It is often assumed that heritage language learners (HLLs) speak better than they write—by themselves and by educators alike. This article draws on data from writing and oral proficiency ratings plus self‐evaluations of 35 Spanish HLLs to investigate: (i) whether Spanish HLLs actually tend to receive higher ratings in speaking than in writing; (ii) if this is the case, how large the distance in proficiency is; and (iii) to what extent HLLs are accurate in identifying their better modality. Results do show higher ratings in speaking on average, but to a degree that is smaller than might be expected: ratings indicate that subjects performed the same functions in both modalities even when one of the two was rated higher than the other. Additionally, fewer than half the subjects were able to accurately evaluate whether or not they are better at speaking or writing. Implications for instruction are also discussed.

中文翻译：

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讲西班牙语的传承语言的人在读写方面要明显好吗？书面和口语能力实验的结果-实际和可感知的

人们通常认为，传统语言学习者（HLL）自己和教育工作者都说得比他们写得更好。本文利用来自35个西班牙HLL的写作和口语能力等级以及自我评估的数据来调查：（i）西班牙HLL的口语水平实际上是否比书面水平更高？（ii）在这种情况下，熟练程度相距多远；（iii）HLL在何种程度上准确地识别出其更好的方式。结果确实显示出平均而言的评分较高，但是程度要比预期的要小：评分表明，即使两种方法中的一种被评定为高于另一种方法，受试者在两种方式中都执行相同的功能。此外，只有不到一半的对象能够准确地评估他们的口语或写作能力是否更好。还讨论了指导的含义。