Performance on the Boston Naming Test in Bilinguals.

Area of Science:

• Neuropsychology
• Psycholinguistics
• Cognitive Aging

Background:

• The Boston Naming Test (BNT) is a widely used measure of confrontation naming.
• Cross-linguistic performance on cognitive tasks can vary significantly between monolingual and bilingual individuals.
• Understanding language performance in bilinguals requires careful consideration of testing conditions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare Boston Naming Test (BNT) performance across monolingual English, monolingual French, and bilingual English-French speakers.
• To investigate the impact of different testing conditions (monolingual vs. either-language) on BNT performance in bilingual individuals.
• To identify potential differential item functioning (DIF) on the BNT across language groups and testing conditions.

Main Methods:

• A cohort of 215 participants, including younger and older monolingual English, monolingual French, and bilingual English-French speakers, were assessed.
• Participants completed the BNT in their native language (monolinguals) or in English, French, and either-language administrations (bilinguals).
• Differential item analysis was conducted to identify items with uniform and/or non-uniform differential item functioning (DIF).

Main Results:

• Monolingual French speakers performed worse than other groups on the BNT.
• Bilingual participants showed the lowest performance in the French administration.
• While two-thirds of bilinguals improved with either-language administration, a subset experienced an 'either-language disadvantage', performing worse than their best monolingual score.
• Several BNT items exhibited differential item functioning (DIF) across language groups and administrations.

Conclusions:

• The BNT does not yield equivalent scores in English and French, even for monolingual French speakers.
• French BNT scores are generally lower, and specific items show DIF, necessitating caution in interpretation for bilinguals.
• The benefits of an either-language administration of the BNT are not universal among bilingual speakers.