The Relation of a Test of English as a Second Language to Measures of Intelligence, Achievement, and Adjustment in a Sample of American Indian Students

This report discusses the types and results of tests used on 142 "reasonably representative" American Indian bilingual students at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Major hypotheses of the study were that (1) there is a factor in the abilities of an English-as-a-second-language speaker which can be isolated as English language ability; (2) a low TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) score will occur with poor adjustment scores; and (3) there will be a significant difference in the mean scores of the two intelligence tests used (the Otis Gamma Verbal and the Chicago Nonverbal). Results seem to warrant two conclusions: (1) the TOEFL is a valid measure of English language skill of American Indian students; results are close enough to those of the non-native speakers of English for whom the test was written to suggest strongly that similar abilities are being measured; and (2) since the TOEFL and ITED (Iowa Test of Education Development) do not factor out into different factors, ITED also measures language ability. ITED may be too hard for the students, however. It is recommended that American Indian students be given the same consideration as foreign students, with intensive or semi-intensive instruction in English as need, and adjustment of course load if indicated. (AMM)