Stanford English Language Proficiency Test Essay Example

books. “These authentic selections create a level playing field for all students, and they include a variety of topics and diverse cultural themes that will appeal to students of varying backgrounds, experiential levels, and interests, (Pearson, 2008, 2).

The purpose of this section is to access the student’s ability to recognize words and understand reading material as well as to evaluate their vocabulary and its progression. Three primary types of text are used, literary, informational and functional. This allows teachers to get an understanding of the student’s ability to understand directly stated details as well as process interpretive information and apply it accordingly. To access vocabulary and reading skills, SELP has been designed to questions that determine the student’s ability to use context clues to define unknown words.

This is also an example of reading comprehension. Being able to understand conversational English is a major task for ELL students and it is one of the most important. Because the English language varies significantly from region to region an ELL student must have a basic understanding of English to communicate effectively. The listening portion of SELP evaluates the student’s comprehension of conversational English. Students listen to a speech and are asked to respond to task-based questions.

The ELL student is asked to listen for specific information and then is given a series of questions to answer. The writing portion of the test is designed to assess appropriate and precise word choice, sentence structure and organization as well as degree of fluency, (Pearson, 2008). Students are asked to create a written response to a picture prompt. A multiple choice formatted question would not provide the same measure of skill and

fluency as does the performance based written response. To determine a students understanding of English they are also tested on their speaking ability.

This includes the ability to read and repeat phrases aloud, sentence completion, storytelling and social interaction. “This subtest evaluates phonemic and linguistic accuracy, informational appropriateness, and overall intelligibility in the language, (Pearson, 2008,  10). ” The SELP exam provides research based assessments and includes items that use language and context that the student will experience in classroom setting. The SELP also documents progress. The SELP exam has become so popular a number of states have put in legislation to standardize the use of it.

Throughout the United States ELL students must be evaluated for proficiency. “Title I specifically requires states to ensure that local districts test students’ oral language, reading, and writing skills in English each year to determine whether students are, in fact, limited English proficient, (The US Department of Education,  2). ” Several states initiated new standards for their ELL student testing and to accommodate the new guidelines new tests, such as SELP, have been created. Arizona, Mississippi and Virginia have officially adopted SELP as their testing method.