Procedures Sentence repetition testing

5.1 Recorded text testing

5.1.1 Procedures

A recorded text test can be used to provide a preliminary assessment of a community’s learned ability in a second language. The procedures for evaluating bilingual ability using this method have been adapted from dialect intelligibility testing as discussed in §4.2.1. Since this method only evaluates comprehension ability, it is not adequate for evaluating higher levels of bilingual proficiency Blair 1990:74. Used in conjunction with sentence repetition testing we have a double check on our results, obtaining a more accurate understanding of bilingualism than if only one method were used. When using recorded text tests in bilingualism testing, care must be taken to test a sample that is representative of the demographic characteristics in the community. A sample of subjects should therefore include men and women, young and old, educated and uneducated, and traveled and untraveled, in the same proportion as the population as a whole.

5.1.2 Results

A Hindi recorded text test was developed in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh. This was then tested at five test points as a preliminary, or pilot test, of bilingualism in Hindi. The two test points not tested are in Nepal and are more influenced by Nepali. Subjects in DKS in Nepal on the border did relatively poorly on the Hindi RTT. On the basis of these results no further testing of Hindi was done in Nepal. All of the test points in India did quite well, showing good understanding of a simple narrative text. These results are summarized in table 5. Table 5. Hindi RTT Results HinRTT Results from this pilot test show that further bilingualism testing is needed. Simple narrative material is understood well by the small samples tested; further testing was needed using the sentence repetition test to more thoroughly investigate Hindi proficiency.

5.2 Sentence repetition testing

5.2.1 Procedures

A sentence repetition test SRT consists of a set of 15 carefully selected sentences recorded on a cassette tape. Each sentence is played once for each subject. Subjects are evaluated, according to a four point scale 0–3, on their ability to accurately repeat each sentence. Essentially any deviation from the recorded sentences is counted as an error. A subject’s ability to accurately repeat sentences of increasing difficulty is directly correlated with the overall ability to speak and understand the language. The higher the score, the greater the bilingual ability. Though an SRT is quite time consuming and difficult to develop, once developed it is very quick and easy to administer, making it possible to evaluate a large sample in a community in a very short time. This procedure provides a more complete and accurate evaluation of a community’s bilingual ability than recorded text testing. Radloff 1991 provides complete procedures for constructing and administering a sentence repetition test. In a community different levels of bilingual ability frequently pattern with such demographic factors as sex, age, education, and amount of travel. These factors, therefore, must be adequately TEST POINTS RNs RKB BNM DKS DGC DDK KkP HIN HINDI 91 92 91 74.5 93.5 — — 100 RTT 9.4 7.9 11.0 12.1 6.7 — — 10 10 10 10 10 — — 10 accounted for in the sample tested using the SRT. A small sample of at least five to ten people must be tested for each different combination of demographic factors that the researchers expect to have a significant effect on bilingual ability. The specific demographic factors are determined by observation, by informal interviewing, and from census data. Our samples were chosen keeping in mind the factors of sex, education, and age, with the greatest importance placed on education. SRT results are expressed as a point total out of 45 possible points. They are interpreted according to a corresponding bilingualism proficiency level, or reported proficiency evaluation RPE level. These RPE levels range from 0+ very minimal proficiency to 4+ approaching the proficiency of a native speaker. Probably at least a level 3 proficiency is required to adequately understand most philosophical or religious material Kindell 1991:28. 5 A phonetic transcription of the SRT is included in Appendix B, along with a more detailed and practical description of the RPE levels than is presented here. Table 6 relates Hindi SRT score with the equivalent RPE level Varenkamp 1991:9 and Radloff 1991:242. Table 6. Score ranges on Hindi SRT corresponding to RPE levels SRT Score = out of 45 RPE level Proficiency descriptions 44–45 = 4+ [Near-native-speaker proficiency] 38–43 = 4 [Excellent proficiency] 32–37 = 3+ [Very good, general proficiency] 26–31 = 3 [Good, general proficiency] 20–25 = 2+ [Good, basic proficiency] 14–19 = 2 [Adequate, basic proficiency] 8–13 = 1+ [Limited, basic proficiency] 4–7 = 1 [Minimal, limited proficiency] 0–3 = 0+ [Very minimal proficiency]

5.2.2 Results