| Kate Mahoney
Arizona State University
Linguistic influences in differential item functioning for English learners on the NAEP mathematics, 1996
Several states have seen recent changes in their policy regarding the testing of English Learners (ELs) in English, who by definition are not yet proficient in the language of the test. As many states are urged to include ELs in large scale testing, many question the validity of these achievement test scores because it is not clearly understood how much test score is a function of language proficiency. By conducting a Differential Item Functioning (DIF) analysis together with a linguistic analysis, this study investigates the validity of mathematics achievement test scores on the national Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).
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