Language ability assessment is important for the timely identification of abnormalities; it includes various tests for children to demonstrate their use and understanding of grammatical and vocabulary structures. Bilinguals require a more comprehensive approach because their fluency might differ from the norms as multiple factors, such as developmental background, sociocultural experiences, and learning capabilities (Bedore & Peña, 2008). Monolingual children have a more straightforward way of obtaining lexical and syntactic structures, while their bilingual peers struggle to organize their linguistic system (Bedore & Peña, 2008). Thus, the potential barriers to language ability assessment are the lack of adjustable tests with norms for various bilingual variations and the absence of specific criteria for language acquisition evaluation.
Language ability assessment tests are generalized and aim to identify the same learning trajectory in representatives of various sociocultural backgrounds. Because of this barrier, bilingual children’s test results might display that they have language impairment and are unnecessarily assigned to a specialized education group. Furthermore, monolingual children might fit the normal rates of assessment criteria, and bilinguals might have unique language acquisition conditions that do not comply with the standards (Wyatt, 2012). This barrier must be addressed because young learners need to build lexical and syntactic systems, and bilinguals need to receive personalized assistance.
Modern speech-language pathologists can break the identified barriers by expanding the range of language ability assessments and including translation and conversation-based exercises. The comprehensive approach should also involve family members who can provide additional information about the speaking attitudes, environment, prevalence of one language, and the frequency of using another (Bedore & Peña, 2008). Clinicians can also expand the language acquisition evaluation based on their location and adjust the criteria by eliminating the biases (Wyatt, 2012). For instance, in regions with Spanish-English speaking populations, assessment frameworks can address the distinctions and consider the studies about this type of bilingual individuals.
References
Bedore, L. M., & Peña, E. D. (2008). Assessment of bilingual children for identification of language impairment: Current findings and implications for practice. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 11(1), 1-29.
Wyatt, T. (2012). Assessment of multicultural and international clients with communication disorders. In D. E. Battle (Ed.), Communication disorders in multicultural and international populations (4th ed.). (pp. 243-278). Mosby.