Prueba de espanol para la certificacion bilingue: Testing Spanish language proficiency of bilingual teachers in New Mexico

The purpose of this dissertation is to further validate the Prueba de Espanol para la Certificacion Bilingue, as well as the technical manual, by providing additional analyses of a test that is primarily concerned with the Spanish language proficiency of current and prospective bilingual education teachers in New Mexico.;The corpus of the data was obtained from a norming sample of 120 subjects, ranging from prospective bilingual education teachers to experienced bilingual teachers or teachers in another field of study but interested in bilingual education. The measurement used to assess the Spanish language proficiency of the subjects was the Prueba de Espanol para la Certificacion Bilingue. Prueba is a comprehensive assessment tool designed to provide complete information about the examinee's Spanish language proficiency. It is considered to be a valid and reliable assessment instrument by the committee of test developers based on the process used for test development and the reliability information collected on the standard setting sample. Prueba is comprised of four major test sections and takes an integrated approach in the evaluation of oral production, listening comprehension, oral reading, reading comprehension, and writing/editing in Spanish. Furthermore, it identifies a range of Spanish language proficiency from beginner to superior. It is designed to evaluate the competencies of teachers in Bilingual Education as set forth by the New Mexico State Department of Education.;The present investigation based on the norming sample of 120 subjects reports the following results: (1) Gender is not significant with regards to Spanish language proficiency. (2) Older age groups 40--49 and 50--59 scored significantly higher than age group 21--39. This is indicative of language loss in New Mexico. (3) Ethnicity is not significant with regards to Spanish language proficiency. (4) Geographical location revealed that examinees from outside the United States, all Spanish-speaking countries, scored significantly higher than examinees from New Mexico and other parts of the United States. This can be attributed to formal study of Spanish in their native countries. Spanish is their preferred language. (5) Self-evaluations of proficiency are closely related to performance on the Prueba. (6) Bilingual education educators who have spent time in a Spanish-speaking country scored significantly higher than examinees who have had no experience in a Spanish-speaking country. (7) Spanish majors scored higher than Bilingual Education majors, and Other majors.;The major findings of this study are that there is evidence of language loss in the younger generation, that living in a Spanish-speaking country is a tremendous asset because of immersion in the language and formal study of Spanish and that majoring in Spanish is a positive experience when it comes to the development of Spanish language proficiency. Some Spanish majors are more proficient because they studied Spanish, whereas others majored in Spanish because they are more proficient.