1. Response Pattern of Heritage Learners in a Chinese Placement TestWei-Li Hsu

2. The Placement Test 3 sections: Vocabulary and Structure (V & S), ReadingSentences (RS), and Reading Passages (RP). V & S has 45 items, RS has 50 items, and RP has19items for 4 passages making 114 items in total. V & S section is written in Pinyin. RS and RP arewritten in Chinese characters. 3. Background Information Sheet Prior experience of learning Chinese in school settings Native languages of the examinees, their parents, andother family members 4. Language Backgrounds Heritage language learners (HLers) Foreign language learners (FLers) Native Mandarin speakers (NMSs) Native Cantonese speakers (NCSs) 5. Introduction to Rasch Model Responses are influenced by person ability anditem difficulty. The more capable person and the more difficultitem have the higher measures. Misfit shows the unexpected responses based onthe expectations of the Rasch model. Bias means systematic violations to the modelsexpectation. 6. Procedures The first Rasch analysis was done to isolate andremove the misfitting persons. The second Rasch analysis was done to isolateand remove the misfitting items. The third Rasch analysis was done to identifybiased items for HLers. 7. Vertical Ruler 8. Summary of Misfitting PersonsExaminee #Language BackgroundMeasureInfit Mean SquareInfit Z-Score6FLer-1.131.232.0010HLer-0.321.280.3124HLer0.091.333.7033NCS lived in HK until the age of 90.471.272.9039HLer2.470.69-1.80 9. Person Ability Measures0.71-1.23 10. Summary of Misfitting Items MeasureModel S.E.Infit Mean SquareInfit Z-Score1.31.620.441.983.301.103.850.691.661.302.5-2.740.451.622.205.1-0.540.381.743.308.1a0.020.381.713.10Item # 11. Summary of Bias Analysis NMSsNCSsHarsh LenientHarsh LenientHLers HarshFLersLenientHarshLenientTotal HarshLenientItem difficulty > 2.00 1.00 to 1.997.60.00 to 0.99 -0.99 to -0.018.4c, 8.6g 7.1, 7.51 7.53.3321-1.99 to -1.00 -2.99 to -2.00< -3.00 Total123143 12. Output of Bias AnalysisharshlenientWord insertion Qs 13. Distracter Analysis of Item 7.5 NMSs (n = 6) 0n123NCSs (n = 4) 45051Mean1.621.68SD1.8311213HLers (n= 19) 45011-3.18 2.21 -2.451.131112232-3.55 0.00 -0.821.20 0.60FLers (n = 18) 45301-0.24 -0.352.3814273142522-1.75 2.34 0.87 -0.09 -0.20 0.151.81 0.740.00 0.71 0.88 14. Conclusions There is no significant difference between HLersand FLers in terms of ability measures on this placement test. HLers exhibit the most complicated patternamong the four groups regarding misfit and item bias based on the Rasch model. HLers have an advantage in answering wordinsertion questions and acquiring Chinese word order over FLers. 15. Questions and Suggestions?Thank you! Mahalo!