Return-Path: <nifl-assessment@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id j5NKkuG13038; Thu, 23 Jun 2005 16:46:56 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 23 Jun 2005 16:46:56 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <410-220056423205326546@earthlink.net> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-assessment@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-assessment@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-assessment@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: "Debbie Yoho" <dwyoho@earthlink.net> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-assessment@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-ASSESSMENT:1127] TABE X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII X-Mailer: EarthLink MailBox 2004.0.129.0 (Windows) Status: O Content-Length: 2962 Lines: 52 Andrea, I'll take a stab at your question about TABE because I have the time right now. However, the main thread on this list right now is on the NALS-NAAL discussion, so I hope we don't go off too far on just TABE. A lot has been written about it here anyway. The TABE is essentially an achievement test, in my view, although Contemporary makes a stab at setting it up to be "diagnostic". It is available in a Survey version or a longer Full Battery version. It has several subtests, including a Reading Subtest, a Spelling Subtest, and a Language Subtest. In my view, the test questions stress the APPLICATION of some skills, and not even very many skills at that. The reading subtest is primarily a comprehension test, including summarizing, cause and effect, identifying details, identifying opinions as opposed to facts, context skills, and some vocabulary, etc. The test does not check mastery of the many skills that the skill-and-drill people would identify as essential to reading (long/short vowels, blends, diagraphs, etc. although this is arguable.) It also includes questions similar in format to those on the NALS, using "real life" materials such as bus schedules, or a receipt from a store purchase. Other questions are more "story oriented". I feel it places great stress on political correctness for a vastly diverse market. For example, one passage is about Eskimos and another about a Chinese family. That's not a bad thing, by the way, but my southern Black learners have had no exposure to Chinese or Eskimo names, and are confused when confronted in a test environment with terms and names they've never seen before, hence my pet peeve that I think the TABE is culturally biased because of its attempt not to be culturally biased! But that's another discussion... I think most practitioners would agree that the TABE is a compromise in the search for an instrument that is useful in the broadest possible sense, and this is why it is so widely used. At least it is designed specifically for adults. And as an achievement test, it is valid and reliable. It just isn't what instructors need to plan customized instruction, it isn't nearly sensitive enough to pick up gradual gains, it doesn't assess mastery, it can be very quirky in its results especially with the lowest level learners, and in my opinion it is culturally biased unless you live in a highly diverse neighborhood. Is it a reading test? Well, not the whole TABE. The reading subtest is an assessment of reading achievement if you define reading as the Elementary and Secondary Schools Act does (!), but not if you include useage and spelling as reading skills. For the Cause of Literacy for All! Debbie Deborah W. Yoho Co-moderator, NIFL-Health Listserv Executive Director, Greater Columbia Literacy Council Past President, SC Adult Literacy Educators 2728 Devine Street, Columbia, SC 29205 803-765-2555 Fax 803-799-8417 dwyoho@earthlink.net
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