Abstract
Differential item functioning and linguistic characteristics of examinees. The aim of this study is to ascertain whether differential item functioning (DIF) in a verbal ability test is related to examinees' linguistic characteristics. The sample was composed of 775 children between 10 and 14 who attended schools located in the Land of Valencia (Spain). This is a bilingual region with two official languages: Spanish and Valencian. In Valencian schools, it is quite usual to apply verbal tests elaborated in Spanish to children whose family and/or school language is Valencian. The results show that 9 items present DIF when the performance of a group of monolingual Spanish-speakers children was compared with the performance of: a) bilingual children whose family language is Valencian and school language is Spanish, and b) bilingual children whose family and school language is Valencian. In 7 out of the 9 DIF items, DIF was against bilingual subjects.
