This study examines a 30-item Spanish elicited imitation task (EIT) as a measure of global language proficiency for heritage language (HL) learners of Spanish. Results from Rasch modeling suggest that, while EIT scores demonstrated excellent reliability, the ability of much of the HL sample far exceeded the difficulty of the items. Differential item functioning analysis revealed that several items functioned differently for the present study’s HL sample than for the second language learners from a prior study. Additionally, although EIT scores were strongly correlated with another proficiency measure for the present HL sample (e.g., the Diploma de español como lengua extranjera or DELE), common-person equating suggested that the EIT and the DELE may measure different latent variables. Overall, the results provide evidence of the EIT’s utility as a proficiency assessment tool for research on HL learners, however, with limitations and the need for additional analyses discussed.

本研究考察了一项包含 30 项的西班牙语引发模仿任务 (EIT)，以衡量西班牙语传统语言 (HL) 学习者的全球语言熟练程度。Rasch 模型的结果表明，虽然 EIT 分数表现出出色的可靠性，但大部分 HL 样本的能力远远超过了项目的难度。差异项目功能分析显示，本研究的 HL 样本与先前研究的第二语言学习者相比，有几个项目的功能不同。此外，尽管 EIT 分数与当前 HL 样本的另一种熟练程度测量（例如 Diploma de español como lengua extranjera 或 DELE）密切相关，但普通人等同表明 EIT 和 DELE 可能测量不同的潜在变量。全面的，