ESL Assessment

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Hdrenga

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Hi! I am currently enrolled in my second Master's degree at Capella for English Language Learning and Teaching. We are currently studying different forms of assessment for our ELL's and there are quite an abundance of different formats and types of assessments. As part of our course we are encouraged to post on a forum in order to get feedback in other forms than classroom learning. I would like to know what ESL assessments you have used that you have found easy to administer with high content validity and valuable washback. I am currently a special education teacher so I do have familiarity with general assessments but when it comes to ESL I am looking for more information. Please post with your positive experiences with certain ESL assessment tools; they can be standardized or classroom measures. Thanks!
 

Skrej

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If you're asking about formal assessments, my center previously used the CASAS exams, and currently uses the TABE Clas-e exams. They are both standardized exams. However, there was general consensus at my center that neither one of them truly reflected student's language ability. However, they were mandated by the state, so we had no choice. We used them to report educational gains.
 

Tdol

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What sort of assessment do you mean? In most places I have worked (non-US), external exams have been used as exit assessments, with predominantly internally developed tools and routines for initial assessment.
 

Hdrenga

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What sort of assessment do you mean? In most places I have worked (non-US), external exams have been used as exit assessments, with predominantly internally developed tools and routines for initial assessment.

Well we have been learning about standardized tests as well as classroom measures of assessment such as portfolios, interviews, etc. I have learned about the Versant test as well as the MN SOLOM which are two very different forms of assessment. So far it would seem that most of the standardized assessments are either for entry or exit data while the classroom measure assessments are geared toward student progress. From my point of view the classroom measure assessment hold more value because it seems they portray the student's abilities in a more genuine fashion.
 

Hdrenga

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Thank you for your response! I have yet to hear of either of these assessments but I will now research them for my own benefit. Unfortunately, I have heard from others that many of the mandated assessments do not truly analyze the student's language abilities.
 
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