How Do You Appropriately Assess English Language

Learners? Integrating Voxopop Into Classroom

Assessment

Sarah H. Shipley Department of Educational Studies

St. Mary’s College of Maryland shshipley@smcm.edu

  Lin Muilenburg Ph.D.

Department of Educational Studies St. Mary's College of Maryland

lymuilenburg@smcm.edu

English Language Learners in America

•  Rapidly increasing population in the United States (Genessee, Lindholm-Leary, Saunders & Christian, 2005; Hill & Flynn, 2006) • According to the 2000 census •  9 Million US children speak a language other than

English at home

•  By 2030 ELLs will make up 40% of the American school population (Flynn & Hill, 2005)

Stages of Language Development Stage Characteristics:

The Student… Approximate Time

Frame

Preproduction •  Has little comprehension •  Does not verbalize •  Nods “yes” and “no”

0-6 months

Early Production •  Has limited comprehension

•  Produces on or two word responses

6 months- 1 year

Speech Emergence •  Can produce simple sentences

•  Makes Grammatical and punctuation errors

1-3 years

Intermediate Fluency •  Has very good comprehension

•  Makes few grammatical errors

3-5 years

Advanced Fluency •  Near-Native speech production

5-7 years

Adapted from: Hill & Flynn, 2006

How ELLs Test Best

•  Oral language is acquired before writing or reading skills.

•  If you give a student in the Early Production stage a written test they would fail. But if you sat down with that student and orally asked them questions they would orally be able to answer your questions. Because at the Early Production stage students can take in oral language and give a one to two word response to a question.

•  Problem: We know that testing orally is time consuming, and is not as valid (readers intonation and emotion can give away answers) etc.

Voxopop

•  Free online e-Learning tool that functions much like a message board; however, instead of posting text your posts are voice recordings.

•  The site allows the teacher to post a written as well as an oral question and then the students can respond orally and have their answer recorded on the site for later playback and listening by the teacher.

Voxopop

•  www.voxopop.com

Voxopop

Voxopop

Voxopop

Voxopop

•  Simple technology to integrate into your classroom

•  Also use if you want your students to record a speech and then their peers could listen to them and give them oral feedback.

•  Could also be used in foreign language classrooms for assessment since these students acquire a second language in the same way ELLs do

References •  Abedi, J., Hofsetter, C. H., & Lord, C. (2004). Assessment accommodations for English language learners: Implications for policy-

based empirical research. Review of Educational Research, 79(1), 1-28. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3516059

•  Figueroa, R. A., & Newsome, P. (2006). The diagnosis of LD in English learners: Is it nondiscriminatory?. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 39(3), 206-214.

•  Genessee, F., Lindholm-Leary, K., Saunders, W., & Christian, D. (2005). English language learners in U.S. schools: Overview of research findings. Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, 10(4), 363-385.

•  Harry, B., & Klingner, J. K. (2005). Why Are So Many Minority Students in Special Education?: Understanding Race & Disability in Schools. Teachers College Press.

•  Flynn, K. & Hill, Jl (2005). English language learners: A growing population. Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning, 1-11 Retrieved from http://www.mcrel.org/pdf/policybriefs/5052pi_pbenglishlanguagelearners.pdf.

•  Hill, J. D., & Flynn, K. M. (2006). Classroom Instruction that Works with English Language Learners. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

•  Horwitz, E. K. (2008). Becoming a language teacher: A Practical Guide to Second Language Learning and Teaching. Pearson.

•  Oxford, R. (2006). Effects of technology-enhanced language learning on second language composition. Hispania, 89(2), 358-361. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/20063313 .

•  Solano-Flores, G., & Trumbull, E. (2003). Examining language in context: The need for new research and practice paradigms in the testing of English-language learners. Educational Researcher, 32(2) 3-13. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3700051.