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Kristin Sarboukh March 5, 2013 Professor Rich Oral Language Assessment Oral language is a very critical part of a childs

development and should be held to just as high of a standard as any other assessment. Just like with a childs reading comprehension or depth of writing, students oral language can be at many different levels. Some children in the same grade may have lower oral language skills; just like some children may have lower reading or comprehension skills. However, because this is much more difficult to assess, some professionals may somewhat overlook it. It is a very important skill because a childs oral skills may reflect in his or her writing. If a child cannot share stories, retell event, or even explain how to do something verbally, this may be demonstrated in his or her writing. For this reason, a childs oral language should be assessed at least once, if not multiple times throughout the year. To perform my own oral language assessment, I worked with a girl named Anoushka. She is a third grader in Miss Schroecks class. She is an average student with very average reading and writing skills. Anoushka is performing at a standard third grade level; she is neither greatly excelling nor falling behind in any content area. I observed her over the course of three visits to Wicoff Elementary School during math when she worked with a partner on different assignments, in science when she did different experiments, in writing where she had to use her creativity in developing poems, and a little in reading where she had to infer poems and act out scenes from these poems. When it came to gathering all my information about Anoushka, I used a specific methodology. When she was working with a partner, I would spend a lot of time with her and her

partner. I would listen to what she said, how she responded, how she explained thing, and much more. Sometimes I would ask questions to see if she explained something differently to me than she did when talking to a peer. When dealing with the whole class, I would watch her interaction with the students nearby and with Miss Schroeck when the class was asked a question. I would take note of when she was reserved or when she was speaking out and why that seemed to be. During the little bit of free time the students had in the morning, I would watch who she talked to and what she talked about. The notes I took were be based on what I observed; sometimes these notes would be general comments, and other times I would write the exact dialog exchange that took place. Overall, I acquired interesting result. Anoushka has very many strengths in regards to her oral language. When sharing stories, either with her peers or with Miss Schroeck, she is very detailed. She tries to provide as much detail and create as much imagery as she can. She also likes to be creative in regards to poetry. Not only can she add detail, but she uses onomatopoeias and other descriptive techniques in her writing and sharing of poems. In her free time and play, she likes create the worlds she reads about. She talks about them to classmates and even pretends to act them out. With such creativity, it does not stop at school. Anoushka bring in poems and stories that she writes at home and shares them with Miss Schroeck. She honestly loves language for its aesthetic value. While she does find the humor and fun in stories and poetry, she also uses it as a tool to express her feelings. A few weeks ago, the school had a lock down because they believed there was a man with a gun in the neighborhood. This really shook many of the children up and Anoushka expressed how scared she felt through poetry. Using it as a good release and a portal to let her emotions out is one of her strengths. She makes these connections with real life and can emotionally identify between real life and what she writes or reads. She expressed to a friend

how when she was reading her book, she got excited because the characters grandpa was coming to visit and she loves when her grandpa comes to visit. Anoushka is able to make that connection and understand how a character is feeling. Last but not least, she takes a strong leadership role. Taking charge of a group or partnership is one of her stronger points because she likes to explain thing as well as share her opinion. On the contrary, there are also some weaknesses in Anoushkas oral language development. While she loves to share stories with her classmates and teacher, she does not use strong word choices. She uses very basic language and does not try to vary her speech. Instead, she often rambles a lot. She also uses basic sentences when telling stories and retelling events. When explaining things, she has trouble talking about it as if she were teaching it. She explains things as if the listener knows the same information she does. For example, when her partner in math asked her to explain how she got an answer, she replied, I made boxes, drew dots, and then put the answer. In no way was she able to explain this in order for someone else to understand. This is similar in the way she plans events. She is very spontaneous and is not good at thinking things through until after she does them. This causes her to have a hard time verbally planning events with her peers and does not really talk about things until after the event. Lastly, in regards to leadership, she is a strong leader when she takes control, but when she does not or cannot, she sits quietly by herself and continues on without the group. If someone else takes the lead, she cannot follow. These findings are very important in deciding how to inform instruction. Because Anoushka is very detailed and shares her opinion, she can use this in her writing when working with imagery or writing a persuasive essay. I would encourage her to continue to build on this as one of her strengths in her writing. Because she likes to connect her poetry and stories to real

life, this could be a great tool to use to help her brainstorm if she is ever having trouble starting an assignment. Also, she enjoys language for what it is and likes to be creative, as a teacher, I would not want to ruin that by forcing her to always write factual essays or poems. I would mix it up so she could keep that love alive and build off of it. This way, she will be more willing to write and talk about other genres such as nonfiction. In regards to her weaknesses, these findings are just as crucial; knowing this about a student helps Miss Schroeck know what to focus on, what needs to be reinforced, and what concepts the student is fully grasping and understanding. Also, if there is this common theme among a majority of students, the teacher may want to dedicate a whole class period to the topic. For example, since Anoushka has some trouble using stronger and more colorful words and the teacher finds that a majority of the class is having the same issue, Miss Schroeck may decide to do a lesson on the difference between a very plain word and a more detailed and exciting word. Also, in regards to explaining and planning things, Miss Schroeck could focus in on this because she knows Anoushka has trouble with it. She can do this by having her create a chart where she organizes her thoughts and writing what happens before, during, and after a when planning an event or explaining a task. Lastly, with leadership, she can speak to Anoushka about how you can still be a leader and not be the one talking all the time. After each time the class works in partners or small groups, Miss Schroeck can reflect with Anoushka and see how she is doing. Overall, Anoushka is a very active member in the classroom. As a whole, the class exhibits many functions across various contexts. For example, they do a lot of sharing stories, retelling events and reporting on a variety of information. They also build relationships with peers and adults, have the opportunity to take leadership roles, and also respond to peers and adults. These are all present across the curriculum. Some other functions that are present in the

classroom are expressing language and literacy knowledge, creating imaginative worlds, enjoying language, expressing empathy and points of view, asking questions, and building collaborative relations. Anoushka, along with the rest of the class, has the opportunity to build and expand their oral language every day. With all these opportunities and the results of the assessment, Miss Schroeck would be able to focus on what the students need to be taught most or need to be given the opportunity to practice, in order for them to develop the skill necessary to succeed.

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