Assessment Myths

I find assessment to be extremely interesting, especially since it is such an important component of the ESL classroom. Educators constantly need to be assessing and reassessing their students to make sure that they are understanding the material, however it seems that there is much controversy about standardized testing, and initial testing of the ESL learners. 

I feel bad for ESL learners who are forced to take the same standardized tests as their English native-speaking peers, however, they need to learn the skills to succeed in these tests because it is going to be a part of their learning in the future. It is a hard choice for the ESL teacher to make, because they want their students to achieve dominance in the language but at the same time they want to see their students succeed on the state standardized test. I would say that it is wrong to teach to the test so that the students succeed, however I believe that ESL teachers can implement activities that mirror practices used on the standardized tests. The students need to understand the format of the test, such as multiple choice, short essay, short reading comprehension, etc., so that they can get a good score. All of the listed formats can be implemented in the classroom as well. For example, the students can read a short story and answer multiple choice questions after the reading to check for comprehension. This is not teaching to the test, because the reading can go with the content material, it is the idea that they are practicing multiple choice questions since many of them are unlikely to be familiar with it in the beginning. 

I feel bad for the teacher, Margaret, who was given two new students in one week without any background information on them. I can not imagine how hard that would be. I feel that ESL teachers have it the hardest, because they TRULY need to know each and every one of their students so that they can understand their mannerisms and their process in education. What I think is even harder, is that ESL teachers often get students in the middle of the year-- this happened in my practicum hours when a young girl from Guatemala arrived half-way through the first semester. It's almost as if the teacher has to go back and review everything, and change the classroom dynamic and everything, including changing her classroom vocabulary to that which is simpler for the newly arrived student to understand. Learning a language is a bottom-up process in which one skill needs to be dominated to build onto the next skill. It is extremely difficult to come into the school year after the most basic skills have already been dominated and the new students peers are moving up, while they are stuck at ground zero. This is why it is so important to know as much at the student as possible so that they are provided with the most effective education that caters to their needs. Assessment is important for this reason so that the students can be evaluated, and placed at a level that is comfortable to them.

I never learned about BSM or LAS before, so if I was to be a new teacher who recieved a new student with a low score of LAS, I would just assume that they had extremely LEP. The reality of this myth states that it is important to constantly assess the student after the initial assessments, and I believe that this is a no-brainer, because if I ever recieved a new student- I would constantly be assessing their progress in the class and in the target language.

Assessment is as important in the classroom as teaching is. This means that the teacher is not only assessing her students, but self-assessing her methods as well. Just because we learn many different methods that are thought to be effective, does not mean that they will be effective for the language learner. For this reason, assessment is required to ensure the success of each student and the success of the teacher as well.