Applying Formative Assessment in English Language Learner Reading Instruction

• In Event: Developing and Using Formative Assessments for English Language Learners

Abstract

This paper presents a review of formative assessment literature and makes suggestions for the application of formative assessment in ELL-specific settings to address student reading difficulties. Though progress over the last decade has been made in the development of meaningful summative assessments for ELLs, less attention has been paid to formative assessment (William & Thompson, 2007). As Heritage (2008) states, “By its very nature, learning involves progression…Yet, despite the plethora of standards and curricula, many teachers are unclear about how learning progresses in specific domains” (p.1). The potential contribution of formative assessment to supporting the needs of ELLs should not be underestimated.

This paper has three main goals. First, we will demonstrate the purposes of formative assessment for ELLs. This includes the fact that formative assessment must ensure that evidence of ELL student learning is collected over time to create an individual scrapbook for students, not just a snapshot. Particularly for newly arrived ELLs, who may be unfamiliar with specific testing or instructional formats, collecting multiple types of evidence over time aids in more valid inferences about students’ reading abilities. Next, we will outline the “right” sort of evidence to gather from ELL students who are learning to read or reading to learn in English in various settings, and discuss how this evidence can be gathered. For example, some teachers, especially those who may work with lower proficiency ELL students, may be tempted to focus less on interaction/discussion and more on finding the ‘right answer’ in their instruction. Bransford, Brown, and Crocking (2000) refer to the sort of questioning and activities that can be incorporated into teaching to gather far more useful information about what to do next in instruction. Finally, the paper will review the evidence base on reading constructs for ELLs and how teachers might apply knowledge of these constructs in instructional settings to gather data on the full range of component skills, from foundational skills such as decoding and fluency to higher-level skills that contribute to advanced reading comprehension (e.g., making inferences).

A final underlying message in this review is that the unique challenges associated with ELL instruction make the elements of formative assessment particularly important for teachers to apply. Characteristics of formative assessment such as student involvement in goal setting, transparency of evaluation, clear and descriptive feedback rather than grades (Kluger & Denisi, 1996), follow-up, and additional supportive instruction aimed at accompanying feedback (Guskey, 2007/2008) are all essential in classes supporting the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse learners. Formative assessment is about creating a holistic picture of the learner in any setting. Especially for ELLs with diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, formative assessment’s inherent student focus and its feeding of learning evidence into instructional planning make this practice necessary in any ELL classroom. This paper will discuss practical implications drawn from prior literature for designing a formative assessment tool and reading constructs for ELL students.

Authors

• Jane R. Shore, ETS

• Jennifer Lentini, ETS