English Language
Learners
Assessing Language
Proficiency

Language Proficiency
Assessment
 You must obtain information for the ELL in both L1 and L2 prior to testing.
 You must obtain information for the ELL in both L1 and L2 prior to testing.
 You must obtain information for the ELL in both L1 and L2 prior to testing.
 You must obtain information for the ELL in both L1 and L2 prior to testing.
 You must obtain information for the ELL in both L1 and L2 prior to testing.

Why test for Language 1st?
 To determine the appropriateness of the child’s classroom setting.
 To determine the language for future testing.
 To determine the impact that language proficiency may have on testing data.
 To determine if the areas of concern are a result of a real disability or simply a reflection of the normal process of 2nd language acquisition.

Same fact over and over.
 A true disability must be apparent in both languages.
 You can not be disabled in English and not be disabled in your native language.
 If you are experiencing significant difficulty in English, this must be supported as significant difficulty in your first language to be considered a disability. You must take into account prior academic knowledge of
L1 when considering this.

Use formal and informal methods
 Formal methods (examples)
 WMLS-R
 IDEA
 BEST-Plus
 WLPB-R
 Informal methods (examples)
 Basic conversation
 Observations with peers
 Interviews with parents and teachers

Formal and Informal Methods
Include
 Formal methods: surface components are examined:
 Phonology
 Morphology
 Syntax
 Grammar
 Vocabulary
 Informal methods:
 Real-life use of language
 Use BOTH for a complete picture.

Testing should measure…
 BICS and CALP
 Measure both languages
 Receptive and Expressive Skills
 Current language skills (data more than 6 months old is OUTDATED)

What to look for in a good test:
 Norming properties
 Psychometric factors (reliability and validity)
 Skills assessed
 Theoretical foundation used to develop the measure
 Extent to which the instrument incorporates the language proficiency practices just described

Things to look out for . . .
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Translated into another language, but not renormed.
Translated into another language with no concern as to how item difficulty might impact basals and ceilings.
No norms at all
Poor reliability and validity in newly normed language.
Only reliability and validity reported for original language.
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What country were norms generated?
New immigrants or 2nd-
3rd generation in norming sample.
Language testing incorporates all dialects as possible choices.
Tests are created in a manner as to be culturally biased in the questions asked.
Looks at only one component in language.
Does not use authentic language.

What do you do when no
“perfect test” exists?
 Use multiple sources of data (this should be standard practice even with great tests).
 Incorporate informal and formal measures in your assessment plan (this should be done anyway).
 Describe any significant weaknesses of a measure in your interpretation of the results.

Two Respected Language
Proficiency Measures
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Basic Inventory of Natural Language: This test can be used for more than 30 languages and is used to test students in grades kindergarten through 12. Students are shown large pictures, which the students individually discuss orally.
Their taped explanations are then scored using measurements such as sentence complexity and length .
WoodcockMuñoz Language Survey-Revised :
This individually administered test is for ages 4 through adult and measures listening, speaking, reading and writing skills.
http://spanish.about.com/library/questions/blq-fluencytests.htm

WMLS-R: Provides CALP
 CALP score:
 1 = negligible
 2 = very limited
 3 = limited
 4 = fluent
 5 = advanced

Informal Methods
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Observations: academic and social settings.
Questionnaires: parents and teachers answer open-ended questions.
 Rating Scales: Uses likert scales for teacher and parent input.
 Storytelling: Have the child tell you a story and evaluate that story.
 Cloze Techniques: Student completes a sentence or phrase presented.
 Language Samples: Obtained through direct conversation, observations in class, or anywhere that the child talks

Informal Language Testing
 Many of the previously described methods have previously published methods of conducting the informal assessment.
 Observations: BOLD
 Questionnaires: Bilingual Proficiency
Questionnnaire
 Teacher Rating Scale: SOLOM
 Make sure that you are familiar with how to produce CBM before you make your own informal measure of language assessment.

Factors When Interpreting
Language Proficiency Data
 Context of previous educational services and home literacy factors.
 Does child have CALP in L1?
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What type of bilingual education?
Does the child receive formal language instruction in
L1 outside of school?
 Compare the ELL with other ELLs
 CALP scores significantly different from language learning peers?
 Do teachers note any significant difference from language learning peers?
 Do you note during observations or informal testing any significant difference from language learning peers?

Factors When Interpreting
Language Proficiency Data
 Consistency of data across formal and informal measures
 If there is a difference, you need to find out why this occurs.
 Additional Caveats in Interpretation
 Dominance only shows if a child is better in tested aspects of language assessed and not child’s overall language skills.
 Just because a child is dominant in one language over another, this does not mean that the child has sufficient language skills to just test in that language.
 Presence or absence of an accent does not indicate proficiency or dominance. It just shows what age the learner picked up either language.

Group project: Pg. 149
 Examine the profiles on pg. 149.
 Which profiles will experience the most difficulties in school in the U.S.
 Which profiles will experience the most difficulty in school in the native country.
 Describe how one might develop into a child meeting the description of Profile 1.
 Describe how one might develop into a child meeting the description of Profile 8.

WMLS-R
Administration
WoodcockMuñoz
Language Survey-
Revised

WMLS-R: Overview
 Individually administered tests
 Provide broad sampling of proficency in oral language, language comprehension, reading, and writing.
 Forms:
 English: Form A
 English: Form B
 Spanish
 Normed on English and Spanish speakers
 35-45 min for all 7 tests; 15-20 for CALP

WMLS-R Coversheet

Selective Testing Table

Test 1: Picture Vocabulary
 Identify pictured objects
 Expressive semantic task at single-word level.
 Do not penalize for articulation, dialect, or regional speech differences.
 Test by complete pages until 6 lowest correct and 6 highest are incorrect

Test 1: Picture Vocabulary

Test 1: Picture Vocabulary

Test 1: Picture Vocabulary

Test 2: Verbal Analogies
 Listen to 3 words of an analogy and then complete the fourth word
 Example: a is to b and c is to ???
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Items may be repeated if requested by subject
Do not penalize for articulation, dialect, or regional speech differences.
 Correct if differs only in verb tense or number
(singular vs. plural).
 Incorrect if differs in that it changes part of speech (verb to noun).
 Test by until 6 lowest correct and 6 highest are incorrect (not complete pages)

Test 2: Verbal Analogies

Test 2: Verbal Analogies

Test 3: Letter-Word
Identification
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Identify presented single letters or single words.
You must know how to say all of these words before starting the test.
 If the subject does not read fluently (reads letterby-letter) ask for them to read it smoothly. If they continue to read it choppily, then count it wrong.
 Do not penalize for articulation, dialect, or regional speech differences.
 Do not penalize for articulation, dialect, or regional speech differences.
 Test by complete pages until 6 lowest correct and 6 highest are incorrect

Test 3: Letter-Word ID

Test 3: Letter-Word ID

Test 3: Letter-Word ID

Test 4: Dictation
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Asked to draw lines, write letters, and/or words.
You must know how to say all of these words before starting the test.
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Score each item as administered
Print is preferred, but you can accept cursive if you are sure it is correct.
Reversals are accepted that don’t change the letter (b to d).
 Tell subject to use both capital and small letters if only using upper case.
 Test by until 6 lowest correct and 6 highest are incorrect (not complete pages)

Test 4: Dictation

Test 4: Dictation

Test 4: Dictation

Test 5: Understanding
Directions
 Listen to instructions and follow directions by pointing to items in a colored picture.
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Present all items from the audio recorder
Pause the recording if child needs more time.
Do not repeat any items during test
You can present items orally to very young children and those with hearing problems that have difficulty with audio equipment.
 Basal: starting point is on pg. 111. Read cut-off scores to determine if child needs to go back to previous group
 Ceiling: stop when child meets at or below the cut-off score.

Test 6: Story Recall
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Recall stories they hear from the audio recording.
Pause after each story so can respond
Look away while audio is playing, look back expectantly when it is done.
Do not repeat any stories
Elements not in bold can be summarized, bold items most be given exactly. (alkjdfla / aldkfdl ).
Check mark over each element recalled correctly
You can present items orally to very young children and those with hearing problems that have difficulty with audio equipment.
Basal: starting point is on pg. 129. Read cut-off scores to determine if go back to previous group
Ceiling: stop when child meets at or below the cut-off score.

Test 7: Passage
Comprehension
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They should read the test passages silently. If read aloud, ask them to read silently. If continue aloud, just ignore it.
Do not tell any words on this test
If gives a 2 word response, ask for a 1-word response (unless 2 word response is listed as correct in the book)
Do not penalize for articulation, dialect, or regional speech differences.
Correct if differs only in verb tense or number
(singular vs. plural).
Incorrect if differs in that it changes part of speech
(verb to noun).
Test by complete pages until 5 lowest correct and 5 highest are incorrect

Group Project
 Review the WMLS-R printout found under the assignments tab.
 What is the CALP in each language?
 Is CALP better in one language or the other?
 Look at English Oral Language Composite.
 How can SS be 91 (avg) and CALP be 3-4?
Describe how you might explain this to someone else.
 What language do you test this child?