Which language should be used to test/assess/counsel a bilingual child?

Kia ora tatou. 

Among the many texts on my bookshelf I have a copy of “A Parents’ and Teachers’ Guide to Bilingualism” by Colin Baker (2000). This book does very much what its title says and provides clear concise answers to the myriad of questions we teachers and parents have.

In browsing through the book I came across the question, “Which language should be used to test/assess/counsel a bilingual child? What should be the nature if such assessment?” Part of Baker’s response is about national testing systems such as our NCEA and he makes some important points about the practice of teachers and schools when assessing their students, in particular regarding the use of norm referenced tests. 

Norm referencing is the process of statistically finding an average, in other words creating what a “normal” student looks like in statistical terms.  When a student is assessed with such a tool the results show where that student stands in comparison to this statistically normal student. 

On the surface this may seem to be a reasonable process however there are some rather important fishhooks to be found. These assessment tools are often based on data gathered from native, monolingual speakers with very few bilinguals included. In Baker’s view such assessments are typically created by “White, middle class, Anglo test producers” and will include elements unfamiliar or not relevant to the bilingual. Nor do they measure the things bilinguals do need to be good at. 

Let’s try a mind experiment…Let us say, “ A normal apple is more or less ball shaped, with a core in the centre and glossy yellow-green, orange or red coloured skin. The flesh is apple flavoured and moderately crisp.”

Even though my grandfather successfully grafted a pear branch on his apple tree it is not possible to match the pears against what makes a good apple. To do so would mean saying, “This pear does not make a very good apple, it is misshapen, the wrong colour, wrong taste and too hard. The pear comes in well below the norm for apples.”

Assessments which make the assumption that a test can measure the achievement levels of bilinguals against monolingual standards effectively measure pears as if they were apples.

Baker also makes the point that assessment against monolingual norms can be disempowering to the bilingual student if it is implicit in the assessment that success is measured against monolingual standards. Inevitably bilinguals feel that their skills and knowledge are undervalued. Bilingualism is then seen as of less value, not “mainstream” and marginalised. 

Read more in: “A Parents’ and Teachers’ Guide to Bilingualism” by Colin Baker (2000) Multilingual Matters, Clevedon USA. A number of copies are held in the school library.

Noho ora mai ra, Chris