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Language History Questionnaire (LHQ3): An enhanced tool for assessing multilingual experience

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2019

Ping Li*
Affiliation:
Pennsylvania State University and Emmanuel College
Fan Zhang
Affiliation:
Pennsylvania State University and Emmanuel College
Anya Yu
Affiliation:
Pennsylvania State University and Emmanuel College
Xiaowei Zhao
Affiliation:
Pennsylvania State University and Emmanuel College
*
Address for correspondence: Ping Li, E-mail: pingpsu@gmail.com
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Abstract

The language history questionnaire (LHQ) is an important tool for assessing the linguistic background and language proficiency of multilinguals or second language learners. Previously we developed a generic LHQ based on the most commonly asked questions in published studies (Li, Sepanski & Zhao, 2006) and provided a web-based interface (LHQ 2.0) that has flexibility in functionality, accuracy in data recording, and privacy for users and data (Li, Zhang, Tsai & Puls, 2014). LHQ3 (version 3) introduces new functions, developed in response to many comments/requests from users. One important improvement is the addition of an automatic scoring system, in that the new interface automatically calculates aggregated scores for language proficiency, language dominance, and language immersion levels. Finally, LHQ3 allows researchers to assign different weights to the modules when calculating the aggregated scores, addressing the issue of different focuses that different researchers put on multilingual speakers’ language usage and background.

Information

Type
Review Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019
Figure 0

Fig. 1. The new account manage interface of LHQ3.

Figure 1

Fig. 2. The new data management interface of LHQ3.

Figure 2

Fig. 3. An example of weighting different linguistic component's relative contribution when calculating the aggregated proficency score. The weights add up to 100% for normalization purpose.

Figure 3

Fig. 4. An output example of aggregated scores from a de-identified real participant (demographic information removed).