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Research Notes
Introduction
The language history questionnaire (LHQ) is an important tool for assessing the linguistic background of bilinguals or second language learners, the context and habits of language use, proficiency in multiple languages, and dominance and cultural identity of the languages acquired. Outcomes from such assessments have often been used to predict or correlate with learners' linguistic performance in cognitive and behavioral tests. For example, Dunn and Fox Tree (2009) developed and validated a bilingual dominance gradient that accounted for use, acquisition, and restructuring of both languages. Bedore, Pena, Summers, Boerger, Resendiz, Greene, Bohman and Gillam (2012) showed that bilingual dominance and proficiency classifications vary according to the types of measures employed in assessments, such as semantics versus morphosyntax tasks. Gollan, Weissberger, Runnqvist, Montoya and Cera (2012) examined the correlation of bilingual dominance and proficiency indices given scores from self-ratings, interviews, and picture naming tests. Although these assessment tools have been independently developed for different purposes (e.g., Bedore et al. focused on bilingual children), they also share some common features and have similar question items.
Despite the large amount of language assessment data from various measures and scales, there has been no standardized language history questionnaire available that integrates the various measures of language background, proficiency, usage, and dominance. Investigators still tend to design their own questionnaire for each particular study they conduct, making it difficult to compare their results due to the different questions, measures, and scales used. Recognizing this problem, Li, Sepanski and Zhao (2006) developed a generic LHQ by examining 41 published studies and identifying the most commonly asked questions in these studies. Li et al.'s LHQ was among the first attempts at providing researchers with comparable standards and has since been used in several dozens of published studies (e.g., Chandrasekaran, Krishnan & Gandour, 2009; Crinion, Green, Chung, Ali, Grogan, Price, Mechelli & Price, 2009; Krishnan, Gandour & Bidelman, 2010; see also Google Scholar, 2013).
The importance of web-based questionnaires for bilingualism and second language acquisition research has been clearly recognized by researchers (see Wilson & Dewaele, 2010). Realizing the advantage of web-based data collection, Li et al. (2006) made their LHQ available to the research community through a web-based interface. However, researchers have so...