Multilingual Assessments

[squidni]

I support students from multiple countries and home languages. I am seeking to assess my students' entire communicative competency. I want to honor their funds of knowledge, culture, and linguistic profile.

What are some ways you were able to incorporate students' additional languages in assessments?

How did you evaluate parts of the assessment that were not in a language you understand?

 

[Skrej]

I support students from multiple countries and home languages. I am seeking to assess my students' entire communicative competency. I want to honor their funds of knowledge, culture, and linguistic profile.

It makes zero sense to me why you'd want to include anything from their native language if you're trying to assess their English communication skills during a formal, standardized assessment.. Additionally, if you have a broad range of student backgrounds, anything specifically related to one language or culture is unfair to those from differing backgrounds.

The only thing that applies equally to all of them is the common ground of the English language and US (since you're apparently teaching in the US) culture and customs.

What are some ways you were able to incorporate students' additional languages in assessments?

The above being said, I do have students make comparisons between US culture and their home culture as a way of stimulating conversation during routine classroom discussions. Similarly it's sometimes useful to compare and contrast particular grammatical points between other languages and English. It sometimes helps them realize the error they're making and reinforce the idea of thinking in the target language versus trying to directly translate.

However, when it comes assessment time, even the instructions are in English.

I do think there's time to recognize students' backgrounds, but the place for that seems to me to be during instructional time, not formal assessment. You can perhaps use that as an informal assessment of their communicative skills.

How did you evaluate parts of the assessment that were not in a language you understand?

How could you without speaking it yourself? Again, even if you could, what benefit would evaluating their native language skills be in assessing their English skills?

 

[squidni]

Thank you for your input. I would want to include all student languages to see what students know as a whole, not just what they can share in English. While most assessments would focus on content and English language skills, I think it would be useful to know how well students communicate in other languages. This could show me what content they know and just need the vocabulary to translate the information, what skills and genres students have that could transfer to English, and what differences in discourse exist for specific students. This information could help me plan what skills are being taught for the first time and need explicit instruction in English and content/skills, and what needs less focus on content and more focus on English.

 

[emsr2d2]

How are you going to work out what they know and how well they communicate when they're speaking a language you don't understand or speak?
How many other languages, besides English, do you speak fluently enough to work out those things? More importantly, how many of those foreign languages that you speak happen to coincide with that of any of your English students?

I still don't really understand what you're trying to do. If I were to go for, say, Italian lessons and the teacher wanted to do an initial assessment, it would be of absolutely no interest/use to them to find out how well I communicate in English or "what I know". All they need to know is my current Italian level.

 

[squidni]

How are you going to work out what they know and how well they communicate when they're speaking a language you don't understand or speak?
How many other languages, besides English, do you speak fluently enough to work out those things? More importantly, how many of those foreign languages that you speak happen to coincide with that of any of your English students?

I still don't really understand what you're trying to do. If I were to go for, say, Italian lessons and the teacher wanted to do an initial assessment, it would be of absolutely no interest/use to them to find out how well I communicate in English or "what I know". All they need to know is my current Italian level.

That was part of my question. I want to know how others assess primary languages. In the past, I have worked with interpreters and cultural liaisons to conduct primary language assessments.
Maybe this is not a common thing to do. I am focused mostly on primary school students and perhaps that is what is causing confusion. If I were to work with adults on English as an additional language, I would assume that they knew enough about their primary language to be able to connect English to that language. With primary students, there is a wide variety of proficiency levels for students. Some students come in with very little academic language proficiency in either language. One child had a speech delay so the doctor told the parents to only speak English from then on. He struggles in both languages because he is learning everything for the first time, rather than connecting information to his prior knowledge. I also have students who excelled academically in their home country and easily transfer their academic and linguistic knowledge to English. Understanding younger students' literacy and academic knowledge as a whole would help me understand where they are and what they need.

 

[emsr2d2]

That was part of my question. I want to know how others assess primary languages. In the past, I have worked with interpreters and cultural liaisons to conduct primary language assessments.

To be honest, that's the only way I can think of. If you're not fluent in a student's native language, you can't possibly assess how well the student speaks it!

Maybe this is not a common thing to do.

I've never come across it before.

I am focused mostly on primary school students and perhaps that is what is causing confusion. If I were to work with adults on English as an additional language, I would assume that they knew enough about their primary language to be able to connect English to that language.

That works if you want to teach a language by linking it to a student's native language. When I taught English in Spain, my grasp of Spanish was minimal at best (admittedly, it got better the longer I was there). I made a point of telling my students not to try and directly translate anything. I didn't try and link English to Spanish at all.

With primary students, there is a wide variety of proficiency levels for students. Some students come in with very little academic language proficiency in either language.

At primary level, I wouldn't be concerned about their "academic language proficiency". The wonderful thing about the brains of children is that they pick up language and concepts very quickly, without necessarily having to have any grasp of grammar or anything else "academic".

One child had a speech delay so the doctor told the parents to only speak English from then on. He struggles in both languages because he is learning everything for the first time, rather than connecting information to his prior knowledge.

I think teaching any language to someone with any kind of delay will be more difficult than teaching others. I'm surprised that the parents want to get the child to speak a second language if he's already struggling with his native language.

I also have students who excelled academically in their home country and easily transfer their academic and linguistic knowledge to English.

Again, that's great, if that's how you choose to teach English. My original TEFL teacher (a long time ago) demonstrated with some random language (I can't remember what it was now) that it's possible to teach a roomful of complete beginners twenty words and how to construct a basis sentence in that language in half an hour. At no point did he use English or try to connect the two languages.

Understanding younger students' literacy and academic knowledge as a whole would help me understand where they are and what they need.

Personally, I can't see how it would help but you clearly think it will so I still think you're going to have to get people who are fluent/native in each student's language to assess them for you.