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4 - The High-Level Language Aptitude Battery (Hi-LAB)

Development, Validation, and Use

from Part I - Revisiting and Refining Aptitude Tests

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 May 2023

By
Meredith Hughes ,
Ewa Golonka ,
Alison Tseng  and
Susan Campbell
Edited by
Zhisheng (Edward) Wen ,
Peter Skehan  and
Richard L. Sparks
Zhisheng (Edward) Wen
Affiliation:
Hong Kong Shue Yan University
Peter Skehan
Affiliation:
Institute of Education, University of London
Richard L. Sparks
Affiliation:
Mount St Joseph University
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Summary

The High-Level Language Aptitude Battery (Hi-LAB) measures the cognitive and perceptual abilities hypothesized to be important for adults to reach advanced levels of foreign language proficiency (Doughty, 2019; Doughty et al., 2010; Linck et al., 2013). This chapter will provide a historical overview of the Hi-LAB and its use, starting from the selection of constructs to measure, development of the battery, exploration of the battery’s measurement properties, and its use today. Over 15 years of work have been dedicated to selecting, refining, and validating the measures of the battery. We will explore how University of Maryland researchers as well as those of wider academia have used the battery to explore aspects of language aptitude, most notably, perhaps, the potential for Hi-LAB to inform language aptitude-by-treatment interventions. Potential directions for future work will also be discussed, pointing ahead to how the battery can continue to provide valuable aptitude information for language learning across populations, including language learners themselves, language instructors, academic researchers, and organizations who are interested in training personnel in new languages.

Keywords

language aptitudeHi-LABaptitude-by-treatmentreliabilityvalidity
Type
Chapter
Information
Language Aptitude Theory and Practice , pp. 73 - 93
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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