English Language Learners, Monolingualism, & Bilingualism in Assessment Graduate Training (1.5 CEs)

There is quite a bit of literature and supplemental resource material available regarding the assessment of clients whose secondary, rather than primary, language is English. However, very little is written about the interaction between a student’s monolinguality or bilinguality and a client’s monolinguality or bilinguality. The overwhelming majority of assessment training assumes both a student’s and client’s primary language is English. A student’s primary language and bilingual abilities, however, can be a significant factor in assessing clients, whether their primary language is English or not. These language factors can affect every aspect of the assessment process, including building rapport, clinical interviewing, test selection, administration, scoring, and interpretation of measures, legal and ethical issues, diversity factors, case conceptualization, integration, report writing, and verbal feedback. Bringing awareness to these issues, including student perspectives of the potential and actual impact of these factors on the assessment process, is vital to the field of assessment training and supervision, in order to reduce any potential negative impact on the student, trainee, supervisory relationship, and client. This session will discuss the nuances experienced by students and highlight lessons they have learned from the different configurations of assessor/client language capacity. The recent added component of remote assessment or in-person testing with protective equipment such as masks will also be reviewed.

Chair

Hadas Pade | Alliant International University

Discussant

A. Jordan Wright | New York University

Goals & Objectives 

1. Describe specific language-related challenges in assessment training that need to be considered by student trainees and supervisors. 
2. Name unique language-based interactions and potential impact on the clinical assessment process including validity and outcome. 
3. Identify recommendations for clinical supervisors or effectively address noted challenges and enhance the meaningful and valid assessments by student trainees where language factors are involved.