Oral+Language+Assessment

Kelly Nolan Dr. McKool Language Assessment March 3rd, 2011

**Introduction to Child and Setting** Jane is a young student who loves school. She lives at home with her mom, dad and her little brother who is one now but is about to turn two. When she is at home she liked to play and read and watch movies. Her favorite book is Dora’s Big Birthday Adventure. She has a lot of books at home and when asked how many she said a lot. She said that her parents read to her before bed. She does not have a television in her room but she does have one in her living room.

Besides recess and lunch, Jane really likes reading and playing while she is at school. She says she gets to read a lot at school, in fact they read all the time. Jane believes she is a good reader because she sounds out words. If she could read a book about anything it would be bugs because she loves bugs. She especially loves ladybugs and often finds them in her house, and one day she even found a centipede next to a ladybug. Jane also enjoys writing and when she writes she usually writes stories. She says her teacher has helped her the most in school and when she has homework mommy and daddy help her. The last book she read at school was Tacky the Penguin. She says if she were helping someone learn to read she would help them sound out the words.

** The Purpose of the Assessment ** The purpose of an oral language assessment is to find a child’s strengths and weaknesses when it comes to using oral language. The vocabulary a child uses and the way a child speaks can tell a great deal about how they listen and write. Children who are unable to develop language orally are not as able to write well. Making sure children develop oral language will help them both socially and academically. If children do not develop the necessary language skills they will fall behind academically and lose favor with their peers. It is for this reason it in essential that we assess their language often and do what we can to help those children who are struggling.

** Methodology ** For this assessment I used the Interest/Attitude Interview and asked the student a few questions about their home life and school life, taking notes on what she said. I also tried to observe her interactions throughout the day and when I was teaching a lesson I called on her for an answer and paid close attention to the language she used to answer the question. I sat and talked again informally with her and a few of the other students at snack time.

** Description of Your Findings ** Jane is a very shy and quite girl. When I was questioning her she giggled and put her hand in her arm almost every other question. She was very willing to answer my questions but she was very clearly distracted by the fact that all her friends were sitting and reading and she was not. She answered all my questions in short but complete sentences and she used very basic vocabulary when speaking to me. She did ramble on when answering some of the questions, especially the question about the type of book she would like to read. She said she very much enjoys bugs and she showed it by talking to me about bugs for almost three minutes after I asked the question. She told me a story about how her and her dad found a centipede in her house right near a lady bug. When she was speaking she took a long time to think about each answer and she said ummm and uhhh at some point during almost every answer and she seemed to stutter over some of her answers if she had a lot to say. There were also some questions that she did not have answers to such as when I asked her how many books she had at home, she said a lot and when I asked her how many is a lot she said “ummm I don’t have an answer for that question.”

When I observed her during other interactions with her peers she spoke quietly and shyly and although she had many conversations throughout the day they seemed to mostly be with students who dominated the conversation. She would speak sometimes but she seemed to let the other student do most of the talking and she just sat there and listened and laughed. Within these conversations she also used umm and uhh a lot along with frequent pauses.

While she seems to have a good grasp of language she is not always sure of what to say and how to say it. She seems to let others dominate the conversation and she adds to it when she can. It seems to me that while she does have decent oral language skills she needs to work on talking louder and thinking for a moment before she speaks rather than stopping so much in the middle of a thought.

** Discussion of How You Would Use These Findings ** Jane is a child who would benefit from “think time” when asked a question in a large group. She would also benefit from small group or individual instruction so that she can take her time to formulate her answers and make her thought into coherent sentences and also so she does not feel that she has to rush though her thought, she can take her time and say everything she wants to say. Also she is shy so I think that she would work better with less people around watching her.

When teaching to Jane in a whole group setting I would make sure I allowed her enough time to think about here answers before she gave them and because she is shy I would not call on her and put her on the spot untless she raises her hand. Jane would be much more likely to succed in a group of students who are also quite and talk quietly so she can be heard and so that she does not allow another students to dominate the conversation.