Administration of a Dialectical Spanish Version and Standard English Version of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test

Abstract

This study investigated whether significant differences existed in the scores obtained by a sample of children of Mexican descent when administered a Spanish version and the standard English version of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. Subjects were 78 Spanish-surnamed children from three small, rural school districts in south central Texas. They were divided into two groups one of which received Form A Spanish version followed by Form B standard English version and the other, Form A standard English version followed by Form B Spanish version. A groups-by-trials analysis of variance showed that subjects scored significantly higher on the standard English version of the Peabody. In light of these results it was suggested that it is not necessary to test a child in the Spanish language unless it has first been determined that his only language is Spanish.