Testing verbal (language) and non-verbal abilities in language minorities: A socio-educational problem in historical perspective

Abstract

There is a wide-spread socio-educational problem with language testing at its heart: Speakers of minority languages are over-represented in classes for the learning disabled, disordered and educable mentally retarded and under-represented in classes for the gifted. This imbalance is owed to mental measurement practices that involve language tests both directly and indirectly. The source of the problem is a general failure to appreciate the role of language proficiencies in psychological and educational testing. Also the relation between acquired (socially dependent) language proficiencies and so-called non-verbal abilities may be closer than commonly supposed. Among the questions addressed are the following: To what extent is it possible to measure non-verbal abilities without invoking acquired language/dialect proficiencies? Is it possible to get the instructions to non-verbal tasks across to test takers without recourse to one or more particular languages or dialects? Is it possible to make linguistically and culturally unbiased judgements about intellectual abilities (including abnormalities, disorders and giftedness) on the basis of “non-verbal” tasks? © 2000, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.