ABSTRACT
This chapter considers that some issues in testing language proficiency, a number of tests of language dominance, and the performance on them by a sample of sixteen Puerto Rican bilingual children. In author's opinion, the most promising approach to a study of language use is an interdisciplinary one with a strong ethnographic base. While research has indicated that language proficiency is only one factor among many to be taken into account when determining the educational needs of limited-English-speaking children, bilingual education legislation and decision-making have been based upon this one factor to the exclusion of other sociocultural characteristics of speakers and communities. The Ambiguous Word Language Dominance Test was designed to measure language dominance among Spanish/English bilingual students, 10 years old or older. The utility of the broadened conception of language dominance and proficiency presented here lies in part in achieving realistic language assessments that ensure accurate placement, determination of individual progress, and evaluation of program effectiveness.
