Areas of Areas of Assessment:Assessment:

LANGUAGLANGUAGEERogine Gaille L. LaurinoRogine Gaille L. Laurino

BSPED 2-BBSPED 2-B

WRITTEN LANGUAGEWRITTEN LANGUAGE

It is a basic method of It is a basic method of communication in today’s society.communication in today’s society.Writing is also an important skill during school Writing is also an important skill during school years, and its acquisition is stressed in the years, and its acquisition is stressed in the elementary grades.elementary grades.

WRITTEN LANGUAGEWRITTEN LANGUAGE

In special education In special education assessment, students’ assessment, students’ written language written language skills are studied to skills are studied to gather information gather information for instructional for instructional planning.planning.

Considerations Considerations in Assessment in Assessment

of Written of Written LanguageLanguage

Because many students with mild handicap Because many students with mild handicap experience difficulty in this area, experience difficulty in this area,

Written Language is often one of the areas of focus in special education assessment.

PURPOSEPURPOSESS

In special education, In special education,

Written Language Skills Written Language Skills may be may be investigated at the start of investigated at the start of assessment to determine the assessment to determine the student’s eligibility for special student’s eligibility for special education services.education services.

PURPOSESPURPOSESIn many cases, however, In many cases, however,

……Assessment is limited to only one Assessment is limited to only one aspect of written language , aspect of written language , spelling, because that is the spelling, because that is the language skill emphasized on the language skill emphasized on the traditional individual tests of traditional individual tests of achievement used in special achievement used in special education.education.

CURRENT CURRENT PRACTICESPRACTICESMost survey tests of academic achievement contain Most survey tests of academic achievement contain

some measure of written language, the skills most some measure of written language, the skills most often assessed are spelling, usage, and grammar.often assessed are spelling, usage, and grammar.

STRATEGIES FOR STRATEGIES FOR ASSESSINGASSESSING SPELLINGSPELLING

SPELLING SPELLING is an academic skill usually included on the individual achievement tests used in special education assessment to establish the presence of a school performance problem.

TEST OF WRITTEN SPELLING (TWS-2)TEST OF WRITTEN SPELLING (TWS-2)

*a norm-referenced measure designed for students ages 6-6 to 18-5.

*It contains 2 subtests:

PREDICTABLE WORDS - a test of skill in spelling words that conform to the rules of phonics.

UNPREDICTABLE WORDS - a measure of skill in spelling irregular words.

INFORMAL INFORMAL TECHNIQUESTECHNIQUES

*Work sample analysis*Work sample analysis

*Informal Inventories*Informal Inventories

*Criterion-referenced tests*Criterion-referenced tests

*Observation*Observation

*Clinical Interviews*Clinical Interviews

STRATEGIES FOR ASSESSING STRATEGIES FOR ASSESSING HANDWRITINGHANDWRITING

STRATEGIES FOR STRATEGIES FOR ASSESSING HANDWRITINGASSESSING HANDWRITING

Handwriting skills are evaluated with informal assessment tools rather than norm-referenced measures.

Informal strategies are used to assess the student’s current proficiency in handwriting.

Informal StrategiesInformal Strategies*Rating Scales*Rating Scales

*Observation*Observation

*Error Analysis*Error Analysis

*Inventories*Inventories

*Criterion-Referenced Tests*Criterion-Referenced Tests

STRATEGIES STRATEGIES FOR FOR

ASSESSING ASSESSING COMPOSITIOCOMPOSITIO

NN

The primary concern in the The primary concern in the assessment of composition skills…assessment of composition skills…

……is the is the content of content of student’s writingstudent’s writing,, not its form.not its form.

Contrived Format Contrived Format SubtestsSubtests

*Vocabulary*Vocabulary

*Spelling*Spelling

*Style*Style

*Logical Sentences*Logical Sentences

*Sentence Combining*Sentence Combining

Spontaneous Format Spontaneous Format SubtestsSubtests

*Thematic MaturityThematic Maturity – evaluated on 30 criteria.

*Contextual Vocabulary Contextual Vocabulary – the number of unique words with seven or more letters included in student’s story.

*Syntactic Maturity Syntactic Maturity – clauses in the writing sample that contain errors in a syntax are crossed out; the students score for this subtest is the number of words remaining in the story.

*Contextual Spelling Contextual Spelling - number of words spelled correctly.

*Contextual Style Contextual Style – The student earn points for each punctuation or capitalization rule used correctly in the story.

Other Formal MeasuresOther Formal MeasuresPicture Story Language Test (PSLT)

*An early standardized measure of writing ability.

*2 Measures that assess a wide range of oral and written language skills:

- Woodcock Language Proficiency Battery

- Test of Adolescent Language-2

Informal TechniquesInformal TechniquesRating Scales and Checklists*The scale provides specific questions such as “Do

the sentences in the paragraph relate to one topic?”

*When using the checklist, the teacher considers several aspects of the student’s writing sample : type of writing, level of abstraction, productivity, comprehensibility, and relationship to the reality of the writing task.

*Checklists and Rating Scales typically assess skill development by breaking the broad skill of composition down into more specific subskill areas.

Writing Sample Analysis*Can be used to study students’ writing samples.*The Diagnostic Evaluation of Writing Skills (DEWS) is an

error analysis procedure that focuses attention on 6 aspects of written language:~Graphic (Visual features)~Orthographic (Spelling)~Phonologic Sound (sound components)~Syntactic (grammatical)~Semantic (meaning)~Self-Monitoring Skills

Critical Factors that should be taken account in the evaluation of composition skills. (Wallace and Larsen)

*Content

*Organization

*Word Choice

*Usage

A no. of other factors may be taken into account when analyzing students’ writing. This includes:

*Productivity*Sentences(Simple, Compound,

Complex, or Fragment)(Declarative, Interrogative, Imperative, Exclamatory)

*Vocabulary

Criterion-referenced TestsCriterion-referenced Tests*A very flexible type of assessment tool that can be

used to measure a variety of different composition skills.

*BRIGANCE Inventory of Basic Skills and BRIGANCE Diagnostic Comprehensive Inventory of Basic Skills - assess the student’s ability to write complete and correct sentences that incorporate several stimulus words.

Observational and Clinical Observational and Clinical InterviewsInterviews

*Aspects of the writing process can be studied by observation.

*3 stages of writing for skilled and unskilled writers:1. Planning2. Transcribing3. Revising

Observational and Clinical InterviewsObservational and Clinical Interviews

*Clinical interviews provide a method for gathering information…

…about the non observable aspects of writing and the ways that the student interacts with the writing task.

Within The Context Within The Context Of The ClassroomOf The Classroom

The Instructional The Instructional EnvironmentEnvironment

2 fundamental concerns in the evaluation of any instructional environment are:

*the amount of time devoted to instruction

*the types of skills emphasized

The Interpersonal The Interpersonal EnvironmentEnvironment

The major factors within the interpersonal environment that are of concern in assessment are:

*social relationships among students *student-teacher interactions

The Physical EnvironmentThe Physical Environment

*The Physical Environment of the classroom is an important consideration in written language instruction. General environmental factors such as lighting, temperature, and ventilation can affect the physical comfort of teachers and students, thereby, influencing the teaching-learning process.

*In addition, the seating arrangements for students and the writing tools provided can have an impact on their ability to perform, particularly in relation to handwriting.

Answering the Answering the Assessment Assessment QuestionsQuestions

Nature of the Assessment Nature of the Assessment ToolsTools

*Some measures are comprehensive and evaluate a number of the major skill areas of written language.

*Zaner-Bloser Evaluation Scales - concentrates on spelling.

Relationship Of Written Language to Relationship Of Written Language to Other Areas of PerformanceOther Areas of Performance

*Specific learning abilities and strategies can influence the student’s success in the acquisition and use of written language skills.

*Difficulties in attention, memory, or other areas such as visual perception and auditory discrimination can impede skill development, particularly the acquisition of basic spelling and handwriting skills.

*Classroom behavior may be related to written language performance.

Documentation of Written Documentation of Written Language PerformanceLanguage Performance

*“ What are the student’s educational needs?”

- the general assessment question that guides the special education team in its study of written language.

*The goal in this phase of assessment is to gather sufficient information for a precise description of the student’s current levels of educational performance.