Inquiry Question: How do I asses assignments and tests to accommodate English language learners (ELL’s) in an English classroom setting?
Why I chose the topic of ELL Assessment
My inquiry question arose during an observation of an English class, which included a mix of English first language and ELL speakers. The students were giving oral presentations and were required to present their silent reading books to the class. The students who were English first language seemed to have no difficulty speaking for the maximum of three minutes. Some had trouble with timing and some lacked eye contact, nevertheless these students were still able to present their thoughts to the class in a clear and coherent manner. When it came time for the first ELL student to give their presentation, the student stood and read directly from a paper, giving no eye contact with the other students. The student was clearly very nervous but it also came apparent that the text was not theirs. The student struggled to pronounce certain words and coherently form sentences that they should have been able to if it had been written in their own words. Another ELL student gave their oral presentation in what seemed to be their own words, although their speech was very disjointed and lacked basic grammar skills.
After class, I questioned the teacher on their choice of assessment for the students. The teacher was adamant on grading every student in the same manner, making no “exceptions” for the ELL students because they had “graduated” from the ELL program already. Both ELL students had failed the oral presentation because of their lack of eye contact and time management. The teacher had chosen to ignore the first student’s plagiarism (lack of evidence) and the lack of vocabulary and grammatical understanding with the second. The teacher claimed to be solely evaluating their presentation skills, which made me question if the ELL students should have been evaluated differently because they did not have as much experience with public speaking (in English) as the English first language students?
Outline of the Approach
In terms of assessment of ELL’s and non-ELLs in the classroom, my inquiry began with the query of when it is appropriate to assess students using different expectations. I use the term appropriate in the sense of fair-mindedness. After conducting some background research, I feel that in most cases it is important to implement accommodations for ELL students. My inquiry will be focused on the use of assessment accommodation methods for ELL students and whether they are effective for the student. Effectiveness could be measured by grades or verbal confirmation from the ELL students.
For my inquiry I plan on sourcing background information from academic journals, research studies, and first hand experiences of teachers in my profession. So far, the majority of my information has come from research studies, with my angle being that tried evidence-based methodology could be more useful then theories or methods that have not been tested yet. One interesting study I came across was “Developing Testing Accommodations for English Language Learners: Illustrations as Visual Supports for Item Accessibility”, a study based on the development and implication of an illustration based testing method for ELL students. In brief summary, the researchers preformed two separate science based tests on a group of ELL and non-ELL students using vignette illustrations that accompanied the word questions. Through this study they discovered that “text and image in multimodal texts act upon each other to convey meaning… meaning is constructed as an integrated interpretation of multiple forms of representation of information… information provided in two sensory modalities is processed separately first, then integrated” (Solano-Flores, G et. al. 2014). This research study furthered my academic interest in testing methods that use accommodation, such as the vignette illustration method. As the same test was given to both ELL and non-ELL students, I feel that testing methods such as this are fair, as they are supportive of ELL students, but can also provide extra aid for non-ELL students who are struggling with different learning disabilities. This latter is a personal opinion/assumption and was not included in the research above. I anticipate that during my inquiry I will be able to implement some form of accommodation learned through my studies and compare my results to other studies. However, if I am unable to successfully implement accommodations of my own, I will have to rely on other teachers experiences with accommodations for ELL’s.
Emerging Philosophy of Teaching
This inquiry question will help to inform me of successful assessment and accommodation techniques used with ELL students in a classroom. As a future teacher in a multicultural province, I assume that I will experience many instances of ELL students needing accommodations in my future classes. ELL students who have been deemed capable of participating in “regular” English classes are still in need of extra attention and accommodation and cannot be simply categorized with the non-ELL students. I believe in equality and equity among all students, and the driving factor behind my inquiry is my concern for ELL students who have been bypassed in the education system and would benefit from accommodation in assessment. I hope that the implications of my findings will positively affect my teaching practices and creation of units/assessment methods.
Future Expectations
As I further my inquiry, I hope to be exposed to cases of established ELL assessment accommodations that have proven successful and are easily adaptable for the classroom. I plan on conducting conversations with teachers in regards to their assessment practices and experiences assessing ELL students. I expect that methods of assessment will vary as well as attitudes towards making extra accommodations for ELL learners. It could also be informative to hear the reasoning behind teachers who do not believe in assessment accommodations for ELL’s. My inquiry will also lead me to examine assessment in subjects other than my teachable of English, which I feel will still remain relevant, since assessment methods can be adjusted for any subject matter and it is the end result that is most important ( if the ELL students benefit from the accommodations).
