Assessing ESL Students' Reading

Question: How use multiple assessments of ESL students’ progress in reading?

Answer/Quote: “Use multiple measures of reading progress that reflect comprehension and interest, not just skills. Such measures might include:

.checklists of oral reading performance.

.reading strategies the child uses

.reading comprehension skills (“comprehends oral stories,” “literal comprehension,” “inferential comprehension”)

.interests (“samples a variety of materials”)

.applications (“participates in reading groups,” “writes dialogue journal entries.”) Encourage students to maintain a dialogue journal with you in which they assess their own progress as readers.

Include all observations, checklists, and the students’ self-assessments in individual portfolios that are used to maintain information on students, to communicate with other teachers about the students’ progress, to communicate with students about their progress, and to communicate with parents.” P.100.

Comment: Once again, this advice seems to be pertinent to a self-contained class of ESL students, rather than the regular English teacher, but might be adapted to the regular teacher’s program. RayS.

Title: “Instructional Approaches and Teaching Procedures.” AU Chamot and JM O’Malley. Pp. 82-107. In Kids Come in All Languages: Reading Instruction for ESL Students. Eds. K Spangensberg-Urgschat and R Pritchard. Newark, DE: IRA. 1994.