What You See: Ongoing Assessment in the ESL/Literacy Classroom

Janet Isserlis
Literacy Resources/Rhode Island, Providence, RI

This essay describes ongoing action research on how adult ESL/literacy learners progress An and out of the classroom. Its purpose is to describe ways in which facilitators understand and describe learning and work with adults to increase their awareness of how they learn. It is my hope that sharing these thoughts with other literacy practitioners may encourage them to adapt, expand, and further develop these ideas in ways that make sense within their own contexts.

Background

With the current widespread focus on assessment -- as with every educational trend -- the potential for growth as well as abuse exists. (Think about empowering learners through a basal whole language series and understand how contradictions develop in the name of commerce.) Publishers have begun to jump on the progressive assessment bandwagon and have commodified "new" assessment practices. Nonetheless, one very positive outcome in this recent resurgence of attention to assessment is its bringing to awareness real links between assessment and learning.

Assessment is observation and asking questions. The reports we send to funders are related to the outcomes of some of those questions but are removed to some extent from the everyday business of working in a classroom. Assessment is interwoven in this daily work in obvious as well as subtle ways. When a learner says, "I don't understand," we know that she needs more information or needs to have something rephrased or re-explained. This kind of spontaneous evaluation of a learner's needs is the most obvious form of ongoing assessment. When another learner consistently asks questions about grammar over a period of time, we also learn something about that learner's thinking and learning processes and possibly about that learner's previous experience with formal education. When a learner always copies everything from the blackboard, breaks lines in her notebook in exactly the same way as they're broken on the board (even if she has enough space in her notebook not to break the lines), we learn something about how she understands print.

The assessment questions we ask range from the very broad to the very specific. Broader questions frame our thinking about how we know what we know about learning, but they are not particularly helpful without specific, local questions about particular learners in concrete contexts. We might begin by asking what we mean by assessment. Assessment of what? of whom? When does this assessment occur and why? If we decide that we assess learners to satisfy funders, then we remove learning from the equation to some degree. We want to be able to show the people who pay us that their money is being well spent. So, at worst, we may teach to a standardized test, showing low pre- and high post-test scores. We may tell learners that this is just a test, and work towards it "on the side" but use the rest of our valuable classroom time on "real" learning and teaching. In other instances we may try to educate funders and tell them that we use portfolio assessment -- that we look at learners' progress over time in various areas -- through dialogue journals, writing samples, and taped readings done at various intervals during the course of a program. We may ask learners to report on their own progress and document their responses to surveys we conduct throughout the year. Or we may use any combination of the above.

These are product-oriented views of assessment, and the concerns of funders are very real problems. Nonetheless, for this discussion, I would like to set aside these funders and their needs and return to learners and theirs.

Assessment Every Day

Ongoing assessment has to do with classroom activity that occurs continuously. Such ongoing assessment has less to do with written reports and far more to do with the interactive, dynamic, dialogic roles of both teachers and learners. It has to do with responding to learners' questions every day and with actively noting the kinds of questions learners ask, the ways in which learners respond to print and oral communications, the kinds of mistakes they make, the ways in which they go about correcting their own mistakes, and the ways in which their classmates might correct them. This kind of ongoing observation and assessment is inseparable from good teaching practice.

In 1988, literacy practitioners at the International Institute of Rhode Island began a process of documenting classroom activity in order to develop a vehicle for recording ongoing assessment. Over time, we came to notice not only what was happening with particular learners but also ways in which to examine, frame, and question ongoing events in general. This process is described at length elsewhere; what emerged from the process has been a heightened awareness on the part of teaching staff of the importance of ongoing critical reflection and interaction with learners. Active observation and attentive listening enable practitioners to go beyond the more evident aspects of learners' progress -- e.g., increases in length of journal entries, improvements in spelling -- and become more closely aware of the processes through which learners acquire language and literacy.

For Example

To illustrate the kinds of daily interactions and specific instances which teach us about how learners learn, the following anecdotal accounts describe adult ESL/literacy learners and ways in which they help themselves and help me to learn about their learning processes.

Rosalie has been in America for about 18 years. She was born in Haiti and raised in the Bahamas. At present she works as a dishwasher. She came to class with the ability to speak and understand English and to write her name. She knew the names of the letters of the alphabet but had no strong sense of sound/symbol correspondence. Even five to seven line language experience activities (LEA) seemed to overwhelm her. She could "read" the stories at the blackboard after several other learners had read them--she was able to memorize much of the passage and was also very willing to ask for assistance when she couldn't decode a word. When learners were reading the typed versions of the previous day's LEA, I gave Rosalie different colored highlighter pens, asking her to highlight all the "b" words in one color, all the same words in another ("and," "name," etc.). Her ability to memorize was evident, for example, when she misread an entire line out of sequence. In order to work from this strength (her ability to memorize), I asked her to tell me the words she most wanted to be able to read and write and wrote those words in her notebook. Her list included: church, work, husband, children, grandchildren and teacher. Whenever these words appeared, I called her attention to them, hoping to help her develop a sight word vocabulary and, later, to point out the graphaphonic cues she could use. Although she asked for the highlighters when I forgot to bring them to class, it wasn't until I tried making flashcards for her that she really responded.

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Excerpts from the author's classroom log are included throughout this article.

Rosalie is somewhat atypical as an ESL/literacy learner, because her aural/oral abilities are so strong. She was able to tell me that the flashcards were the best thing for her and that she was making sentences in school and at home to study, copy, and learn. She is also able to provide very important feedback. When another learner helped her, she became confused, but politely accepted his assistance. When he left the room, she told me, "Joe's help is no good." She asked other learners in the class for assistance, but she knew that Joe moves too quickly and too assertively for her. Rosalie can report on her own learning in a way that other ESL learners cannot often do. Although her ability to speak enables us to hasten our process, similar strides can be made with other learners.

Bosilio, a Puerto Rican learner who emigrated to the mainland in 1973, presented himself to the Literacy/ESL Program with the goal of learning to read in Spanish so that he could read the Bible. Bosilio was the only student to arrive during the first week of morning classes, so he was essentially in a private tutorial. I began working with very simple LEA sentences (not stories) in order to enable him to learn sight words like "name" and "nombre." However, during the first two and a half hour session, he made it clear that he wanted to know the alphabet because that was the only way he would learn to read. My explanation that learning the sounds of the letters might be more important than learning their names was not convincing. So, during the second session, we worked hard on drilling vowel sounds (a,e,i,o,u) in Spanish and then working with syllables (e.g., ma, me, mi, mo, mu). This appealed to Bosilio, and he copied pages of similar syllabic drills into his notebook between classes. I tried several times to introduce some meaning, by showing him "so" and "pa" from his lists, and writing sentences like, "Me gusta la sopa." When he heard the sound "si" he recognized it as the "si" in Bosilio. When he saw "si" out of the context of a horizontal list or in the context of a sentence, e.g., "Si, me gusta la sopa," he was unable to recognize it. If he was reading through the vowel/consonant lists and came to, "so" and was unable to recognize it, he would go back to the top of his list (sa, se, si, so, su) and recite it until he came to the sound in question.

Bosilio was able to make connections on the basis of sound more than he was able to relate to visual cues. In the 10 hours we spent together during our first week, he memorized the vowels (in sequence), but was able to retain few whole/sight words. The following week, nine new students entered the class, five Russians and three Hispanics. Two of the Hispanic learners were inappropriately placed in the class; their language and literacy abilities far outstripped the others. Both learners were willing to stay in the class until space in a more advanced class became available. Both also agreed to work with Bosilio on his Spanish reading and writing. By the end of the week, however, Bosilio had decided to leave the class, stating that, although he received some help from the other learners, he did not want to participate in any of the whole class English language reading, writing, or discussion. Additionally, he was convinced that he would only learn by learning to read Spanish. He was absent the following day; I contacted him with information about a Spanish language literacy class being held on Saturdays. He thanked me for the information and did not return to the Institute.

Bosilio's story challenges assumptions about learners who won't or can't explicitly express their learning goals. Bosilio wanted to learn to read the Bible. His life in the church was of paramount importance to him. He reported that the church and Christ had saved him from a life of alcoholism and womanizing. Clearly, reading the Word was a dominant motivation. Bosilio was receiving some sort of disability assistance and, although he did not discuss the nature of his disability, there was something not quite right affectively in his interaction with me and with others. (His interpersonal interactions, his sense of personal "space" between himself and his interlocutors, and his speech rhythms indicated behavioral differences between Bosilio and other people.) His needs exceeded mere literacy learning (as do many learner's). However, his intractability vis a vis learning even some of the time with people speaking English indicated to me that no amount of cajoling would or necessarily should have persuaded him to contemplate a more open attitude toward learning. In his case, ownership extended beyond actual literacy, per se, to the ways in which he felt he could become literate. Assessment moves beyond noting his ability to copy lists of phonetic drills and into observation of and reflection upon his interactions with other learners, his motivation for learning, and the goals which drove him to seek classes in the first place.

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Marines said she wanted to take her GED and was fairly fluent orally. She wanted to pass a licensing test in English to work as a beautician, as she had done in Puerto Rico. She was able to communicate adequately in writing, yet she continually made sloppy mistakes -- the kinds of errors that I might point out to a learner as they occur repeatedly over time (e.g., spelling errors in high frequency words, misuse of past tense). Because she explicitly stated that she wants to pass a product oriented test, I adapted my style to try to accommodate her needs. I told her that she knows a lot and can write pretty well, but that the test looks for correct grammar, particularly agreement in verb tenses, and the ever-troublesome correct usage of "have" and "has." Nonetheless, she repeatedly worked too quickly and made the same mistakes she had no doubt made for years before coming back to school.

I noticed that Marines was endlessly patient helping other learners and had real strengths as a reader. She enjoyed reading passages from standard ESL reading texts and easily completed the comprehension tests at the end units. How could I help her, pass the writing sample of the GED? I needed to continue to ask her about the reading and writing she does outside of school and perhaps to further break down the components of her writing that are problematic -- "Let's look at all the verbs in this paragraph; tomorrow we'll talk about the pronouns." Again, assessment was ongoing and fluid, and based around the need expressed by this learner.

Phuth has been coming to class for years. Initially able to only copy and repeat, she developed a sight word vocabulary that enables her to respond to most dialogue journal entries with little assistance from others. She can generate sentences at the blackboard and can help others at the board with spelling questions. She decodes high frequency words with ease, yet, she still needs to develop strategies which will enable her to use context cues more effectively. If she's reading the word "clean" by itself, she'll say, "I forgot, teacher", or "I don't know." Yet, if she wants to tell me that she cleaned her house last weekend, she'll look in her notebook and find the word there so that she can copy it into her journal. Although she has made great strides with print, she still miscopies entire lines of text. Nonetheless, she now provides help to other learners in addition to receiving it herself. She can speak Lao and Cambodian and helps other learners who may not understand a discussion in English. She still copies everything that's written on the blackboard. Her grown children help her at home. Her physical problems (chronic back pain) make employment impossible. For Phuth's needs -- to be among people, to have some independence with print and with language -- the class seems adequate.

Luis passed his citizenship test and yet realized that he has to continue to study to become more fluent as a reader and writer. His native Portuguese affects his hearing and encoding of words; he writes words as he hears and pronounces them. "I luk a stoa, " means I look at the stores. The letters r and h in Portuguese can be interchanged in certain instances, so Luiis will occasionally "rave a good weekend." As I listen to his speech, read his words, and learn about his language, I continually adjust the guidance I try to give him so that his reading and writing in English gradually become more fluent.

These observations about learners' daily interaction with print and language have accrued over time. I document what transpires in each class shortly after the class period, noting who asks whom for help, what materials someone might have brought from home, what someone was interested in reading and/or writing during that class period, who volunteered to go to the blackboard to write, who asked for more homework, etc. I make notes of miscues or questions directly on my copy of a particular reading passage, or in a notebook I keep on hand. Over time, when reviewing the notes, I can see what day it was that Rosalie told me she liked flashcards and wanted more, when Tomas decided to bring in Christmas cards from home for us to write to people in the hospital, when it was that Joe was over-zealous with Rosalie, when it was that Teresa read through an entire passage without asking for assistance, when it was that Luis began to realize that r and h are not interchangeable.

I also see more subtle patterns emerge and my own assumptions challenged. I was told that Alice was illiterate and, because she arrived during the middle of a class session, was unable to do more than welcome her and invite her to copy the passage that we were working on. Although she spoke very little English, she was able to decode the story, and I learned that she was literate in French, and was therefore most likely able to make fairly rapid progress, transferring her knowledge of reading from one language to another. She also brought two large Bibles, written in French, giving me a sense of another way in which literacy figures in her life. Her subsequent questions, in French, and gradually in English, about my own religious beliefs, and her descriptions of activities at her church, confirmed my suspicion that she is indeed quite literate in French and needs to gain literacy in English in order to find a job.

Yvette, also from Haiti, wants me to sit with her and point out words on her paper as others read aloud. She has virtually no retention of sounds, letters or words, and yet complains if Alice doesn't speak English. (Yvette speaks fairly well, if with some difficulty). She comes to class regulary but has a sister do her homework for her. She appears to be motivated to learn. Yet, even when I sit with her for an extended period of time, her attention wanders from the paper. She likes to dictate brief stories to me which she then copies into her notebook. The notebook has entries that begin at the top of a page and other entries that begin at the bottom of a page. She doesn't appear to know that print and books go from left to right. Yet, unless she's working overtime, she's in class early every night.

Although she constantly says that she can't read, other learners always include her when they go to the board to read. (One learner reads and then asks another, etc.) The other learners are patient and help her as she "reads" what she remembers and what they tell her the words say. Her progress will be very slow. As I learn more about the kinds of literacy activities that appeal to her, I hope to be able to find better ways to facilitate that progress.

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What Does It Mean?

The point of sharing these observations and vignettes is to show that ongoing assessment is exactly what it claims to be -- a process of observation, reflection, and feedback aimed at assisting learners and facilitators. Through systematic documentation of classroom activity and subsequent reflection about learner progress, as well as explicit talk with learners, I try to continually adjust and individualize the facilitating work I do in the classroom so that learners can find better and more appropriate means of learning. Periodic pencil/paper surveys are part of this process, (appendix 4) as are explicit questions asked now and again of particular learners: "Do you like working together with other people? Did you like writing about the photographs? What would you like to work on today? Why do you think this is easy and that is difficult?"

Finally, ongoing assessment is a part of the learning process. The forms that assessment reports may take -- in-house files, funders' reports, reports written for, by, or with learners -- will depend on the reasons for which they are written. For myself, as a practitioner, the most important piece is the process itself -- the ongoing learning, rethinking, reflection needed for facilitating learning for others and for myself.

Notes

Action research is a process through which one systematically examines what happens in the classroom, reflects upon activity and subsequently modifies that activity in order to improve teaching practice. In a larger context, action research describes collaborative investigative processes through which to enact social change.

For more on documenting progress, see: Lenore Balliro, Reassessing Assessment in Adult ESL/Literacy, (Paper presented at TESOL, San Antonio, 1989), p. 35. The paper provides an excellent overview of assessment and is available through ERIC.

Collignon, Isserlis, and Smith. A Handbook for Practitioners. ESL/Literacy for Adult Non-native Speakers of English. (Providence, RI: International Institute of Rhode Island, 1990). See also, Isserlis. "Using Action Research for ESL Literacy Evaluation and Assessment." TESL Talk, Vol. 20, No. 1 (1990).

See also, Don Robishaw's remarks in Adventures in Assessment, Vol. 1, p. 37 (1991).

Originally published in Adventures in Assessment, Volume 2 (May 1992),
SABES/World Education, Boston, MA, Copyright 2003.

Funding support for the publication of this document on the Web provided in part by the Ohio State Literacy Resource Center as part of the LINCS Assessment Special Collection.