Hi Joanne,

I can answer #1, I'll leave it to Heide to answer #2.

Yes, it is true that the Wookcock was deisgned for native speakers.  As
you know, there really are very few reading tests for low-literate ESOL
students and we picked Woodcock after a comprehensive review and pilot
test of  several reading assessments. It's advantage was that it goes to
quite a low level and assesses the reading subskills that are important
to assess at the literacy level.  In the end, it worked better than we
expected.  The problem students had was with the synononym-antonym
subtest (they had no idea what we were asking them to do).  Most
actually did fairly well on the nonsense words, especially Spanish
speakers from Mexico who had a couple of years of schooling -- and we
did find differential effects on this subtest.

-----Original Message-----
From: specialtopics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:specialtopics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Hartel, Joanne
Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2007 2:49 PM
To: specialtopics at nifl.gov
Subject: [SpecialTopics 278] [Special Topics] What Works Study for Adult
ESLLiteracy Students

I work at a a community-based adult education program.  We run two
levels of ESL literacy classes, one for beginning speakers who may not
be literate in their native languages or in English (although some in
this level can read and write in a non-Roman alphabet.)  The other
literacy class is for students who know the alphabet and can read very
simple text. Both classes work with written material that is controlled
for useful, every day vocabulary, length of sentences, and grammar.  In
both levels, it is typical for students to be  better at reading than at
writing.  We use a combination of a structured approach, including
phonics, and more traditional ESL approaches that include listening and
speaking activities. The students come from many different countries,
including Haiti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Nepal, and some Central American
countries. I have two questions: 

1. I don't know of any standardized reading assessments for low level
ESOL students.  I think the Woodcock-Johnson Basic Reading Skills Tests
were developed for native speakers of English.  Was the comprehension
subtest controlled for vocabulary that would be unfamiliar to someone
who is a beginning speaker? In my experience teaching ESL literacy, ESOL
students do not do well with nonsense words because they can't relate or
get any meaning from them.  Also it is difficult for the test
administrator to judge correct pronunciation of words and separate out
issues due to second language interference.

2. I've always had difficulty using authentic materials with beginning
literacy students.  Can you suggest ways to use them without simplifying
them so much that they don't resemble the real thing? 

Thanks for all of your work.  I think this will be very useful to the
field. 
-------------------------------
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