A Focused Approach to Systematic ELD

Gap Finder Assessment

for Long-term English Learners

CONTENTS
Protocol

Purpose of this assessment

Directions for administration
Student Assessment for Long-term English Learners

Scoring Key

Class Analysis Sheet

Reflection Questions: Evidence and Planning for Instruction

Creating Effective Systems for English Learners

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Gap Finder for Long-term English Learners Protocol

Purpose of this Assessment
This assessment is designed for long-term English language learners at the secondary level who have had
most or all of their schooling in American schools. It should be used in conjunction with other formal and
informal assessments, writing and other work samples, and teacher observation.
This assessment is:

It is not:

Designed for long-term adolescent EL who

have stalled at the intermediate proficiency
level
Meant to assist ELD teachers in identifying
significant gaps in foundational English
language knowledge
Intended to enhance understanding of
instructional needs and inform Systematic
ELD instructional planning

Designed for newcomers

Comprehensive assessment of English language
proficiency
Intended as a placement tool
Intended to assess gaps in English Language
Arts or other academic knowledge

Directions for Administration

Explain to the student that they will be answering some questions to find out more how much English
they know right now.
The Gap Finder is designed to be administered by an ELD teacher. It can be administered:
1. Orally - one-on-one with teacher recording students responses. Ask test questions as they are
written.
a. You may repeat a question as needed.
b. You may prompt the student to give a complete sentence when that is required.
c. Accept all responses neutrally. It is OK to respond with a positive comment to the
content of what a student says whether or not it contains the correct language form you
are looking for.
2. Written teacher reads each item aloud to the whole group, pausing to allow students time to
record their answers
3. Written - students independently read and respond to questions.
Materials Needed
A copy of the assessment for each student and one for the teacher to read off of (#1 and #2 above)
Scoring

The students response must align to the bolded Acceptable Responses listed on the Scoring
Guide.

If the student gives a different response, their score is 0 for that question.

Mark each student response with a score of 0 or 1 in the gray column as you go to assure
accuracy.
Assessment by Susana Dutro in collaboration with Brett Grimm and Kristen Prestridge

A Focused Approach to Systematic ELD Secondary

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Assessment of Language Use

Date

Name

Period

This assessment is to check how well you can use certain grammatical forms in English. The content is
simple and the answers will be straightforward. They may seem easy. Most of the answers dont require
you to add new information, just to use English correctly in your answer. There is no grade connected to
this assessment it is to find out more about what you know and what you still need to learn about
English.
Think about how you talk to your friends and classmates at school. Answer the
questions using a complete sentence.

Scoring:

1.

Pretend you dont understand the directions for an assignment. What could you ask your classmate?
Begin your question with Do...

2.

You want to know if your friend finished her homework last night. What do you ask her?

3.

It took you an hour to do your homework last night. You want to know how long it took your friend.
What do you ask?

4.

Your friend is complaining about his grades last semester. Tell him what he should have done differently.

5.

How long have you been coming to this school? Begin your sentence with Ive

6.

If you wanted to know the definition of a word and your partner didnt know and your teacher was busy
what would you do? Start your sentence with I...

7.

You arent sure about the number of math problems youre supposed to do. What could you ask to find
out? Start your question with How

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0/1

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Mark the box next to the word that completes the sentence.
8.

We like to hang out with our friends

9.

We usually go to the media lab _________ Thursdays.

10. The school day ends

11. He studies

break.

2:45, except on Wednesdays.

0/1

on for in during
on for in during
on at

in during

on for in at

the afternoon.

12. Ive always liked math and it is

Scoring:

my favorite subject.

yet still on already

13. Ive been working on my homework, but havent finished____.

yet still before already

14. Ive

yet still before already

read the book my teacher assigned.

Answer the following questions in a complete sentence.

Scoring:

0/1

15. Your friend wants to go to the movies, but his wallet is empty. Why cant he buy a movie ticket? Start
your sentence with He cant

16. How often do you listen to the radio? Be sure to respond in a complete sentence.

17. You are trying to decide what to wear. What will you wear if its cold? Start your sentence with If

18. You want to know if your friend has ever been camping. What do you ask?

19. What would you do if you were wearing a sweatshirt and it got too hot?

20. What would you rather have as a pet a dog or cat? Explain why. Start your answer with I.

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21. Use the information below to compare how many songs each person has on his or her iPod.
Angela = 25 songs
Angela has
Jessica has the

James = 100 songs

Jessica = 200 songs

songs on her iPod than James. He has

Angela.

22. What is one thing you do not like doing? Explain why.

23. Combine these two sentences into one sentence. My friend felt sick. She did not come to school.

24. Rewrite the following sentence using the conjunction since. My alarm didnt go off, so I was late to
school.

25. Imagine you left your cell phone on the table and your friend found it and asked, Whose cell phone is
this? How do you answer?

Youre done with the test!

Now, imagine you had a whole day to sit with one person who would tell you anything you wanted to know about
English. What would you ask them? What would you want to know?

A Focused Approach to Systematic ELD Secondary

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Scoring Key
Gap Finder Assessment for Long-Term English Learners
Target Form

Item

Questions
with Do

1. Pretend you dont understand the directions for an assignment. Begin your question with do.

Questions
with Did

2. You want to know if your friend finished her homework. What do you ask her?

Questions
with how
long + did +
present tense

3. It took an hour to do your HW last night. You want to know how long it took your friend. What
do you ask?

should have
+past
participle

4. Your friend is complaining about his grades last semester. Tell him what he should have done
differently.

for/since

Phrasal
verbs

Adjective
quantities:
many

Do you understand what to do? Do you know what we are supposed to do?

Did you do (finish) your homework last night?

How long did it take you to do (finish) your homework?

You should have studied harder; If you ___, you should have
5. How long have you been coming to this school? Begin your sentence with Ive
Ive been coming to this school since / for _______.
6. If you wanted to know the definition of a word and your partner didnt know and your teacher
was busy what would you do? Start your sentence with I.
I would look it up (in the dictionary). I would look for it on the internet.
7. You arent sure about the number of math problems youre supposed to do. What could you ask
to find out? Start question with How
How many problems do I need to do for homework?
8. We like to hang out with our friends

Adverbs
of time

on for in during

9. We usually go to the media lab _________ Thursdays.

on for in during

10. The school day ends

on at

2:45, except on Wed.

in during

on for in at

11. He studies _____ the afternoon.

12. Ive always liked math and it is

lunch.

my favorite subject.

yet still on already

13. Ive been homework, but havent finished____

yet still before already

14. Ive ______ read the book my teacher assigned

yet still

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before already

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Scoring Key continued

Target Form
Avoiding
double
negatives

Adverbs of
frequency

Conditional
statements

Gap Finder Assessment for Long-Term English Learners

Item
15. Your friend wants to go to the movies, but his wallet is empty. Why cant he buy a movie
ticket? Start your sentence with He cant
He cant buy a ticket because he doesnt have any money.
16. How often do you listen to the radio? Be sure to respond in a complete sentence.
I never / always / sometimes / listen to the radio; I listen to the radio every day/ a few times a
week / etc. I dont listen to the radio is also acceptable.
17. You are trying to decide what to wear. What will you wear if its cold? Start your sentence
with If.
If its cold, Ill wear

Present
perfect

18. You want to know if your friend has ever been camping. What do you ask?

Phrasal
verbs

19. If you were wearing your favorite sweatshirt, but you got too hot. What would you do?

Auxiliary
verbs

20. What would you rather have as a pet a dog or cat? Explain why. Start your answer with I

Have you ever been (gone) camping?

I would take it off. I would take off my sweatshirt.

I would (Id) rather have a ______because ____________.

21. Use the information below to compare how many songs each person has on his or her iPod.

Comparative

Angela = 25 songs

James = 100 songs

Jessica = 200 songs

Angela has fewer songs on her iPod than James. He has more songs than Angela. Jessica has
the most.
Conjunction:
because

22. What is one thing you do not like doing? Explain why. I dont like ____ because ____.

Conjunction:
because, so
or since

23. Combine these two sentences into one sentence. My friend felt sick. She did not come to school.

Conjunction:
since

My friend felt sick so she didnt come to school. Since/Because my friend felt sick, she
24. Rewrite following sentence using the conjunction since. My alarm didnt go off, so I was late
to school.
Since my alarm didnt go off, I was late for school.

Possessive
pronoun:
mine

25. Imagine you left your cell phone on the table and your friend found it and asked, Whose cell
phone is this? How do you answer? Its mine! Thats mine!

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15.

14.

13.

12.

11.

10.

9.

8.

7.

6.

5.

4.

3.

2.

1.

Student Names:

Date:

Period/Course

Teacher:

Directions:

A Focused Approach to Systematic ELD: Secondary

2. As you score the Long-Term English Learner Assessment, note whether student:
Needs language instruction in use of the grammatical form = 0 or
Used grammatical form correctly = 1
3. Read across to see the grammatical knowledge gaps of individual students; read vertically to find patterns within the group.

1. List the names of your long-term English learners below.

Gap Finder Long-term English Learner Assessment - Class Analysis Sheet

1. questions with do
2. questions with did
3. how long + did + present tense
4. should have + past participle
5. for/since
6. phrasal verbs
7. adjective quantities: many
8. prepositions of time
9. prepositions of time
10. prepositions of time
11. prepositions of time
12. adverbs of time
13. adverbs of time
14. adverbs of time
15. avoiding double negatives
16. adverbs of frequency
17. conditional statements
18. present perfect
19. phrasal verbs
20. comparative adjectives
21. superlative adjectives
22. conjunction: because
23. conjunction: so or since
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24. conjunction: since

25. possessive pronoun: mine
Total Score

35.

34.

33.

32.

31.

30.

29.

28.

27.

26.

25.

24.

23.

22.

21.

20.

19.

18.

17.

16.

Student Names:

Date:

Period/Course

Teacher:

1. questions with do
2. questions with did

A Focused Approach to Systematic ELD: Secondary

3. how long + did + present tense

4. should have + past participle
5. for/since
6. phrasal verbs
7. adjective quantities: many
8. prepositions of time
9. prepositions of time
10. prepositions of time
11. prepositions of time
12. adverbs of time
13. adverbs of time
14. adverbs of time
15. avoiding double negatives
16. adverbs of frequency
17. conditional statements
18. present perfect
19. phrasal verbs
20. comparative adjectives
21. superlative adjectives
22. conjunction: because
23. conjunction: so or since

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24. conjunction: since

25. possessive pronoun: mine
Total Score

Reflection Questions Gap Finder Long-term E.L. Assessment

These questions will help you and/or your team analyze the evidence you collect from this assessment and
plan your next steps for instruction.

Evidence
I.

Overall, were there any surprises? Did students tend perform as you would expect given their
assessed English proficiency level?

II. What are some general trends you noticed among your students?
What grammatical structures came most naturally and were used correctly?

With which structures did most students struggle?

Are there any structures that smaller groups of students were unable to use correctly?

Planning for Instruction

I.

In what areas will all students (whole class) benefit from additional instruction?

II. In what areas will small groups benefit from additional instruction?

A Focused Approach to Systematic ELD Secondary

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