cm's - Butler and OMalley

Butler, F.A. & Stevens, R. (2001). Standardized assessment of the content knowledge of English language learners’ k-12: Current trends and old dilemmas. Language Testing, 18 (4), 409-427. Los Angeles, CA.

Accountability plays a major role in standardized assessment. The complexities of testing outcomes that arise among students whose second language is English are examined in the article. This includes the concept of ‘high stakes’ in relation to decision-making for all students, including students who are limited English speakers. Approaches such as accommodations are discussed. The need for more research on standardized content assessments are also discussed as well as suggestions for alternative approaches.

I thought this article was informative as far as standardized assessment and approaches as well as accommodations for English as second language learners. I found the section on “Opportunity to learn” (OTL) interesting. The fact that our country is vast and each subgroup of students are not the same in many respects makes OTL, rather than language, a barrier to higher achievement. Accountability issues arise on account of these barriers.

I have often wondered how and if such Yup’ik standardized assessment would one day become a reality. Accountability issues as mentioned in the article would probably arise. And who would be the stakeholders? Our state and national leaders would probably oppose such an endeavor on account of expenses.

O’Malley Pierce. (1996) Content assessment. Authentic assessment for English language learners: Practical approaches for teachers. 163-199.

Language and content integration activities are discussed in this chapter. Approaches to authentic assessment in content areas such as mathematics, science, and social studies are presented in different ways. Procedures for self-assessment and peer evaluation are discussed and instructional uses of assessment in content areas described. Suggested rubrics are also given for classroom teachers.

I was somewhat surprised that some states allow exemptions from testing for ELL students on account of possible low test scores. It’s almost frustrating and unfortunate that fear of test scores become like forms of embarrassment and not as tools to help schools build a learning environment conducive for students who come to school.

It makes sense that appropriate content instruction helps immensely in language learning. When they talk about integrated language and content instruction it reminds me of SIOP instruction. It’s great that there are researchers out there who want to help make education worthwhile for second language learners. I wonder how much academic learning we (my high school year peers) would have had. I think it would be interesting to find a comparative result of certain test scores…maybe like ACT, of earlier days to students who were exposed to integrated instruction.

Peregoy

Peregoy, Chapter 10 Reading Assessment and Instruction.

This article describes reading assessment in terms of inventory of informal reading and information on consideration of oral language, reading and writing to aide in instructional strategies. It talks about theoretical approach to literacy assessment where the teacher’s values placed on reading play an important role. The article goes on to describing proficiency in language where speaking and reading or writing determines the oral and written communication skill levels of language learners.

I thought this article did a good job of explaining what goes on in the reading process of English learners. It was interesting also when the author described decoding skills in relation to meaning. Expressions such as “barking at print” caught my attention because it’s what some of my students do when they read word by word without really catching on to the meaning of the phrase or sentence. I also thought the article did a great job of explaining the role of prior knowledge and how it affects the meaning brought on by the reader. As teachers we really need to take that into consideration, especially when we deal with a diverse group of students.

Chapter 6 O'Malley Pierce

O’Malley, Pierce. Authentic Assessment For English Language Learners. Chapter 6.

Authentic assessment on writing assessment brings out two important aspects: self-assessment and peer assessment. This chapter describes nearly everything about writing, from the role of the writer to the nature of writing task and includes samples of scoring rubrics.

I found this chapter to be well worth reading. It brought on new perspectives for my own classroom and it also brought questions for me as a teacher. Writing has never really been strong area for nearly most of my students, especially boys. I wonder if there’s research out there about young boys and writing. It seems there’s always at least two or three boys who, no matter what tasks you bring out, never like to write. Some times I’d have to sit next to the student and encourage/prod and praise with ideas.

The area that I think we lack in our writing lies in self-assessment and peer assessment. As I read on I wondered to myself, again about those who don’t really like to write, how they would fair in writing a self-reflection or peer evaluation. All the ideas sound great, but in reality, some times we run into problematic areas, but at the end, the challenge lies in the teacher finding writing tasks that are interesting and fun.