An analysis of the test of language development-primary for item bias

The purpose of this research was to examine the Test of Language Development-P:2 (TOLD-P:2; Newcomer & Hammill, 1991) for item bias. The TOLD-P:2 was administered to 235 African American and 1,481 White kindergarten children living in the Midwest. Test items were examined for evidence of differential item functioning (DIF) using inferential and descriptive methods. Sixteen percent of all items of the TOLD-P:2 were found to have DIF. Of these items, 75% were found to be harder for the African American group. The percentages of items on the five core subtests identified as having DIF were as follows: Picture Vocabulary, 17%; Oral Vocabulary, 17%; Grammatic Understanding, 12%; Sentence Imitation, 20%; and Grammatic Completion, 13%. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the TOLD-P:3.