Truth comes to the ones who are seeking!

 

I hope your weekend is good.

 

Speaking of your need in -g. :-)

 

 

Your referral to aspects reminded of the Math formulas, I one day applied, and my students accepted:

 

1+1 for Progressive aspect (to be is #1 verb in Endlish tense system + Participle 1 //verb+ing//)

2+2 for Perfect aspect       (to have #2 verb + Participle 2 //verb+ed// or memorized form)

2+2+1 for Perfect Progrseeve (to have +been+Participle 1)

 

 

Tatyana

 

rom: mgyori at mauilanguage.com
To: assessment at nifl.gov
Date: Fri, 15 May 2009 17:27:19 -1000
Subject: [Assessment 1889] Re: [LearningDisabilities 3314] Re: [EnglishLanguage 4199] Re: Question about assessment








Dear Tatyana,
 
Please don’t envy me because green skin does befit you! J
 
On a more serious note, I spent six years in the corporate world of foreign language education and twenty in the tax-exempt sector of ESL program development and instruction (I think “non-profit” is a misleading term, because without profits businesses cannot exist, whether or not they have to pay taxes).  
 
NCLB and AEFLA imposed what I call a corporate model of education on our schools behind a well-disguised smokescreen of concern for our learners (that said, it did shine some light on “underperforming” students, but to what avail I am not sure).   NCLB’s “goal” of having every student perform at “grade-level” by the 2013-14 school year is an insult of immeasurable magnitude to the very little we might have learned about teaching, learning, mind, and affect.  Think about it, all learners will attain similar levels of proficiency; learners are all the same, and images of Orwell’s 1984 loom darkly on the horizon.  In fact, I believe the true goal of the corporate model of education is to allow the crème de la crème to come to the fore. 
 
In any case, NCLB and AEFLA seeped into the world of CBOs.  USDOE-funded AE providers were mandated to partner with CBOs to “maximize the utilization of community resources.”  Talk about trying to fit a square peg into a round hole!  That’s when destiny left me unemployed two and a half years ago at the ripe age of 55.  I collected unemployment for about six weeks, and “my” school “materialized” all on its own (and I remain grateful and humbled by how it all came about)…
 
Tatyana, I wholeheartedly believe that change can only come about through cohesive and coordinated efforts of advocacy on behalf of our learners.  This is every individual’s choice to make, namely, whether to politicize (?) efforts to promote and enable the implementation of best known practices and further inquiry into what works, why, how, where, and for whom (because I am convinced that what we know is infinitesimal compared to what we still need to bring into the realm of consciousness). 
 
In the meantime, I continue treading the path of my own curiosity while trying to make sense of the load of information that is being thrown my way.
 
Finally, I repeatedly and wrongfully added a “g” to the end of Jim Cummins’ name.  I attribute this to my recent efforts teaching the simple and perfect progressive tense “aspects,” as I  call them.  Gotta add the “g” to the “in” ending…
 
Have a wonderful weekend,
 
Michael
 
 
 


From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Tanya Exum
Sent: Friday, May 15, 2009 12:44 PM
To: assessment at nifl.gov
Subject: [Assessment 1886] Re: [LearningDisabilities 3314] Re: [EnglishLanguage 4199] Re: Question about assessment
 
Thank you Michael,
 
Your answer, as usual, is extremely informative.
 
I would refer to one aspect of our discussion which I ran across as a manager of a non-for-profit organization.  You are lucky to be able to say, "if and when I do report, I do so to businesses to businesses and institutions (mainly hotels, insurance carriers, students enrolled in K-12 or college, and  CBOs [NGOs])."  As a Manager,  I  was put in a hot seat when customers, who brought their children in our subsidiary program, found out that community School Board refused to recognize  gains, children got in summer through the program. It was not about those childern's skills; it was about ACCEPTANCE of certain types of testing. We had A LOT of drama for everyone. I, myself, felt responsible for putting children in that position, when their high spirits at their first real successes and hopes of moving to another grade, were shut down.
 
I absolutely envy you that you can afford to use testing to get " as much information about my learners as possible."  Most of the practitioners are suffering the necessity to be accountable through pre- and post-testing which in ESL case becomes tricky considering various purposes of testing and, actually, pushes in the direction of teaching "to the test"
 
 
The military testing may become a real answer in case of ESLs,
 
Tatyana 
 
 



From: mgyori at mauilanguage.com
To: learningdisabilities at nifl.gov
Date: Fri, 15 May 2009 09:40:01 -1000
CC: kevin.jepson at sbcglobal.net; kathi.bailey at miis.edu; englishlanguage at nifl.gov; assessment at nifl.gov; readingmatters808 at gmail.com
Subject: [Assessment 1884] Re: [LearningDisabilities 3314] Re: [EnglishLanguage 4199] Re: Question about assessment

Dear Tatyana,
 
I appreciate your comments below as they allow me to further clarify whom the TerraNova CTBS is intended for, as I understand it.   I’m adding my message that you replied to below yours so our interaction is contextualized.
 
The CTBS is not primarily used for students wishing to prepare for their GED, but for students enrolled in K-12.  As such, it is available in a total of 11 levels, ranging from Level 10 (for Grade K) through level 21/22 (for Grades 11 & 12). The language component is not available for levels K-2, and the social studies component is not available for level K. 
 
Theoretically, you would administer the level that corresponds to the grade a student is attending (e.g., a 4th grade student would take level 14).
 
You state, “Social Studies and Science parts of pre-GED and GED contain a lot of graphics, which require quite high level reading skills. The most difficult for ESLs among them - very internally culturally oriented cartoons. Inferences is another difficult area.” Yes, that is true; however, in test design such as the one I understand underlies the TerraNova CTBS, the skills, including higher-order thinking or reading skills, are, again at least theoretically, commensurate with the “age-appropriate” level of cognitive development of learners (granted, English L1 learners) who are at “grade level.”
 
I’ve mentioned Jim Cummings notion construct of “Common Underlying Proficiency” (“CUP”).  Perhaps some in the audience have not heard of CUP because it may have gained prominence mainly in graduate programs in TESOL/TESL, applied linguistics, and second language acquisition.  Perhaps the best way to explain it is to refer to the excerpt below which I took the liberty of cutting and  pasting from http://www.naldic.org.uk/ITTSEAL2/teaching/SLA.cfm: 
 
Common Underlying Proficiency 
Cummins (1984 and 2000) … argues for a common underlying proficiency or interdependence hypothesis, in which cross-lingual proficiencies can promote the development of cognitive, academic skills. Common underlying proficiency refers to the interdependence of concepts, skills and linguistic knowledge found in a central processing system. Cummins states that cognitive and literacy skills established in the mother tongue or L1 will transfer across languages. This is often presented visually as two icebergs representing the two languages which overlap and share, underneath the water line, a common underlying proficiency or operating system. Both languages are outwardly distinct but are supported by shared concepts and knowledge derived from learning and experience and the cognitive and linguistic abilities of the learner. 


 
This representation also demonstrates one view of how linguistic knowledge is stored in the brain. One way of thinking of this is to consider bilingual speakers as having separately stored proficiencies in each language, and this may include pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar in the working memory, which in turn, have access to long-term memory storage that is not language specific. In other words, the use of the first or second language is informed by the working memory, but the concepts are stored as underlying proficiency. 

Cummins also describes language proficiency in terms of surface and deeper levels of thinking skills. He argues that the deeper levels of cognitive processing such as analysis, synthesis and evaluation are necessary to academic progress. He distinguishes these aspects of proficiency from what he describes as more explicit or superficial realisations of linguistic and cognitive processing. Cummins proposes a minimum threshold of first language cognitive/academic development necessary for success in second language learning. Cummins also suggests that if the threshold of cognitive proficiency is not achieved, the learner may have difficulties achieving bilingual proficiency. 


This representation of bilingual proficiency would also suggest that continued conceptual and linguistic development in the first language would help second language learners in their learning of the second language. So the continued support of the first language whilst learning the second language would be beneficial for cognitive development as well as for other socio-cultural reasons. In his later work, Cummins (2000) presents the work of many other researchers which support this hypothesis and the claim that bilingualism and continued development in the first language enhances metalinguistic skills and development in proficiency in the second language.
A concern about test bias is perhaps one of the main considerations when administering tests designed for an L1 “Standard” (I call it “TV”) American English (or varieties thereof) student population.  I’d surmise that social studies might be most susceptible to test bias because it draws on background knowledge that is quite culture-specific.  However, it is important to recognize what in cognition is relatively “universal” and what is not, because recognition (awareness) helps inform the teaching/learning cycle.  After all, whether our learners are L1 or L2 speakers of English, the instructional goals (for example, the GED test) target learner goals and outcomes that have value and applicability in the United States. 
 
I only cite the CTBS as an example, because it is a test I am familiar with (although not its 2nd and 3rd editions).  My search for similar tests, whether norm- or criterion-referenced, continues, and I continue to be eager to hear from anyone who can point me to other measures that collect such broadly-based knowledge areas along with English language proficiency, especially measures designed for adults without regard to their formal educational backgrounds.
 
I do not have to use a particular test, as I am self-employed; if and when I do report, I do so to businesses to businesses and institutions (mainly hotels, insurance carriers, students enrolled in K-12 or college, and  CBOs [NGOs]).  95% of my students are ESL.  My only desire is to use a test that is capable of providing as much information about my learners as possible while using a test that is current (to measure against a norming  population no more than 2 years old if it is a norm-referenced measure, and also for “appearance’s” sake).  
 
Hopefully this helps further clarify where I am coming from as well as my search for more information from whomever might have it.
 
Thanks again for “triggering” this response, Tatyana!
 
Michael
 


From: learningdisabilities-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:learningdisabilities-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Tanya Exum
Sent: Thursday, May 14, 2009 2:05 PM
To: The Learning Disabilities Discussion List
Subject: [LearningDisabilities 3314] Re: [EnglishLanguage 4199] Re: Question about assessment
 
Hi Michael,
 
Social Studies and Science parts of pre-GED and GED contain a lot of graphics, which require quite high level reading skills. The most difficult for ESLs among them - very internally culturally oriented cartoons. Inferences is another difficult area. Are you teaching your students specifically in these areas before they take even the TABE test? 
 
In our case, we HAVE to use TABE test because this is the pre-GED, GED pre-requisite.
 
Tatyana
 
Thank you kindly for your reply and yes, it really is different to experience the world without internet access.  To think it was only 15 years ago that Netscape brought the WWW to the public!
 
I have received very little feedback (thank you for being a respondent!) to my search for an assessment tool or tools to replace the AMES I am currently using.  Years ago the CBO I was working at used CTB McGraw-Hill’s CTBS and then its successor, the TerraNova CTBS original edition for its incoming Pre-GED and GED students – mostly youth, but also a few adults.  The current version is the 3rd edition (http://www.ctb.com/products/product_summary.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=1408474395292939&bmUID=1242319838825). 
 
I’ve decided to experiment with the CTBS for my adult ESL students with academic goals or who need a GED (for example to meet the minimum qualifications of career areas such as hairdressing or cosmetology). The lowest level of the test is level 11 designed for 1st graders.  I will then correlate their scores with the ones they obtain on other tests I already have or hope to get samples of for professional evaluation purposes.
 
What I like about the CTBS in principle is that it (theoretically, at least) taps into students’ background knowledge in reading, language, math, science, and social studies, precisely the subject areas of the GED test.  I believe the (formal) educational backgrounds (“common underlying proficiency” levels) of my students to be of considerable value in informing and predicting their success in the course of their continued studies, including ESL.  Although the test is designed for K-12, I hope to get a sense of its appropriateness for use with an adult population.  
 
I will share whatever I may learn with several of the NIFL discussion lists. 
 

 

 



 



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