This study investigated the internal factor structure of the English language development Assessment (ELDA) using confirmatory factor analysis. ELDA is an English language proficiency test developed by a consortium of multiple states and is used to identify and reclassify English language learners in kindergarten to grade 12. Scores on item parcels based on the standards tested from the four domains of reading, writing, listening, and speaking were used for the analyses. Five different factor models were tested: a single factor model, a correlated two-factor model, a correlated four-factor model, a second-order factor model and a bifactor model. The results indicate that the four-factor model, second-order model, and bifactor model fit the data well. The four-factor model hypothesized constructs for reading, writing, listening and speaking. The second-order model hypothesized a second-order English language proficiency factor as well as the four lower-order factors of reading, writing, listening and speaking. The bifactor model hypothesized a general English language proficiency factor as well as the four domain specific factors of reading, writing, listening, and speaking. The Chi-square difference tests indicated that the bifactor model best explains the factor structure of the ELDA. The results from this study are consistent with the findings in the literature about the multifactorial nature of language but differ from the conclusion about the factor structures reported in previous studies. The overall proficiency levels on the ELDA gives more weight to the reading and writing sections of the test than the speaking and listening sections. This study has implications on the rules used for determining proficiency levels and recommends the use of conjunctive scoring where all constructs are weighted equally contrary to current practice.

Minimal information exists concerning dual language acquisition of three-year-old dual language learners (DLLs) during their first school experience and first systematic exposure to English. This study examined the Spanish and early English language development of young DLLs in the context of standardized measures and a story retell task. Participants included eight Spanish-English DLLs (7 females, 1 male, M age = 3 years, 8 months) attending Head Start, and their classroom teachers. Outcome measures for the children included composite and scaled scores on the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals Preschool-2 Spanish (CELF Preschool-2 Spanish; Wiig, Secord & Semel, 2009) and the parallel English measure (CELF Preschool-2; Wiig, Secord & Semel, 2005), and measures of lexical (NVT, NNVT, TNV, NW, NDW, TNW and TTR) and grammatical (MLUw) development. Proportion of classroom teachers' and paraprofessionals' Spanish, English and mixed language use was measured to contextualize the children's learning environment with regard to language exposure. Children's mean standardized Spanish scores at school entry were not significantly different from their mean scores in May; however, an increase in total number of verb types was observed. Children's English receptive, content, and structure mean standardized scores in May were significantly higher than their scores at school entry. Children were exposed to a high proportion of mixed language use and disproportionate amounts of English and Spanish exclusively. Children's performance was highly variable across measures and languages. The findings of the current study provide a reference point for future research regarding language development of three-year-old Spanish-English dual language learners.

Code-switching, a bilingual language phenomenon, which may be defined as the concurrent use of two or more languages by fluent speakers is frequently misunderstood and stigmatized. Given that the majority of the world's population is bilingual rather than monolingual, the study of code-switching provides a fundamental window into human cognition and the systematic structural outcomes of language contact. Intra-sentential code-switching is said to systematically occur, constrained by the lexicons of each respective language. In order to access information about the acceptability of certain switches, linguists often elicit grammaticality judgments from bilingual informants. In current linguistic research, grammaticality judgment tasks are often scrutinized on account of the lack of stability of responses to individual sentences. Although this claim is largely motivated by research on monolingual strings under a variety of variable conditions, the stability of code-switched grammaticality judgment data given by bilingual informants has yet to be systematically investigated. By comparing grammaticality judgment data from 3 groups of German-English bilinguals, Group A (N=50), Group B (N=34), and Group C (N=40), this thesis investigates the stability of grammaticality judgments in code-switching over time, as well as a potential difference in judgments between judgment data for spoken and written code-switching stimuli. Using a web-based survey, informants were asked to give ratings of each code-switched token. The results were computed and findings from a correlated groups t test attest to the stability of code-switched judgment data over time with a p value of .271 and to the validity of the methodologies currently in place. Furthermore, results from the study also indicated that no statistically significant difference was found between spoken and written judgment data as computed with an independent groups t test resulting in a p value of .186, contributing a valuable fact to the body of data collection practices in research in bilingualism. Results from this study indicate that there are significant differences attributable to language dominance for specific token types, which were calculated using an ANOVA test. However, when using group composite scores of all tokens, the ANOVA measure returned a non-significant score of .234, suggesting that bilinguals with differing language dominances rank in a similar manner. The findings from this study hope to help clarify current practices in code-switching research.

Codeswitching, or the bilingual practice of switching between two languages, is a frequently misunderstood phenomenon in many fields, including education. Given the growing number of bilingual students and English Language Learners in U.S. schools, it is imperative that the field of education be informed by current research in bilingualism and language acquisition, including codeswitching. Codeswitching that occurs within a sentence is subject to specific rules derived from the languages involved in the switching. Furthermore, a codeswitcher's intuitions about the grammatical acceptability of certain switches over others, called grammaticality judgments, provide linguists with a unique window into how the language systems interact. In current codeswitching research, it is sometimes claimed that simultaneous and early sequential bilinguals provide more accurate grammaticality judgments than late sequential bilinguals. Although this claim is largely motivated by Critical Period Hypothesis research, the grammaticality judgments of the three groups of bilinguals have yet to be systematically compared to determine if there is indeed a difference in judgments. This dissertation investigates potential differences in intrasentential codeswitching patterns of simultaneous, early sequential and late sequential Slovak-English bilinguals (N = 39) through a comparison of grammaticality judgments. Analysis of potential differences is grounded in generative approaches to first and second language acquisition. Grammaticality judgments from Slovak-English bilinguals were elicited through a survey of constructed items. Chi square results are analyzed to determine variation in judgments attributable to bilingual group based on age of onset of exposure to English. In addition, a sub-study of data from the Welsh-English Siarad Corpus (http://www.siarad.org.uk/siarad.php) is presented. Normed token means for English and mixed tokens for simultaneous, early sequential, and late sequential bilinguals are compared using ANOVA tests, and variability is discussed in light of relevant theoretical considerations. Results from this study indicate that there are few differences attributable to age of onset of exposure, thus helping to clarify current practices in codeswitching research methodology, particularly in terms of identifying characteristics of participants. The study also addresses issues surrounding the critical period hypothesis and the effect of age of onset of exposure in bilingualism, topics which are both directly relevant to the field of education.