1. What is language aptitude?

 Dr. John B. Carroll, who created the Modern Language Aptitude Test (MLAT) with his co-author Stanley Sapon, defined language aptitude as simply an ability or “knack” for learning foreign languages.  Virtually everyone has this ability, but some people appear to learn at a faster rate than others.  According to Carroll, the purpose of the MLAT was to predict “how well, relative to other individuals, an individual can learn a foreign language in a given amount of time and under given conditions.”  In other words, language aptitude is an ability that largely determines how quickly and easily an individual will learn a language in a language course or language training program.  As is the case for other kinds of aptitude, such as verbal ability and musical abilities, language aptitude is believed to be relatively stable throughout an individual’s lifetime. 

It is important to keep in mind that, given enough time and reasonably good  instruction, virtually anyone can learn a second language, but people differ in terms of the rate and ease with which they can learn.  Scores from a language aptitude test can therefore be used to help to determine how much time will be sufficient for an individual language learner to accomplish a given goal, assuming that the individual has at least some motivation to learn.

Carroll, an internationally acclaimed psychometrician and educational psychologist, conducted a five-year research project in the 1950s to investigate the concept of language aptitude and how it could be measured.  During this time, Carroll identified four distinct abilities that factored into language aptitude, separate from motivation and verbal intelligence.  Carroll designed the Modern Language Aptitude Test based on this four-part model of language aptitude.

Carroll’s Four Components of Language Aptitude

• Phonetic coding ability – ability to perceive and remember distinct sounds associated with symbols
• Grammatical sensitivity – ability to recognize the function of a lexical element in a sentence
• Rote learning ability – ability to learn and retain associations between words in a new language and their meaning in English
• Inductive learning ability – ability to infer or induce rules governing the structure of a language

Dr. Paul Pimsleur of Ohio State University also researched the subject of language aptitude, which led to the development of the Pimsleur Language Aptitude Battery.  Pimleur’s research led him to identify two main factors of language aptitude in addition to motivation and study habits. 

Pimsleur’s Components of Language Aptitude

• Verbal Ability – ability to handle the mechanics of learning a foreign language
• Auditory Ability – ability to hear, recognize and reproduce sounds in a foreign language

Pimsleur was particularly interested in students who failed foreign language courses while doing well in other subjects.  He noted that the majority of such students were weak in auditory ability.

The Spring 2006 American Educational Research Association (AERA) Research Points article “Foreign Language Instruction: Implementing the Best Teaching Methods” explores factors affecting foreign language learning in adolescents and adults.  The authors of this AERA publication found that language aptitude in conjunction with motivation is a powerful factor in language learning.  In fact, after age, language aptitude is the second most important factor in foreign language learning.  The AERA publication rates aptitude as more important than contextual factors, which include teaching method, textbook used, or teacher quality.  To read the full article about language aptitude and foreign language instruction, click on the following link:

http://www.aera.net/uploadedFiles/Journals_and_Publications/Research_Points/AERA_RP_Spring06.pdf

2. Language Aptitude Tests

Second Language Testing Foundation provides a variety of language aptitude tests for different age and language groups.  This is a brief overview of the aptitude test information.  For more detailed information about each test and ordering procedures, please click on the test.

Modern Language Aptitude Test (MLAT)

• Appropriate for adults, college/university students
• Available in a paper-based version (MLAT) as well as a computer-based version (CB-MLAT)
• Common Uses
  • Selection and placement of language learners by government agencies, missionary groups, and companies
  • Diagnosis of foreign language learning disability (FLLD) for college/university students and adults
  • Placement of language learners in the most appropriate instructional settings in colleges/universities or other formal classroom settings.

Pimsleur Language Aptitude Battery (PLAB)

• Appropriate for students in grades 7-12 whose first language is English or who are proficient in English
• Common Uses
  • Diagnosis of foreign language learning disabilities in middle school/high school students
  • Providing guidance to middle school/high school students beginning or struggling with foreign language study
  • Advising students who do well on the test to pursue the study of a second and/or third language

• Building a history of low performance on language aptitude measures to establish a foreign language learning disability

• Placement of language learners in the most appropriate instructional setting in grades 7-12
• Understanding students cognitive strengths and weaknesses pertaining to language learning

Modern Language Aptitude Test – Elementary (MLAT-E)

• Appropriate for students grades 3-6 whose first language is English
• Common Uses
  • Providing guidance to elementary school students beginning or struggling with foreign language study
  • Advising students who do well on the test to pursue the study of a second and/or third language
  • Building a history of low performance on language aptitude measures to establish the presence of a foreign language learning disability

• Placement of language learners in the most appropriate instructional setting in grades 3-6
• Understanding students cognitive strengths and weaknesses pertaining to language learning

Modern Language Aptitude Test – Elementary: Spanish Version (MLAT-ES)

• Appropriate for students grades 3-6 whose first language is Spanish
• Spanish language adaptation of the MLAT-E
• Can be used with Spanish-speaking children in the United States or with native Spanish-speaking children in other countries
• Common Uses
  • Determining if a Spanish-speaking child in the United States having difficulty learning English as a second language has a language learning disability
  • Providing guidance to teachers and parents of Spanish-speaking elementary school students beginning or struggling with foreign language study
  • Advising students who do well on the test to pursue the study of a second and/or third language
  • Building a history of language learning difficulty to aid in the diagnosis of a foreign language learning disability

• Understanding students cognitive strengths and weaknesses pertaining to language learning
• Placement of second language learners in the most appropriate instructional setting in grades 3-6
• Aiding in making decisions about the most appropriate language teaching methodologies

3. Uses of Language Aptitude Tests

Selection & Placement

Language aptitude tests are used by government agencies in the United States and in other countries to select personnel for language training, especially intensive language training programs.  In cases where space in a language training program is limited, government agencies often only select personnel with above-average language aptitude (as shown by a language aptitude test) because they will benefit the most from the government’s investment in language training.  Aptitude tests are also used by government agencies to place personnel in training for different languages.  If an individual scores high on a language aptitude test, he or she might be placed in a language with less similarity to English (that is, a more “difficult” language like Arabic or Chinese). 

Corporations and missionary organizations also use language aptitude tests for selection and placement.  A language aptitude test can help a company or missionary organization assign an individual to a language of appropriate difficulty, and then use the results of the language aptitude test to estimate how much training to provide before assigning the individual to the field in a non-English speaking country.  If an individual scores highly on a language aptitude test, then they will not take as long as an individual with a lower score to reach a certain proficiency in a new language.

Elementary schools, intermediate schools, middle schools, high schools, private schools and institutions of higher learning can also use language aptitude tests for placement.  If a language program has more than one class, schools can use language aptitude test scores to place students in the appropriate classroom or section.  Students with high language aptitude will be able to learn a language at a quicker pace while students with lower language aptitude can be placed in a class that moves at a slower pace or that is taught via different methods, so that they will be better able to absorb the material.  It is inappropriate to use language aptitude tests to screen a student out of a language course that the child wants to take.  Given good instructional support, plus enough time and exposure, virtually all children can learn a foreign language.  Furthermore, any child can benefit from foreign language study.

Diagnosis of Foreign Language Learning Disabilities

An increasingly important use of language aptitude tests is to aid in the diagnosis of a foreign language learning disability (FLLD).  An individual whose language aptitude test scores are significantly below their scores on other measures of aptitude, such as general intelligence tests, may have a FLLD.  Additional evidence can come from poor past performance in language courses while performing at an average/above-average level in other academic areas.  Language learning aptitude tests can also be taken at multiple points during a child’s schooling to build a record of consistently poor performance on language aptitude measures dating from childhood to adulthood.

Educational institutions deal with a diagnosed FLLD differently. Sometimes a cognitive-academic disability is defined as an aptitude score below a certain percentile, such as the 20^th percentile, the 10^th percentile, or the 5^th percentile.  Whether the cutoff point is made on a case-by-case basis or set for the purpose of establishing a policy for a particular school, the decision must be made by a qualified professional as part of a comprehensive diagnostic procedure.  Some schools that have a foreign language requirement will waive the requirement or have the student take a substitute class in anthropology, linguistics or the history of a language in order to fill the foreign language requirement.

Language aptitude tests can also be used to rule out the possibility of a FLLD.  If a student exhibits difficulty in learning a foreign language, a low score on a language aptitude test would point towards a language learning disability.  However, if the student’s score is average or above-average on the language aptitude test, this would help eliminate the possibility of a foreign language learning disability so that further testing could focus on remediation, making up for voids in necessary educational background, teaching good study habits, etc.

To read two articles at LD Online about foreign language learning disablities, click on the following links:

Learning Disabilities and Foreign Language Learning, by Robin L. Schwartz

Foreign Language Learning and Learning Disabilities: Making the College Transition, by Sally S. Scott and Elaine Manglitz

Guidance

Language aptitude tests can be used in school to aid teachers and counselors in providing guidance to students.  Language aptitude tests given to young students can help a counselor determine whether or not a student is ready to start studying a foreign language or if it might benefit the student to wait one or more years to take a foreign language course.  Taking a language aptitude test can also help identify students who are likely to excel in foreign language studies.  In this case, guidance counselors can have them start studying a language at an earlier age or recommend a more challenging language to study.

4. Further Reading

If you would like to learn more about language learning aptitude, and the part it plays in the second language testing and teaching community today, you may find the following articles and publications helpful.

Carroll, J. B. (1981). Twenty-five years of research on foreign language aptitude. In K. C. Diller (Ed.), Individual differences and universals in language learning aptitude, (p.83-118). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.

Carroll, J. B. & Sapon, S. (2002). Modern Language Aptitude Test: Manual 2002 Edition. N. Bethesda, MD: Second Language Testing, Inc.

Carroll, J. B. & Sapon, S. (2002). Modern Language Aptitude Test – Elementary: Manual, 2002 Edition. Rockville, MD: Second Language Testing, Inc.

Ehrman, M. E. ( 1996). Understanding second language learning difficulties. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.

Ehrman, M. (1994, Sept.). A study of the modern language aptitude test for predicting learning success and advising students. Paper presented at Language Aptitude Invitational Symposium. Arlington, VA. .

Pimsleur, P., Reed, D. J. & Stansfield, C. W. (2004). Pimsleur Language Aptitude Battery: Manual, 2004 Edition. N. Bethesda, MD: Second Language Testing, Inc.

Pimsleur, P., Sundland, D.M. & McIntyre, R.D.  (1963). Under-Achievement in Foreign Language Learning: Final Report. Columbus, OH:  The Ohio State University Research Foundation. 

Reed, D. J. & Stansfield, C. W. (2002, May). The use of the Modern Language Aptitude Test in the assessment of foreign language learning disability-What’s at stake? Paper presented at Language Assessment Ethics Conference, Pasadena, CA.

Stansfield, C. W. (1989). Language Aptitude Reconsidered. Washington DC: ERIC  Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics, 1989.