title: How "proficient" is proficient? Subjective proficiency as a predictor of bilingual listeners' recognition of English words.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  English proficiency must be considered when a bilingual individual is to be evaluated clinically with English speech material. This study describes the minimum level of self-reported English proficiency that identifies bilingual individuals who may perform on par with monolingual listeners on an English word recognition test.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 125 normal hearing bilingual listeners rated their English proficiency in listening, speaking, and reading on an 11-point scale. Other related linguistic variables were also obtained. A randomly selected Northwestern University Auditory Test No. 6 (NU-6) list (50 English monosyllabic words) was presented to all participants at 45 dB HL in quiet.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Over 90% of the listeners self-rated to have at least "good" proficiency in English listening, speaking, or reading. Of these participants, more than 30% did not achieve a monolingual normative level in English as delimited by binomial distribution. Composite proficiency ratings across language domains better predicted word recognition performance than self-ratings for listening proficiency only. Combining language dominance and age of English acquisition with proficiency ratings further improved prediction specificity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Self-rated English proficiency can predict bilingual listeners' performance on the NU-6 test. For desirable sensitivity and specificity in predicting monolingual-like performance, a minimum rating of 8 out of 10 across all language domains is recommended.
authors.affiliation: Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus, Brooklyn, NY, USA. lu.shi@liu.edu
authors.forename: Lu-Feng
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Shi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019303:Multilingualism; D013067:Speech Perception; D055815:Young Adult