Chapter 14
Oral Language and Bilingual Assessment
Purposes for Assessing
Oral Language
In early grades, monitored but not
assessed
 Students with second languages
 Students with mild disabilities

Skill Areas
Expressive or receptive
 Phonology, morphology, and syntax
 Semantics
 Pragmatics
 Assessment requires many types of
instruments

Current Practices
Oral language not assessed by academic
tests
 Intellectual performance tests often test
language
 Most are designed for elementary-age
children
 Wide variety of oral language measures

Comprehensive Measures of
Oral Language
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Test of Language Development–3 (TOLD–3),
Primary
Test of Language Development–3
(TOLD–3), Intermediate
Oral and Written Language Skills (OWLS)
Woodcock Language Proficiency Battery–
Revised
Test of Adolescent and Adult Languages–3
(TOAL–3)
Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities–3
(ITPA–3)
Test of Language Development–3
(TOLD–3), Primary and Intermediate
Assessing Articulation

Photo Articulation Test

Pictures to elicit all the consonant, vowel,
and diphthong sounds
Goldman-Fristoe Test of Articulation
 Informal observation and analysis of
spontaneous speech

Assessing Morphology and
Syntax
Northwestern Syntax Screening Test
(NSST)
 Test for Auditory Comprehension of
Language (3rd ed.) (TACL–3)
 Carrow Elicited Language Inventory (CELI)
 Developmental Sentence Analysis
 Language Sampling, Analysis, and
Training (3rd ed.) (LSAT–3)

Assessing Semantics and
Pragmatics
Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Third
Edition (PPVT–III)
 Expressive Vocabulary Test (EVT)
 Comprehensive Receptive and
Expressive Vocabulary Test (2nd ed.)
(CREVT–2)

Assessment of Language Use
Informal assessments
 Let’s Talk Inventory for Children
 Test of Pragmatic Skills
 Test of Pragmatic Language (TOPL)

Assessing Nonstandard English
Standard English is one dialect
 Dialects are differences, not inferior
 Black English
 Spanish-influenced English

Nonstandard English
Assessment Strategies

Informal strategies
Collection of speech samples
 Use of imitation tasks
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Formal assessments
Standard
 Alternate fashion with credit for correct
responses within dialect

Languages Other Than English

Two dimensions to be assessed:
Basic Interpersonal communication skills
(BICS)
 Cognitive/academic language proficiency
(CALP)

Home language is determined by
interview or questionnaire
 Lack of appropriate measures in all
languages

Special Education Assessment
for English Learners
To be completed in primary language
 Prereferral strategies
 Assessed in both languages
 Interpreters in primary language may be
used

Within the Classroom
Communication skill of the teacher
 Number and types of oral responses of
students
 Interpersonal environment
 Physical environment conducive to oral
discussions and socialization

Answering the Assessment
Question
Measures vary in the languages they
assess
 Different tasks are used to evaluate
similar skills
 Learning aptitude and specific learning
abilities affect oral language
 Oral language pervades all areas
 Document with formal and informal
assessment measures
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