how the use of psychological and educational tests with minorities has developed over the years (see the reviews on this issue by Figueroa, 1990; Olmedo, 1981). Up until the mid-twentieth century, research was focused on the standardization of various tests of intelligence for subjects (particularly children) from minorities, it generally being assumed that they showed a lower level than the majority group. Bilingualism was seen as a negative phenomenon, a delay in intellectual development and an obstacle to achieving competence in the dominant language. Many of these studies ignored not only the impact of a second language on psychometric test scores, but also the interaction between such scores and the socio-economic and educational level of subjects.

After 1950, there was a gradual change in attitude toward the effects of testing of minorities, and linguistic and cultural factors, as well as the social, political and economic reality of these groups, began to be considered. The surge in research interest on this issue occurred especially in the United States during the 1970s, and was linked to the strong human rights movement. Unfair/invalid testing of minorities was considered to be an obstacle to social justice and economic opportunity. As a consequence, new laws were introduced in an attempt to reduce the discrimination in the testing of minorities and new assessment materials, which were neither ethnically nor culturally discriminatory, were called for. Thus, for example, the 1985 version of Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing acknowledged this concern and included a chapter entitled ‘Testing Linguistic Minorities’ which suggested ways of approaching the issue.

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