Assessing an ESL Student

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Assessing an ESL Student A Working Example Follow this assessment to get an idea of where to begin, what to consider, and how to implement a solution.

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Meet Tania

T

ania wants to learn English.

She recently moved to the US and now lives in Mississippi. Her first language is Spanish. She needs to increase her language skills for her career, friendships, and a better way of life. The question is:

case in point.

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HOW?

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Where do we begin?

How can we help Tania?

What are we shooting for?

What are her dreams?

What are her goals?

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From an online video we first learned about Tania

a starting point In order to understand where you need to go, first you need to know where you are.

Initial Observations Language Differences There are many differences between Spanish and English.

Perhaps she is not yet aware of many of the common differences.

Prepositions These are one of the more difficult word groups for learners. Tania exhibits limited use of them.

BE verb

Making Questions

Being one of our most common verbs, she needs a bit more practice with this.

She needs to practice formulating questions because their style is different than statements.

Pronunciation

Vocabulary

One of her biggest areas she needs to improve in.

Expanding her word choice is a must.

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we need more RESEARCH INFO

INVESTIGATE PLANNING

INSIGHT

UNDERSTANDING

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Additional Formal & Informal Assessment Measures The video gave some information about Tania but more is needed to help her.

Data to be Collected

Method of Collecting It

Aspirations (Goals,Ideals, Feelings)

Informal Interview

Background (Education, Family, Interests) Acculturation Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) Overall Language Proficiency

Informal Interview Informal Interview Woodcock-Mu単oz Language SurveyRevised (WMLS-R) Short Questionaire Like the QIA

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Connecting Tania with her dream The goal is to empower her to rea improving her English skills.

T

he use of Sp anish and English while conduc ting our informal inter view pro cess will b e the difference in gaining great informa tion to help Tanya and m e dio cre f indings . Q ues tions will b e aim e d at her go als for the f uture but

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also ab out her daily life. We want to uncover how she lives and how we c an incorp orate more of the US culture into her life. T his will he lp emp ower her to b e com e f re e to pur sue her dreams conf idently on her ow n .

Why & How

ms is of utmost priority. ach her dreams by

F

ormal assessment tes t s are not ver y pleas ant but they are ne cess ar y. H owever, the use of formal tes t s is as a supplement al to ol that should b e and in this c ase will b e use d to round out the information we gather f rom

our inter v iews . T hese tes t s will he lp show Tania‘s general langua ge prof icienc y and do so in a way that gives us a clue ab out how much k nowle dge she gaine d f rom her prev ious e duc ation .

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Creating a Continuous Assessment Strategy

Initial Assessment Based on a Youtube video

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Further Testing

Informal Interviews and Formal Tests

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B

ecause learning a second language has no f inite ending, the assessment of Tania and the planning of her lessons needs to be continuous. How do we deal with this?

Examine the Findings

Create a System for Continuous Improvement

What did the informal and formal information show us?

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Portfolio Building

The Wheels of Continuous Assessment Research

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ntegrating Tania in a comfortable US lifestyle where she is learning on her own through everyday life activities is our goal. Through this her other dreams will follow. We would use primarily Performance-Based Assessment activities in the classroom to tie practical grammar to real-life situations. This allows the teacher to assess as they teach and engages the student in more hands-on lessons. To supplement that idea we would build a portfolio of meaningful material that would count toward her ambitions and interests. Thus, our approach allows the teacher to gain valuable information to adapt future lessons to Tania‘s needs while giving her a quality lesson based on acquiring the real life skills needed for the things she desires.

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Grammar

Performance-Based Assessments

Build

Roleplay Real Life

Learn Brainstorming Retelling Stories Giving Directions

Evaluate

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applied learning.

Assessing an ESL Student A Working Example Follow this assessment to get an idea of where to begin, what to consider, and how to implement a solution.