Language Assessment: What it Measure and How?

Dimensions of L2 Fluency Talking
• The ability to talk at length with few pauses; to fill time with talk
• The ability to have appropriate things to say in a wide range of contexts

Dimensions of L2 Fluency Vocabulary & Syntax
• The size and range of a speaker’s vocabulary and syntactical forms
• The ability to talk in coherent, reasoned and “semantically dense” sentences
Dimensions of L2 Fluency Knowing the Rules
• Knowledge of the various patterns of interaction and discourse for various situations and context
• Knowledge of the rules of conversation



Dimensions of L2 Fluency Creativity with Language
• The ability to be creative and imaginative with language; to express oneself in novel ways.
• The ability to invent and entertain; to take risks in linguistic expression

Measuring Fluency Instruments
• Using commercially designed language assessment instruments
• Teacher observation using a rating scale
• Informal observations of students’ behaviors
Commercial Assessment Instruments
• Classify students’ on a standardized scale from 1 to 5; 1=limited proficiency & 5=native speaker equivalent proficiency
• Proficiency scale is interpretable across school settings


The Observation Matrix (Solom)
• Student Oral Language Observation Matrix allows teachers to rate students’ according to L2 language used in a classroom context for academic purposes.
Uses of Language Assessment
• Appropriate bilingual/ESL program placement
• Diagnosis of language strengths and weaknesses
• Detection of patterns of systematic errors
Pre-systematic versus Systematic Errors
• The important distinction between “goofs” in early L2 development or inter-language versus errors that are consistent and form patterns of incorrect usage
5 Types of L2 Learner Errors
Transfer Errors
• Involve application of rules that hold in the first language but not in L2
• Use of lexical forms pronounced as cognates when no such equivalent exists in L2
Overgeneralization
• The application of a general principle in the case of an exception
• Demonstrate a basic understanding of syntax and grammar, misapplied with a particular form
Avoidance Errors
• The “beating around the bush” errors with the use of an incorrect word or syntactic form
• The lack of a precise use of vocabulary or idiomatic expressions
• Lack of use of the appropriate verb tense

Idiomatic Errors
• An attempt to translate a phrase or expression directly from L1 when the forms are not equivalent
• A misuse of certain phraseology or vocabulary words in a common expression

Idiosyncratic Errors
• L2 learner language unique to the individual
• Part of a system of approximations to the individual’s interpretation of native speaker models
• A natural part of L2 development

Source: http://coe.sdsu.edu/people/jmora/LangAssessmtMMdl/Default.htm