Article+Reflection+on+Assessment+of+Language+Learners+by+Burcu+GÜNER

I evaluated a chapter “Assessment of Young English Language Learners” from the book “Teaching Young Children a Second Language” by Tatiana Gordon. The chapter deals with some ways to assess young language learners’ second language acquisition and academic progress. Moon states in his article that the teachers should assess whether pupils are developing and making progress (2000). Also, assessment is needed to help teachers and administrators make decisions about students’ linguistic abilities (Shaaban, 2005). The chapter firstly analyzes language assessment tools. These are standardized tests and high-stakes achievement tests. Standardized tests include home language surveys and questionnaires. Parents fill out these surveys or questionnaires in order to provide information about languages that children speak at home. However, I do not think that standardized language tests provide an adequate measure of language learners’ second language proficiency. The second way of assessment is high-stakes achievement tests which provide parents, administrators, and policymakers with information about the effectiveness of instruction in individual schools (Gordon, p. 200). The chapter secondly analyzes characteristics of assessment instruments. This section explains what features the language test needs to possess in order to be useful. These features are reliability and validity. According to reliability feature, the test should be free of ambiguity and easy to interpret. Also, scoring rubrics and unambiguous scoring guidelines enable the test reader to interpret test results accurately and to assign correct scores to test takers. If we want to support this idea, Kari Smith states in his article that the criteria should be clear to all concerned for successful performance (Smith, 1995). Moreover, Gordon says in her book that the tests should be appropriate to the students’ levels and should not be too long or too short. Similarly, Smith states that the assessment should be appropriate to all persons being assessed (1995). Beside, for reliability, physical environment should provide a supportive atmosphere because if the learner is nervous or distracted at the time of testing, the test will fail to provide accurate results. Indeed, the assessment should let the learner demonstrate positive achievement and reflect the learner’s strengths (Smith, 1995). The second feature of assessment tools is validity. The chapter emphasizes that reliability is not enough for a good language test; a good test is also valid. Smith says that assessment should put more emphasis on validity than on reliability (1995). Gordon states that we need to be assured that the device we are using should provide the kind of data that we seek to obtain for any measuring procedure. I believe that it is important, especially for teachers, because many tests do not give desired information about the students. In my opinion, validity is well defined by Archbald and Newmann (1988) as “A valid assessment system which provides information about particular tasks on which students succeed or fail, but more important, it also presents tasks that are worthwhile, significant, and meaningful. The chapter lastly analyzes teacher-made assessment instruments. Some of the innovative assessment instruments used by second language teachers include journals, observations, and portfolios. Gordon states that journaling works best if the teacher wants to make sure that her students are able to connect the concepts explored in class to their personal experiences. Observation is helpful when the teacher is interested in finding out whether the students know to complete a certain task or need help to complete the task. Moreover, portfolios are an effective means of assessment because they help children recognize their own strengths and weaknesses. Indeed, portfolio offers the children the opportunity to become responsible for their own learning by becoming actively involved in areas such as goal-setting, selection, and application of assessment criteria (Ianou-Georgio & Pavlou, 2002). These ways of assessment decrease the level of anxiety generated by concentration on linguistic accuracy and increase students’ feeling of success (Shaaban, 2005). **REFERENCES ** Gordon, Tatiana. (2007). //Teaching Young Children a Second Language//. (pp. 200-210). Praeger Publisher. Ianou-Georgio & Pavlou. (2002). //Language Portfolio.// Oxford University Press Moon, Tonya R. (2000). //Learning to see.// Shaaban, Kassim. (2005). //Assessment of Young Learners//. English Teaching Forum, vol. 43 Smith, Kari. (1996). //Assessing and Testing Young Learners: Can we? Should we?// Oranim School of Education of the Kibbutz Movement
 * REFLECTION ON “ASSESSMENT OF YOUNG ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS” **