The category of "English as a Second Language" or "ESL" student is no longer a label of someone in the process of learning English. Rather, linguistic categorization is a complex social processes of ascribed identity formation that positions students as deficits and others, circumscribing them out of belonging to both academic…

The study examined the use of the Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) in assessing Chinese as a second language and the challenges faced by teachers in the Chinese Language Scholarship (CLS) program. The Concurrent Triangulation Mixed Method Research was used in the study in which qualitative and quantitative data are collected simultaneously,…

The RP Group's Multiple Measures Assessment Project (MMAP) produced this technical report as part of a series on how California's community colleges can ensure more English learners (ELs) successfully complete "gateway" English coursework -- courses that satisfy the English writing requirements for completion of an associate's degree as…

Ensuring that test-score use brings about socially positive consequences for test-takers is an important aspect of test validation. While many studies use an inductive approach to evaluate test consequences, few studies have implemented Appraisal analysis. To that end, this case study investigated the test consequences of an English reading…

Objective: Extensive reform has been implemented in community colleges across the nation to help expedite the attainment of students' academic goals of degree completion and transfer to 4-year institutions. Reform at the institution in this study resulted in replacement of the college writing placement exam and the precollegiate course sequence…

This study examines the effects of English Learner (EL) status on subsequent Special Education (SPED) placement. Through a research-practice partnership, we link student demographic data and initial English proficiency assessment data across seven cohorts of test takers and observe EL and SPED programmatic participation for these students over…

Enrollments of international students are at very high levels in the U.S., a development that has altered the demographics of first-year composition classes in recent years. Nonetheless, writing instructors and administrators often know little about these students' backgrounds, which can make it difficult to design pedagogies that are responsive…

The main concern of the present study was to investigate the probable correlation between the bilinguals' second language grammatical proficiency level and their third language grammatical proficiency level. The current study was implemented on selecting a total of 100 Iranian female high school students studying at second grade from two…

In a marketized environment, ESL providers, in common with other postcompulsory educational institutions, canvass student satisfaction with their services. While the predominant method is likely to be based on tick-box questionnaires using Likert scales that measure degrees of satisfaction, qualitative methodology is an option when rich data is…

The imperative that all students, including English learners (ELs), achieve high academic standards and have opportunities to participate in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning has become even more urgent and complex given shifts in science and mathematics standards. As a group, these students are underrepresented in…

This paper illustrates a method of item analysis used to identify discriminating multiple-choice items in placement data. The data come from two rounds of pilots given to both SHL students and Spanish as a Second Language (SSL) students. In the first round, 104 items were administered to 507 students. After discarding poor items, the second round…

Today's new teachers, with growing frequency, are assigned to teach linguistically diverse students, often referred to as English Language Learners (ELLs) (de Jong & Harper, 2005; Pappamihiel, 2007). Many novice teachers, however, express feeling ill-prepared to work across languages and cultures, and researchers have found that new teachers…

This study examines a group of approximately 1,100 English as a foreign language students who attended a tutoring program dedicated to training learners in study skills and language learning strategies. The study covers a five-year period of time during which the tutoring program remained consistent in its focus and organization. Students…

English as a second language (ESL) is meant to provide a meaningful education for students learning English (ELLs); however, its effects remain largely unexplored. Using longitudinal, nationally representative data from the Educational Longitudinal Study, the authors estimate the effects of ESL placement on language minority (LM) adolescents'…

The federal government has had a long-standing commitment to ensuring access of English Learner (EL) students to a meaningful education. As early as 1968, the "Elementary and Secondary Education Act" ("ESEA") contained provisions for supporting the education of EL students and in its 1974 landmark decision, "Lau v.…