CTEL CTEL Assessment for English Learners 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A teacher notices an EL student performs well on oral tasks but struggles with written tests. Which assessment approach best captures this student's true language proficiency?
- Standardized multiple-choice test only
- Multimodal assessment including oral, written, and performance tasks (Correct answer)
- Grading solely on grammar accuracy
- Peer grading to reduce teacher bias
Correct answer: Multimodal assessment including oral, written, and performance tasks
Multimodal assessment provides a fuller picture of EL proficiency by measuring across multiple language domains.
Question 2: Which of the following is an example of a criterion-referenced assessment?
- A test that ranks students against national norms
- A rubric that measures specific language functions against defined standards (Correct answer)
- A test where only the top 10% can pass
- A norm-based percentile ranking system
Correct answer: A rubric that measures specific language functions against defined standards
Criterion-referenced assessments measure student performance against defined criteria or standards rather than against other students.
Question 3: An EL student who recently arrived from Mexico is given a reading fluency test normed on native English speakers. What is the PRIMARY concern with this assessment?
- The test is too short
- The norms may not be valid for ELs at early stages of English acquisition (Correct answer)
- The test uses too many images
- The student should retake the test in Spanish
Correct answer: The norms may not be valid for ELs at early stages of English acquisition
Using norms developed on native speakers to evaluate early-stage ELs can yield misleading results that underestimate proficiency.
Question 4: What does 'construct validity' mean in the context of EL assessment?
- The test is easy to administer
- The test measures the language skill it claims to measure (Correct answer)
- The test produces consistent results over time
- The test is scored by multiple raters
Correct answer: The test measures the language skill it claims to measure
Construct validity confirms that an assessment actually measures the specific language construct it is designed to assess.
Question 5: A student's ELPAC scores show Beginning proficiency in writing but Intermediate proficiency in listening. How should a teacher use this information?
- Treat the student as Beginning across all domains
- Design differentiated instruction targeting writing while building on listening strengths (Correct answer)
- Promote the student to a higher ELD level immediately
- Administer the test again to confirm results
Correct answer: Design differentiated instruction targeting writing while building on listening strengths
Domain-specific scores allow teachers to tailor instruction to address areas of need while leveraging relative strengths.
Question 6: Which assessment practice best reduces cultural bias when evaluating EL students?
- Translating all tests word-for-word into English
- Including culturally familiar contexts and reviewing items for cultural assumptions (Correct answer)
- Using only pictures with no text
- Allowing only verbal responses
Correct answer: Including culturally familiar contexts and reviewing items for cultural assumptions
Reviewing items for embedded cultural assumptions and using familiar contexts helps ensure assessments measure language skills rather than cultural knowledge.
Question 7: Which term describes an assessment administered before instruction begins to guide planning?
- Summative assessment
- Formative assessment
- Diagnostic assessment (Correct answer)
- Benchmarking assessment
Correct answer: Diagnostic assessment
Diagnostic assessment is used before instruction to identify students' existing knowledge, skills, and gaps to inform planning.
CTEL CTEL Assessment for English Learners 2
A teacher notices an EL student performs well on oral tasks but struggles with written tests.
Which assessment approach best captures this student's true language proficiency?