The performance of neurologically intact sequential shona-english bilingual speakers on the bilingual aphasia test

Background Currently, no standardized culturally and linguistically appropriate assessment tools may be used to provide speech and language assessment for Shona-English bilingual speakers. Aims This study examined the performance of Shona-English sequential bilingual speakers on the full versions of the Shona and English Bilingual Aphasia Test (BAT). Methods and Procedures The adapted BAT-Sh and BAT-E were administered to 20 neurologically intact sequential bilingual individuals 30 to 40 years of age. Each participant was administered 32 tasks to facilitate a complete assessment of language skills at all levels of processing and for all modalities. Results The Shona-English sequential bilingual speakers performed at, or very close to, the ceiling for 24 of the 27 analyzed subtests and were highly comparable between the two assessments. The relationship between BAT-Sh and BAT-E scores was linear, indicating that as Shona scores increased, English scores increased similarly. Mental arithmetic, antonyms, grammaticality judgment, and series were difficult subtests for some participants. Conclusions Overall, performance on the BAT-E was stronger than on the BAT-Sh for a sample of sequential bilinguals and the test duration was significantly shorter for the BAT-E, which may be a marker for language usage patterns of the Shona-English sequential bilingual speakers.