Assessing ELL students Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Assessing ELL students - Research Paper Example All together, adult ELL students in United States universities speak roughly 400 languages, even though approximately 80% are native speakers of Spanish. Individuals of Asian origin — mainly speakers of Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean and Hmong — account for almost 5% of the size of adult ESL learners in United States universities. While most of these learners are found in prime urban centers, many others reside together in smaller towns. English-language learners (ELLs) are concentrated in six states — California, Arizona, Texas, Florida, New York and Illinois. The English-language learners in those six states make up more than 60% of the ELL population. The United States federal regime’s No Child Left Behind rule of 2001 has created the urge to make legitimate and fair assessments for English-language learners an issue of pressing nationwide concern (Hakuta, 2009). Therefore, institutions have produced frameworks that tend to assist educators, practitioners and test developers, in making appropriate choices on assessment of English language learners in educational content fields. ... This is why university guidelines are so vital: they help teachers assess students’ mastery of content while reducing the role of the learner’s English proficiency in its assessment. The three universities that will be considered are the University of North Carolina, University of Denver and Georgetown University. Part 1: Interview University of North Carolina Freshly enrolled international learners, who are supposed to hand in a TOEFL score, are urged to take the English Proficiency Assessment prior to registering for classes (University of North Carolina, 2013). Students willing to be enrolled must go through some information at their admission letters to check whether they should sit for the exam. The exam is administered just prior to the start of the Spring and Fall semesters. The aim of the English Proficiency Assessment is to recognize those learners who would profit from more English instruction in a program (ENGL 601) created to establish standard United States academic writing conventions. Rooted in the results of the exam, a student might be needed to sit for the ENGL 601 program during his or her first fall semester of admission (University of North Carolina, 2013). A student meets North Carolina University’s English Language Proficiency requirements if they completed Grades 11, as well as 12 English, in succession, as part of two full academic years, in any high school via a state- or provincially-accredited United States curriculum. Also, the student is expected to have attained a grade of 80% or more in a Grade 12 state-examined English program, as part of one full term of education. University of Denver The University of Denver recognizes either the TOEFL or IELTS as