An indirect assessment of this hypothesis was undertaken in a series of exploratory analyses involving section- and total-score means for native-language groups on the familiar, three-part version of the Test of English as a Foreign LanguageTM (TOEFL). Findings were interpreted as being generally, albeit indirectly, supportive of the developmental lag hypothesis, as well as of working assumptions underlying introduction and analysis of TOEFL native-language reference group means as group analytic variables. Needed lines of inquiry are suggested.