Utilizing Accommodations in Assessment
- PDF / 149,284 Bytes
- 17 Pages / 439.37 x 663.307 pts Page_size
- 49 Downloads / 174 Views
UTILIZING ACCOMMODATIONS IN ASSESSMENT
INTRODUCTION
An equitable assessment and accountability system requires that all students be included in large-scale national and local assessments. However, there is a substantial performance gap between those for whom the assessment language is a second language and those students who are native speakers of the assessment language, particularly on academic subjects that are high in language demand (Abedi, 2006a). The literature suggests that this performance gap is explained by many different factors including parent education level and support, SES, the challenge of second language acquisition (Hakuta, Butler, and Witt, 2000; Moore and Redd, 2002) and a host of inequitable schooling conditions (Gándara, Rumberger, Maxwell-Jolly, and Callahan, 2003). Yet, it is also often the case that the measurement tools are ill-equipped to assess the skills and abilities of second language learners. To offset these challenges, nonnative speakers of the assessment language are provided with “test accommodations.” Test accommodations refer to changes in the test process, in the test itself, or in the test response format. The goal of accommodations is to provide a fair opportunity for nonnative speakers of the assessment language and students with disabilities to demonstrate what they know and can do, to level the playing field, so to speak, without giving them an advantage over students who do not receive the accommodation. The issues concerning accommodations are important in all countries where there are students who do not have high proficiency in the language of instruction and assessment in schools; usually these are immigrants and indigenous groups. Since the USA has conducted more research on accommodations than many other countries, in this chapter we present an overview of major research findings that are reported in the American research journals for English language learners. E A R LY D E V E L O P M E N T S
Historically, the concept of accommodations was first introduced in the field of special education. Many students with disabilities need specific forms of assistance in the classroom setting to deal with their disabilities, i.e., to level the playing field. For example, deaf and hard E. Shohamy and N. H. Hornberger (eds), Encyclopedia of Language and Education, 2nd Edition, Volume 7: Language Testing and Assessment, 331–347. #2008 Springer Science+Business Media LLC.
332
JAMAL ABEDI
of hearing students need hearing aids to offset the effect of their inability to hear at the same level as regular students. Similarly, blind or visually impaired students need to use the brail version of a test to be able to read the test items. These accommodations are used to increase equity in the classroom as well as during assessment conditions. The concept of accommodations was then extended to English language learners (ELL). Unfortunately, however, not only the concept but the actual accommodation strategies that were created and used for students with disabilities were used for ELL stu
Data Loading...
