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Development of a cognate awareness measure for Spanish-speaking English language learners

Center for Applied Linguistics, Washington, DC, USA, valerie{at}cal.org

Dorry M. Kenyon

Center for Applied Linguistics, Washington, DC, USA

Maria Carlo

University of Miami, USA

Diane August

Center for Applied Linguistics, Washington, DC, USA

Mohammed Louguit

Center for Applied Linguistics, Washington, DC, USA

This paper describes the development and validation of the Cognate Awareness Test (CAT), which measures cognate awareness in Spanish-speaking English Language Learners (ELLs) in fourth and fifth grade. An investigation of differential performance on the two subtests of the CAT (cognates and noncognates) provides evidence that the instrument is sensitive to English—Spanish cognate awareness among elementary school-age Spanish-speaking ELLs. Cognates were highly correlated with the children's Spanish WLPB-R Picture Vocabulary scores, whereas noncognates were highly correlated to children's English WLPB-R Picture Vocabulary scores.

Key Words: applied linguistics • cognates • English language learners • morphological awareness • Spanish-speaking children • vocabulary

Language Testing, Vol. 25, No. 4, 495-519 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0265532208094274


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