Self-rated language proficiency as a context-dependent judgment.

Area of Science:

• Psycholinguistics
• Bilingualism Research

Background:

• Self-ratings of language proficiency are common in bilingualism research and clinical settings.
• Previous studies indicate that self-ratings often lack reliability across individuals, languages, tasks, and time.
• The impact of timing (early vs. late) and task context on self-proficiency ratings remains underexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how the timing of self-ratings (before vs. after a task) affects their reliability.
• To examine the influence of task difficulty on self-proficiency judgments in unbalanced bilinguals.
• To understand the dynamic nature of self-proficiency assessments in relation to immediate experience.

Main Methods:

• Recruited 186 unbalanced Hebrew-English bilinguals.
• Administered self-proficiency ratings in both languages before and after a vocabulary test.
• Manipulated task difficulty using easy vs. difficult vocabulary words.

Main Results:

• Self-ratings were influenced by recent performance; difficult tasks led to lower self-ratings in the tested language.
• A difficult native language task also decreased self-ratings in the second language, even without testing.
• Post-task self-ratings showed stronger correlations with objective vocabulary scores than pre-task ratings.

Conclusions:

• Judgments of bilingual self-proficiency are dynamic and context-dependent, shaped by both prior beliefs and immediate experiences.
• The timing of self-ratings and task characteristics significantly influence reported proficiency levels.
• Future research should carefully consider individual and task factors when collecting self-reported language proficiency data.