THE PERFORMANCE OF BILINGUAL NIGERIAN STUDENTS ON VERBAL AND NONVERBAL TESTS OF INTELLIGENCE

Abstract

Studies concerning the performance of bilingual children on intelligence tests standardized in the environment of their second language have in general yielded two kinds of results. Most studies have indicated that bilingual children make better scores on nonverbal tests than on verbal tests. A few studies, mainly those using Jewish samples show that the bilingual children do equally well on both kinds of tests. On the basis of these findings some researchers have recommended the use of nonverbal rather than verbal tests for the educational guidance of bilingual children. As a background for the present study, it was noted that the bilingual samples used for most of the reported studies lived in the cultural environment of. their second language. It was reasoned that for bilingual samples who lived-in tie cultural environment of their first language, nonverbal tests also contain elements which constitute handicaps. It was further reasoned that at lower levels of education, the language handicap on verbal tests outweighs the handicap on non-verbal tests. However, schooling reduces the language handicap more rapidly than it reduces handicaps on nonverbal tests; therefore, at higher levels of education, the bilingual children may actually perform better on verbal than nonverbal tests.