LHQ3 Documentation

The language history questionnaire (LHQ) is an important tool for assessing the linguistic background and language proficiency of multilingual or second language learners. Previously we developed a generic LHQ based on the most commonly asked questions in published studies (Li, Sepanski, & Zhao, 2006) and provided a web-based interface (LHQ 2.0) that has flexibility in functionality, accuracy in data recording, and privacy for users and data (Li, Zhang, Tsai, & Puls, 2014). LHQ3 (version 3) introduces new functions in response to many comments/requests from users. One important improvement is the implementation of an automatic scoring system. This new interface automatically calculates aggregated scores for language proficiency, language dominance, language immersion, and multilingual language diversity levels. In conjunction with this, LHQ3 allows researchers to assign different weights to the modules when calculating the aggregated scores, addressing the issue of different focuses that different researchers put on multilingual speakers’ language usage and background. Building on this progress, we have recently augmented LHQ3 with an automatic data visualization function. Furthermore, to expand the accessibility of LHQ3, we have introduced multiple language versions and ensured that LHQ3 could be accessed from a variety of devices (i.e., cell phones, tables and PCs) for questionnaire participants. Concluding these updates, LHQ3 is now compatible with popular online subject recruiting tools such as Prolific.

Please cite the reference “Li, P., Zhang, F., Yu, A., & Zhao, X. (2020). Language History Questionnaire (LHQ3): An enhanced tool for assessing multilingual experience. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 23(5), 938-944.” in any publications that report data based on LHQ3.