ENL Assessment

The steps to determining a student’s English language proficiency level is first with the home language survey and if they are English Language Learners, they will take the New York State Identification Test for English Language Learners (NYSITELL.) At the end of the year English Language Learners take the NYSESLAT to see if their level of proficiency changed.

Student #1 wrote a sentence about the part when Stellaluna eats a mango for the first time. Student #1 made one simple sentence containing a few grade level words. The student tried restating the question by using the word favorite from the prompt but instead of writing his favorite part he wrote “Stella’s favorite.” The student used all capital letters for Stella and for favorite just like it appears in the title on the worksheet. Student #1 did reference an event from the story and the reader can understand by looking at the picture and sentence. In terms of writing the letters, this student had some trouble writing the letter “g” which should drop below the line. In addition, some of the letters are written inconsistently like the letter “a” and “t” are sometimes touching the write lines and sometimes too small. The student also said the character ate a mango tree instead of saying a mango on a tree. Some of the errors can obscure the meaning, especially to someone reading who is unfamiliar with the story and the student. Student #1 shows second language acquisition at the emerging level. There is indication that the student understood the story and has some on grade level vocabulary to write this sentence.

Student #2 wrote a sentence about the part when Stellaluna and her mom are attacked by an owl in the beginning of the story. Student #2 made a simple sentence containing some common words. The sentence contains some errors that can obscure the meaning. He used inventive spelling for the word when as “wean” and for the word attacked as “attackbe.” The spelling of these words shows that Student #2 has familiarity with these words. The student may have some trouble with letters “b” and “d,” which is common with many ENL students. Student #2 did not introduce the topic by restating the prompt. For example the student could have written, “My favorite part is” in the front of the sentence to let the reader know what the person is speaking about. The event of the bats being attacked by the owl is something that is an event in the text. The student states the event but does not explain why this is their favorite part. The word “the” is written with a capital letter “T.” Students usually see and write sentences with “the” being the first word so this student thought the “T” should be capitalized. Student #2 shows second language acquisition at the emerging level. There is indication that the student comprehended the events of the story and has some on grade level vocabulary to write this sentence.