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ERIC Documents
With the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act in December 2001, pressure
has been placed on schools and districts to include as many students as
possible, including English language learners (ELLs), in large-scale assessment
programs. Standardized tests are designed to measure a representative sample
of knowledge defined by state and local standards and curricula. For ELLs
in U.S. public schools, standardized test results often reflect limited
proficiency in English and a lack of opportunity to learn the subject matter
of the tests (Pierce, 2002).
For both standardized and performance assessments, application of the following principles will produce effective assessment procedures:
Identify the purpose of the assessment and the learning that is to be assessed
Select assessment instruments and procedures that match the program's learning goals
Use multiple measures to present a more complete picture of what students have learned
Ensure that adequate resources are available to carry out the assessments (National Center for ESL Literacy Education, 2002).
National Center for ESL Literacy Education. (2002). NCLE fact sheet: Assessment with adult English language learners. Washington, DC: Author.
Pierce, L. V. (2002). Performance-based
assessment: Promoting achievement for English language learners. ERIC/CLL
News Bulletin, 26, 1. Washington, DC: ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages
and Linguistics.
Adult
ESL Learner Assessment: Purposes and Tools
Alternative
Assessment and Second Language Study: What and Why?
Assessment
Portfolios: Including English Language Learners in Large-Scale Assessments
Basic
Assessment Concepts for Teachers and School Administrators
Considerations
in Developing and Using Computer-Adaptive Tests to Assess Second
Language Proficiency
English Language Learners and High-Stakes Tests: An Overview of the Issues
Grading
Students
Grading
Students' Classroom Writing: Issues and Strategies
Issues
in Accountability and Assessment for Adult ESL Instruction
Learner
Assessment in Adult ESL Literacy
Practical
Ideas On Alternative Assessment For ESL Students
Statewide Assessment Programs: Policies and Practices for the Inclusion of
Limited English Proficient Students
Technology-Delivered
Assessment: Guidelines for Educators Traveling the Technology Highway
Test
Accommodations for LEP Students
Simulated
Oral Proficiency Interviews: Recent Developments
Performance-Based
Assessment: Promoting Achievement for English Language Learners
Alderson, C. (2000). Assessing
reading. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Brown, J. D. (Ed.). (1998). New
ways of classroom assessment. Alexandria,
VA: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages.
Buck, G. (2001). Assessing
listening. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Cohen, A. (1994). Assessing language ability in the classroom (2nd
ed.). Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
Douglas, D. (2000). Assessing
languages for specific purposes. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Gonzalez, V, Brusca-Vega, R., & Yawkey, T. (1997). Assessment
and instruction of culturally and linguistically diverse students with or
at-risk
of learning
problems: From research to practice. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Hancock, C.R. (Ed.). (1994). Teaching, testing, and assessing: Making the connection. Northeast Conference Reports. Lincolnwood, IL: National Textbook Co.
Holmes, D., Hedlund, P., & Nickerson, B. (2000). Accommodating ELLs in state and local assessments. Washington, DC: National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education.
Hurley, S. R., & Tinajero, J. V. (2001). Literacy assessment of second language learners. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Illinois State Board of Education Assessment Division. (1998). The
language proficiency handbook: A practitioner's guide to instructional
assessment.
Springfield, IL:
Illinois State Department of Education.
Luoma, Sari. (2004). Assessing
speaking. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Martinez, R. (1999). Assessment:
A development guidebook for teachers of English-language learners.
Portland, OR: Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory.
O'Malley, J.M., & Valdez Pierce, L. (1996). Authentic assessment
for English language learners: Practical approaches for teachers. New
York: Addison-Wesley.
Pupura, J. (2004). Assessing
grammar. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Read, J. (2000). Assessing
vocabulary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. (1998). Managing
the assessment process: A framework for measuring student attainment of the
ESL
standards. Alexandria,
VA: Author.
Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. (2001). Scenarios
for ESL standards-based assessment. Alexandria, VA: Author.
Weigle, S. C. (2002). Assessing
writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
The Center for Equity and
Excellence in Education Test Database
Maintained by the ERIC Clearinghouse on Assessment and Evaluation, this database
offers abstracts and descriptions of almost 200 tests commonly used with ESL
students, organized by test purpose.
ERIC Clearinghouse on Assessment
and Evaluation
This site offers links to a number of research organizations interested in assessment.
They also offer a test locator service (see Buros Institute Description) and
a full-text Internet library, which offers excerpts from books, papers, articles,
and website texts on critical issues.
ESL Standards
for PreK–12
Students
The Center for Applied Linguistics maintains this page, which includes links
to publications; a listserv; and a searchable database that includes survey
information of states, districts, and schools that are involved in using
the ESL Standards
for curriculum, assessment, and professional development purposes.
ESL
Standards Implementation Database
This searchable database includes the survey information of states, districts,
and schools that are involved in using the ESL Standards for curriculum, assessment,
and professional development purposes. This information is intended to facilitate
communication among practitioners working on standards-based educational reforms
that include English language learners (ELLs).
National Clearinghouse
for English Language Acquisition (NCELA)
This site offers a searchable bibliographic database that includes more than
20,000 citations and abstracts dealing with all aspects of the education of linguistically
diverse students. NCELA makes many important papers available online. Browse
their Online
Librar. See especially NCELA
Online Library, Assessment and Accountability Section.
Teachers of English
to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)
This organization developed the Standards for K–12 ESL programs,
which form the basis for many school, district, and state ESL curricula.
Read the
standards online.
TESL-L
TESL-L, for those involved in teaching English as a Second Language.
You may join BY: sending an electronic message to LISTSERV@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU
Leave the subject line of your message blank and--for a text--write the following:
SUB TESL-L <YOUR NAME>
K12ASSESS-L
The goal of K12ASSESS-L is to provide educators with a fast, convenient,
and topical electronic discussion forum focusing on issues related to educational
assessment in grades K–12.
LTEST-L (Language
testing research and practice)
LTEST-L is an open forum for discussion on issues pertaining to language
testing theory and research. The members are mainly university professors
and graduate
students but there are also researchers in such institutions as the Educational
Testing Service.
You may wish to conduct your own search of the ERIC database on the World Wide Web. If you need help with your search, call 1-800-276-9834 or email our User Services staff.
Information on obtaining the documents listed below can be found at the end of this section or by clicking here. These documents were identified by searching the ERIC database using the following combination of ERIC descriptors:
English (Second Language)
and
Assessment
EJ660633
An Assessment of ESL Writing Placement Assessment.
Crusan, Deborah
Assessing Writing, v8 n1 p17-30 2002
Considers what the best assessment practices are for ESL (English as a Second
Language) and international students at two- and four-year institutions in
the United States. Presents results of an Internet search of one set of prominent
American institutions' placement practices. Argues that second language
composition specialists need to examine their placement practices and aim
for a
reconciliation of these practices with their classroom pedagogies.
EJ653934
Exploring Task Difficulty in ESL Listening Assessment.
Brindley, Geoff; Slatyer, Helen
Language Testing, v19 n4 p369-94 Oct 2002
Reports on an exploratory study that investigated the comparability of
listening assessment tasks used to assess and report learning outcomes
of adult
English-as-a-Second-Language learners in Australia. Focused on the effects
of
task characteristics and task conditions on learners' performance in competency-based
listening assessment tasks that require learners to demonstrate specific
listening behaviors.
EJ652219
Using Portfolios To Assess the Writing of ESL Students: A Powerful
Alternative?
Song, Bailin; August, Bonne
Journal of Second Language Writing, v11 n1 p49-72 Feb 2002
Describes a quantitative study that compared the performance of two groups
of
advanced English-as-a-Second-Language students in a second semester composition
course at the City University of New York (CUNY). Results suggest that
students were twice as likely to pass into the second semester course when
they were
evaluated by portfolio rather than by the CUNY Writing Assessment Test
(WAT).
EJ650599
The Effects of Nonnative Accents on Listening Comprehension:
Implications for ESL Assessment.
Major, Roy C.; Fitzmaurice, Susan F.; Bunta, Ferenc; Balasubramanian, Chandricka
TESOL Quarterly, v36 n2 p173-90 Sum 2002
Examined the extent to which native-English speaking and English-as-a-Second-Language
listeners performed better on a test when the speaker shared their native
language. Four groups of listeners with different native languages
heard lectures presented in English by speakers of different native languages.
Both native and nonnative listeners scored lower on listening comprehension
tests when they listened to nonnative speakers.
EJ647283
Discourse Approaches to Writing Assessment.
Connnor, Ulla; Mbaye, Aymerou
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, v22 p263-78 2002
Discusses assessment of English-as-a-Foreign/Second-Language (EFL/ESL)
writing. Suggests there is a considerable gap between current practices
in
writing assessment and criteria suggested by advances in knowledge of
discourse structure. Illustrates this by contrasting current practices
in the scoring
of two major EFL/ESL writing tests with knowledge of text characteristics
generated from recent developments in text analysis.
ED468596
Assessing Yearly Progress of Language Minority Students Using
Standardized Testing.
Munoz, Marco A.
Publication Date: 2002
This study evaluated the impact of an urban school district's English-as-a-second-Language
(ESL) program on 317 participating K–12 language minority students. The
study used the Language Assessment Scale (LAS) to examine students' English
proficiency
after participating in the yearlong program. The LAS measures language
skills necessary to succeed in an academic environment. It does not measure
achievement
in course content. Analysis of students' pretest and posttest scores
on the LAS indicated that they made yearly progress in English language
proficiency
as evidenced by their oral, reading, and writing scores. The gains reached
statistically significant levels using both chi-squares and dependent-sample
t-tests. The results suggest that the program
is successfully meeting the needs of language minority students.
ED467738
How Teachers Assess ESL Reading: Implications for Change.
Gonzalez-Jensen, Margarita; Beckett, E. Carol
Publication Date: 2002
Development of reading skills for all second language learners is of
utmost
importance for success in all academic areas. Reading skills assessment
must
guide instructional planning for English language learners. This manuscript
examines the reading assessment practices used by 50 inservice K–8
elementary
English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers in a large metropolitan
area in the
southwest United States. The findings indicated that many teachers
did not
differentiate between formal and informal assessment practices in their
classrooms, did not regularly assess the English language learners'
(ELLs')
reading growth, and did not differentiate reading assessment practices
for
fluent English speakers and ELLs. Conclusions from this study include
the need
for effective preservice and inservice opportunities to increase awareness
of
the effectiveness of reading assessment in planning instruction. Colleges
of
education need to consider ways to improve ESL teachers' basic conceptual
understanding of assessment and provide them opportunities to refine
practices
of administering the appropriate reading assessments.
ED466844
English as a Second Language Report Two--ESL Cohort Analysis.
Maack, Stephen C.
Publication Date: February 01, 2002
This paper discusses cohorts of Rio Hondo College (California) fall
term students who completed the English/English-as-a-Second-Language
(ESL)
assessment test
under the ESL scoring rubric between fall 1996 and spring 2001, and
considers the relationships of assessment testing, enrollment, and
course success.
Report highlights include: (1) the proportion of potential Rio Hondo
ESL students
assessed into lower-level ESL courses increased, and the proportion
assessed into higher-level ESL courses decreased, during five of the
last six
fall term placement cycles; (2) overall success rates in the first
credit/no-credit or
graded ESL or English courses that the students took were 62% for fall
1996, 60% for fall 1997, 73% for fall 1998, 71% for fall 1999, and
79% for fall 2000
cohorts; (3) in only two cohort years (fall 1997 and fall 1998) were
students
statistically more likely to succeed than not if they took the ESL
or English course recommended by the assessment test; (4) many students
may be attempting
too few ESL courses to reach the beginning college English level (ENGL
101); and (5) the problem is not so much succeeding in ENGL 101 but
reaching
the
point of attempting the class-getting there is the bigger problem,
especially for students placed below ESL 197. This report details success
rates
in specific ESL and English courses, and discusses implications for
student success in
the future. Contains numerous charts and statistics.
ED462019
REEP Alternative Assessment Project (353 Special Project) Final
Report, July 1, 1994-June 30, 1995.
Author Affiliation: Arlington County Public Schools, VA. REEP, Arlington
Education and Employment Program.(BBB28229)
Publication Date: 1996
The REEP (Arlington Education and Employment Program) 2-year special
project, which set out to research, develop, field-test, and establish
recommendations
for alternative assessment methods for the language and literacy
development of adult learners of English as a Second Language (ESL), is
described
and evaluated. Goals and needs of 117 adult students were determined,
and plans
for assessing
their progress were developed. Benchmarks were created by identifying
skills, behaviors, and attitudes indicating progress in cognitive,
linguistics, and non-linguistic domains. Assessment processes and
tools were field-tested
and
refined during the project's first year, then were adapted to multiple
settings (workplace, drop-in center) in the second year. The project
also
determined
the feasibility of aggregating data from alternative assessments
for reporting purposes, developed a process and guidelines for and alternative
assessment
system in a variety of settings, and served as a demonstration site
for teachers. It was found that the alternative assessment process
itself
was helpful for
teacher development, and while alternative assessment is time-consuming,
it enables teachers to substantiate promotion and retention decisions.
Recommendations
include further exploration of ways to streamline data collection,
analysis, and reporting, and adoption of ESL proficiency standards
for the Commonwealth
of Virginia.
ED461305
Assessment with Adult English Language Learners.
National Center for ESL Literacy Education, Washington,
DC.(BBB36588)
Publication Date: January 2002
The Adult Education and Family Literacy Act requires states to report
learners' educational gains in terms of level descriptors defined
by the National
Reporting System (NRS). States may choose their assessment methods.
Most use standardized
testing. NRS level descriptors for English as a Second Language (ESL)
define English language proficiency across six levels. The time required
to show
level gain in proficiency depends on program factors (e.g., class
intensity and adequacy
of facilities) and learner factors (e.g., age and educational background).
Adult ESL standardized tests are easy to administer, valid, and reliable,
though they may not capture incremental learning changes over short
periods of time.
Performance assessment in adult ESL reflects current beliefs that
learners acquire language as they use it in social interactions to
accomplish
purposeful tasks. However, performance assessment for accountability
purposes is limited.
For both standardized and performance assessments, applying several
principles will produce effective assessment procedures (e.g., select
assessment
instruments and procedures that match learning goals and know assessment
limitations).
Many critical issues must be examined before putting these principles
into practice (e.g., conditions under which measurable gain can be
achieved and resources needed to ensure consistent, reliable standardized
assessment).
ED452707
Choosing EFL/ESL Visual Assessments: Image and Picture Selection on
Foreign and Second Language Exams.
Canning-Wilson, Christine
Publication Date: 2001
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the avenues for choosing pictures and
visual images in testing situations for foreign and second language examinations.
The paper demonstrates how quantitative and qualitative research from cognitive
psychology, visual and verbal behavior studies, as well as Teaching English
as a Foreign Language (TEFL) have contributed to the understanding of how visual
images affect background schemata, learning, and testing. It is essential that
test writers investigate how visuals and images can aid or hinder the assessment
of language learning. It is hoped that this research will help the classroom
practitioner, the materials developer, and most importantly the test writer/designer
to choose, use, create, design and implement pictures into testing procedures,
which are fair to the student population and offer a more accurate measure
of a learner's ability to manipulate and communicate in the target language.
It is concluded that a learner's sensitivity to language and the ability to
create relations amongst words can be further enhanced by the use of visuals.
The full text of most materials in the ERIC database with an "ED" followed by six digits is available through the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS) in microfiche, online, or in paper copy. Approximately 80% of ERIC documents from 1993 to the present are available for online ordering and electronic delivery through the EDRS Web site. You can read ERIC documents on microfiche for free at many libraries with monthly subscriptions or specialized collections. To find an ERIC center near you, contact our User Services staff.
The full text of journal articles may be available from one or more of the following sources:
To obtain journals that do not permit reprints and are not available from your library, write directly to the publisher. Addresses of publishers are listed in the front of each issue of Current Index to Journals in Education and can now be accessed online through the CIJE Source Journal Index.
If you would like additional information about this or any topic related to language education or linguistics, contact our User Services Staff.