Assessing English Composition Skills in Spanish-Speaking Populations

Abstract

The English writing ability of Mexican-American and Puerto Rican college candidates taking the College Board's English Composition Test (ECT) in December 1979 was studied. Mexican-American and Puerto Rican candidates were partitioned into groups indicating that English was the best language or else groups indicating that English was not the best language. The performances of three groups on essay portions and multiple-choice portions of the ECT were compared with each other and with performance on the same measures by December 1979 ECT test takers as a whole. The results of the various analyses indicated that the ECT essay writing ability of Hispanics tended to be overestimated by the indirect, multiple-choice ECT assessment of writing skills. However, evidence emerged that some Hispanics who score high on the ECT essay writing task and who judge that Spanish is their best language may have their ECT essay writing skills underestimated by the ECT indirect measure of writing skills. Further research is needed, clarifying the generality of these findings, their linguistic basis, and their implications for college placement.