Two-Way Immersion Network for Catholic Schools Day 2 Bilingualism, Language, and Literacy: Issues of development and assessment Patrick Proctor, Boston College Liz Howard, University of Connecticut

Goals Make links between first and second language acquisition Relate these links to assessment and instruction both in the classroom and in the context of the broader TWIN-CS mission Provide greater detail regarding formative assessments and summative measures and how to use them to drive instruction and understand development Provide resources to help with decision making and program implementation Develop and implement strategies to identify, grow, and maintain significant funding prospects to support the TWIN program over time

Objectives Understand basics of first and second language acquisition, and bilingualism Make links between first and second language acquisition, bilingualism and TWIN-CS evaluation goals Articulate similarities and differences between formative and summative measures and consider how they can be used to further program goals Identify assessment approaches that are sensitive to language of instruction and that leverage bridging to promote expression of knowledge

First and Second Language Acquisition

Literacy Development and Bilingualism

Key Terms Oral language proficiency – Phonological processing – Syntax/grammar, vocabulary, morphology, semantics – Pragmatics Orthography = how a language is written down Decoding = taking written language and converting it to linguistic form Comprehension = Understanding

Monoliterate Developmental Considerations for Literacy Watch video: – What elements of emergent literacy are present in the following clip? PLEASE SEE VIDEO LINK ON WEBSITE

And then… [Please see video link on website]

The Code

Monoliterate Developmental Considerations for Early Literacy Age 5 – School begins – Foundation of oral language proficiency alongside concepts of print Word-level skills instruction (grades K – 2) – Alphabetic principle – Sound symbol relationships – Sight words (e.g. the, of, and, you) – Introduction of simple and decodable texts – Word level skills are rote and finite!!

Orthographic Considerations in Initial Literacy Instruction Native English-speaking children were better at reading and spelling pseudowords (e.g., plyger, norpt) in English than Cantonese children, but there were not differences in reading/spelling real English words (Wang & Geva, 2003). Why might that be? – Orthography (the way language is written down) is salient for bilingual learners Spanish-English share many letters and sounds in common Chinese-English share none!

In Summary Children take their oral language skills and home literacy exposures to school with them Reading instruction begins in Kindergarten and starts with a focus on the code which is the orthography of the language (i.e., how it is written down) – Instruction includes focus on sight words and phonics for decoding, along with small and independent work for reading and text exposure There is potential for cross-linguistic instructional approaches when the two languages are similar, but not when they are completely different Strong degrees of influence from a variety of life domains

Language and Comprehension

Language Recall your work with Liz regarding language development In 2-way programs, there are always second language learners – English language learners – Spanish/Mandarin Language learners Language development is crucial for comprehension – Must be fostered from the earliest grades

2 examples of language and conceptual knowledge influencing reading comprehension

The Marlup The marlup was poving his kump. Parmily a narg horped some whev in his kump. “Why did vump horp whev in mh frinkle kump?’ the marlup jufd the narg. “Er’m muvvily trungy,” the narg grupped. “Er heshed vump norpled whev in your tranquil kump.” Do vump pove your kump frinkle?

Comprehension Questions 1. Who was poving his kump? 2. Who jufd the narg? 3. How trungy was the narg? 4. What kind of kump does the marlup have? 5. How would you feel if a narg horped in your marlup’s kump? Why?

“Favorable conditions are necessary to do this activity. That is you have to have enough rouche. If there is too much rouche, the object might break. But if conditions are too calm, you will have problems because the rouche makes the object go up. If there are obstacles, a serious problem can result because you cannot control the rouche. Usually, the rouche is most favorable during the spring.” Take 1 minute, read the paragraph, and define rouche Rouche

Background Knowledge Matters What strategies did you use to figure out the word’s meaning? What do you now know about the word? In a study, only 13 percent of participants without any background knowledge deduced a synonym for rouche When provided with background knowledge, 78 percent correctly.

Background knowledge is integral to vocabulary knowledge “Think about the last time you flew a kite. Favorable conditions are necessary to do this activity. That is you have to have enough rouche. If there is too much rouche, the kite might break. But if conditions are too calm, you will have problems because the rouche makes the kite go up. If there are obstacles, a serious problem can result because you cannot control the rouche. Usually, the rouche is most favorable during the spring.”

Putting Them Together

Breakout Groups Two groups, two sessions Session 1: 10:55 – 11:40 – Group 1 with Patrick Focus on TWIN-CS formative and summative assessments – Group 2 with Liz Focus on performance assessments and one of differentiating instruction and assessment by level of L2 Session 2: 11:45 – 12:30 – Group 2 with Patrick – Group 1 with Liz

Formative & Summative Assessments Features of formative assessments Features of summative assessments

Formative Assessments – Regularly administered – Targeted to explicit skills/aptitudes – Designed to inform instruction – “Real-time” assessments Summative Assessments – Assess how much learning has taken place – Not designed to inform instruction, but rather to measure student learning and/or development Formative & Summative Assessments

TWIN-CS Research/Practice Design Summative approach “The Riverside Publishing Company, the assessment division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH), is providing each school with a gratis Woodcock-Munoz Language Survey assessment in order to monitor student/program progress. HMH looks forward to assisting all schools with providing high quality print and digital curriculum materials to culturally and linguistically diverse students”

TWIN-CS Research/Practice Design Woodcock-Muñoz Language Survey-Revised Summative Measures, individually administered, Fall and Spring of each academic year: Real word reading (decoding) Expressive vocabulary (oral language - vocabulary knowledge) Verbal analogies (oral language verbal reasoning) Passage comprehension (reading comprehension)

Student Performance Student 1 Fall Spring Fall 2010 Spring 2011 Student 2 Fall Spring Fall Spring Student 3 Fall Spring Fall Spring Student 4 Fall Spring Fall Spring Student 5 Fall Spring Fall Spring

Classroom Performance Over Time

Train the Trainers Model Year 1 – Fall assessment by TWIN-CS staff – Onsite staff training for administration – Collaborative Spring assessments with TWIN-CS staff and school personnel Year 2 – Continued assessment of 1 st grade students – Initial assessment of K students

Formative Approaches Formative Assessments – Regularly administered – Targeted to explicit skills/aptitudes – Designed to inform instruction – “Real-time” assessments

Curriculum Based Measurement Periodic assessments (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly) administered by teachers designed to monitor literacy development – Kindergarten indicators = letter naming, letter sounds, word reading, pseudoword reading, word reading in context – Developmental; moving to read alouds and comprehension assessments as children age

Curriculum Based Measurement Sample Graph

Instructional Outcomes of CBM Affect grouping configurations Increase instructional time Change a teaching technique or way of presenting the material Change a grouping arrangement (for example, individual instruction instead of small-group instruction). Post-change assess weekly scores on the graph to determine effectiveness.

Set it up Go to easycbm.com Set up a username Receive a password Review process for a given grade level (reading and math)

TWIN-CS Assessment and Evaluation Model: Case study model School September/ October School Year (October – April)May/June Summative Language and Reading Regular CBM Monitoring at School Level Early literacy skills = letter names, letter sounds, word recognition Summative Language and Reading