EAL- friendly Assessment Tools

 Well structured tools = more efficient, more effective assessment

As we approach the craziness of report card season, it seems timely to turn our Tip of the Week attention to assessment. The tools we use to assess student learning are often in the form of worksheets, quizzes and tests. The way in which we prepare these assessment tools will have significant bearing on how the EAL students are able to demonstrate their learning. Even if a student may know a lot about the content, if the assignment descriptions or test questions are difficult to decipher, the student may not be able to show how much he/she has achieved the desired outcomes.

Here are a few simple, low-prep strategies that may help to make worksheets, quizzes and tests more comprehensible to English language learners.
 
* The following tips are collected from personal experience and the suggestions of Shoebottom (2012) and Fregeau and Leier (2008). See bottom of post for links to the original article.
 
PRESENTATION MATTERS

·         If the task or question has several different parts or multiple steps, use a bulleted list instead of sequential instructions all together on the same line of text.

·         Type everything. Many EAL students have a difficult time reading cursive writing.

·         Increase white space.

·         Increase font size.

·         Punctuate. When you have finished part A, do part B. (Note the comma).

CLARIFY and VERIFY

·         Read all instructions aloud to the student(s) word- for- word.

·         Ask students to explain to you their understanding of the instructions...not just "do you understand".

·         Check that the EAL student is actually doing the task properly. They may not feel comfortable questioning you.

·         Teach the student the meaning of typical 'question vocabulary' (for example: explain, name, why?, how?, role of, discuss, think about, compare and contrast, define, describe, briefly, or except).

·         Word questions carefully, using simple vocabulary as much as possible. For example: look at the diagram on page 3 instead of focus your attention on the diagram on the adjacent page.

·         Try to offer a model answer or example.

·         Repeat nouns instead of using pronouns. See the math problem below as an example. It may seem wordy to a native English speaker, but the repetition of the noun clarifies the task.

-à Alex has 4 friends. He wants to buy each of them 6 cookies. How many does he need to buy in all?

-àAlex has 4 friends. He wants to buy each friend 6 cookies. How many cookies does he need to buy in all?

REDUCE CONFUSION BY REDUCING OPTIONS

·         Offer word banks for fill -in -the- blank questions.

·         Reduce the number of options for multiple choice questions.

·         Avoid confusing multiple-choice options such as 'both A&B, but not C'.

·         Reduce the number of options for matching questions.
 

ALLOW for SUPPORT RESOURCES

·         Permit the student to use a bilingual (or picture) dictionary whenever possible.

 

References:

* If you are interested in more information about differentiating assessment strategies for EAL learners, check out these articles that served as resources for this week's tip:

Preparing ESL-friendly worksheets and tests- Shoebottom (2012)

http://esl.fis.edu/teachers/support/tests.htm

Assessing ELLs in ESL or Mainstream Classrooms: Quick Fixes for Busy Teachers- Fregeau & Leier (2008)

http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Fregeau-AssessingELLs.html