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language ability and second language acquisition. Greater Spanish
language ability was significantly correlated with English language
ability for the total group. Looking at the results by sex reveals
a significant positive correlation between first language fluency and
second language acquisition for males and a trend toward significance
for the females. Hypotheses Two and Three investigate other factors
which influence second language acquisition.
The finding that students judged to be more proficient in Spanish
make more progress in learning English, could be related to the proba
bility that these students had a higher intelligence quotient as
measured by intelligence tests, than students who were judged to be
less proficient in Spanish. It may be argued, therefore, that greater
progress in English was due to higher intelligence. This statement
requires an analysis of what constitutes intelligence, how it is
measured, and what relationship may exist between intelligence and
language acquisition. Rice's (1980) review of research relating
language acquisition and cognitive development posits that existing
research spreads across a broad continuum with two extremes. Some
research indicates that cognition and language development are the
same, while other research finds that the two are separate functions
and develop independently. There is a broad mid-area in which language
acquisition and cognitive development are somewhat interdependent.
Troike's (1981) review of bilingual programs points out that the
cognitive advantages of instruction in two languages is frequently not
detected for several years. Do bilingual children who score at a
higher level than their monolingual ethnic peers become more intelligent
as a result of using two languages (Fradd, 1981)? The issue of