A comparison of the Differential Ability Scales (DAS), a translated version of the DAS, and the Universal Nonverbal Intelligence Test (UNIT) with Korean American English language learner (ELL) students.

摘要

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the relationship between the Differential Ability Scale (DAS), a Korean translated version of the Differential Ability Scale, and the Universal Nonverbal Intelligence Test (UNIT) when testing Korean-American English Language Learner (ELL) students. Very few comprehensive empirical studies have been conducted on Korean-American students with limited English proficiency (Jung & Stinnett, 2005). Psychologists encounter difficulty in obtaining an accurate assessment of the cognitive abilities of ELL students when utilizing traditional measures of intelligence. Many experts in the field of cognitive assessment of students have argued that ELL children must be assessed in both their native language and in English because an English only administration will produce incomplete and even misleading data regarding their true abilities (Frisby, 1999; Lopez, 1997; Ochoa, Pacheco, & Omark, 1988; Tamayo, 1990). Other experts in the field of cognitive assessment involving ELL students have stressed the advantages of using nonverbal tests of intelligence to assess children with limited English proficiency (Braden & Athanasiou, 2006; Lopez, 1997; McCallum & Bracken, 1997).;The DAS, a Korean translated version of the DAS, and the UNIT were administered to 30 Korean-American ELL students ranging in age from 6 years, 4 months to 14 years, 11 months. All participating students were eligible to receive Limited English Proficiency (LEP) services and Korean was reported by their parents to be both their native and home language. Paired t-tests, Chi-Square analyses, and correlations were used to evaluate the data.;The results of the current study indicate that Korean-American ELL students performed significantly better on the translated version of the DAS that was administered using both Korean and English than on the DAS that was administered using the standardized procedure in English only but their performance on the UNIT was not significantly different from their performance on both the DAS and the DAS translated version. There was also a significant relationship between (a) the UNIT FSIQ and all four UNIT Quotients (Memory, Reasoning, Symbolic, and Nonsymbolic) and (b) the GCA of both the DAS and DAS translated version, and the Special Nonverbal Composite of the DAS.