The Pimsleur Language Aptitude Battery is an assessment developed to forecast student success in foreign language learning, or language learning aptitude, and for diagnosing language learning disabilities.

The Pimsleur Language Aptitude Battery (PLAB) was created to measure language learning aptitude. Language learning aptitude does not pertain to whether or not an individual can or cannot learn a foreign language (it is assumed that virtually everyone can learn a foreign language given adequate opportunity).

According to John Carroll and Stanley Sapon, the authors of the MLAT (a similar language aptitude test intended for older subjects), language learning aptitude does denote to the “prediction of how well, relative to other individuals, an individual can learn a foreign language in a given amount of time and under given conditions.” The PLAB is intentionally for students in grades 7 through 12.

Development

The Pimsleur Language Aptitude Battery (PLAB) was developed by Dr. Paul Pimsleur, also known for the Pimsleur language learning system. The PLAB is the culmination of eight years of research by Pimsleur and his associates from 1958 to 1966, which includes the review of 30 years of published studies regarding a variety of linguistic and psychological factors involved in language learning. Pimsleur and his colleagues grouped these studies into seven research topics: intelligence, verbal ability, pitch discrimination, order of language study and bilingualism, study habits, motivation and attitudes, and personality factors. Of the seven, motivation and verbal intelligence were the clearest aspect contributing to success at learning a foreign language.

Subsequent research involving students learning French at the college level, taking several different tests and subjecting the resulting data to factor analysis and multiple correlation analysis also showed motivation and verbal intelligence to be primary factors in language learning success.

After field testing a preliminary version of the Aptitude Battery on secondary school students of French and Spanish, Pimsleur and his associates determined verbal intelligence, motivation and auditory ability as the three most important factors in predicting success at learning a foreign language. They developed seven tests that would measure these three factors.

After testing the seven sections with the Ohio State University Research Foundation, the Pimsleur Language Aptitude Battery was finalized by adding a section measuring grade point average, which Pimsleur found to be another predictive factor of language learning aptitude. The four final factors contributing to language learning aptitude measured on the PLAB are verbal ability, auditory ability, motivation and grade point average.

In 1965-66, a study was conducted to calculate the predictive validity of the PLAB. Forty-one schools in thirteen different states participated in the study, which administered the PLAB to students in grades 7, 8, and 9 at the beginning of the school year. The students’ final grades in a beginning language course were used to calculate the validity of the PLAB and provide statistical norms and expectancy tables.

Issues of Debate

One issue taken with using language aptitude tests like the PLAB is that they are not directly beneficial to individuals who are required to learn a language regardless of their language learning abilities. Language learning aptitude is relatively stable over an individual’s lifetime, so if an individual scores poorly on the PLAB, there is no proven method to raise their language learning aptitude if they must learn a language. One way the PLAB could be useful in this situation is to indicate that more time learning the language will have to be spent relative to someone who received a high score on the PLAB. It can also assist them by showing which learning strategies that they use best.

Sections

The final version of the PLAB has six sections, each one testing different aspects of the four predictive factors (verbal ability, auditory ability, motivation and grade point average).

Part 1 – Grade Point Average
This section calculates the student’s grade point average in areas other than language learning

Part 2 – Interest
This section measures the student’s interest in learning a foreign language and is a measure of motivation

Part 3 – Vocabulary
This section tests word knowledge in English and is a measure of verbal ability

Part 4 – Language Analysis
This section tests the student’s ability to reason logically in terms of a foreign language and is another aspect of verbal ability

Part 5 – Sound Discrimination
This section tests the ability to learn new phonetic distinctions and to recognize them in different contexts and is a measure of auditory ability

Part 6 – Sound-Symbol Association
This section test the ability to associate sounds with written symbols and is another measure of auditory ability

Uses

1. Program Placement
   The PLAB can be used to evaluate which students may be ready to study a foreign language in grades 7 and 8 and those students who would benefit from waiting until a later grade to begin foreign language study. It can also be used to place students in the classroom that teaches at the most appropriate pace for them when there is more than one language class.
2. Program Assessment and Planning
   The PLAB can be used to compute local language aptitude norms. Using this information, schools or districts can assess the effectiveness of their current foreign language programs and use the PLAB to develop their language program. For example, a school may divide their language program into three zones, each using an appropriate textbook and moving at an appropriate pace.
3. Diagnosis of Learning Abilities
   The PLAB can be used to identify students with language learning challenges or a language learning disability when used in conjunction with other forms of evidence.

Looking at an individual’s score on the different parts of the test can be of help to match students’ learning styles with instructional approaches.