English-language learner: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 15:55, 10 May 2024

Revision as of 15:58, 10 May 2024

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=== Assessment biases ===

[[File:No Child Left Behind Act.jpg|thumb|George W. Bush signing the No Child Left Behind Act.]]

The [[Every Student Succeeds Act]] or ESSA passed in 2015 requires all ELLs attending public schools from grades K–12 to be assessed in multiple language domains, such as listening, reading, writing, and speaking.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|last=U.S. Department of Education|date=September 23, 2016|title=Non-Regulatory Guidance: English Learners and Title III of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)|url=https://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/essa/essatitleiiiguidenglishlearners92016.pdf|archive-url=|access-date=October 14, 2021}}</ref> Current research in this area has found that assessments given to ELLs are culturally and linguistically inappropriate for reliable testing.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last1=Macswan|first1=Jeff|last2=Rolstad|first2=Kellie|date=November 2006|title=How language proficiency tests mislead us about ability: Implications for english language learner placement in special education|journal=Teachers College Record |volume=108|issue=11|pages=2304–2328|doi=10.1111/j.1467-9620.2006.00783.x}}</ref> Assessments do not take into account the students' linguistic repertoire and what they know in their first language; therefore, content-based assessment outcomes might be confounded by language barriers, since they are not only being exposed to new material, but they are learning this new material in a language that they may still be gaining proficiency in.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Abedi |first=Jamal|date=2006|title=Psychometric Issues in the ELL Assessment and Special Education Eligibility |url=https://www.ncaase.com/docs/Abedi_TCRE782_2006.pdf |journal=Teachers College Record |volume=108|issue=11|pages=2282–2303|doi=10.1111/j.1467-9620.2006.00782.x}}</ref><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4">{{cite journal |last1=Klingner |first1=Janette K. |last2=Artiles |first2=Alfredo J. |last3=Barletta |first3=Laura Mendez |title=English Language Learners Who Struggle With Reading: Language Acquisition or LD? |journal=Journal of Learning Disabilities |date=March 2006 |volume=39 |issue=2 |pages=108–128 |doi=10.1177/00222194060390020101 |pmid=16583792 |s2cid=22687512 }}</ref> Research ofbased on student feedback indicates that students have a difficult time associating the content presented to them in assessments with their personal lives. <ref>{{Cite journal |title=Achieving Assessment Equity and Fairness: Identifying and Eliminating Bias in Assessment Tools and Practices |url=https://kurdishstudies.net/menu-script/index.php/KS/article/view/1035/1085 |journal=Achieving Assessment Equity and Fairness: Identifying and Eliminating Bias in Assessment Tools and Practices |volume=11 |via=ERIC}}</ref> Aside from the students' linguistic repertoire not being taken into account in assessments, research has shown that students have a difficult time associating the content presented to them in assessments with their personal lives. This lack of variety in assessments may restrict teachers' ability to accurately determine the academic progress of a student and introduce biases that may result in lower test scores.

=== Teacher biases and training ===