Many allegations have been made in sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic literature about tests used with bilingual children. When testing such children, it is important to gain an appreciation of cultural factors which may affect the assessment. In the present study information about Home Language Behaviour was obtained for 2487 preschool children. From this sample, 497 were examined: Home Language Behaviour was (1) unilingual French, (2) equally French and Alsacian or (3) mostly or uniquely Alsacian. The data obtained demonstrated that bilingual Alsacian children did not perform as well as French unilinguals in routine verbal tests. Significant differences persisted even when other relevant factors, such as educational level of the parents, had been taken into account. Such a disadvantage was not prevented by giving the children the opportunity to use their dialect and to switch from one language to another throughout the test session.
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