Understanding ACCESS
What is ACCESS?
The annual assessment for ELLs.
Describe the rate of growth at the infant stage.
Rapid and dramatic.
Menyuk & Brisk (2005)
What is the most challenging aspect of language development at the middle and high school levels?
Figurative Language.
Menyuk & Brisk (2005)
Name two ways a person becomes bilingual.
Ways children become bilingual and multilingual:
-home
-on street
-community
-school
-adult classes
-informal interaction
What is a long term English language learner?
The idea of Long Term ELLs is discussed to describe students who do not fit the traditional language acquisition “timeline”.
Menken (2012)
What is the format of the test?
The test is available online and in paper form. It is a mix of multiple choice and constructed response.
Name one of the characteristic of the school years stage of language development.
-vocabulary (academic)
-acquisition of different registers (written vs spoken, principal vs playground)
Lightbown & Spada (2013)
What is abstract vocabulary and why is challenging for Middle and High School ELLs?
-operations and many content words for high school Science & Social Studies
Menyuk & Brisk (2005)
How does storytelling enhance language development?
-storytelling is a practical way to promote language in all areas (home and schools).
Menyuk & Brisk (2005)
-prepare for school
-moral education
-source of knowledge
-learn to read
-practice both languages
-entertain
-foster love for reading and writing
-preserve heritage culture
Wan (2000)
What is a vital factor IEP teams discuss?
IEP teams need to be discussing second language acquisition as a factor when determining eligibility.
Klinger (2003)
Why is ACCESS important?
The test is one part of WIDA's systems for improving teaching and learning for ELLs.
Name a valuable resource for language development, especially for low and middle income infants.
Infant education.
Menyuk & Brisk (2005)
Describe the best strategy for teaching academic language.
AL cannot happen in a bubble.
Students will be more willing to learn and experience AL at a deeper level when life experience is honored and it is relevant to the world around them.
Haneda (2012)
What are some of the factors that impact development?
-parent education/language
-health
-socio-economic status
Baker & Wright (2017)
What are many assessments lacking to be more accessible for ELLs?
Many assessments lack “differential interpretation of questions, lack of familiarity with vocabulary, limited English proficiency” (Klinger, 2003, p. 69).
What does ELP stand for?
English Language Proficiency.
Name two challenges to early language development.
Socioeconomic status and infant interaction with their mothers.
Menyuk & Brisk (2005)
Describe the characteristics of language development at the high school stage.
-learning and using more figurative language
-using word derivations to know meaning (root word)
-using noun and pronoun substitution for writing
-demonstrating knowledge/application
Menyuk & Brisk (2005)
As children move from infancy to childhood, describe how their purpose for language changes.
Children are transitioning from communicating just needs to communicating wants and emotions, too.
Menyuk & Brisk (2005)
What is acculturation?
Adapting to new cultural environment (Hoover 2012).
What are the 4 sections of the test?
1. Listening
2. Speaking
3. Reading
4. Writing
Name one of the language universals, as discussed in Lightbown & Spada (2013).
-dynamic/changing (ex: vocab, pronunciations)
-pitch
-stress (vocal activity)
-sound system as written language
Lightbown & Spada (2013)
According to Valdes (1999), what are some ways schools have "dealt" with the ELL "problem"?
Schools deal with “the problem” by:
-expanding ESL programs
-“sheltered” instruction
-non-English subject areas
-hire specialist for “different” students
Valdes (1999)
What are some ways schools can promote bilingualism?
“Schools can support children’s development by creating a safe and caring school climate, providing access to a complete and demanding curriculum, using instructional strategies that facilitate learning of and in the second language, using fair assessment procedures, and hiring personnel who are knowledgeable and willing to educate these children” (Menyuk & Brisk, 2005, p. 53).
Describe Step 3 of Hoover's (2012) reducing referrals flowchart. “become knowledgeable of key cultural and linguistic factors including instruction within the standards-based framework” (p. 40).
“become knowledgeable of key cultural and linguistic factors including instruction within the standards-based framework” (Hoover, 2012, p. 40).