Validity refers to the connection between what was taught and what is being tested, and reliability refers to the ability for the score to be repeated and show consistency.

What do "validity" and "reliability" refer to?

Some examples of language proficiency tests are the Woodcock-Munoz Language Survey, Woodcock Language Proficiency Battery, Bilingual Verbal Abilities Test, Language Assessment Scales, and the IDEA Proficiency Tests.

Name at least 2 language proficiency test.

One common misuse of test scores is making a decision based on one test score.

Name one common misuse of test scores.

It means that the question favors people who live in a certain area, have had certain life experiences, speak a certain language, or other factor that is not part of what is being tested. An example would be a question on a grammar test that references something that only occurs in mountains, and the student has never visited the mountains, so can not understand what the question is asking, even though the student may know the grammar component.

What does it mean if a test question is item-biased?

What is morphology, phonetics, phonology, syntax, and semantics.

As an ELL teacher, we need to know about linguistics because that is essentially what we teach. What are the 5 main areas of linguistics?

A norm-referenced test is made to discriminate between people so that you can rank them with a percentage number. A criterion-referenced test has a certain score that must be met for passing. Everyone could pass. People are not being compared against each other.

What is the difference between and a norm-referenced and a criterion-referenced test?

The purpose of a diagnostic test is determine a student's current abilities and see what they need to learn next.

What is the purpose of a diagnostic test?

Instead of measuring the student's intelligence, it is actually measuring the student's English skills.

If you give an ELL student an intelligence test in English, what is it really measuring?

What is content, item format, and item bias.

What are the three areas most commonly criticized in regard to standardized tests?

What is geography, social class, ethic group, age, sex, occupation, function, or style.

What sorts of factors can influence language variation?

An example of a proficiency exam is a driver's test. An example of an achievement exam is would be a weekly quiz in a Spanish class.

To show that you know what a proficiency exam is versus an achievement exam, give me an example of each.

One benefit of communicative language testing is that the tester can see what someone can DO with the language in a conversational setting.

Name one benefit of Communicative language testing.

Since schools receive federal funding, they can not exclude students participation or deny them benefits based on race, origin, or color. For this reason, schools need to provide education services for ELL students.

How does the Civil Rights Act of 1964 affect ELL education?

Three examples of unstructured assessment techniques are brainstorming, journals, and debates.

Give 3 examples of different types of unstructured assessment techniques.

What is innateness hypothesis (learning language is a biologically innate part of being human) and behaviorist approach (learn language through imitation and positive rewards).

What are the names of the 2 language acquisition hypotheses and how do they work?

Doing an actual example of what is being tested is an example of a direct testing method. Having someone talk about the material is an example of indirect testing.

Doing the work to show that you know the material versus talking about the material are examples of what two types of testing?

In this case, the best form of assessment is a performance assessment.

What type of assessment is the best indicator if what you are trying to test is one's ability to create products.

Identical education is when students receive the exact same education and benefits regardless of their personal needs. Equal education is when all students are taught in a way that accommodates their own special needs.

What is the difference between equal and identical education?

Some arguments in favor of standardized testing include keeping schools accountable for public funds spent and keeping parents involved about the performance of different schools.

What are some arguments in favor of standardized testing?

It is very important to make sure that the struggles that the student is facing is not a normal part of the language acquisition process or some other problem related to language.

What do you have to do before you refer an ELL student to Special Education services?

The three characteristics of measurement are quantification (need #'s assigned in order to be able to analyze data), characteristics (that you're specifically trying to quantify), and explicit rules and procedures for how you quantify (rubric).

What are the 3 distinguishing characteristics of measurement?

In this case, you do not want to use a performance assessment.

If you just want to test a student's knowledge mastery, what kind of assessment do you not want to use.

In a situation that enforces identical education, an ELL student would have to sit in an all English classroom with their native English speaking peers and not learn any of the content or have direct English language instruction. In an equal education system, ELL students receive the support that they need to try and get up to speed with the rest of the English-speaking student body, and are able to continue to learn content and to grow cognitively.

Give an example of how the difference between identical and equal education would affect an ELL student.

1- The tests focus on rote learning instead of performance tasks. 2 - Decisions are based on 1 test score.

What are 2 arguments against the use of statewide tests?

A teacher can first make sure that the lessons are suitable for ELL students with extra enforcement, like visuals, reviews, and multi-modal teaching. Additionally, a teacher can check with the student's other teachers to compare observations and test the student in his/her primary language.

What can a teacher do to find out if a student is struggling to do language or some other problem that may requier special education services?