Monday, October 11, 2010

10 Tips for Testing ELLs in Content Area Classes

The ELLs in your content area classes probably range in English language ability from the beginning stage of language acquisition to the those who are fluent. As ELLs become more proficient they will be able to participate in some of the testing done in your content area classes. Here are some hints for modifying assessment for these students.

1. Have students role play to show understanding of a topic. Group ELLs with native English speakers.
2. Instead of writing a book report, have students show comprehension of the book by role playing the plot, making a cover, or designing a book mark.
3. Allow ELLs to consult their book or notes during a test.
4. Provide simplified study guides and limit assessment to items on the guide. Only key vocabulary and concepts should be covered.
5. Allow students to answer essay questions orally.
6. Have students compare and contrast concepts previously taught in class.
Use a graphic organizer with information already filled in. Review the information in class. Have students study the information on the organizer at home before the assessment.
7. Have students fill in a modified outline, story web, chart, graph or timeline. Provided some of the answers and have students fill in what is missing.
8. Reformat the test so that test the type is larger and there is more white space.
9. Simplify the language of essay questions or break them into manageable parts. Read questions aloud modifying the language of the question.
10. Complete class projects in cooperative groups and grade ELLs on their participation in the group.

2 comments:

learn spanish free said...

Your post was a great contribute ion to this community and it was really useful to me. I actually look forward to have a Testing ELLs in Content Area Classes. And I am glad that I found those tips here.

Anonymous said...

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