EmilyCornet

EDUC31219
AssessmentofEnglishLearners
12January2017

Assignment#1ReflectionPaper

Asahighschoolteacher,myinitialthoughtwastoscrollthroughtheCELDTpacketofreleased

testquestionsandgodirectlytothehighschoollevelquestions.HoweverIstoppedwhenIgot

totheKindergartenandGradeOneReadingWordAnalysissection.Init,itasksthestudentto

identifytheletterbeingused.Oneexampleaskedforthesoundbeingmade.Myfirstthought

was,whatiftheyarenewtothis

alphabet?Iworkwithstudentswho

useanArabicalphabet,Korean

alphabet,orRussianalphabet.The

soundmadebytheletter/t/will

haveanentirelydifferentmeaning

forstudentswhoarenotaccustomedtothealphabetusedinEnglish.Evenforstudentswho

growupspeakingSpanishorFrench,thesounditselfmayhaveadifferentrelationship.But

giventhethreechoices,studentsfamiliarwiththealphabetaremorelikelytobeabletonarrow

downthechoicesandhaveahigherpossibilityofgettingitright.Thisquestioninparticular

definitelymademeconcernedforthestudentscominginwithoutthebackgroundknowledgeof

thealphabetusedinEnglish.

Forthisquestion,Iwoulddefinitelywanttopreteachthealphabetanditssounds.Asahigh

schoolteacher,Idonotteachthislevelofbasicsinmyclassroom.Idliketoassumethat

studentsinakindergartenorfirstgradeclasswouldlearnthis.Thatsaid,Ialsoknowthatthere

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isagreaterpushnowthatstudentsknowhowtoreadbeforetheenterkindergarten.Ispoke

withafriendofminewhoworksataChildDevelopmentCenter,andshesaidthatchildrenare

nowlearningthealphabetandsoundsbeforetheyareevendonewithPreK.Anotherfriend

whoteachesatmyschoolsaidthatherPreKkidsstartthealphabetatthestartoftheyear,and

eveninJanuary,shealreadyhassomereadingandwriting.Thisisagreatadvantagetothose

withaccesstoschoolbeforeKindergarten,butdoesnthelpanewELDstudententering

Kindergartenorfirstgradewhoisnotonlynewtothelanguage,butalsotothealphabet.For

schoolswithELDpullouts,Idimaginethattherewouldbeafocusonthealphabetandphonics.

ButforschoolswithoutELDsupport(likemine),Icanseethesekidsslippingbehindeasily

withoutoneononesupporttocatchupwiththeirnativeEnglishspeakingpeers.

Ididwanttolookatthehighschooltestaswell,andIwassurprisedtoseehowmany

openendedquestionstherewere.Somequestionshadverylittleinthewayofdirections,and

reliedonthestudenttocreateananswerontheirown.Whilethequestionmightbevery

straightforward,theyaremarkedonhowthoroughofaresponsetheygive.ThequestionIwant

toexaminecloselythoughwasthepicturenarrativequestion.Thisoneinparticularcouldtrip

upastudentbecausenotonlydo

theyneedtocreateastoryoffthetop

oftheirheads,buttheyalsoneedto

havethebackgroundknowledgeand

vocabularynecessarytoadequately

respond.Inthispicturesequence,

thereisapictureofastarfish.What

happensthoughifastudentdoesntknowwhatastarfishis?Oreventhatitisaseaanimal?
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Orananimalofanysort?IthinkaboutmyELDstudentsIhaverightnowinmytenthgrade

coursewouldtheybeabletoanswerthequestion?Ithinkonewould,albeitinSpanish,but

heseemstohaveaverystrongeducationalbackgroundinColombiabeforehecamehere.But

anotherstudentinthesameclassIdonotbelievewouldbeabletoanswerthepromptin

EnglishorinhisnativeKorean.Hemightbeabletolooselycreatephrasesorconnectedwords

forasinglepicture,buttogivehimallfourpicturesatonce,andhewillsurelystruggle.Andthis

isastudentwhohasbeeninourschoolforthreeyearsalready,gettinginstructioninEnglish.

Forthisprompt,thepreteachinginvolvedwouldhavetobeindividualizedtoeachstudent.

Onceagain,ataschoolwithELDpullout,thiswouldbemuchmorerealistic.Inourschool

withoutELDsupportofanysort,itwouldfallonwhicheverteacherfeltcompelledtoengagethe

studentsinalunchtimeorafterschoolstudysession.However,fortheKoreanstudent,the

preteachingwouldfocusongettinghimcomfortablewithspeakingandconnectingideas,and

eventuallylookingatmorethanonepicture.FortheColombianstudent,itwouldinvolve

buildinghisEnglishacademicvocabulary.Thiscouldcomeinanyclasshehas,whereifhe

doesnotknowthewordinEnglish,hecouldfindtheequivalentSpanishwordandtranslateit.

ThisstudentisalreadyhalfwaythereheusestheSpanishwordwhenhedoesntknowthe

Englishword.Whatheneedstodoisgotheextrasteptofindthetranslation.

LookingattheCELDTquestionsthathavebeenreleasedfortraining,therearealotofplaces

whereanELDstudentcouldpotentiallystruggle.Knowingwhatthequestionsaskhowever,can

helpustoprepareourstudentsbetterinadvancesothatwecanmakesurethattheyare

learningtheskillstheywillneed.
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WorksCited:

CaliforniaDepartmentofEducation.CaliforniaEnglishLanguageDevelopmentTest:Released

TestQuestionsUpdated.September2012.Web.AccessedJanuary2017.

<http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/el/documents/celdtrtqs92012.pdf>