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Assessment in an EAL context takes many forms. It can be formal (e.g. tests and examinations), informal (e.g. teacher observations) or learner self-assessment.

At the beginning of the year, or when a new learner starts, teachers need to be able to make judgements about a learner’s language strength and learning needs. This is when teachers often look for a test or assessment to determine learners’ English language levels. There are a number of commercially available tests available, but in reality, there is no single test that will assess all of the necessary aspects of language skills. Teachers need to use a variety of assessments to make accurate judgements about learners and must be prepared to revise those judgements if necessary.

If you are interested in AssessEP, a comprehensive solution for English Proficiency Assessment, you can request a free demonstration and trial here.

Why we assess

Teachers need to know about learners’ strengths and learning needs in the key skill areas of reading, writing, speaking and listening. It is also helpful to know about a learner’s vocabulary level. This knowledge helps us to determine what we should teach learners. For example, if a learner already knows the first thousand words of English, we would start teaching at the second thousand words.

There is a wide variety of both formal and informal tools to determine learners’ skills and knowledge.

Continuing learners at a school will have previous work from EAL and other subjects that can be used to determine language strengths and learning needs. It is also good practice to involve mainstream teachers in making judgements, as they will know how learners are coping with the demands of the curriculum.

Assessment types

Whilst it is not best practice to assess learners within a short time of arrival, it is often unavoidable. Judgements for newly arrived learners often have to be made using observation and more formal assessments in EAL classrooms. Such assessments might include:

  • A speaking assessment: This could be a short interview, which will also enable you to find out about the learner’s learning background and allow you to gauge the learner’s listening skills.
  • Assessment of vocabulary knowledge: You will need to know a learner’s vocabulary level, which is usually measured as the first 1,000 words, the second 1,000 words, and so on.
  • A writing sample: Referenced against the learning continuum used in your context, e.g. CEFR, NASSEA, EAL Assessment Framework for Schools or the ELLP Matrix.
  • Reading assessments: This might include assessing decoding (i.e. can learners say the words) and, perhaps more importantly, assessing comprehension. Constructing reliable reading comprehension assessments is a highly skilled task and it is best to purchase a commercial decoding and comprehension test, such as the New Salford Sentence Reading Test, which provides an assessment of the learner’s reading age for decoding and comprehension, the New Group Reading Test (NGRT) or the Probe 2 Assessment in New Zealand.
  • With very new learners of English, you will also want to assess alphabet knowledge and letter sound correspondence.

AssessEP, our comprehensive solution for English Proficiency Assessment, provides you with ready-made online and offline assessments and results overview for assessing and re-assessing your EAL learners. This includes phonics, speaking, listening, reading and writing assessments. 

Once you have gathered the data from the assessments, you need to place the learners on the learning continuum used in your school. Armed with this information, you will be able to determine what the next learning steps for your learners are.

If you are interested in AssessEP, a comprehensive solution for English Proficiency Assessment, you can request a free demonstration and trial here.

Further learning - Blog

Created: Fri 7th Jul 2017

Although Inclusion is a central theme of UK policy, there are limited directives on EAL provision in mainstream classes (Costley 2014) This can have implications for international environments too, which model their practice on the UK or have UK trained teachers. Policy has significant implications for teachers who may be underprepared to support EAL pupils.

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Created: Mon 27th Jan 2020

International Mother Language Day (IMLD) is a worldwide observance celebrated annually on 21st February. It promotes awareness of cultural and linguistic diversity and international understanding through multilingualism and multiculturalism.

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Created: Tue 19th Jun 2018

Marking and feedback is a crucial part of any teacher’s workload, and is essential for EAL learners. The importance of good-quality marking and feedback has been evidenced by many academic professionals, notably William & Black (1998) and, more recently, William (2018) and Hattie (2012). Hattie discusses the idea of rigorous approaches to marking and feedback, stating that through assessing learners, teachers themselves learn about their own impact: “As a professional, it is critical to know they impact.