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They must then select the appropriate assessment tool specifically designed to obtain thatinformation.In recent years, most ESL or bilingual educators have taken a stronger or weaker form of theposition that language cannot be “taught.” Rather, its acquisition can only be facilitated. What isimportant, then, is not discrete grammar or vocabulary but communicative competence.Individual educators may make up their own minds on this point. However, our definition oflanguage proficiency shows that effective communication happens with command of alanguage’s grammar and vocabulary, and spoken or written representations of them, whetherthey can be explicitly taught or not. It is also important to remember that current educationalreform movements set standards for writing, and correct use of English conventions figuresprominently in those standards. English-language learners may produce well-organized andinteresting writing, but they will likely be penalized for the kinds of errors that stem fromincomplete command of English’s linguistic rules.Five SuggestionsBefore considering the various instruments and strategies available for assessing languageproficiency, five suggestions are offered that may affect how they are used. First, many of theseinstruments—even ones that have quite specific instructions for the examiner—rely to an extenton the examiner’s personal judgment in scoring an item right or wrong or assigning a rating.Remember that a fair test is not necessarily one on which the student can perform well and get ahigh score; a fair test is one that accurately assesses a student, providing a score that reasonablyrepresents the student’s true ability. In individually administered tests, there’s often a temptationto prompt the student, to give credit for being “in the ballpark,” or to say, based on otherinteractions with the student, “I know he really knows that.” This attempt to be “fair” can in factpenalize the student by failing to identify him or her for needed services. Follow establishedtesting procedures as rigorously as possible. Otherwise, the test may not give a true reading, andwill mean different things for different students, undermining the purpose for giving the test tobegin with. Second, several of the instruments or procedures have other-language forms or caneasily be adapted for other languages besides English. It is useful to assess students’ abilities intheir native language, especially when the alternative program has the capability to providenative-language instruction and development.The fact that a student with a home language other than English is limited in English does notmean that student is proficient in the home language. The student may profit from additionalnative-language development. In some cases, it may be that the student’s English, thoughlimited, is stronger than the home language. Two students, testing at the same level in Englishand with the same native language, may be candidates for different kinds of program servicesdepending on the strength of their native language.Third, do not rely on one instrument to meet all needs. Select a variety of instruments orstrategies for the most complete picture of a given student or a group of students. Instrumentsthat work well for initial identification and program exit may not be useful in helping a teacherplan for a given class of students or for individualizing instruction. Similarly, instruments thatprovide rich individual information may not lend themselves to aggregation for programevaluation or to communicating progress to a public audience. And sometimes an instrumentgives information that doesn’t match other sources of information. If a student tests as LEP on anEnglish proficiency test but reads and writes English as effectively as monolingual Englishspeakinggrade mates, the latter information might override the test score.© 2008 Dr. Catherine CollierAll Rights Reserved148
Fourth, ESL and bilingual program staff should enlist the support of the district’s testingspecialists.Initial identification and annual progress assessment especially should be integrated into thedistrict’s broader assessment program. It is a mistake to leave ESL and bilingual testing solely tothe personnel assigned to that program. Appropriate services for LEP students, includingidentification and monitoring, are the district’s legal responsibility. Integration helpsinstitutionalize that responsibility. Also, ESL and bilingual program staff may not have thetechnical expertise needed to interpret and report testing data. For example, some tests providedifferent kinds of scores—such as level scores, scale scores, and percentiles—which areanalyzed and reported in unique ways. The district’s testing specialists should be involved in theanalysis, interpretation, and reporting of program wide data.Fifth, make sure all educational personnel who serve LEP students understand the implicationsof the assessment results and what limited English proficiency means. It does not mean thestudent lacks innate ability or cannot learn. In many cases, it does not mean the student is not atgrade level; many LEP8 students have records of academic success, but they cannot demonstratetheir knowledge in English. The student’s identification as LEP simply means the student needshelp in acquiring English proficiency and should be taught in ways that account for his or herlinguistic differences.Instruments for Assessing Language ProficiencyThis discussion of language proficiency assessment instruments concentrates on Englishproficiency assessment because that is the one constant in all ESL and bilingual educationprograms. Some of the instruments have non-English forms, and some can easily be adapted toother languages. Implications and applications for other languages are discussed in the context ofeach instrument. Many more instruments exist than are listed here. The tests selected forinclusion in this paper illustrate the matching of tests to various purposes, represent differentapproaches to language assessment, and are commonly used among ESL or bilingual programsin the Northwest. Unfortunately, instruments for assessing language proficiency do not lendthemselves to any logical taxonomy. It would be very helpful to say, “These are the instrumentsto assess oral proficiency; here are pragmatic, integrative tests of communicative competence;this list contains discrete-point tests that isolate problematic grammar; this test is appropriate forelementary school program placement, that one for secondary schools.” In real life, theinstruments spill over across categories and imperfectly fit others, so this discussion willconsider each instrument in turn and discuss what it assesses, how it is scored, and how it can beused to answer questions about students’ language abilities.This discussion is not intended to prepare the reader to administer the instruments, nor toevaluate their technical quality, nor to corroborate or dispute their claims. For publishedinstruments, technical or examiner manuals are available to provide technical data and detailedinstructions on administration, scoring, and interpretation. Readers who are interested in aspecific instrument should request additional information from the publisher and determine forthemselves whether it suits their programs. In some cases, examples are given of how a test’sdata can be reported. Those examples are not necessarily unique to that test. For example, if anexample is given of the reporting of NCE data, that example could apply to any test that yieldsthat kind of score.© 2008 Dr. Catherine CollierAll Rights Reserved149
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"Those who arrive by age 12 or 13 m
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Article I.2 Are Signed Languages "R
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Biological analyses of the status o
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and beyond, speaking and signing ch
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Conclusion: Are Signed Languages Re
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Article I.3 The Interpreter: Has a
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A few weeks earlier, I had called F
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“We struggled even getting to the
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herself by strapping a cassette rec
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In 1998, after nine years as the ch
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momentary burst of excitement that
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can shape core grammar. Because the
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The authors compared animal and hum
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monkey moved. He followed it with h
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delight, fear, laughter, and surpri
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Piipaío in a hut: Pirahã huts typ
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LEP students, and equitable organiz
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4. Second language development crea
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curriculum or "teaching to the test
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portfolio work was scanned and stor
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experiences of many groups of stude
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While not disagreeing that interpre
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sound educational practice, however
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arises from the efforts to abstract
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Article II.2 Cross-Cultural Communi
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males who can serve as positive rol
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Understanding another culture is a
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Pets and AnimalsWhich animals are v
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to teach standard English is reflec
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Asking personal questions of a pers
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Using Cross Cultural Communication
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Why Do Nonstandard English-Speaking
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Before beginning to teach standard
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• Negative attitudes toward low p
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New standardized tests and assessme
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Each of the behaviors listed above
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Article II.3 Hard Work Hypothesis:
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each point higher in SES, students
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This case does not provide strong s
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Article II.4 Language Acquisition a
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1992, p. XI). These researchers, wh
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comprehend a word within a specific
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more to the truthfulness of the chi
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This idea of “semilingualism” c
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Article III.1 A Brief Description o
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take different lengths of time to c
Page 97 and 98: example, should involve the same co
Page 99 and 100: As with all stages of BICS acquisit
Page 101 and 102: Assessment techniques at stage 3 ca
Page 103 and 104: different. Therefore, the social di
Page 105: integrative motivation. Basically,
Page 109 and 110: (Ellis, 1985; Hakuta, 1986). Howeve
Page 111 and 112: that sociocultural processes have o
Page 113 and 114: Article III.3 How Children Acquire
Page 115 and 116: phonetic units (unique to signed la
Page 117 and 118: Article III.4 Toward a Sociocultura
Page 119 and 120: emember is that the fundamental goa
Page 121 and 122: The best practices models can be th
Page 123 and 124: By focusing on the dialectic betwee
Page 125 and 126: intergenerational wisdom shared by
Page 127 and 128: Daily Realities RecappedThe above v
Page 129 and 130: traditions. At a time in our histor
Page 131 and 132: We will now look at two examples of
Page 133 and 134: Speakers communicate fluently, main
Page 135 and 136: question the effects of such attitu
Page 137 and 138: Article IV.3 Culture Change: Effect
Page 139 and 140: and psychological characteristics o
Page 141 and 142: Contraryto what wewere expecting, t
Page 143 and 144: Article V.1 Assessment in ESL & Bil
Page 145 and 146: vocabulary does the student lack?Is
Page 147: whether they are LEP and to provide
Page 151 and 152: competent reader/writer. All versio
Page 153 and 154: Table 1Comparison of Recent Accultu
Page 155 and 156: unilinear model, which measures the
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Page 159 and 160: Article V.3 Assessment of English L
Page 161 and 162: 8. Change answers only for a very g
Page 163 and 164: Riles, 1979; Jose P. v Ambac, 1983)
Page 165 and 166: proficiency is often underestimated
Page 167 and 168: Finally, when second language reade
Page 169 and 170: for their decisions, noting issues
Page 171 and 172: As mentioned above, when the transi
Page 173 and 174: ather than generic adjectives and t
Page 175 and 176: their imagined points of view. Ther
Page 177 and 178: English texts and demonstrate progr
Page 179: using inter-district teams). In the
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