Good Afternoon,
I am a current student enrolled in a service learning class, where I was given the opportunity to do one on one English lessons with a Somali refugee. In the beginning, an individual from the organization for which I am service learning, performed an assessment on the new student to determine her literacy level. From this assessment, she concluded that the student was pre-illerate and I needed to start with the basics; however, during my first lesson with the student I found out that she was actually literate, while she was by no means advanced, she was able to read the alphabet, read simple words etc., the assessment done by the organization wasn't really accurate. She had asked the students a series of questions such as show me a pen, or what time is it etc., which the student kinda answered but I'm guessing other factors such as nerves and unfamiliarity with the situation played a part in her responses. So, I was basically wondering, are assessments like these common in the ESL community? If not, are there any suggestions on ways to accurately assess new students literacy level especially for students with backgrounds such as refugees and immigrants where information in regards to previous schooling is not provided.
Comments
Our literacy program uses the New Reader's Press ESLOA assessment, and like you I also have been rather skeptical about how much useful information it actually provides. Data are not suited to any kind of analysis, and more than anything the process simply frightens new learners. As for determining their English proficiency level, it seems to me that the results don't tell tutors anything they don't figure out in their first session anyway--similar to your experience. I have suggested omitting an initial assessment altogether but apparently not doing so is considered herectical to some professionals in the field.
I would agree with you somewhat on scraping the initial assessments altogether; however, I think it's a good to know what you're starting with. If teachers are not aware of the literacy level or what the students know, it might be redundant for students and lower their motivation to learn. On the other hand, if not carried out correctly, assessments can be seen as inefficient and also scare the students. I see your point though.
Good Afternoon Chanelle,
You asked, “…are there any suggestions on ways to accurately assess new students literacy level especially for students with backgrounds such as refugees and immigrants where information in regards to previous schooling is not provided.” Kudos for a well-written question! It is wonderful that you have been able to determine that your student is actually able to read and write.
If, in the future you need an assessment tool for determining if a student can read or write in his or her language, the Florida Department of Education has a Native Language Screening (NLS) at http://www.fldoe.org/academics/career-adult-edu/adult-edu/resources.stml.
The NLS is available in 29 languages. A Scoring Manual is also provided, with instructions for scoring. The purpose of the NLS is to determine if a student is/is not able to read and write in his or her native language. It is one page, with a few simple questions to read and to provide a written response. Somali is not available at the time, unfortunately, but perhaps you can find someone to translate/transcribe it for you. The English version is written at the Low Beginning ESL level.
It starts with 5 one-word prompts asking students for their name, home country, address, telephone, and date of birth. It continues with 4 multi-word prompts, such as: Where were you born? In what year did you come to the United States? How many years did you go to school in your country? It finishes with a prompt asking students to write about their family.
A list of observable behaviors is provided as a guide, such as: facial and body language cues indicating frustration and/or lack of understanding; holding the pen or pencil incorrectly, awkwardly, or too tightly; placing the paper upside down or at an awkward angle, etc. The actual score is based on a rubric with specific indicators, such as: letters are all upper case or all lower case; slant forward and backward; sit above, under or cover the lines; are all strung together with no separation, or are placed far apart from each other.
The FDOE Adult ESOL Program also has a three-level curriculum to teach literacy skills (how to read and write) in English. The web link for the curriculum is http://www.fldoe.org/academics/career-adult-edu/adult-edu/2015-2016-adult-edu-curriculum-framewo.stml. The name of the course is “Adult ESOL Literacy Skills.” It starts at the very beginning and ends with the student being able to read and write to the level of entering Level 1 or 2 of ESL. It covers content skill areas, starting with sound discrimination, then reading, writing, listening and speaking. It also has some of the main life skill areas such as communication, health and nutrition, transportation and travel, and employment.
To give credit where it is due, the initial NLS was developed by The Hudson River Center for Program Development, Glenmont, NY, and was published by the State Education Department of New York in 1998 (1999?). A task force of ESL teachers and program directors in Florida adapted it for use with students in their programs, and also wrote the Adult ESOL Literacy curriculum.
One additional resource: LESLLA, Low Educated Second Language and Literacy Acquisition for adults, is an international group of language researchers that has resources for teachers. Their website is www.leslla.org. (Note: Their next conference will be held on November 11-13, in St. Augustine, Florida.)
Phil Anderson, Adult ESL Program, Florida Department of Education
These are helpful resources, Phil. I may just make use of the Native Language Screening tool!
I really like this assessment. I like that it takes different factors into consideration and it builds from one word questions to more complex questions. This is definitely an assessment I will try next time. Thanks for the suggestion.
Hi Chanelle and everyone,
I teach adult ESL classes and do program administration at the same time for an adult literacy program. That program teaches both adult basic literacy skills as well as ESL. We use the QRI, the Qualitative Reading Inventory, to assess all of our incoming students. The QRI starts out easy and gets more difficult, and it works well as a pretty accurate literacy assessment for the vast majority of our students. It falls down if we get a student who is learning English as another language, as it is designed for native American English speakers and only assesses the reading comprehension level of the student. It does not assess their knowledge or capability. So, when an adult student with a college degree assesses at level 3 (grade level equivalent), it only means they do not yet have the more advanced vocabulary needed to read and comprehend at a higher grade level. Hope this helps!
Jill
Hi Chanelle,
How timely! I'm working on pulling together some information and resources to do L1 assessment at the moment.
Heide Spruck Wrigley and Larry Condelli used authentic texts and L1 text for literacy assessment as part of a national study. The Reading Demonstration video is a helpful tool for thinking about what to include in an L2 literacy assessment and what to look for as the learner reads to you. The video also includes L1 text as part of the assessment.
The Australian Department of Education has published a report on a pilot bilingual Adult Literacy class for Dinka speakers, along with a Dinka Literacy Assessment Tool and a series of short stories about famous people in Dinka.
There's also a series of short stories in Hatian Creole. One of these might work well with the assessment in the Reading Demonstration video.
All the best with this and let us know how it goes!
Theresa Wall
Great questions, Chanelle, and lots of great answers too. I think you hit on an important factor around assessment which is nerves and/or test anxiety. At our agency, refugees are generally seen about week or two after they've been resettled. It can be a stressful time, they're getting settled in their new homes, being taken all over the city by bus, trying to absorb lots of new information and then they have to 'take a test'. It's high stress and high stakes for them. So yes, assessments aren't always accurate. I've had students who won't speak during a test (we use BEST Plus and BEST Literacy) and then come into class and once they're comfortable starting speaking some English. Same with writing. You may find that you have to do some of your own informal assessments in class to see what they know and can do. The person giving the assessment may have assumed the student was pre-literate based on the fact she was from Somalia but not everyone from Somalia is pre-literate. Here's a reminder of L1 literacy categories:
Literacy in the First (Native) Language
Huntley (1992) describes four types of literacy in the first language (L1) that affect English literacy development and should be considered in adult ESL literacy instruction: preliterate, nonliterate, semiliterate, and non-Roman alphabet literate. Birch (2002) adds to these types nonalphabet literate. Birch and others (Hilferty, 1996; Strucker, 2002) add Roman alphabet literate. These six types of L1 literacy and their impact on English language learners' development of English language literacy are discussed here in the sections on Limited Literate Learners and Literate Learners.
Limited Literate Learners
Preliterate learners come from cultures where literacy is uncommon in everyday life because the language is not written, has only recently been written, or is being developed. For example, most Bantu people of Somalia are preliterate in their native Af-Maay because it has been codified for just a short time (Van Lehman & Eno, 2002). Preliterate English language learners often have had little or no exposure to written text and may not be aware of the purposes of literacy in everyday life. Traditionally, literacy instruction for preliterate learners builds on their oral language knowledge and is supported by oral language activities (Carroll, 1999). Preliterate learners generally progress slowly in literacy and other language instruction and require re-teaching of skills and concepts (Robson, 1982; Strucker, 2002). Some who never attended school as children may be unfamiliar with school culture and its attendant behaviors and expectations.
Nonliterate learners come from cultures where literacy is available, but they have not had access to literacy instruction, often because of their socioeconomic status. For example, some adult learners from Central America may not know how to read or write in their native Spanish because of disrupted schooling due to war and poverty. These learners have probably had some exposure to written language and may have a greater awareness of the value and uses of literacy than preliterate learners. These learners may be reluctant to disclose their limited literacy background in class, and instruction with them may proceed slowly. They may learn classroom content more slowly than other learners, because they cannot make full use of textbooks, other printed materials, and class notes for review. However, they are often highly motivated to learn.
Semiliterate learners usually have had access to literacy in their native culture, but because of their socioeconomic status or educational situation, they have not achieved a high level of literacy in their native language. Like nonliterate learners, they may have left school at a young age for economic or political reasons, as was the case with many Southeast Asian refugees and Central American immigrants in the 1970s and 1980s (Holt, 1995; Ranard & Pfleger, 1995).
from http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/digests/reading.html Reading and Adult English Language Learners: The Role of the First Language
Miriam Burt and Joy Peyton
National Center for ESL Literacy Education
February, 2003
In terms of materials to use take a look at this site:
The ESL Literacy Network has a series of Readers that were developed to align with the Canadian Language Benchmarks for Literacy Learners. They’re available for Phase I and II ESL Literacy learners at six levels. There’s also a guide that offers suggestions for using the readers (though no ready-made materials).They’ve also audio recorded them for online use. (http://esl.bowvalleycollege.ca/student_readers/index.html)