Why it is necessary to have a language aptitude test for Catalan-speaking kids

What is it about?

We don't have enough information about how well young learners grasp languages because there aren't many tests designed for their age group. Unlike adults, kids are still learning their first language. So, if we want to create a test that truly measures their language skills, we need to be careful in how we design it. It gets trickier when the kids taking the test are bilingual, like those in the Catalan/Spanish community in Catalonia. This chapter explains how we translated and adjusted the Modern Language Aptitude Test – Elementary in Spanish (MLAT-ES) into Catalan (MLAT-EC) to make sure it accurately measures language skills across different grades. The results show that even though Catalan and Spanish are similar, we had to consider various factors, including language, culture, and the age of the learners.

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Why is it important?

Because Catalans are an understudied population and, as they are bilinguals, Spanish tests are administered to them, without considering their language preference despite their rather balanced bilingualism status.

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