Assessing the bimodal-plurilingual language profiles of immigrant d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing learners (IDML), and specifically their languages development, is a major challenge, as it involves considering the spoken, written, and/or sign languages of the host country in addition to learners' home language(s) (Cannon/Marx, submitted 2022). As well as language proficiency, assessments should consider the complexity of multilingual development by considering aspects affecting development such as age of acquisition, opportunities for language use, competencies in further languages, and language varieties (Paradis et al., 2011), and for refugee learners, experiences of limited or interrupted education and trauma (Prawiro-Atmodjo et al. 2020). This complexity results in challenges for language assessment, which is aggravated by the fact that most standardized instruments for spoken and written language are not normed for d/DHH learners, and there is a lack of appropriate instruments for sign languages in general (Pizzo & Chilvers, 2016). Subsequently, the validity of language assessments presently used for IDML is questionable. This is a major issue both for research and for pedagogy.
In order to address this issue in the German context, a comparison of different available assessment instruments was carried out. The aim of the reported study was (1) to examine available spoken, written and sign language assessments, both tests and ratings, (2) to test them with the target population of IDML, and (3) to provide recommendations for researchers and teachers. In a number of trials beginning in June 2022, IDML at secondary-school level were tested with instruments developed for German-language contexts to determine inter-test validity. To assess written and spoken language, the instruments PERLESKO (Prüfverfahren zur Erfassung lexikalisch-semantischer Kompetenz, a test for receptive vocabulary knowledge developed for DHH learners), the SFD (Sprachstandsüberprüfung und Förderdiagnostik, a test for listening comprehension developed for L1 and L2 speakers), and 2P (Potenzial & Perspektive – Ein Analyseverfahren für neu Zugewanderte, a diagnostic tool for listening, reading, writing and vocabulary skills developed for newly arrived hearing immigrant learners) were used, while to assess German sign language, PERLESKO and NAKOM (Narrative Kompetenzen, assessing narrative production in sign language) were utilized. Finally, a comparison of skills in different languages was carried out using the SOLOM (Student Oral Language Observation Matrix) to determine use of spoken and signed German and family language(s). The results of the ongoing assessment study shed light on the potential for existing instruments to provide necessary and useful information for research and teaching practice.
Bibliography:
Cannon, J., & Marx, N. (submitted, 2022). Scoping Review of Methodologies across Language Studies with DHH Multilingual Learners. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education.
Paradis, J. (2011). Individual differences in child English second language acquisition: Comparing child-internal and child-external factors. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 1(3), 213–237.
Pizzo, L., & Chilvers, A. (2016). Assessment and d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing multilingual learners: Considerations and promising practices. American Annals of the Deaf, 161(1), 56–66.
Prawiro-Atmodjo, P., Elsendoorn, B., Reedijk, H., & Maas, M. (2020). Educating DHH migrant children. Kentalis.
