Premium
BILINGUALISM AND NON‐VERBAL INTELLIGENCE: A FURTHER STUDY OF TEST RESULTS
Author(s) -
LEWIS D. G.
Publication year - 1959
Publication title -
british journal of educational psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.557
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 2044-8279
pISSN - 0007-0998
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8279.1959.tb01470.x
Subject(s) - psychology , neuroscience of multilingualism , welsh , test (biology) , significant difference , developmental psychology , homogeneous , linguistics , statistics , paleontology , philosophy , physics , mathematics , neuroscience , biology , thermodynamics
S ummary . Previous investigations of the effect of (English‐Welsh) bilingualism on performance in non‐verbal tests of intelligence have not yielded a consistent pattern of results. In the present study a non‐verbal test was given to ten‐year‐old pupils from primary schools in Wales. Linguistic background was assessed by means of a language questionnaire, the assessment being compared with teachers' ratings. Care was taken to select a homogeneous group of a thoroughly Welsh background (i.e., a bilingual group) together with a corresponding English‐speaking group (with a background of no appreciable ‘Welshness’). The test results showed a statistically significant difference, in favour of the monoglots, corresponding to about 8 points of I.Q. It is suggested that this difference may be due, in part, to (i) the test being a timed one, and (ii) the groups not being equal with respect to urban‐rural differences. Again the ‘verbal residue’ of a non‐verbal test might well be a non‐negligible factor in measuring the intelligence of the bilingual child.