Assessing Written language for Special Children (Sped 02- Assessment)

Written Language

Role of written language

·         Written language is a basic method of communication on today’s society.

·         Writing skills are a requirement for most occupations, and some jobs demand a high degree of proficiency in written language.

·         Writing is an important skill during school years to express their thoughts.

·         In special education assessment, written language skills are studied to gather information for instructional planning

Considerations in Assessment of Written Language

Purposes

·         Written language skills maybe investigated at the start of assessment to determine the student’s eligibility for special education services.

·         Several measures of written language are currently available to assist the assessment team in identifying skills deficiencies.

Skill areas

·         Spelling. It is usually assessed with a paper-and-pencil test. The tester reads a word to the student, the word is again read in the context of a phrase or sentence, and the student responds by writing the words. Students can also be asked to spell the words orally, or spelling task can be designed in a multiple-choice format. Multiple choice tests usually present the students with several words, and the students selects the one that is correctly or incorrectly stated.

·         Handwriting. T is generally informally assessed by comparing a sample of the student’s writing with a set of performance criteria.

·         Composition.  It can be defined as the process by which a writer creates a written product. On measures of composition, students are typically presented with a writing task; the sample that the student produces is the subjected to analysis. Several aspects of the sample can be evaluated: content, vocabulary, organization, logic, writing style, productivity, creativity and the more mechanical dimensions such as handwriting and spelling.

·          

Current Practices

·         Some of the measures that are currently available are survey instruments.

·         Informal strategies are a necessity in the assessment of writing skills because of the limited number of formal tools and the narrowness of the scope

STRATEGIES FOR ASSESING SPELLING

Formal Techniques

1.  Wide Range Achievement Test – Revised. It uses recall tasks where the student is required to remember and then write the correct spelling of words.

2. Peabody Individual Achievement Test – Revised. It employs the recognition tasks where the students must identify the correctly spelled word.

3. Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery – Revised.  It offers measures of both types of spelling skills in dictation and proofing subtests.

4. Test of Written Spelling – 2. It is a norm-referenced test that contains two subtests: Predictable words, a test of skill in spelling words that conform to the rule of phonics (e.g. bed, him) and Unpredictable Words, a measure of skill in spelling irregular words (e.g. people, knew).

Informal Techniques

1. Work Sample Analysis. Sample analysis: student’s essays, book reports, test papers (including spelling test) daily homework assignments, workbooks. Error analysis procedures can be used to evaluate the spelling samples.

2. Informal inventories.

·         Selecting representative words from the basal spelling series on a classroom

·         Designing an inventory around specific spelling skills.

3. Criterion-referenced test.  This measure can help professionals indentify which spelling skills have been mastered and which remain in need of instruction.

4. Clinical interviews.  They can be questioned about the ways they coped with the spelling demands of the writing task.

STRATEGIES IN ASSESSING HANDWRITING

1. Rating scales. It provides a method for judging whether a student’s handwriting is poor enough to be considered an area of educational need.

            Zaner-Bloser evaluation Scales provide teachers with a standard method of collecting and rating handwriting samples.

            Five factors to be considered:

·         Letter formation

·         Vertical quality in manuscript, slant in cursive

·         Spacing

·         Alignment and proportion

·         Line quality

2. Observation and Error Analysis. A student can be observed during an activity requires writing and the error analysis proceedings can be applied in writing sample.

            Features of student’s manuscript writing:

·         Position of hand, arm, body

·         Size of letter: too small, large, etc.

·         Proportion of one letter or word to another

·         Quality of the pencil line: too heavy or too light

·         Slant: too much or irregular

·         Letter formation: poor circles, or straight lines, lines disconnected

·         Letter alignment: off the line

·         Spacing: letters or words crowded or too scattered

·         Speed: too fast or too slow

3. Inventories and criterion-referenced test.

           

STRATEGIES IN ASSESSING COMPOSITION

1. Test of written Language – 2 is designed to accomplish several purposes:

            a. to identify students who perform significantly more poorly than their peers in written expression and who as a result need special help.

            b. to determine a student’s particular strength and weaknesses in various writing abilities

            c. to document a student’s progress in a special writing program

            d. to conduct research in writing

Contrived format subtests:

·         Vocabulary- the student read each word, then writes a meaningful sentence that includes the word.

·         Spelling – the tester dictates sentences, and the students write them with attention to spelling (and capitalization and punctuation.

·         Logical sentence – the student reads sentences with errors in logic

·         Sentences combining – the student reads two sentences and must write one new sentence that combines the original sentences.

Spontaneous format subtests:

·         Thematic maturity – the content is evaluated among the criteria

·         Contextual vocabulary – the sample is examined to determine the number of unique words with seven or more letters included in the student’s story.

·         Syntactic maturity – clauses the writing sample that contain errors in syntax

·         Contextual spelling – the core of this subtest is the number of words spelled correctly in the student’s story.

·         Contextual style – the students earn points for each punctuation and capitalization rule used correctly in the story.

2. Picture- Story Language Test –  a norm-referenced measure in which students write a story about a standard stimulus picture.

3. Woodcock language Proficiency Battery – Revised – the dictation and proofing subtests evaluate the student’s knowledge of the rules of punctuation, capitalization, spelling and usage.

4. Test of Adolescent Language – 2 – it contains two subtests that assess written language:

·         Writing/Vocabulary – the student is given a word and asked to write a meaningful sentence that includes the word.

·         Writing /Grammar – two sentences are presented. The student must write a new sentence that combines the meaning of the original sentences.

Informal Techniques

1. Rating scales and checklists – the teacher selects several samples of student’s writing and then analyzes the content, vocabulary, sentences, paragraphs, mechanics, handwriting, and spelling.

2. Writing sample analysis – in the use of this procedure, students are asked to write an autobiography and other forms of writing and then are studied to identify errors that may indicate the need for instruction.

3. Criterion-referenced tests

4. Observation and clinical interview

5. Portfolio assessment

Practices on spelling (Miller et.al)

1. The presentation of spelling words in lists or columns to focus the student’s attention on each word.

2. Use of test-study-test method in which the students study only the words that they are unable to spell.

3. Writing words several times to ensure spelling retention.

Recommendations for an effective program in handwriting

1. Handwriting instruction is direct and not incidental

2. Handwriting is taught in short daily learning periods during which desirable habits are established.

3. Skills in handwriting are over learned in isolation and then applied in meaningful context assignments.

4. Teachers stress the importance of handwriting and do not accept, condone or encourage slovenly work

5. Although students do develop personal idiosyncrasies, the teacher  helps them maintain a consistent, legible handwriting style throughout the grades.

Techniques in teaching composition skills

1. Students should be exposed to broad range of writing task.

2. Strategies for reducing the number of cognitive demands inherent in the act of writing should be an integral part of a remedial composition program.

3. Writing error should not be overemphasizing.

4. The composition program should be pleasant and encouraging.

5. The composition program should be planned, monitored and evaluated on the basis of assessment information

  ***Credits to the references

Compiled and Prepared by:

REYNALDO, Alma V.

III-7 BEEd