Using the Bilingual Early Language Assessment: Strengths and Limitations

Abstract

The Bilingual Early Language Assessment (BELA) was developed by the Harvard Graduate School of Education for the Cambridge Public School District in 2002 to respond to a growing need for an assessment in multiple languages. The BELA is available in 11 different languages and can be downloaded at no cost. However there is no psychometric data available on the BELA to inform end users regarding the quality of the measure. This paper reports on a pilot study investigating the psychometric properties of the English and Spanish BELA including the internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and concurrent validity of the BELA with the Preschool Language Scale-4.