Cognitive performance of English and Spanish speaking Mexican-American children on the WISC-R and EIWN-R.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to do a comparative analysis of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R), a test of intelligence which is frequently used with Mexican American students, and its Spanish translation the Escala de Inteligencia Wechsler Para Ninos-Revisada (EIWN-R). The WISC-R was administered in English to 109 bilingual English proficient Mexican American students, and the EIWN-R was administered in Spanish to 109 other than English proficient or monolingual Spanish speakers. Language proficiency was determined according to students scores on the Language Assessment Scales (LAS). The groups were matched by sex, school and grade. Students tested were students who were referred for testing because of academic difficulties or students placed in Special Education classes who are required to be re-evaluated every three years. Using Confirmatory factor analysis, the first objective was to determine if the factor structures underlying the EIWN-R and the WISC-R are equivalent to the factor structure of the WISC-R normative population. The correlation matrices of both groups were compared to the correlation matrix of the normative population. Factor structures of the WISC-R and the normative population were found to be statistically different, while the factor structures of the EIWN-R and the normative group were not found to be different. The second objective was to determine if the subtest means of the WISC-R and EIWN-R were significantly different. To determine this, the subtest means of both groups were subjected to MANOVA. Significant differences between subtest means were found on four of the subtests. A MANOVA was also utilized for the third objective which set out to determine if significant differences in performance are present in the EIWN-R between those students who are placed in Special Education programs and those students who are not placed. So as not to confound the results, the EMR population was removed from the sample. Significant differences in the placed and the non-placed groups were found on eight of the eleven subtests. Implications of research findings are discussed as well as future trends regarding the assessment of language minority students.