Kristina Robertson
In my 25 years of experience working with both English language learners (ELLs) and their teachers, I’ve often heard teachers discuss their ELLs in terms of “level.” But if I were to say to a teacher, “You have four Level 2s in your class,” how does that
help us have a common understanding of the students’
needs?
One approach has great potential to increase students’ language growth: focusing formative assessment
on the specific needs of ELLs (Alvarez, Ananda,
Walqui, Sato, & Rabinowitz, 2014). This requires analyzing students’ linguistic level and providing specific
feedback.
Feedback is an essential component of the formative
assessment process, as noted by both John Hattie (see
Mediamerge, 2011, for a discussion of Hattie’s effect
sizes) and Grant Wiggins (2012). However, it’s rarely
well implemented when it comes to language learning.
Most educators haven’t been trained to analyze and
provide specific language feedback. Most feedback
(corrected papers, comments, teachable moments, and
so on) addresses content, not language.
WIDA to the Rescue
What might it look like to analyze the language level of
English language learners and give targeted feedback?
I’ve used the WIDA Performance Definitions tool
( www.wida.us/get.aspx?id=5) as a rubric for this work.
The tool signals six levels of linguistic development:
entering, beginning, developing, expanding, bridging, and
reaching. For example, at the entering level, a student
would rely on pictorial or graphic representation of the
language of the content areas; at the developing level,
the student would be using general and some specific
vocabulary related to those areas; at the bridging level,
he or she would have advanced to using specialized or
technical language.
The Performance Definitions rubric aligns with the
ACCESS language proficiency assessment used in 36
U.S. states. Designed by WIDA at the Wisconsin Center
of Educational Research, ACCESS is administered
annually to ELLs to meet federal language assessment
requirements.
ACCESS test items are evaluated on three dimensions: discourse (linguistic complexity); sentence
(language forms and conventions); and word/phrase
(vocabulary usage). If teachers understand these
dimensions and use them to give students feedback
to improve their language skills throughout the year,
the students are likely to show growth on the annual
ACCESS language proficiency assessment.
The Performance Definitions tool contains two
rubrics—one for receptive language (listening and
reading) and one for productive language (speaking
and writing); and it outlines the three language
dimensions by proficiency level. By using the WIDA
Taking
Teachers can help their English
language learners develop proficiency
in academic language by engaging in
formative language assessment and
giving targeted feedback.
A Lesson in
