Lisette Gongora

ESC 727
April 13, 2014

SECTION 3: ASSESSMENT OF CHILDS SOCIAL AND ACADEMIC

LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY (15 points)
I. ASSESSMENT OF ORAL LANGUAGE:
I observed Isabela in class. She rarely volunteers during the lesson, but she will
respond when called on if she knows the answer. When paired with a new Mam-speaking
student, she volunteered more. When called on, she was able to respond to the teachers
questions and her pronunciation was pretty clear.
Isabela has had to present information about herself and her country and her
timeline in front of the class. Most of the presentation was from sentence frames that the
students used to complete the missing information, just as the teachers had modeled it.
Isabelas pronunciation was good, but I am not sure she could have done it without
reading the prewritten sentences. The nice thing is that she is willing to do the
presentations.
I sat behind Isabela one day to observe her participation in class. As the teacher
read from a printed text to the class, I could hear Isabela quietly parrot what the teacher
was reading as she read along. She is definitely making an effort to learn the language.
The teacher asked Isabela and two other students to help her demonstrate something to
the class. At one point Isabela had to speak and I noticed her pronunciation of the
following words: food = footh, water = wader, sleeping = esleepin, slave = eslb.
Isabela participated in a matching activity that was done for test review. During
the activity, she read the descriptions clearly and said all the dates (years) correctly. The
cognates she pronounced with more of a Spanish pronunciation.
During group work she read voluntarily and corrected another student when he
mispronounced a word. Normally Isabela speaks to the other students in Spanish and the
other students translate things for her. They rarely practice speaking in English with each
other because they all speak Spanish.
When Isabela spoke to me one-on-one, she was able to respond to some basic
questions but couldnt remember many words when the questions were more specific
open-ended questions. I recorded the conversation in order to be able to refer back to it.
There were times that she could not understand what I was asking her, and I had to
rephrase what I said.
The differences I noticed between individual and group activities: in individual
activities Isabela was forced to speak and tended to be shyer. In group activities she was
comfortable enough to hear and correct others errors.

Lisette Gongora
ESC 727
April 13, 2014

When I rated Isabelas speaking and listening/understanding based on the

SOLOM, I found the following results:
1. Comprehension = 1-2 (1.5)
Most of the time, if Isabela doesnt understand something that was said, the teacher has to
rephrase it using a different word, not just repeat it.
2. Fluency = 1-2 (1.5)
Isabela stops frequently because she cant find the words she needs to say what she
wants.
3. Vocabulary = 1-2 (1.5)
Isabelas lack of vocabulary is what most impacts her fluency. Since she has to stop
frequently to search for the right word(s), her expression is choppy. Many times she will
use any form related to the word she wants, if she can think of it.
4. Pronunciation = 2
Surprisingly, Isabelas pronunciation is clear and, when she knows the words, she is
pretty easy to understand. She has trouble with words that start with s + consonant, th
and b vs. v. She has a good ear. She was able to distinguish between back and
black, and between sister and sixter when another student mispronounced the words
and she corrected him.
5. Grammar = 1-2 (1.5)
Isabela is still stating things without grammar structure. Many of her statements lack
verbs. When she includes a verb, it is usually the wrong form.
Total score = 8: Phase I

Lisette Gngora
ESC 727
April 13, 2014

II. ASSESSMENT OF READING PROFICIENCY

When Isabela reads, she can pronounce most of the words. At times it is hard to
understand what she is saying, but most of the time her pronunciation is pretty clear. Although
Isabela can read the words on the page or on the SmartBoard, she cannot answer any
comprehension questions unless it is a text that has been read several times, such as the Social
Studies text on slavery. Even then, Isabela cannot always respond to simple questions about the
text. She read a story about Harriet Tubman, and although she read all the words, she had no idea
what the reading was about until the teachers went over it slowly with the students in each of the
groups. However, Isabela is very good at knowing and saying years in English. 1865 = eighteen
sixty five, 1492 = fourteen ninety two. She ran into trouble with 1800s, and so did the rest of
the students. Ironically, Isabela could not remember how to say 28 when I asked her her
birthday. She said 19 I wrote down the date she gave me and showed it to her. It was then that
she asked me in Spanish how to say 28.

III. ASSESSMENT OF WRITING PROFICIENCY

Isabelas writing is barely beginning. I have looked at her writing and the only reason I
know what she is trying to say is because it relates to the lessons I have done with her. I showed
the writing to the other teacher and she had the same reaction I did, Thats great! I also showed
it to someone unrelated to the program and school and the person had no idea what the student
was trying to say for most of the sentences. If you read some of the sentences phonetically out
loud, you might figure out what it says. She is trying very hard and she has made some progress.
I think she will improve a great deal in the next two months.
Some of Isabelas sentences on the unit on slavery:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

slaves action (I dont know.)

master is colrs wha (The master is white.)
slaves in sout (The slaves are in the South.)
master whipid the slaves (The master whipped the slaves.)
slave is colrs black (The slave is black.)

The WIDA score I came up with after evaluating Isabelas reading and writing was:
Reading: Level I = Entering
Writing: Level I = Entering
Isabela does not have the ability yet to express herself independently in English. It will
take some time before she is able to do it. Judging from her effort, its just a matter of time.