Identifying ELLs With Learning Disabilities
Observing Progress
Many ELLs have minimal skills in reading, writing and listening in English, which makes it hard to diagnose their disability, but the child may exhibits signs of possessing a learning disability that should not be ignored (Franz, 2013). Research has shown that ELLs can exhibit signs of dyslexia while learning vocabulary and writing words in a paragraph (Flores and Chu 2011). An educator can recognize if a child has dyslexia if they persistently struggle with word recognition, decoding, and vocabulary skills regardless of their English language skills (Flores and Chu 2011). Analysing and tracking an English language learner’s cognitive development and progress can also help an educator decipher if their student has a learning disability (Flores and Chu 2011).
Background Awareness:
Teachers often believe that ELLs have not obtained a “proper” education in their native country before coming to Canada, and thus are not academically up to par with native-born speakers their own age (Franz, 2013). In addition, a common held ideology among teachers is that ELLs do not have a strong learning background and need additional educational assistance to achieve their full academic potential (Franz, 2013). Likewise, research indicates that many ELLs are new to the country and have not obtained a proper education in their native country, so they will have a difficult time learning English (Flores and Chu 2011).
It is critical that teachers need to recognize their student’s educational background, learning strengths, and weaknesses to ensure the student learns the second language effectively (Franz, 2013). Research has suggested that it is useful for a teacher to assess a child’s word reading skills in both the home language and the school language, and to look for similarities in performance across the two languages (Flores and Chu 2011).
Assessing in English or Native Languages
The major issue in administering assessments is deciding whether to assess in English, in the native language, or both. Assessment in the native language may provide a more accurate inventory of students’ knowledge and skills than assessment in English (Flores and Chu 2011). Similarly, assessment in English instead of their native languages would be problematic because these students might not thoroughly understand the task instructions (Flores and Chu 2011). Therefore, translators must not only have the language skills, but also understand the educational context so that they can accurately convey meaning to the student for the most precise results (Flores and Chu 2011).
Accommodations in Assessment
Schools have used test accommodations for many years to help ELLs. Researchers found that ELLs who received accommodations in the process of assessment performed better than those who did not receive any accommodations (Purdy, 2008). Simplifying language is useful for ELLs and does not affect the test (Purdy, 2008). In addition, studies show that ELLs got higher scores by using a dictionary (Purdy, 2008).