Zenaida Aguirre-Muñoz, Ph.D.Texas Tech University

Council of Chief State School Officers, English Language Learner SCASSSeptember 27, 2010, Alexandria, VA

…[T]he testing of bilingual individuals has developed from the practice of testing monolinguals without the necessary examination of the assumptions underlying the measurement of monolingual abilities and applicability of these assumptions and theories to the measurement of the same abilities in persons who function in two language systems…

Valdes & Figueroa, 1994. pg. 2

Lack of testing models compatible with current knowledge on language development, bilingualism, and cultural anthropologyValid test score interpretation rests on the extent to which language and culture are addressed throughout the entire process of testing

Adapted from the National Research Council’s (NRC) Committee on the Foundations of Assessment (2001)

Cognition

ObservationInterpretation

Language & Culture

Relationship between test performance and language backgroundPopulation Demographics & DiversityLanguage is a system, not a factorLanguage development is variable

Therefore, a single measure of proficiency is insufficient

Once we talk about learning to read and speak specialist varieties of language [academic language], it is hard to separate learning to read and speak this way from learning the sorts of content or information that the special language is typically used to convey. That content is accessible through the specialist variety of language and, in turn, that content is what gives meaning to that form of language. The two—content and language—are married.

Gee, 2008

The process by which educators use students’ responses to specially created or naturally occurring stimuli in order to make inferences about students’ knowledge, skills, or affective status.

Assessment

The goal of assessments is that the data they produce leads to adequatereasoning from evidence.Equity begins with a model of learningthat addresses linguistic and cultural factors impacting how ELs represent, organize, and process learned knowledge.

IGH ROP

Cognitive validity refers to the degree of correspondence between intended task demands and the cognitive activity elicited by the task as well as the correspondence between the quality of the cognitive activity and the performance score. Pertains to how well test items validly assess what is intended , item construct validity

Sensitive to linguistic and cultural variation. Consistent focus on the needs of EL groups according to levels of English proficiency and socio-cultural profiles of ELsUse of verbal protocols and the cognitive interview in pilot testing approachesSpecifications for accommodations consistent with the learning model

Use of G-theory to develop testing models that minimize construct-irrelevant variance related to language and cultureConduct continuous investigations of validityExpand the practice of collecting validity evidence that incorporates a social-cultural dimension.