DIF in the Assessment of Second Language Pragmatics

This study investigates differential item functioning (DIF) in a 36-item test of English as a Second Language pragmalinguistics, assessing 254 learners' knowledge of implicature, routines, and speech acts. Two common DIF techniques, the Mantel-Haenszel method and the standardization method, detected nine items functioning differentially for test takers of Asian and European language background. More detailed analyses of these items showed that DIF was mostly statistical, but some substantive DIF was also present.