Assessing English Language Learners: A Perplexing Puzzle

2008 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 45-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margo Gottlieb ◽  
Cristina Sanchez-Lopez
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Full Complement

Abstract The intersection of language education and special education is not clearly marked for linguistically and culturally diverse students; some qualify as English language learners; others as English language learners with disabilities or specific language impairment; still others with only disabilities or specific language impairment. It is often perplexing to try to decipher which category is most appropriate and, consequently, how best to serve these students. Assessment data, if reliable and valid, coupled with historical information, can help define the pathway to educational success for the fastest growing segment of our school population. This article shares the challenges facing educators of English language learners and attempts to show how proper assessment can guide educational decision making. We pose that for English language learners, assessment must entail the gathering of information from multiple sources on their language proficiency and academic achievement in both English and their native language. In that way, we obtain a comprehensive portrait of the students' full complement of knowledge and skills. Ultimately, English as a Second Language or bilingual teachers working along with speech-language pathologists need to collaborate in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data to afford English language learners optimal opportunities for success in school.

Flipgrid for Developing and Assessing English Language Learners' Speaking Skills

2022 ◽  
pp. 96-113
Author(s):  
Zeynep Çetin Köroğlu ◽  
Özlem Utku Bilici
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Lesson Plan ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Language Classes ◽  
Speaking Skills

Foreign language speaking skills as productive skills are considered one of the concrete shreds of evidence for language proficiency. For this reason, teaching and measuring foreign language speaking skills ability has great importance for all levels of education. Especially with the developing technology, there are various educational tools for teaching and measuring speaking skills in a foreign language. In the present study, the application of Flipgrid will be introduced and examined as one of these tools, and accordingly, a lesson plan will be prepared showing how the tool can be used in foreign language classes. It is thought that the current study will contribute to teachers' professional developments who are working in the field of foreign language education, to teacher educators, and to students who learn English as a foreign language.

Children's Nonword Repetition Tasks and English Language Learners

2010 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 73-79
Author(s):  
Sara C. Steele ◽  
Deborah A. Hwa-Froelich
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
English Language ◽  
Nonword Repetition ◽  
Adopted Children ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Bilingual Speakers ◽  
Internationally Adopted Children ◽  
English Speaking

Nonword repetition performance has been shown to differentiate monolingual English-speaking children with language impairment (LI) from typically developing children. These tasks have been administered to monolingual speakers of different languages and to simultaneous and sequential bilingual English Language Learners (ELLs) with mixed results. This article includes a review of the nonword repetition performance of monolingual and bilingual speakers and of internationally adopted children. Clinical implications for administration and interpretation of nonword repetition task outcomes are included.

scholarly journals THE SIOP MODEL AS AN EMPOWERING TEACHING METHOD FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS - A STUDY CASE

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mustapha Boughoulid
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language ◽  
Teaching Method ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Educational Systems ◽  
Quasi Experimental

The increase in the needs of the English language learners (ELLs) and their endless demands in terms of achievement and proficiency in all the educational systems all over the world urged teachers and educators to call for new teaching strategies that sound more adequate and appropriate in the classroom. The Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) Model emerged as one of the worldwide prominent teaching methods that guarantee the ELLs success, especially when it has to do with the understanding of the content and language learning meanwhile. With its diverse culture and prominent engagement in terms of education, Morocco represents a fertile field for the implementation of the SIOP Model that has proven in different contexts its adequacy in helping ELLs achieve proficiency. This study is about a quasi-experimental research that is implemented in an urban school known for its diversification in terms of mother tongue, socio-economic status, gender, and background. Given these different circumstances of the learners, the findings reported after the adoption of the SIOP Model as a teaching approach showed that it is a reliable and adequate teaching method in terms of content and language proficiency. The use of wh-questions as key indicators to measure the learners’ capacity of understanding and responding correctly throughout the experiment phase showed the superiority of the ELLs in the SIOP classes in contrast to the learners in the mainstream classes. This superiority is embodied, especially in terms of the high scores obtained in providing correct answers in a short duration of time. <p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0726/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

English Language Learners and the Response to Intervention Model

2015 ◽  
pp. 198-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Christine Higgins
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Response To Intervention ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
English Language ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Speech And Language Impairment ◽  
Rti Model ◽  
Research Based Interventions

English language learners (ELLs) are often misdiagnosed as having a learning disability or speech and language impairment and as a result are placed into special education programs. Response to Intervention (RTI) is a framework that can reduce this misdiagnosis and help these learners achieve more over time. This chapter explains how some of this misdiagnosis occurs and how to use Response to Intervention with the ELL population to overcome this problem. It includes research-based interventions proven to work for this population, suggestions on how to implement an RTI model, and case studies of students who represent situations that often come up in the field. With successful implementation of an RTI program, it is hoped that all students will receive the targeted support that they need and deserve.

Beyond morphosyntax in developing bilinguals and “specific” language impairment

2010 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 303-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Kohnert ◽  
Kerry Danahy Ebert
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Dual Language ◽  
Processing Capacity ◽  
Primary Language ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Behavioral Profile ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Primary Language Impairment

In the Keynote Article, “The Interface Between Bilingual Development and Specific Language Impairment,” Johanne Paradis considers issues and evidence at the intersection of children learning two languages and primary or specific language impairment (SLI). The review focuses on morphosyntactic evidence and the fit of this evidence with maturational (domain-specific) and limited processing capacity (LPC; domain-general) theories of language impairment. We agree with Paradis that studies that systematically and simultaneously investigate the behavioral profile of dual-language learners and children with language impairment are of significant theoretical and practical value. In our commentary we aim to broaden the behavioral profile to be considered in these populations, beyond the level of morphosyntax. In line with this aim we use the term primary language impairment (PLI) for the same population referred to as SLI by Paradis.

Preferences for Verb Interpretation in Children With Specific Language Impairment

1994 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 182-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donna J. Kelly ◽  
Mabel L. Rice
Keyword(s):  
Old Age ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
State Activity ◽  
Interpretation Biases ◽  
Change Of State ◽  
Verb Categories

This study examined initial preferences for verb interpretation by children with specific language impairment (SLI), MLU-matched children, and age-matched children. Each child watched motion and change-of-state activity scenes on videotape and was then asked to point to the scene that depicted a novel verb, thereby indicating a preferred interpretation. The children were also asked to label the same activity scenes on a second tape. The findings indicated that the 5-year-old age-matched children exhibited a significant verb interpretation preference for the change-of-state scenes, whereas the children with specific language impairment and their 3-year-old MLU-matched peers did not have an interpretation preference for either the motion or change-of-state scenes. The children’s labeling of the activity scenes yielded findings that further supported group differences on the two semantic verb categories. The findings suggest that children’s initial verb interpretation biases vary relative to age and language proficiency.

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