Do some school-age children have no language? Some problems of construct validity in the pre-LAS Espanol

Bilingual Research Journal, Summer 2002 by MacSwan, Jeff, Rolstad, Kellie, Glass, Gene V

Also, note that both Level 2 and Level 3 scores express tolerance for phonological differences due to regional dialect, but it is emphasized (by italicizing "pronunciation") that the variation must be attributable to pronunciation and not syntax. This distinction is arbitrary and unjustifiable. Consider, for instance, the use of clitic doubling in some varieties of Spanish, discussed above, or the phenomenon of laismo, used in parts of Northern Spain, in which dative le suppletes to la ("La di el regalo, " "I gave her the gift"). In Ecuador, many speakers of Spanish use le in place of la/lo, as in "Yo le amo" [I love her/him] (See Lipski, 1994 for discussion). Furthermore, Morales (1986) reports that many Caribbean varieties of Spanish make extensive use of overt subject pronouns in contexts where other Spanish dialects do not tolerate them for pragmatic reasons. However, the rubric is written in such a way as to imply that regional variation in syntax is not tolerated at Level 3. There is of course no conceivable justification for this arbitrary provision.

Indeed, because the test does not tolerate syntactic variation due to dialectal differences, it may be said to endorse prescriptivism, the view that speakers of regional vernacular dialects have less proficiency in their language than those who speak like the educated classes. No evidence has been advanced to support this doctrine, here or elsewhere. Like elite language varieties, minority varieties are grammatically rich, systematic, and expressive (Crystal, 1986; Newmeyer, 1986; Pinker, 1994).

Another salient distinction between scores 2 and 3 in Table 8 is the "appropriateness" of the response to the situation. A Level 2 response may be "inappropriate to the situation," but a Level 3 response yields "clauses, tense, and person" that are "contextually appropriate." However, there is no continuity of "situation" from one sentence to the next in Part 5. Each item creates a new situation and one that is only partially spelled out. An appropriate situation is one that is consistent with the examiner's background assumptions about a particular item. If the examinee makes the wrong guess about what the examiner is thinking, a low score may be assigned. Consider, for instance, an actual example of a set of responses from Gabriela, a 5-year-old girl who attends school in an urban California school district and speaks Spanish at home. Gabriela's responses to Part 5 of the Pre-LAS Espanol are italicized below as transcribed by the examiner, with translations given in brackets:

1. "Si me levanto temprano como." (3) [If I get up early I eat. ]

2. "Los ninos tenian hambre asi que hizier on [sic] sopa." (3) [The children were hungry so they made soup.]

3. "Fuimos a la fiesta y luego compramos un pastel." (3) [We went to a party and then we bought a cake.]

4. "Antes de vestirme fui a una, fiesta " (2) [Before getting dressed I went to a party.]

5. "Despues de jugar un rato me siento." (3) [After playing a while I sit down. ]