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Assessment strategies in language learning
English language learners assessment process
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There are many purposes for which assessment is used for in regards to English language learners, “ Classification, program placement, monitoring of academic progress, and reclassification” are among just a few. (Syrja, 2011,1105) One of the biggest of the four is “Program Placement”. In order to place a child you must see if they need a program.
Once a parent informs a school that a the child speaks another language other than English, a “Home Language Survey” is administered. If the survey results come back that the child is anything, but proficient in the English language a “State Language Proficiency assessment” will test the level of acquisition. In other words is the the child in the Preproduction, Early production, Speech Emergence, intermediate fluency and advanced fluency. Later an administrator will establish what level there writing, reading, listening, and speaking. (Syrja,2011).
. Besides an assessment evaluating for initial placement it also is used place a child in the right ELL classroom.(also known a ESL) This assessment is as important as the first one. This is because the needs of a child are always changing. In this case the assessment is used as a monitoring tool(Syrja,2011).. Not to say that monitoring should not be conducted by a teacher because it is strongly advised that the teacher does.
After the child is placed in a class based on his or her assessment results, a teacher’s challenges begins. Lots of times a teacher does not know what the child acquisition levels are . This results in many teachers making the misconception that if a child is leveling at a high level in one domain then all there domains should be as well. Unfortunately, this misconception brings with it the ability to not under...
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... goes unseen. Many parents of ELL can bring about their own experiences and feeling about literacy and schooling.. This helps schools dramatically who do not have a ELL program or even those who do. This is because teachers can have a better understanding of what and does not work through the mouth of adult who are ELL, or LTEL use to be ELL. The parents are also a good tool because all strategies are based on research and opinion, instead parent insight takes you to the source. (Panferov, 2010).
Not only does the parent help the school, but the school can help the parents. By parents taking part in different aspects of the children learning; wither through events, meeting, or on the phone, The parent is able to learn strategies to help their child. They also can learn more about areculture and share their culture at the same time. (Panferov, S.2010)
It is important to maintain children’s home language as it may help them learn and understand a second language. Barratt-Pugh (2000) discusses the benefits of bilingualism and maintaining it through early childhood settings, also mentions the concerns families have for their children maintaining two languages through schooling. Research within the article states that children who speak more than one language will have a higher level of understanding literacy content, form, genre, as well as understand the differences and translating within both languages. This demonstrates a contrast of strengths and experiences with literacy (linguist...
In pursuing my ELL endorsement, I found it to be very beneficial to interview current ELL teachers. They shared their insight and expertise in this field. I interviewed the middle school ELL teacher at my school, an upper-elementary ELL teacher and early-elementary teacher in my district. I asked twelve questions that pertained to their experience teaching ELL. These responses are valuable to future ELL teachers and general education teachers who teach ELL in their classrooms.
A flurry of solutions has been suggested, ranging from school uniforms to government grants. Unfortunately, many of these solutions are merely superficial. Uniforms, Internet access, and new buildings will do little to help overcrowded classrooms, overworked teachers, and disinterested students. The most obvious answer seems to lie in government grants to remedy buildings and supplies and standardized testing to confirm the quality of every education.
...ls accountable by requiring that all English learners be tested annually (“Bilingualism for Children,” 2004).
Effective partnerships between families and school emerge from a mutual trust, respect and understanding of each other’s values and goals. By maintaining such partnerships, we create a healthy environment for children to develop. All families have something unique to offer and educators need to recognize this and make the most of it by incorporating all families into the school community.
In the United States, there has been an increase in in the number of children from Spanish speaking backgrounds. The English Language Learners, commonly known as ELL’s, are being placed in Special Education without being properly tested for a learning disability. However there are a large number of ELL’s with learning disabilities in elementary grades that truly have a learning disability and are over looked. Many school districts have problems placing ELL’s. As a result these students end up in special education whether they have a learning disability or language impairment. Teachers are also indecisive when dealing with ELL’s. Most teachers recommend that ELL’s be placed in special education from day one. It is not because the child has a learning disability, it’s because most teachers are not properly trained to interact with ELL’s. Teachers also find it difficult, due to lack of training, having ELL’s with learning disabilities in their classrooms. More teachers would find their selves comfortable if they had training in dealing with ELL’s and ELL’s with learning disabilities. This paper discusses the issues and the concerns teachers have in dealing with ELLs and ELLs with disabilities, the challenges of identifying individuals with learning disabilities, and what type of assessments classify English Language Learners as having a learning disability.
...or parents to become actively involved in their child’s academics. Research supports that as a child ages parental involvement decreases, this is a vast problem that through communication, school activities, sending parent notices, and etc. could be fixed.
Sociocultural influences on ELL students are very strong; some families feel that their social life is a major part of their culture. The use of bilingualism is someone that is fluent in two different languages. An ELL students home language can be quite different than English. The students’ family may have no desire to speak English. This cause many learning delays because of the lack of practice. The parental and community resources for English acquisition in my area are scarce, but they did locate an amazing website for ELL families. The school district around me can improve their home and school relationship by getting the families more involved in their child’s education.
... with curriculum an appropriate bilingual standards. For example the native language is used for minimum 50 percent of the time and it has to be use the entire academic year. These scenarios make very challenging to satisfy the expectations of the standards measured in the Bench Mark Assessment test because traditional bilingual programs have to divide the language instruction by percentages either Spanish or English. Then the validity and reliability of Bench Mark Assessment is affected, and the data is used to track the progress of failure of the bilingual groups.
child’s ability to learn are used more at the expense of others. Unfortunately, despite the benefits
The ability to test a student’s language skills is essential to have as a teacher. Over the years, classrooms have become much more diverse with a wide variety of impairments being presented on a daily basis. Often, these disabilities contain a language impairment that appears as a side effect of the main disability. Unfortunately, assessing language is not as easy as one may think because it is not clearly defined and understood. Kuder (2008) writes that “…language is not a unitary phenomenon- it is ‘multidimensional, complex, and dynamic; it involves many interrelated processes and abilities; and it changes from situation to situation” (pg. 274). Language also develops at different times for different individuals, thus making language assessment an even harder task for test administrators to grade and evaluate. In order to further understand the language impairment that students present, teachers need to be aware of appropriate language tests that could be administered. In order to assure that the best language test is being issued to a student, several various tests exist to choose from. To test a student’s overall language capability, a comprehensive language test, such as the Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language (CASL) or the Oral and Written Language Scales (OWLS), could be administered. If a teacher wanted to test a specific language skill such as pragmatics, phonology, syntax, or semantics, the teacher would need to find the best test for the student’s unique situation.
The support of a parent is the single most important factor in predicting success in school for young children (Bourquin). Parents who make it a point to get involved with the child’s education are communicating the importance of education to their child (Heffer). There are a variety of ways in which a parent can get involved. This can range from at home help and encouragement with homework, attending athletic ...
It is important that teachers give children a fair chance to show their knowledge when assessing. “The purpose of assessment is to provide feedback that can be used to improve student performance” (Orange 2000). Teachers assess children to ensure that they are understanding the material, and to make sure they are learning. For young children, tests should never be the only criteria for assessment. Instructors should always make sure that their assessment is fair.
In the reading it brings up how most parents are only contacted by the school when it is something bad. This is not how it should be. Teachers should be sending home good news notes to the parents praising the students for their hard work in the class. Schools also need to be welcoming to the families and provide workshops to assist in the parent’s knowledge to allow them to help their children with their schoolwork. Having the parents involved and aware of the things that are going on in the classroom and the school are great ways to build that relationship and to enhance the student’s academic achievement and
The teacher will also make norm-referenced and criterion referenced interpretations of assessment through this website. They have graph and color-coded bands that show widely held expectations for children’s development and learning. The teacher will use this website and graph to communicate twice a year with the parents about the child’s strength, weakness or any area of