Assessing ELL Students:

 

Assessing ELL students involves focusing on the progress and process rather than the product. ELL students should not be evaluated based on norm-referenced criterion but rather on their personal progress in a particular area. When collecting evidence of student work, the teacher should use the process of triangulation. Triangulation means that teachers collect evidence from three different sources over time. The sources are: observation of process, conversations, and collection of products ("Making Classroom Assessment Work" by Anne Davies, 2011, p. 46). Below are just a few of many tools teachers can use to track ELL students' progress in preparation for evaluation.

Self-Assessment

Teachers can have ELL students complete self-assessments to evaluate content vocabulary and knowledge. One way this can be used is before a unit on a core subject and then again after. The pre-assessment will inform the teacher's instruction regarding how much he or she will need to scaffold the student. The post-assessment will inform the teacher how much the student has seemed to retain as well as give an opportunity for the ELL student him/herself to see how much he/she has progressed. This tool of self-assessment would primarily be considered as a conversation between the student and teacher if we were looking at the process of triangulation.

Audio Recordings

With parental permission, you should audio record the ELL student reading a book as well as informally having a conversation in English with you. This is a powerful tool because it allows the teacher to listen back and make evaluative judgements on the student's oral language. Audio recordings also allow the ELL student to listen back on him/herself so he/she can pinpoint areas of strength and need. The ELL student will notice whether their English oral language is sounding monotone and whether or not they're improving in their intonation, etc. By listening back on audio recordings collected over time, the ELL student could then conduct a self-assessment. Audio recordings are also a powerful tool because the recordings can be listened to by administration, the ELL specialist, the student's parents, and other key personnel involved with the student. When looking at the process of triangulation in assessment, audio recordings would be considered both a conversation and a collection of product.

Writing Portfolio/ Science Notebooks

Writing portfolios and science notebooks should be implemented as soon as possible. What's included in each can be student-chosen, teacher-chosen, or a mixture of both. For example, the student may choose writing samples of theirs that they're proud of and want to include. The teacher may ask the student to include certain items because he/she sees how much it demonstrates the student's progress.

 

 

Writing portfolios/science notebooks are a great way to keep the majority of the ELL student's writing in one easy-to-access place. Both the teacher and the student can track progress and improvement. The student's journal also gives them something to be proud of. As far as the process of triangulation goes, portfolios and notebooks are a collection of products. Students can show their portfolio or notebook at student-led conferences as well.

 

Teachers could also implement a journal for the ELL student where they can participate in free-topic writing. The teacher would then read the entry and respond with a question to keep it going. This would be a conversation between the teacher and student and helps to build a relationship and skills in knowing how to read and respond to questions.